Lose weight,
increase your fitness level, and get healthy. . .
Improving the quality of your life
doesn't require drastic changes. It's as easy as making a
few of the suggestions below part of your daily routine.
PART 2: To increase your
fitness level. . .
- Take the stairs. Every
little bit of movement adds up, so avoid the elevator. If
you work on the 10th floor and you don't want to walk the
entire way up, get off on the 5th floor and walk the remaining
five flights.
- Exercise regularly. Active
people are at a reduced risk of heart disease, high blood
pressure, diabetes, and certain types of cancer. Think of
exercise a recipe for prevention. The American College of
Sports Medicine suggests a minimum of three to five 20-minute
workout sessions per week.
- Don't forget to strength train.
Many women place too much focus on cardiovascular workouts,
while it's weight training that will make the most changes
to your body's shape. You may not see the scale move right
away, because muscle weighs more than fat, but you will
look leaner. Also, each pound of muscle burns almost 50
calories per day more than a pound of fat, making it easier
to lose weight and keep it off.
- Take it up a notch. Intensity
matters. A recent study found that people who exercised
with the most intensity had the lowest risk of coronary
heart disease.
- Get intense early. Don't
do a strenuous workout too close to bedtime. Your metabolism
will still be running on high and will affect your quality
of sleep. Perform your higher-intensity workouts earlier
in the day.
To get healthy. . .
- Believe in yourself. Studies
show that exercisers who believe in their abilities perform
at higher levels and are more likely to stick with a regular
routine.
- Set goals. Setting specific,
realistic, and attainable goals is the only way to make
it come true. Break your final goal into smaller, manageable
action steps so that you can see your dream coming to fruition.
- Count your blessings. Instead
of focusing on what you want, keep a gratitude journal where
you record things that you're thankful for - your health,
your friends, your family, the sun on your face in the morning.
- Beat the six-month barrier.
Half of all people who join an exercise program drop out
within the first six months. If you break the six-month
barrier, you're likely to make exercise a lifetime habit.
- Sleep the pounds away.
Sufficient rest makes it easier to shed weight. Studies
show we're hungrier when we haven't had enough rest. When
we're sleep deprived our stress hormone levels rise, elevating
the insulin in our blood. This makes us feel hungrier, causing
us to binge on high-carb foods.
- Set a schedule. Aim
to go to bed and get up at the same time each day. This
will set your "body clock" and help you sleep better at
night and feel better in the morning.
- Take a short nap. Getting
10 or 15 minutes of sleep after a long day of work can help
energize you for the evening. But don't zone out for too
long. Once you hit the 30-minute mark, alertness will actually
decline and you may have trouble falling asleep at night.
- Take a mental vacation.
Feeling stressed? Close your eyes and imagine yourself in
an environment that gives you peace and pleasure. Visualize
your fantasy location and what you would do there. You'll
feel a lot better when you snap back into reality.
- Learn to say no. This two-letter
word can change your life, give you back your time, and
allow you to do things that are most important to you.
- Treat yourself. As our
lives become increasingly stressful, we're less likely to
take time to relax. Treating yourself to a massage or facial
takes only an hour and is a great way to recharge.
- Oxygenate yourself. When
stressed we tend to take short, shallow breaths that deprive
our body of oxygen, which our brain needs to function. Sit
still and take 10 deep, slow breaths. Mentally, you'll feel
calmer. Physiologically, you'll bring down both your heart
rate and your blood pressure.
- Pump up the volume. When
you're down in the dumps, put on your favorite tunes, crank
the volume, and dance or sing. It's the quickest route to
an instant mood boost.
- Get regular checkups. Preventive
care will help you stay healthy over the long haul. Make
sure you visit your doctor at least once a year.
- Butt out. It's never too
late to stop smoking. According to the American Cancer Society,
after one year of quitting smoking, your risk of coronary
heart disease is half that of a smoker. Fifteen years after
you stop smoking, your risk is similar to that of someone
who never smoked.
- Cut back on TV time. Although
TV seems relaxing, it actually slows brain waves. Once you
start watching, it's often difficult to stop - the average
person watches over three hours of TV every day. Limit yourself
to watching a few of your favorite programs. As soon as
they end, turn off the TV and find a more productive way
to entertain yourself.
- Make time for friends and family.
According to research, the happiest people are the ones
who have good social relationships. Career and exercise
are important, but life won't look so good if you don't
have someone to share your highs and lows with.
- Get a pet. One study found
that pet owners have lower blood pressure and are more physically
active than non-pet owners. Another study found that allowing
pets in the workplace lowered levels of stress amongst all
employees.
- Laugh. A recent study in
found that even forced laughter for one minute instantly
improves your mood.
- Smile. It's hard not to
be happy if you look happy. A grin is contagious. Smile
and others will follow your lead.
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Tough Weight
Loss Obstacles
- You're exercising, but not
losing weight. Weight loss is based on many factors
that affect each of us differently. And remember, with a
workout program you are building muscle, which weighs more
than twice as much as fat. This means that you're actually
shrinking (losing inches) even if you weigh the same as
when you started!
Bottom line: The scale is not
your friend -- throw it out! A tape measure is cheaper and
far more effective for measuring results.
- You can't control your eating. Tune in to your body's cues -- Are you famished? Are you
content and comfortable? Or are you overly full and uncomfortable?
Recognizing when you're satisfied is imperative to weight
loss. If you're still hungry after a meal, it could mean
several things:
- Your body hasn't registered
it's full yet.
- You've eaten too quickly.
- You're dehydrated.
- You're shortchanging one of
your food groups.
- You've been skipping meals,
or are not eating enough at each meal.
Bottom line: If you keep track
of everything you're eating, it becomes easier to see where
you can shave calories and make modifications, and you'll
be less likely to eat poorly.
- Your results have hit a brick
wall. Hitting a plateau is inevitable -- don't panic.
If you stay with your program and eat well, results will
happen eventually. By far the most effective solution is
to change your routine. When you change something, your
body is forced to respond. You don't necessarily have to
start a whole new program. Sometimes something as simple
as adding more weight or speeding up your cadence is all
you need to get results happening again.
Bottom line: Variety really is
the spice of life.
- You can't get motivated. Here are some mental tricks to get yourself motivated:
- Tell yourself your only going
to exercise for 10 minutes -- who can't handle 10 minutes?
Once you get moving and your blood starts pumping, your
endorphins will kick in and you'll start to feel more
energized. Once you've hit the 10-minute mark, it's
usually easy to keep going for an additional 10 minutes.
Before you know it, you've had a great workout.
- Shoot for seven perfect days
of good eating and good workouts.
- Use music to get me pumped
up whenever motivation is a little light.
Bottom line: Motivation outweighs
ever other factor -- if you don't have it, find it. Don't
pretend you can coast along without a concrete strategy
to maintain it.
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