Advice

For anyone who does decide they want to exercise as part of your diet, listen up:

If this is your first time exercising
or
if this is your first time back exercising (after not exercising for anything more than a week)
please take this advice.

No matter how good you feel, start off slow. Do not go into an exercise program, whether it is lifting, jogging, or jazzercising and start off too hard. Ease into your program. Building up to a good work out should take about a week. The first day go very light. You may feel great the second day, and you may want to do more, but don't. Stay light. After 3 or 4 work-outs you can increase the intensity. The worst thing to do to your body is work it so hard that the next day you have no desire to do it again. The better you feel the more you will want to work out. So start off slow and build the intensity. Believe me, your body will be thanking you in the morning.

Motivation: SHOPPING!

If there is just no other motivation to loose weight, this might be one for many: you get to buy new clothes!

After watching the most recent episode of Project Runway it got me thinking about what people should wear when they diet. The women who posed as models on Bravo’s series Project Runway recently lost a significant amount of weight ranging from 60 pounds to 160 pounds. These women were wearing their favorite outfits from before the weight loss. The designers challenge was to make their large clothes into something new that would fit them. Not everyone has their own personal designer, so what do you do after you lose weight?

GO SHOPPING!!

Once you have lost weight you should be proud of your new figure and want to show it off. Do not wear your old clothes that are probably two plus sizes too big.
The best part of dieting is to feel good about yourself, so once you find yourself putting on your old jeans without even having to unzip them, go out and buy some new clothes that fit you and make you feel wonderful.

You do not want to end up like Kyle Norton from Penn State who was recently in The Onion newspaper for wearing the same clothes for months in a row. In an article entitled “Overweight College Student Announces Plans To Wear Shorts, Sandals for Rest of Year” The Union’s subtle humor pokes fun at Norton’s robust figure and how it has become a chore for him to even change his clothes because he is so overweight. If you have NO other motivation, let Norton’s story be it for you.

Some may just need to be told

Could you really lose weight just because someone told you that what you do on a daily basis is exercise? Recently in the New York Times an article entitled “Mindful Exercise” proves that you can. Two groups of hotel maids (all women) were chosen for this study. One group was told that the work they do for their job is exercise enough. The other crowd was a control and was not told anything. After a month the researchers checked back in with the women. The group that was told they exercise by doing their job lost an average of two pounds and their blood pressure went down ten points. For those maids who were told nothing, the researchers saw no change. Both groups do the same work, yet the women who were told they exercise while at work lost weight. So look on the bright side, just a few house chores like vacuuming and cleaning the bathroom can burn calories. All you have to do is tell yourself you are working out and put some effort into it, who knows, it may help you shed a few pounds.

Same idea, different tune

Videojug has a video on YouTube that explains "How to lose weight the easy way".
Her advice is very similar to mine, but in a video form.
Check it out!

How to stay fit over the holidays

With the holidays around the corner, and snow flurries on the ground, who has the motivation to exercise? This is always the busiest time of year, and easiest time to forget your diet. Here are some ways to stay on track over the holidays and cold winter days.

Diet:
www.foodfit.com is a website that has recipes for holiday cooking that is low in fat. Cooking your own food, with low fat products like extra virgin olive oil and avoiding using fatty ingredients like butter and grease is an easy way to watch what you eat over the holiday. If you are having a house full of people over, you are probably not the only one on a diet. Even if people are not on a diet, healthy cooking is a great idea to keep your diet, and everyone elses, on track. If you are going somewhere else for the holidays, ask them if there is anything they want you to bring, and if so, make sure you make that low fat. The holidays do not have to be an excuse to eat poorly, take the opportunity to try new recipes and make healthy low fattening foods.

Exercise:
Ask for a treadmill, a stationary bike, or a weight set for Christmas. It is cold outside and getting the motivation to layer up to go for a run is hard. Doing some cardio or weights inside is a good alternative. Another plus to working out inside, is you can do it at anytime, (you don’t have to wait for daylight) and you can watch TV to pass the time. It can be on your own schedule and entertaining at the same time.

Kathleen Zelman from WedMD writes a great article with more ideas like these above.

Want to hear about dieting?
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Quick tips to do at home

Sitting on your couch watching television feeling like a couch potato? Get up, go into your refrigerator, grab a gallon of milk; go into your cabinet, grab a can of vegetable; or go into your bedroom, grab a hardcover novel and that is all you need to have in order to exercises. You only need one item, and any of these types will work. Ready to do some quick, simple exercises?

You can do all of these exercises standing in front of your TV!

1. Hold your item in one hand, extend your hand down in front of you and do ten curl ups with the first arm. Switch arms, do ten curl ups and repeat that three times. This will tone your biceps.

2. Hold your item in one hand straight above your head, bend at the elbow and lower your hand behind your head down to about your shoulder. Do ten repetitions with one hand, switch hands, do ten repetitions then repeat three times. This will tone your triceps.

3. Hold your item with both hands straight out in front of you, at about chest height. Stand with your feet at about waist width apart, twist at the waist and bring your hands all the way to your left, then twist all the way to the right. Do this twenty times, rest (about 30 seconds) then repeat. This will work your abdomen.

4. Hold your item in one hand, stand with your feet at about waist width apart, and straighten your arm by your side. Bend all the down, reaching your arm as far down to the floor as you can go, aiming for the outside of your foot, bending from the waist only. This will work your oblique, the side of your abs.

5. Hold your item with both hands in front of you and stand with your feet at about waist width apart. Get a strong stance with your feet and bend at the knees as if you are about to sit on a chair, holding the item at about chest level. Be careful to sit back when squatting and not to let your knee bend too far over your feet. This will work your gluteus, hamstrings, and quadriceps.

These are just five easy exercises you can do with any amount of weight you can find easily in your house. Next time you are bored watching TV, get up, grab some weight and do some quick exercises, which if done on a regular basis could really give you significant improvements to your physique.