Tribute to my mother: My Mom might not have taught me how to style my hair, or how to apply makeup or even how to have healthy relationships with boys… but she was a total rock star when it came to teaching her daughters about fitness. I grew up with a firm knowledge of how fitness worked and it has always been a constant in my life. Working out is part of who I am, it is a lifestyle. Working out not only keeps my body in shape but it is the one thing I do that totally relaxes me & clears my head. I understand that most people don’t have the basic foundation of how fitness/regular exercise can benefit the body and soul.
Note: This is a recent picture of my mom and I. Isn't she cute, you wouldn't expect a mother of 9 to look like this in her 50's.
Good Job Mom, Looking Fantastic!!!
My family’s secret recipe for staying in shape…
having a healthy diet and exercising regularly.
Sounds simple right? Evidently not for most of America. Honestly the problem stems from bad habits and laziness. People don’t want to change their unhealthy lifestyle; they want something quick (fad diet). When discussing weight loss with her friend, my sister told her the basics of staying in shape... her friend said "that will take forever, Im just going to do the Atkins diet". The only benefit of the fad diet is rapid weight loss - period. these diets do not allow one to maintain that weight for any significant amount of time, and can cause significant health risks.
You need to learn to maintain healthy habits, because unless you do what ever weight you manage to lose is going to come right back. Think hard about what you want to achieve in the long run. If your goal is to lose weight and feel healthy, then you are going to have to change your life style to make that happen. To quote my super cute, in shape mom "if you are going to do something, do it right."
Workout Options:
There are two basic principles of exercise; aerobic and anaerobic. Both are very important to staying fit. In this post we are going to focus on aerobic or cardio-exercise, in my next post we will focus on anaerobic activity.
Aerobic/Cardio: This is the quickest way to burn calories: Running, Swimming, Biking, Walking, Stair Stepper, Elliptical, Hiking, Aerobics, Dancing, etc... in short, anything that raises your heart rate and breathing rate for an extended amount of time. I find that running has been my cardio-exercise of choice, it is the one thing I can do on a regulate basis that gets my heart pumping.
How to burn Calories: My mom told me all growing up that "The first 20 minutes of cardio exercise is just to get your heart rate up, then every minute after that is the effective calorie burning zone". I don’t know if that is a proven fact but it is what I use to gauge how effective my work outs are.
To Maintain: To maintain your weight (if you are already in good shape), work out three days a week for an hour each. If you are not in good shape then working out these three days will slim you down to a point and then you will eventually plateau. If you are not happy with where you're at when you plateau, then evaluate your eating habits and/or up your physical activity.
Peak Activity: Unless you are training for a triathlon, marathon or some other type of race, there is no reason to do more than 1 hour of cardio 5 days a week. 5 Days max, because your body needs to recuperate and I am putting the hour limit on elevated heart rate because you don’t want to over exert yourself.
Story: One of my friend’s relatives was complaining that she worked out regularly for 2 hours several times a week and wasn’t seeing any results. In some cases this could be a sign that your thyroid is underactive (hypothyroidism). Or that your body is in starvation mode and holding onto all of the fat cells. After talking to my friend, I realized that her relative didn’t have either of these two problems. Her relative was walking on a treadmill at a 2 mile an hour pace; in effect she was not getting her heart pumping at all and was just wasting two hours a day. 4 miles is a good length to walk but if you are taking two hours to walk it, it isn’t very effective.
If you are going to walk (which my mom has done for the last 30 years) make sure you are going at a pace that is fast enough to get your heart to an elevated rate. A good rule of thumb is, if you can easily have a conversation, than you are not working hard enough. You should be breathing hard if you are doing cardio, otherwise you might as well be cleaning your house … actually cleaning your house is probably a more effective use of your time. The harder you breath, the more oxygen you have circulating through your body.
Overview:
To maintain: 1 hour 3 times a week
To improve: 30 min to 1 hour, 5 times a week
Not Helpful: 1. Not elevating your heart rate = not effective exercise.
2. Working out more than 5 days a week = not allowing your body to recouperate.
Mix it up: Running is my thing. that being said I make sure I mix it up (swimming, jumping on a trampoline, and hiking). Once your body adjusts to a regular routine, it will take less energy to perform that exercise. If you mix up your cardio your body will perform better. Even if you mix up the one thing you enjoy, lets take running for example; I can slowly increase my miles, devote one day a week to speed work or hills, or even switch up my routes to help me burn calories more effectively.
Side Benefits: I read this post to my sister (who has five kids and makes time to work out a few times a week) and she wanted me to add, that "exercise helps with your mental well being". I researched this because I too feel better/more energized when I exercise: I found that cardio increases blood circulation, bringing more oxygen and glucose to your brain, which in turn increasing energy production and waste removal. So aerobic exercise in a big way oxygenates your brain, which helps you feel like you are clearing your head and therefore better allows you to perform throughout the day.
Note: Exercise is only half the equation, caloric intake is the other half (we will talk about this in another post, till then start working out ). If you are doing the above things and eating healthy (not consuming more calories than you are burning) with no results, then you might want to consult a doctor.
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