Obesity wasn't a problem as little as 20 years ago. Overweight people were the exception rather than the rule - 67% of Aussie adults are overweight/obese. Why is that? Part of it has to do with "labour saving devices" and a loss of "incidental" exercise.

As technology has progressed more and more labour saving devices have evolved to make life easier for us - when was the last time you had to wash your clothes by hand, walk to the shops, get out of your car to open the garage, stand up to change the television channel, etc. The loss of opportunity to move is endless and the result (in part caused by this) is weight gain across the community.

No matter how many time-saving tools people acquire, life seems to get busier and busier further decreasing our exercise opportunities we have, people just keep getting busier. We work, often more than one job, study, have families, pets, belong to clubs, etc. We don't have a lot of time to simply "be" as we fill our lives with distraction after distraction. Instead of making more time for "us" to focus on our health and fitness, labour saving devices are providing the opportunity for us to get further and further away from what is fundamentally the most important issue for each individual - their health.

It doesn't have to be like this - here's some changes you can make easily.

Manage your time more effectively

Before you can make changes in how you spend your time, you need to review what you're doing now. What activities are the most time demanding you have in your life currently? What do you hate doing and procrastinate about? Are you allowing others to dictate the use for your time for things that aren’t productive? Be brutally honest and determine what you can do to better manage your time.

Do it for yourself

Prepare a daily "to do" list and combine that with some timelines - this'll give them a degree of urgency and lower the instance of time wasting and also allow you to focus your energies on what needs to be done rather than distractions.

Use your time wisely

The best laid intentions will sometimes get bogged down. If that happens put your wait time to good use. If you're stuck on the phone waiting for some to take your call get on with something else. Over time you'll find you'll save a lot of time doing this which will free you up for other activities.

Stock up

You can save time by buying extras of things you know you're eventually going to need - again. This will save you making special trips to purchase these items (e.g. Buy some extra bread and freeze it, buy a roll of 50 postage stamps so you've always got some on hand). Do this across a range of products and you'll find your supermarket visits will be reduced to quick trips to pick up fresh items, and you’ll be surprised at how much time you'll free up.

Be systematic

It doesn't matter whether we're talking about cleaning the house, doing the shopping, working - anything. Think ahead, plan and provide as much routine for recurring tasks as possible. This will again free up additional time for "you" time.

Multi-task

They say men can't do this, but all it takes is a little preplanning. As a mum or stay at home dad when supervising homework dovetail with other activities such as ironing, cooking and cleaning. You'll kill way more than two birds with the one stone and give yourself more time to attend to your own health needs.

Aim for excellence not perfection

Some things are worth perfecting but more often than not good enough is just that - good enough. Don't cause yourself more grief than necessary over issues that, in general, really don't matter that much.

Learn to say ‘No'

Most of us have trouble saying "no" but it is probably one of the biggest labour saving devices you'll come across. If you're already stretched don't take on more than you need to just because someone asks.

Remember, we all have the same 168 hours in a week. How we choose to use it is up to us. We have all of these labour saving devices at our disposal which should make keeping fit and healthier easy but we fill up our lives with things that don't really matter. What does matter is your health - use your time wisely.