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Today I went to a new hair stylist. As you know, there is always a lot of social chitchat when you are having your hair cut and colored. This was no exception with my new friend Amy, who like me is passionate about every day exercise.

We have both recently decided to lose weight through starting a new healthy diet and a more consistent exercise program. We have been working at this for roughly the same time and were interested in ‘what worked’ for each other.

Amy is at the centre of many lives including her husband, teenage kids and her clients. She was overweight by about 20 pounds when she decided to start an every day exercise program and to modify her diet. She is very proud to have lost half of her excess weight already despite her busy schedule at work and at home.

I was really impressed to hear how she has rearranged her very full work hours. She now allows time for every day exercise. She tells me that she is serious about reclaiming her wedding day body and health.

Interestingly Amy wears a portable heart rate monitor on her wrist when she walks and jogs. This is something I haven’t thought to do. My faithful pedometer is one way of telling me whether I walk far enough but in order to get cardiac fitness it is essential that I walk at a pace that is approximately 1.3 times my regular heart rate.

I know my heart beat is generally 70 beats a minute. With the new monitor I intend buying, I expect to know when it reaches an elevated rate of 90-100 beats a minute for my cardio-vascular exercise each day. This kind of every day exercise will help me lose weight.

Amy says that she is keeping her program running regularly despite her full lifestyle because she is staying motivated. One of the keys to this for Amy is her ‘Fitness Friend’ who exercises with her. They both enjoy progress rewards as they reach goals along the path of their every day exercise and have a group of family and friends who actively support them.

I know that every day exercise can get a little dreary and you need to know whether you are making any gains so it is essential that you actually chart your progress. This can be either for changes in body shape or reduction in the circumference of various parts of your body for example your butt, your waist, or your upper arms, or your chest.

She makes sure that these measurements are recorded at the right time of the day (first thing in the morning is best) and with sufficient time between each record to allow for progress that she wants to see! This means that she stays focused and feels encouraged even when some aspects of her progress slow down for a time.

I am impressed with Amy. If, with her buddy she can head towards a fitter body by staying committed to every day exercise, charting their progress, enlisting supporters, building in rewards, and using different instruments to read her progress along the way, I can learn from her enthusiasm and organization and get fitter and healthier too.

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