The Fitness Maven

We all know that water is really important for our bodies, but sometimes we just want something else to drink. Here are 8 ways to spice up your water intake and to add some taste to your water without adding calories.

Many people don’t start to exercise because they can’t imagine themselves bouncing around at a Zumba class or showing up to a gym in a cute little workout outfit. But who says that you have to do these things? One of the secrets to starting and sticking to an exercise routine is to realize that you can exercise YOUR way. What does this mean? If you enjoy walking, then walk. Take a trip around the block with your dog or your friend or your earphones. That’s exercise. If you love to read, then sit on a stationary bike and enjoy that time to read and get your heart rate up. If you think that you’ll only exercise if you have a lot of other people around – then sign up for that Zumba class or aerobics class. But do it your way. You don’t have to exercise in a certain way or fit a certain model in order to get yourself moving. Think about who you are – not who anyone else is – and just get moving in the way that makes you the most comfortable.

Many people use the excuse that they can’t find the time to exercise. But what if we told you that you could stay fit and feel better with only ten minutes of time? That’s what you’ll see with this information, offering you quick and easy ways to exercise in only ten minutes. Yes, more time would be better and would help you, but ten minutes is better than no time at all.

You may have heard this saying before – but it’s really important to hear again. Monday is the beginning of the week; it’s the time to get back onto your exercise routine even if you ate that chocolate cake over the weekend or enjoyed those beers. If you never miss a Monday to exercise, the chances are that you’ll then exercise on Tuesdays, Wednesday, Thursday and beyond. When things go right on Monday, it tends to set the tone for the week!

What does a journal possibly have to do with weight loss? Research has shown that people who write down what they eat tend to have more success than those who don’t. Why? This is the case for a few reasons.

1. It makes you think about your food and your plan for the day.
2. Once you’ve written something down, it tends to feel final to you and more likely to be something you’ll stick to.
3. If you write down your food for a week and see that you haven’t lost any weight, it’s a great way to monitor what you’ve eaten and to make adjustments for the week to come.

While it seems annoying and time consuming, people really have had great success with journaling. There are also many apps these days where you can keep track of your food and your eating plan for the week. Try it!

Many people ignore injuries and just continue doing their exercise. What they don’t realize, however, is that they can be making their injury worse. It’s worth it to take off a few days from your exercise routine to see if it gets better. If it doesn’t, you should seek out the attention that you need and have a doctor check the injury. Sometimes this will put you back on your feet quickly, sometimes it will mean that you need a cast or another intervention and sometimes it will mean physical therapy. No matter what it means, it’s always better to get it checked out then to simply ignore the small problem…which may turn bigger.

This sounds very basic, but if you get those exercise clothes on in the morning and exercise right away – you’ll have accomplished something for the day. It’s not easy to finish the day of work and then drag yourself out for your evening run. It’s difficult to squeeze in the time for that treadmill between making dinner, putting the kids to bed and trying to get the housework done. If you carve out 30, 40, 50 minutes in the morning then your exercise task is done before you’ve even had your breakfast.

While this sounds simple, and it may not be practical for everyone, it’s certainly worth thinking about and striving towards as a goal. Wouldn’t it feel good to check the exercise box off of your list before your day even begins?

This is certainly interesting. We all assume that you should ice an injury and let yourself rest for a bit after hurting yourself. However, now, even the creator of the R.I.C.E method is having second thoughts.

The author of the R.I.C.E method, Dr. Mirkin, said “I do not believe in cooling anymore.” In his forward to the second edition of his book Iced! he said that “And research now shows that both ice and prolonged rest actually delay recovery.”

Read all about the controversy and the more recent thoughts about recovering from injury.

Many people think that the best way to lose weight is to eat less. But for some people this translates to virtually starving yourself. And when you starve yourself, your body actually goes into preservation mode, your metabolism slows and you have a harder time losing weight and keeping that weight off.

Rather than starving yourself, you should actually give yourself food every 4-5 hours and eat a balanced diet. It sounds counter-intuitive, but when you eat more often, you keep your metabolism going and your body processing the food you eat. Give yourself breakfast; eat a good lunch; have dinner and even enjoy vegetables and some fruit in between. Drink a lot of water and get moving!

Losing weight isn’t easy – but it is simple. If you keep it to the basics, you’ll find yourself managing your hunger and your weight quickly.

It’s so hard to keep up with the diet industry and to know how to make sense of recent diet advice. For instance, there is a craze right now with intermittent fasting. Some of the gurus say you should limit your eating to 7 hours a day, so you would only eat between 12-7pm (for instance) while others say that you would eat normally five days a week and bring your calorie count down to 600 calories a day for two days a week.

Then there are those who advocate eating five really small meals a day. The idea here is that your body is constantly staying full and burning small amounts of calories that it’s being given.

Which is right? Which is better? These are questions that you’ll have to answer for yourself. It’s important, as you think about it, to consider what will give you peace of mind, a full stomach and satisfaction. If you’re starving half the day then you probably won’t be fun to be around, get work done productively or eat in a positive way. And being healthy is much more important than being thin. Read about these many ideas and come to a conclusion about what will work for you – and what you’ll find sustainable.