Tag: #workout #babyfitness
Starts With Bed Dancing
This “Bed-Dancing” concept often gets a few chuckles… but I want you to stay with me on this one as I explain exactly what it is (and isn’t) and how you can incorporate this in your exercise routine today.
I’ll begin by expressing how essential Bed-Dancing was in my life right after I had the RNY gastric bypass bariatric weight-loss surgery: VERY ESSENTIAL. That’s shooting straight from the hip!
Definition of Bed-Dancing: “the exercise activity that incorporates established exercise movements while positioned on your back in the bed to minimize the stress and strains on joints and muscles when a person is morbidly obese.” This is the best brief definition I could come up with since I am nowhere near a Webster genius.
Right after my surgery, I knew that it was important to MOVE MY BODY and begin to exercise. The biggest benefit I saw at the time was that it increased my blood circulation that was necessary to help my surgical wounds to heal. This was my main motivation. And when I weighed 317 pounds, there was no way I was “eager” to incorporate an exercise routine because my body was so large, and my arthritis so painful, I just could not bear putting such stress on my joints and muscles at that heavy weight.
I had a master plan to put on my favorite “high-spirited” CD (Latin music makes me feel like dancing), put on my sweats, and I went into my bedroom as I announced to the household, “Don’t bother me for one hour….no matter what,” then shut the door. As I began to “dance” to the tunes, OH MY GOLLY… I couldn’t last more than five minutes! My incision hurt, my joints hurt, and I collapsed on my bed, falling deeper in disappointment that I could not see myself achieving an exercise routine.
But soon, as the Latin CD kept spinning, I found myself “moving” to the music while I was in bed… WOW… I then thought, “Hey, I can DANCE on my BACK!” So with legs and arms in the air flailing like a floppy fish… I discovered how someone who weighed 317 pounds COULD exercise… but not the traditional way… but by Bed-Dancing! Thus, the birth of my newly-found method launched me into a very SUCCESSFUL exercise routine that I could do often without putting stress on my joints!
But be cautious when you talk about Bed-Dancing to others… they automatically begin to chuckle at what you call the standard “bed activity” now. (blushing yet?)
End The Battle With Your Body
We’re no longer shocked by the celebrity photos that show protruding hipbones, bony breastplates, countable ribs, and collarbones practically piercing through the flesh of their shoulders. It looks normal to us now. It’s the look we’re supposed to achieve.
The media sounds a loud alarm over the celebrities who get too thin. And then they go right on showing us image after image of the very same women as beauty icons. It’s insane.
*The hottest boutique in Los Angeles, catering to the stars, carries only sizes 0-8.
*The average American women wears a size 12 or 14.
*The usual waist size for a celebrity’s pair of jeans is 28.
*The average woman wears a size 34 jean.
In a recent celebrity magazine, the following heights and weights were listed for five well-known performers:
*Terri Hatcher 5-6, 109 pounds
*Kate Bosworth 5-7, 107 pounds
*Lindsey Lohan 5-5, 102 pounds
*Victoria Beckham 5-6, 105 pounds
*Joan Allen 5-10, 110 pounds
All are severely underweight. This is starvation imagery. Anorexic-type bodies regularly presented as the beauty ideal.
Today’s female body is expected to be slim, trim, lean. Tight, toned muscles. Six-pack abs. Hard bodies. Sounds like a description of a man’s body doesn’t it? The only feminine characteristic remaining on today’s “perfect woman”: fake, plastic breasts. The real ones disappear when a woman is underweight.
The ideal female body looks like a young, very thin, muscular prepubescent boy with large breasts. This is where 100 years of media brainwashing has left us. “Brainwashing” seems like too strong a term until you consider that most females see 400 to 700 media-generated images of thin women every single day.
Rounded bellies, padded hips, curvy thighs. These are “problem areas” to be worked on. In reality, they are beautiful, natural qualities of a healthy female body.
It’s time we define our own style. Make our own rules. Turn our backs on the media and embrace the beautiful bodies we were been born with. It’s time to live with grace and beauty instead of self-hate and struggle.
Too many of us have learned to dislike our own bodies:
*53% of 13 year-old girls,
*78% of 17 year-old girls, and
*80% of adult women spend every day disliking the only bodies we will ever have.
How about a world where all body types are appreciated…
*Where naturally thin bodies are considered beautiful.
*Where naturally curvaceous bodies are considered beautiful.
*Where the thin aren’t trying to get plump.
*And the curvy aren’t trying to get skinny.
Let’s live in a world where the bodies we were born with are the best, most beautiful bodies we could each have.
How to do that?
*Stop buying from companies who advertise their products with starvation imagery.
*Don’t go to movies that star emaciated actresses.
*Make your voice heard. Email or write companies to complain about their irresponsible imagery.
*Swear off TV shows, fashion magazines, and other media that depict only thin women. (Just 5% of American women are naturally underweight. Among the actresses on television…it’s 87%.)
*Reinvent your sense of female beauty with images of all types of women. Old art is one of the best choices. Go out of your way to view old paintings and sculptures to help get you started.
*Reeducate your eyes to appreciate the natural, average female body.
*Don’t talk about your own weight loss or gain and don’t comment on others’ bodies in that way.
*Appreciate the women in the world around us. Practice seeing without the anorexic eyes we’ve been trained to view the world through. There is beauty in our natural curviness.
*Move with grace and pride.
You are beautiful. Reject the propaganda of starvation imagery. Love the body you’re living in, it’s the only one you get and it deserves your love, honor, and affection.
The Top 13 Weight Loss Tips
Get ready to lose 10 pounds!
By paying attention to the amount of food you eat, eliminating unnecessary sugar and fat from your foods and making sure you include absolutely delicious meals and snacks to keep your taste buds happy.
Use this easy-to-follow and super healthy diet plan to lose the first 10, the last 10, or any 10 in between! Because it’s a balanced and flexible program, you can stay on this diet as long as it takes.
Top Fast Secrets
1. Keep track of everything you eat and drink. No need to estimate calories – just write down the type of food or beverage and the amount.
2. Cut your fat intake in half, that means half as much margarine or butter on toast, vegetables and your muffin, half the mayonnaise on your sandwich, and half the oil in the pan when you saute foods. You get the idea!
3. Limit the sugar treats to three times per week maximum.
4. Include good sources of protein at meal, chicken, fish, legumes, peanut, cottage cheese, eggs or yogurt.
5. Eat at least one meatless lunch and dinner each week to reduce fat, increase fiber, and get yourself into the habit of building meals around whole grains, beans and vegetables.
6. If you’re not currently using skim milk, go down to the level of fat content in the milk you use. For example, if you currently use two percent, use only one percent. If you insist on whole milk, try two percent.
7. Eat at least two servings of fresh fruit every day. Choose whatever type of fruit is in season.
8. Instead of fruit juice for breakfast or snack, drink water. Add a slice of lemon or lime for zest.
9. Include two servings of vegetables with lunch and dinner, for a total of at least four servings per day.
10. Choose one to two servings of foods made from whole grains with every meal.
11. Shut off the TV whenever you eat – that includes meals and snacks. Studies show that we automatically eat larger portions when we snack in front of the tube, and typically those foods are high in fat and sugar, which means excess calories!
12. Choose calories you can chew – that means only calorie-free beverages (except for milk) Sodas are loaded with empty calories, and fruit juices provide less fiber and vitamins per calorie than the fruit they’re made from.
13. Plan ahead for meals and snacks so you know exactly what you plan to eat. Last-minute choice tends to be higher in calories and lower in satisfaction.
Lizard Spit And Weight Loss
In
the southwestern United States lives a unique animal called the Gila monster. What is so unique about this lizard-like creature is the fact that it only eats three times a year. Why does it only get hungry every four months? Scientists, in the never-ending search for new medications, began to study the Gila monster. What they have come up with is truly remarkable.
The saliva of the animal contains a chemical that is enhancing the lives of many diabetics. What this chemical, called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), does for diabetics is the latest breakthrough in the fight against this disease. One of the benefits is the increase of glucose-dependent insulin secretion. This mimics our own body’s response to food; releasing insulin only when we need it. This process greatly reduces the peak and valley insulin levels usually associated with conventional insulin injections. It also increases the function of the insulin producing cells in the body.
The real breakthrough in this chemical is what is called beta-cell neogenesis. Beta-cells are located on the pancrease and are responsible for the release of insulin into the body. In a diabetic person, these beta-cells either die or stop producing insulin. This chemical actually causes the body to make more beta-cells. This is truly the beginning of a cure.
So where does the weight loss come into play? A side effect is decreased gastric emptying; meaning the food you eat stays in your stomach longer, up to four times longer. So your body is telling you that you are “full” for a longer time, because you are full. It also works on the part of the brain that causes pleasure when eating. Many people overeat because of the pleasurable sensation they receive, perceived or not. GLP-1 decreases this pleasure enough to make people just “not feel like eating any more” than is necessary for survival.
In real life studies, GLP-1 is shown to cause a 10% to 15% decrease in overall body weight. Because of the food staying longer in the stomach, many people feel nauseous after eating. This feeling usually goes away after a couple days and is generally caused by eating too much. The stomach is not moving the food through the digestive system causing a “back-up” of the system. Many people are used to eating a certain amount of food at each meal. With this drug, you will feel “full” faster and therefore eat less.
The drug is called Byetta (exenatide) and is marketed because it is the first medication that may enable patients with type 2 diabetes to achieve glycemic control while reducing or eliminating the risk of hypoglycemia and weight gain. It is injectable only and the monthly cost is approximately $200 and must be kept refrigerated until administered.
You Had These 3 Habits Your Weight Loss Would Be Effortless
Would you like to know how to make losing weight, no matter how many pounds, as simple as brushing your teeth? When you wake up in the morning or go to bed at night, do you dread having to brush your teeth? I know when I was a little kid, I hated to have to brush my teeth, but now it is not something I even think about. I just do it.
Imagine if your weight loss and weight management could be just something you do naturally. Not something that stresses you out, gets you upset, and makes you complain, “Why are other people so lucky they don’t have to deal with this?”
Let’s face it, “having to lose a couple of pounds” whether it’s a few of pounds or in the three digits, the process is not, “Yea, I won the lottery, what fun.” Having to lose weight can easily become an overwhelming event that bothers you all the time, crumbles your self confidence, is dangerous to your health, and if that wasn’t enough, it undermines your love life.
So, back to when I was a little one and brushing my teeth. I hated to brush my teeth, but then something changed. It wasn’t until I gave up fighting against brushing my teeth and accepted that is a very important thing for me to do, that it all changed.
Very shortly after that decision, brushing my teeth became a habit that I did in the morning and at night without even thinking about it. The action of brushing my teeth didn’t change, but my reaction to having to brush my teeth did and it made all the difference.
So, how does this apply to losing weight? What if there are three actions you can take that once they are made into habits, your weight loss will become natural and you wouldn’t even have to think about? You will get to be the person that everyone else envies saying, “Why is it so easy for him/her to look so great?”
Would it be worth it to accept these three new actions into your life and make them habits, if they will guarantee effortless weight loss that you don’t even have to think about?
How about if those actions also provide outstanding health?
I must warn you that there will be a level of discomfort in making these actions into habits, only because you are in the habit of not doing them. Normally, people mislabel this as hard, when in reality, it just feels different because it is new.
But feeling different is a good thing. That means you are changing and opening the doors to your new life. Are you ready to find out what those actions are? They are not earth shattering, but you can not get around them and until you accept them and turn them into habits, you will end up fighting natural laws and struggling the rest of your life.
Finally, those three actions are; consistent exercise, eating healthy, and reduction of stress. Simple? Yes, but stay with me here. Imagine if you did consistently take these three actions and they became habits. We are talking about taking the above actions without thinking and without feeling that you are getting deprived.
It’s easy to say your weight loss would be effortless; however, the only real road blocks are turning those actions to habits. Unfortunately, we were not taught a systematic means to destroy old habits and build powerful new ones.
I invite you to stop the struggle of fighting against the natural laws of the human body. One way or another, it will all come back to consistent exercise, eating healthy and reduction of stress, to achieve lasting results. Turn those simple actions into habits and you will end your weight loss struggles forever.
18 Ways To Lose Weight Without Going On A Diet
To lose one pound of body weight in a week, a person must consume about 500 fewer calories than he or she burns each day. Here are 18 ways to lose weight without going on a diet.
1. Instead of drinking orange juice at breakfast, eat a whole orange. You’ll save about 45 calories.
2. Make your breakfast omelette with four egg whites plus 1/4 cup egg substitute. Replace regular bacon with Canadian bacon to save even more calories.
3. Switch from whole milk to nonfat or lowfat milk. Use sugar substitute instead of sugar in your morning coffee or latte.
4. At lunch, use mustard instead of mayonnaise on your sandwich to save 100 calories (per tablespoon) . Eliminate the cheese and save 100 more calories.
5. Instead of a Big Mac and large fries, go for a plain hamburger and a small french fry and save a whopping 590 calories!
6. Don’t eat potato chips at snack time. Have an apple instead for less calories plus the added benefit of more fiber.
7. Substitute diet cola or iced tea for your usual soda. You’ll save 150-200 calories per drink.
8. Eat every two to three hours with smaller portions. Don’t skip breakfast! Eating small, frequent meals keeps blood glucose levels stable and minimizes the impulse to overeat.
9. Eat more healthy snacks like dried fruits and nuts, fresh fruits, cut up veggies or yogurt.
10. Substitute whole grain foods for white bread, rice and cereals. You will not only cut fat and calories, but whole grains have been proven to reduce the risk of colon cancer by increasing the fiber that your body needs.
11. Saute meat, chicken and vegetables in broth instead of butter. And speaking of butter: replace it with nonfat sour cream on baked potatoes.
12. Instead of Caesar salad, substitute a dinner sald with nonfat salad dressing.
13. Do you love pasta? Have spaghetti with marinara sauce instead of fettuccini with Alfredo sauce. You’ll save at least 500 calories!
14. When you’re going out with friends, watch your alcohol intake. Instead of using Coke or Seven-Up with your drinks, choose tonic water or seltzer.
15. Restaurants are notorious for their huge serving sizes. Eat only half of your dinner and save the rest for lunch tomorrow. Or simply share the meal with a friend.
16. Get moving. Walk to the store instead of driving. Walking is the best exercise you can do to lose weight.
17. Get more walking time by replacing coffee breaks with exercise breaks. Also use half of your lunch break to take a brisk walk with a co-worker.
18. Swim, swim, swim. By swimming for just an hour you can burn 500 calories. You’ll also end up with a firmer, more toned body.
You don’t have to go on a strict diet to lose weight. Change to more sensible eating habits and start moving your body by walking, swimming or bicycle riding. You’ll be rewarded by good health and a fit body.
Fat Burners Diet Pills And Carb Blockers What S The Difference
All of these fat loss supplements are designed to help you lose weight, but there are some notable distinctions between these different types of supplements. It’s important to know and understand the effects of the ingredients that go into each supplement. Before you chose to put a diet pill into your mouth find out what the diet pill companies are putting into their products. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the differences between each of these supplements and explore the ingredients that make them different.
Fat Burners – A fat burner is generally a supplement that is designed to promote fat loss by either increasing your energy, stimulating your metabolism, or suppressing your appetite. These products are often sold in liquid or pill form. A fat burner is a common term used to identify all types of diet pills.
Main ingredient: Proprietary Thermogenic Blend, Thiamin, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid
Other ingredient: Guggulsterone, Caffeine, Diethylcarbonate
Popular Pill: Hot Rox, Fahrenheit
Diet Pills – Most weight loss supplements are lumped into this category. Pills that are sold as ‘diet pills’ are often Fat Burners, Appetite Suppressants, Thermogenics, etc. These pills work in much the same way as fat burners. It is important to note that Prescription diet pills may also fall under the category of Diet Pills. We won’t go into detail about prescription diet pills in this article, as they often contain many ingredients that are proprietary to the individual prescription drug company.
Slimming Pills – An alternative name for Fat Burner or Diet Pill.
Fat Loss Supplements – These supplements should be considered as any type of supplement that helps promote fat loss. Fat Loss Supplements include everything from Diet Pills to Thermogenics.
Fat Blockers – The FDA recently approved the over the counter sale of a new drug that reportedly blocks fat. The drug, Xenical (Orlistat) is a prescription diet pill that works by blocking the production of fat-digesting enzymes, so nearly one third of the fat that someone eats will be digested and the other two thirds will be excreted.
Main ingredient: Chitosan, Orlistat
Other ingredient: Other proprietary
Popular Pill: Trimspa, Xenical (Prescription)
Appetite Suppressants – Appetite Suppressants do exactly that, they suppress the appetite and make it so that you do not ‘feel’ hungry. These pills work by increasing the level of serotonin, a chemical in the brain that is believed to control the regulation of mood and hunger in the brain. Your brain is essentially fooled into believing that it is not hungry.
Main ingredient: Hoodia Gordinii, Phentermine Hydrochloride
Other ingredient: Other herbal ingredients, other proprietary
Popular Pill: Hoodia, Dexatrim, Phentermine (Prescription)
Thermogenics – These supplements are believed to increase the body’s metabolism through the generation of heat (also known as thermogenesis). This increase in heat and increase in energy causes the body to burn more calories. With the ban of ephedra in 2003, many products are using the herbal ingredients that mimic the fat burning ability of ephedra.
Main ingredient: Proprietary, but often contains many of the following ingredients: Green Tea Extract, Caffeine, L-Carnitine, Cayenne, Yerba Mate, Guarana, Calciu Tribasic, Ginger Root.
Other ingredient: Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Pantothenic Acid, Magnesium, Norambrolide,
Popular Pill: Xenadrine, Twin Labs Ripped Fuel
Fat Burning Stacks – These products are often a combination of multiple fat burners that when ‘stacked’ are designed to promote maximum fat loss. Supplements are stacked according to their purpose within the fat loss scheme.
Main ingredient: A combination of the following:
ECA – Ephedrine, Caffeine, and Aspirin or a combination of products sold by many supplement companies.
Carb Blockers – Carb Blockers work by blocking carbs from being absorbed into the body during digestion which leads to a an overall reduction in carbs, and therefore calories, thus promoting weight loss.
Main ingredient: Phaseolamin, a substance extracted from white kidney beans.
Other ingredient: Chromium, Vanadium
Popular Pill: Dietrine Carb Blocker
Whether you chose a fat burner, carb blocker, or diet pill make sure you do your homework and find out what you are putting in your body. At Diet Pill Reviews, you can read and write reviews for over 150 of the most popular diet pills.
Cardiovascular Training For Excellent Health
Everyone on the planet has to have aerobic exercise. A healthy constitution and quality way of life requires it. It has a lot of perks and will make you perform improved in all areas of your life. So why should you do aerobic exercise?
Aerobic exercise is beneficial to you by developing the lungs to be stronger by boosting levels of oxygen to the body and the heart by helping it to use that oxygen more efficiently. The word aerobic translates to with oxygen, or with air. Exercise that is less intense and longer in duration is aerobic. With aerobic sessions, an athlete implements the same big muscle area in a steady motion for between fifteen and thirty. A maximum heart rate of about sixty to eighty % is the goal to maintain. Swimming, cycling, light running, and walking are some examples of aerobic exercises. These exercises should be able to be done without someone breathing hard. If you cannot carry on a short conversation while working out, you may be moving it up a level by anaerobically exercising.
Muscle groups get extra blood and oxygen from the body during an aerobic exercise session. Halting all of a sudden in the midst of an aerobic session is not a wise move. This can lead to dizziness and muscular cramping. After a fairly intense work out, a cool off session is usually a wise idea. Moving in place for a few minutes is a good idea if somebody gets too exhausted during a work out session. Anaerobic exercise is different from aerobic in that it is usually shorter in time span and greater in intensity. With anaerobics the body wears down faster and muscles build more quickly. Football, soccer, skiing, basketball, and weight lifting are sports considered anaerobic exercises. Sprinting or running is another example. Anaerobic exercise will escalate the chances of the body being sore.
Working a certain group of muscles for a specific amount of time to reach your target heart rate is the point of aerobic exercise. This exercises the heart out better and has the body expend more calories. The aerobic curve is something some people will often hit. This is when you begin working out and elevate your intensity to the max then slow down gradually. Keeping a continuous heart rate is more efficient. The lungs and heart endure longer and work more efficiently when they are trained. People who perform aerobic exercise on a steady basis will have to exercise longer to achieve their target heart rate as their stamina increases. People that are only beginning will achieve their target heart rate quickly until their body gets adjusted to the exercise.
Aerobic exercise has so many benefits that it is strange to imagine that we often fail to take the time to do it for ourselves. It controls and lowers body fat, expands our whole endurance, gives us more energy, aids our resistance to tiredness, develops our muscles, and increases our lean body mass. It also aids us mentally by lifting mood, lowering anxiety, reducing depression, reducing tension, and making us sleep better at night. Who can’t benefit a bit from all that?These are advantages that people would all use.
An aerobics class might be a good beginning for people who want to reap the rewards of aerobic exercise and aren’t sure how to begin. In an aerobics class, you can do higher or lower intensity exercise. The class instructor should be able to show class members how to do these moves either way. How much you carry your limbs up during the aerobic session is how the intensity is measured. Athletes must perform at the level of intensity pertaining to their level of fitness and the frequency of their exercise sessions.
This type exercise is without a doubt essential for cardiovascular fitness even though it may be a little hard at first. A good body requires regular cardiovascular sessions and is a continuous process. People who have already achieved good cardiovascular condition can keep this by exercising a minimum of three times a week. Four to five intervals a week should be the intervals of people who are attempting to lose weight and elevate their level of health.
The All Important Weigh In.
Allowing your week to revolve around one event generally isn’t a good idea. If that one event turns sour, so does your week. When you are on a diet, your weigh-in can become that one event. If your diet is important to you, then your weigh-in will also be very important to you. A weigh-in will give you “thumbs up,” “thumbs down” or “hanging on”; it is your weekly progress report.
I used to feel elated when I got a “thumbs up,” and dejected when I got a “thumbs down.” Sometimes those feelings would last all week until the next weigh-in, which would either confirm the feeling or change it. Please don’t make it this way for you. The weigh-in gives you feedback, and feedback is extremely important. Treat it as information and stay off the emotional roller coaster.
What can you do to help yourself just before you step on the scale? Do you have any last requests? Is there anything else you can do to increase your probability of success? If you are thinking about taking fast-acting laxatives, I’ll give you a few bonus points for thinking outside of the box, but please do not rely on such substances. I certainly wouldn’t want to compound my problems by getting addicted to something else besides food.
On certain weeks where I knew I would not have a favorable weigh-in, I wanted to clip my nails shorter than ever, get all the wax out of my ears and shave my head (anything to make me weigh less), but clearly I just needed to do better the following week. That’s about all one can do.
Then there were the weeks when I knew I would have a great weigh-in. The night before weighing myself, I would lie in my bed, wanting to fall asleep as fast as possible so that tomorrow would arrive sooner. I couldn’t wait to get on that scale, much like a child cannot wait to open his birthday presents. I would mark down that one or two pound loss and glow with pride. My confidence rose on such days.
My process of getting on the scale is by no means simple. I tried to get on the scale as lightly as possible rather than jumping on. I didn’t want to rattle the Fat Gods or anything like that. While both hands were pushing off of two different bathroom ledges, I would place my left foot on the scale. Slowly I would raise my right foot onto the scale while my hands were still responsible for cheating the scale reading by 30 pounds. Gradually, I would reduce the pressure from my hands and I would see the reading start to rise. How far would it rise? At the very point my hands would lose contact from the walls, I could see how I had done that week.
If I gained a pound, I usually weighed myself again, but I always got the same result. It was worth a try. If I lost some weight, I did not weigh myself again. My thinking was that the second weighing might be higher. Why not leave a good thing alone?
Many times before the weigh-in I used to starve myself for a day. I wanted to nail the weigh-in that badly. What would happen after the weigh-in? I would scarf down enough food for three people. I figured I could do this since I wouldn’t have to weigh-in for another seven days.
I don’t think this was a good idea (no kidding, Johnny). Overall it just threw me out of balance. I think it is much better to be consistent day in and day out than starving yourself one or two specific days a week. You will just end up wreaking havoc with your metabolism.
Remember that it is much more important to be consistent than carefree on your diet. This doesn’t mean that you can’t be carefree in other areas of your life. Why not wear fancy clothes but eat simply?