Exercise Can Be Fun!

Exercise doesn’t have to be boring. You don’t have to physically walk into a gym to burn extra calories, lose weight, and become healthy.

Did you know that you can make exercise fun?  Check out the video below and you’ll understand what I am talking about!

What other fun exercises can you come up with?

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Tags: burn calories, exercise, fun

Indoor Date Ideas…that Burn Calories!

During the Summer months it can get a little too hot for comfort, and sometimes during the Winter months it can get too cold for comfort. Either way, there’s still no excuse to not be able to burn some extra calories!

Here’s a list of fun indoor date ideas that will help you burn some extra calories!

Bowling – Enjoy the cool indoors by going bowling and have fun burning about 180 calories an hour! Just be sure to skip the junk food available at the bowling alley and opt for a healthy meal before you go have fun bowling!

Indoor Swimming – As I have said before, swimming is a full body workout, if done properly. You can burn anywhere from 270 to 550 calories an hour - depending on how vigorously you decide to swim.

Yoga DVDs – Do yoga in the comfort of your own home as you watch your favorite yoga DVD. You can expect to burn about 220 calories an hour as you are sculpting your body to perfect form.

Roller Skating – Go to a roller skating rinkThis is a fun way to burn about 465 calories an hour, and that’s just if you are skating on a flat surface. If you roller blade uphill, expect to burn even more calories!

Karate Class – Take a Karate class together and and you could end up burning about 390 calories an hour.

Laser Tag – Ever played laser tag? You get to run around and shoot the opposing team with a plastic (sometimes heavy) laser gun! Play on the same team or opposing one and you can end up burning about 370 calories an hour!

Dancing – Do you and your date love music? Dancing is a great way to have fun while burning lots of calories! Turn up the music to upbeat songs and have fun burning about 160 calories an hour!

Museum – Take your date to an Art Gallery or Museum, and have fun while you do a lot of walking, which you will end up burning about 130 calories an hour.

Wii Sport – You will have loads of fun on your date when you play games on the Wii Sport! You can try out boxing, bowling, or tennis and you can expect to burn an average of 390 calories an hour!

Indoor Rock Climbing – For those of you who are not afraid of heights, this is the perfect activity for you! You can expect to burn approximately 575 calories an hour from Rock Climbing!

Spin Class – You can burn about 320 calories an hour by going to a spin class together!

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Tags: burn calories, burn fat, date ideas, exercise, Fitness, fun, Health, Weight Loss

Fun Date Ideas…that Burn Calories!

I love dates that don’t involve just eating and sitting. Dinner and a Movie, anyone? No thanks! They are great every once in a while, but I prefer to do something a lot more active when the weather is appropriate!

Why not go hiking and enjoy a picnic at the top of a mountain?

Here’s some fun date ideas that involve burning a lot more calories than sitting at the movies for two hours and munching on popcorn! Oh yeah, I think you will have a lot more fun too!

Canoeing - How fun would it be to go out on a lake with your date for a little canoe ride? Not only will you be able to talk, laugh, and enjoy each other’s company, you will also be able to burn about 320 calories  an hour if you paddle at a moderate speed.

Walking – Go to the zoo, museum, park, or beach and just go for a walk! When you talk and walk you can burn about 210 calories an hour!

Biking - Why not go on a bike ride with your date? You will burn about 415 calories an hour, and if you are adventurous enough to go Mountain Biking,  you can burn up to 600 calories an hour! Talk about a fun workout with your hot (literally) date!

Swimming – You can cool yourself off from the hot Summer sun and end up burning around 270 calories an hour if you just lightly tread water. Of course, you will end up burning more calories if you swim laps, but this is a date, right? Have fun!

Rock Climbing – For those of you who are not afraid of heights, this is the perfect activity for you! You can expect to burn approximately 575 calories an hour from Rock Climbing!

Surfing – If you are lucky enough to live close to a beach, why not go Surfing for a date? If you or your date doesn’t know how to surf, you can always take lessons together! Surfing is a fun way to exercise and burn about 170 calories an hour. Surf’s up!

Hiking - Enjoy the nature together and burn about 420 calories an hour! I am not surprised you can burn that many calories hiking since it’s like a natural stair master, only harder! Perhaps you and your date can hike to a beautiful location and enjoy a nice picnic lunch together?

Dancing – Do you and your date love music? Dancing is a great way to have fun while burning lots of calories! Turn up the music to upbeat songs and have fun burning about 160 calories an hour!

Mini golf – Whether you are on a double date or not, it’s pretty fun to go Miniature Golfing! Enjoy some friendly competition and burn about 135 calories an hour. “Four!”

Roller blading – This is a fun way to burn about 465 calories an hour, and that’s just if you are skating on a flat surface. If you roller blade uphill, expect to burn even more calories!

Volleyball – This is a fun group date activity that let’s you enjoy some competition, have some laughs, and burn 300 calories an hour. If you play Beach Volleyball, you will burn about twice as many calories since the sand makes it more difficult to balance and move on. More fun, more calories burned. Sounds like a win- win to me!

No Gym Required

I hope you realize that you can still have fun while you burn a lot of calories! As you can see, you don’t need a gym to exercise or lose weight, and I hope that you will enjoy the nice weather outside and all of your workout options!

Remember to drink plenty of water and bring food if the date lasts more than three hours. Wear safety gear as needed, be safe, and have fun!

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Tags: burn calories, exercise, Fitness, fun date ideas, Lose Weight, Weight Loss

How to Burn Extra Calories this Winter

During the Winter months, too many of us dread the snow and wish we had warmer weather. We also tend to use Winter as an excuse to stay in doors!  Be sure to dress warm, then you should go outside and have fun while you are burning those extra calories!

Build a Snowman – When was the last time you built a snowman when it snowed? It’s not just for the kids, and when you are working on building your very own Frosty, you will burn about 240 calories an hour.

Ice Skating – This is one of my favorite things to do in the Winter time! You don’t have to be doing triple axel jumps to get a good exercise with Ice Skating. All you need to do is just try to balance yourself and keep moving forward – oh, and have some fun! While you are Ice Skating, you will be burning an average of 470 calories an hour. Not bad!

Snowball fight - Have a friendly snowball fight with your kids, and plan on burning 319 calories an hour.

Cross Country Skiing – Looking for a good workout while enjoying some beautiful scenery? With Cross Country Skiing, you will burn an average of 610 calories burned per hour. That’s a lot of calories you will burn without realizing you are working out. Ok, you will know you are working out, but this definitely beats the treadmill at the gym. Enjoy the scenery!

Snow Shoeing – Enjoy some time Snow Shoeing! Unlike Cross Country Skiing, you can go uphill, downhill, and on flat tundra. With this fun activity,  you will burn about 540 calories an hour.

Sledding – I love sledding and never knew that I could burn about 460 calories an hour! That’s a lot of calories being burned while going up that big hill so you can sled all of the way down.

Snowboarding – One of the great things about Snowboarding is that you can go up and down the hill for hours and not even realize how much time has passed you. The next day, you can feel it: 450 calories burned per hour!

Now that you have fun activities to do, you can start singing “Let is Snow!” and actually mean it.

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Tags: burn calories, Cold Weather, cross country skiing, exercise, Fitness, fun, Fun Workouts, ice skating, sledding, Snow, snow shoeing, snowball fight, snowboarding, snowman, Winter

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.

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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