In the US alone, there are 133.6 million adults classified as overweight or obese, close to two-thirds of the adult population. Obesity results in a 10- to 50-percent increase in risk of death from all causes, predominantly for cardiovascular reasons. Whether your body fat falls in the healthy or unhealthy ranges, however, there is always good reason to start (or continue) moving. From reducing the risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes and hypertension to aiding in weight control, there are many reasons to consider taking advantage of a free printable exercise log to get you moving.

Whether you are keeping track of exercise now or not, the advantages of physical activity in weight loss and health are plentiful. Differing types of physical activity yield different benefits. Light physical activity such as walking aids in building heart and muscle strength, utilizing your cardiovascular system as well as building muscular endurance. The more intense the exercise, from yoga to a high-intensity aerobics class, the more you tax your body and the greater the health benefit. Also, the more vigorous the exercise, the greater the amount of calories burned.

Losing or maintaining weight, in theory, is quite a simple process. Calories are the amount of energy consumed from the food you eat. The energy not used is stored in the body as fat. Burning more calories than are consumed daily will rid the body of excess fat. To maintain weight, the calories consumed and the expenditure of calories should remain equal. With a free printable exercise log, these calories and food intake calculations can be done easily.

In taking control of your health, it is very important to keep track of your exercise and food intake. Exercising your way to fitness can take many different forms: from a cardio workout aimed to predominantly work your heart muscle to lifting weights to work on building your muscular endurance. When you are keeping track of your exercise, it can be quite a motivational practice, as you see yourself on paper getting stronger and able to do more. And as you see the amount of calories burned rising above the amount you eat, you know you are on the track to health, fitness and feeling better about yourself.

Exercise logs can be a great tool for success in working towards a more healthy you. This free printable exercise log will allow you to keep track of calories and the amount and type of exercise you do. To summarize, there are many reasons to take advantage of an exercise log:

1. You are keeping track of your health. Just seeing your progress in writing will be a great incentive to keep moving towards your fitness goals.

2. Exercise logs are a great way to record calories and food. Where else can you keep track of calories to see what foods you can tweak to make the biggest difference in calorie intake?

3. With the various types of exercise available, exercise logs are a daily planner for your training. It can be a help in seeing how to divide your exercise time between cardio, building muscle, and everything in between.

4. Set goals and see them come to fruition. Feel great about yourself and your daily care for your health.

With resources for printable logs available, take advantage of them. A free printable exercise log can make all of these good things possible. So let’s get moving. Your body will thank you later.