Bev's BLOB Blog

If you are an exercise beginner (or an unfit person starting an exercise program), then you have many more options than someone who is already fit. An unfit person does not have to work at as high of an intensity as someone who is already fit. Therefore, you can take advantage of parking your car a half mile away and walk the extra distance for 10 or 15 minutes to work. Or, you can sneak in an extra walk or jog around the block for 15 minutes while dinner is in the oven. While this will certainly benefit everyone, the unfit person will receive the most benefit.

Joanne Bednar

Joanne Bednar

You burn twice as many calories walking at a moderate pace than you do sitting in a chair. Every movement counts toward burning calories and increasing fitness. Here are some ways to add activity to your daily routine:

• Walk around the block 10 minutes before your favorite TV program.
• Walk to a place you used to drive.
• Walk your children to the bus stop.
• Mop the kitchen floor once a week.
• Scrub the shower walls twice a month.
• Rearrange the furniture around the house.
• When you are at a mall, walk to the far end before returning to your car.
• Cut the grass.
• Play an outdoor sport with your children.
• Sweep the driveway once a week.
• Stand or pace while talking on the phone.
• Go up and down the stairs in your home one extra time.
• Read a magazine while standing for 10 minutes.
• During TV commercials, walk from room to room.

You're probably doing many of these activities--keep on doing them. Teach yourself to become an active person. Every little bit of exercise moves you to a healthier lifestyle.

On Monday, I took a 25 minute power walk during my lunch hour, and did Tae Bo Crunch (with weights) after work. Tuesday, I walked at lunch. Wednesday I walked at lunch. Thursday I did The Firm Basics Fat Burning workout (45 mins). Finally healthy enough to exercise without problems!

Our best intentions and firmest resolve can erode over time. When that happens, it's easy to forget why you were motivated to lose weight or start exercising in the first place. You fall into a dull, uninspired routine of saying, "I really should get back to the gym...I really should eat better...." But those "shoulds" don't motivate you.

If you need to refocus, set aside an hour to write a mission statement. You might ask your spouse or a supportive friend to help you. Make a list of the reasons you want to take better care of your body. If you've succeeded at weight loss or exercise in the past, list the benefits you experienced then (felt better physically, loved the compliments, had more energy to play with the kids, and so on). Now, list some concrete things you can do to take care of your body.

Think creatively. You may find yourself addressing issues that seem to have nothing to do with diet and exercise. Trust yourself. Few things in life exist in isolation, so it's okay if your mission statement includes some items that have to do with your overall happiness and well being.

Your mission statement doesn't have to fit anybody's standards but your own. Maybe you want to create a carefully worded document several paragraphs long, or maybe a simple list will do. Just make sure the final document unmistakably captures your deepest motivations. You want this document to have the power to put you back on track when you feel yourself losing sight of your goals.

- Robert H. Schuller

- Louisa May Alcott

When we think positively and imagine what we want, we risk disappointment; when we don't, we ensure it.
- Lana Limpert

Desire is the key to motivation, but it's the determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal -- a commitment to excellence -- that will enable you to attain the success you seek.

- Mario Andretti

If you make it a daily ritual to step on the scale, step back. You can drive yourself crazy--and undermine your diet--by obsessing over the number on the dial.

Daily weight fluctuates so much that you'll constantly find yourself unrealistically depressed--or unrealistically cocky--about your weight. So if you absolutely must have a way to measure yourself, throw the scale in the closet and make a new number your focus.

Start charting the number of miles you walk every week. The number of trips to the gym. How many glasses of water you drink in a day. How many times you resist temptation. Make sure you focus on a positive, not a negative.

If you switch your focus from the scale to an exercise goal, you'll find it helps not only your weight loss plan but your overall health, your vitality, and even your self-esteem. That's a whole lot better than fixating on the number on that treacherous tool, the scale.

Nutritionists have changed their focus to study how athletes stay so healthy, and they have learned that sugar is not as bad as everyone thinks. When fit people eat sugar they don't get an insulin rush.....the sugar is turned into muscle glycogen for tomorrows run. When an out-of-shape person eats sugar, they convert it to fat and store it in their fat cells. Rather than eliminate all sugar from your diet, start a good solid exercise program and your body will be able to handle all nutrients better!

Joanne Bednar

To understand blood cholesterol, you should realize that two factors affect blood cholesterol: exercise and the amount of fat in your diet. A high-fat diet, especially saturated fat, has been shown to raise LDL cholesterol levels, also known as the bad cholesterol. The key to reducing your cholesterol is to reduce your total cholesterol and fat intake with special attention to lowering saturated fats. Here are some easy suggestions:

Choose low-fat or non-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese. Select lean meats and trim off excess fat before cooking. Increase the number of fruit and vegetables servings each day. Consume plenty of soluble fiber-containing foods. Bake, broil, or steam your food. Reduce the amount of margarine, butter, oil, salad dressing, fried foods, and rich desserts in your diet.

Lindsay Edwards

If you have small children, you may have a tough time getting to the gym. Instead of resigning yourself to life as a couch potato, get the kids involved in your exercise time. You don't even have to tell them you're exercising. Call it "play."

Take the little ones to the park or the playroom and play with them. Roll around on the ground. Throw a tennis ball or softball back and forth. Give them horsie rides or piggyback rides. Play tag. Ride your bike in big circles around your toddler on her tricycle.

True, you may run out of energy before they do. But if you add this kind of activity to your day often enough, your strength and stamina will increase. And the kids might just hit the hay a little easier at night, as well.

How long and hard do you have to exercise to get the endorphine high? Most researchers have found that moderate-intensity-exercise (50-75% of max heart rate) lasting from 20-30 minutes produces the greatest increase in endorphins. Interestingly, if you exercise above 75% of max, the level of endorphins drops off dramatically. It's as if your body says "you must be running from a bear, this is no time for you to have an endorphin high". During high-stress times your body needs to be able to "fight or flight", not be in dreamland!

Joanne Bednar