Fitness joy for Twinkie

Believe it or not, I wasn’t always a fan of exercising….

When I thought of exercising I just thought of sweating, lifting weights, and trying to catch my breath. It has taken me years,  but I have come to love working out.

I think the trick is just finding something that you love, and it becomes easy to stick with it. I started out with Dance. Dance worked for me because I love music, and it was just so much fun to move with the music. I could dance for hours on end, and I have before.

If you are in an exercise routine that you absolutely hate, try to find an alternative that still gives you the same benefits. Again, if you actually enjoy what you are doing, you will make the time to make it happen, won’t make excuses on why you can’t keep it up, etc. You want to be happy with what you are doing with your time, exercising included.

So what is an exercise that you love to do?

Tags: Blog, dance, Diary, exercise, Fitness, goal size, goal weight, Healthy, idea, lifting weights, Lose Weight, motivates, motivational, music, natural, Perfect, shopping, Skinny, stay active, sweating, Twinkie, Weight Loss, working out

I hate “Diets”

I hate “Diets” because it just seems to imply that someone is only exercising or eating healthy for a short period of time. Once they lose weight and reach their goal, they go back to their old habits!

This type of thinking only turns “diets” into “yo-yo dieting”, which means after all that effort and time you too to lose weight and learn great eating and exercise habits, you just gained back all your weight…and then some.

If you know what I am talking about first hand, I am sure you hate dieting too. You are in luck though, because I have some good news and…depending on how you look at it, maybe some bad news too.

Bad news first

I don’t think that it’s bad news, but for some it might be just that. The bad news is this: There is no magic diet pill or spell that will make your magically thin and healthy. Crazy, right? I feel like I might have just told someone that Candy Land doesn’t exist! hehe

You have to think of your eating habits and exercise routines as a part of your life. If what you are currently doing isn’t getting you to where you want to go, a temporary and short term fix won’t solve the problem for good. Maybe temporarily, but you don’t want a temporary fix because you will constantly have to worry about fixing a problem. You want to have a permanent fix. This involved a complete lifestyle adjustment and for some…and pretty big change in your life.

It may be a bit slower of a process to finally get to where you want to be. It may take time to find the healthy foods that you love to replace the old foods that didn’t do your body any good. It may take time to find and start a realistic workout routine you can keep up with and stay with (not the same machine, but the routine). By doing it this way, a lifestyle change, you will see long term results, which in the end, it’s something we are all after.

The Good news!

Your body will feel great! It’s amazing how much happier people seem to be when their body’s are functioning at their best because they are receiving the nutrients and exercise they need.

It’s not always about looking skinny/fit/slim…it’s all about being healthy and feeling good!

As always…it will be worth it. I’m here to cheer you on. You ready for this?

♥,

Twinkie

Tags: diet, dieting, eat right, exercise, fit, Fitness, Healthy, Nutrition, Skinny, SkinnyTwinkie, slim, Twinkie, Weight Loss, yo-yo diet, yo-yo dieting

Importance of Breathing properly during exercise

Benefits

Breathing helps bring oxygen to the muscles, helps you relax, slows heart rate, and increases endurance

Application during Exercise

Be sure to develop a steady pattern of breathing while you exercise.

Breathe in through your nose, and excel through your mouth. If you breathe in through your mouth, that’s when you can start gasping for air, and your mouth just starts to burn. If this is the case, you aren’t doing it correctly.

Inhale during the recovery part of your exercise, and exhale during the exertion part of the exercise’s movement.

It’s important to breathe properly.  Breathing properly helps you keep your form, prevents injury and unnecessary fatigue. If you want to go the extra mile, or beat your personal best, breathing properly among other things is a sure way to increase your productivity while exercising.

Application for Everyday

It is important to get enough oxygen in our bodies, and most people don’t get enough on a regular basis.

So how can you make sure that you are getting enough oxygen in your body? An easy way to practice how to breathe properly, is to first lay down. Put your hand on your stomach. You should notice that when you take in a breath, your stomach should rise. When you exhale, your stomach should drop or sink in.

Take in slow, deep breaths to fill the lungs full of oxygen, and slowly release it.

Tags: application, benefit, breath, breathe, breathing, exercise, lung, oxygen

Walk, Jog, or Run?

Is walking better for you, or is jogging? What about running?

Walk

Walking is a lot easier on your body than jogging or running, and if you have been out of the gym for awhile, walking is an excellent place to start. Walking is also a great cardiovascular exercise, and should not be looked at as an inferior workout to either jogging or running. Try to keep a steady brisk walk, and this is a great way for you to burn calories and lose weight.

Focus on walking correctly, get good comfortable shoes, breathe correctly, and work your way up to speed walking. If you have ever had a knee injury, you might want to stick to walking until you have fully recovered from your injury. Never feel like you have to go faster than what your body is ready for, or capable of.

With any other workout that you do, walking is also a great cool down.

Jog

If you like a short and intense workout, jogging might just be for you. Jogging takes less time for the same calorie burn and cardiovascular benefits compared to walking. Be sure that you have great shoes, and that you are jogging correctly. Jogging can be really hard on the knees and shins if you jog “wrong”, jog for a prolonged amount of time, or even if you didn’t properly stretch before or after your workout. Something important to also keep in mind, is to breathe correctly. It is important that you breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth. If you need help practicing this, try walking until you can get the hang of things.

Run

Most people who say then went “running” actually went “jogging” instead.  Running is faster than jogging, and if you are on pace to finish a mile in less than 9 minutes, you are “running”. Just like walking and jogging, running is a great cardiovascular exercise, but takes much faster to burn the same amount of calories as it does for walking or jogging. Just know that this is an intense workout, and not for those just trying to get back to the gym. This is something you should work up to, but you don’t have to reach this point.

Which one is for me?

Do what is best for your body. Because I have had a knee injury in the past, I am not pushing myself to run, and I even limit the amount of jogging that I do. Am I depriving myself of anything? No. Whether you walk, jog, or run,  you are having a cardiovascular workout, burning calories, and getting a great exercise in. As long as you are properly warmed up and prepared, whether you walk for an hour, jog for 15 minutes, or run for 3 minutes, your body will thank you.

Tags: breathe, burn calories, burn fat, cardio, cardio workout, cardiovascular, cool down, exercise, Fitness, Healthy, heart, injury, jog, jogging, knee, Lose Weight, quality shoes, run, running, running shoes, shin, Skinny, walk, walking

Crunches…not for everyone?

Do crunches really make you have a flat stomach? Well…Depends.

Let’s be Honest…

If you have a lot of excess fat in your stomach area, I would say no, and I don’t recommend doing crunches- at least not just yet. What happens when you do crunches is that your stomach muscles get bigger. Think back to those guys at the gym who do weight training. Are they getting bigger or smaller in that areas they are working out and lifting muscles for? Same works with your stomach, so with those stomach muscles getting bigger, your stomach tends to stick out more.

The good news is…

So how do you get the excess fat away so you can see your sexy abs that you know are there somewhere? Cardiovascular exercise. Do cardio on a regular basis, such as running, swimming, elliptical, stairs, yoga, kick boxing, dancing, etc. Cardio is going to burn calories, get your heart pumping, and your body sweating. Even if you aren’t feeling the burn in your abs, that doesn’t mean that you won’t be losing fat around your middle. And no, this won’t happen overnight. It is something you will need to do on a regular basis, not just a one time thing.

Fat covers your muscle’s definition, so without the excess fat, muscle definition will come easier. For those who already don’t have a lot of fat in the middle area, crunches might just be a good thing for you to see some more definition and muscle tone in that area.

Tags: abs, bigger muscles, crunches, fat, Fitness, flat stomach, Healthy, muscle definition, muscles, regular basis, tones, Weight Loss, weight training