How you can prepare for Pregnancy

If you have the luxury of planning for your pregnancy, here are some helpful tips to get ready for pregnancy.

Visit your Doctor or Midwife

It’s a good idea to visit with your Doctor or midwife before you try to get pregnant to discuss relevant medical concerns, your pregnancy plan, and answer any questions you may have. If there is any health concerns, they will be able to help you prepare your body for Pregnancy.

Healthy eating habits

You shouldn’t be on a “diet” per se while you are pregnant, but before, during, and after your pregnancy you should have a healthy, balanced diet. If you are eating a lot of fried or sugary foods, you should start eliminating them out of your regular eating habits as soon as possible. You should focus on eating healthy food, not only fuel for your own body, but nutrients that will help develop a healthy baby too.

Prenatal Vitamins

During your pregnancy it’s crucial to have the right amount of vitamins and minerals in your body so that your baby gets the nutrients he/she needs in order to develop. Ideally, you should take Prenatal vitamins at least 6 weeks before you get pregnant. doing this,  you will be able to build up what your own body may be lacking in vitamins and minerals, and may help prepare your body for your developing baby. Folic acid is one of the many nutrients you will need which is found in Prenatal vitamins, and is  crucial to take – especially in the early stages of pregnancy – to prevent birth defects.

Work out

It’s healthy for you and for your baby to be fit before you get pregnant and to stay fit during your pregnancy. Of course,  you will want to make sure you aren’t doing anything too intense while you are pregnant because you don’t want to compromise your baby’s health. It’s not a bad idea to speak with your Doctor or Midwife about what type of exercise is appropriate for you.

Quit those bad habits!

Before you even try to get pregnant, you should stop smoking and drinking alcohol. You don’t want to wait until you have a confirmation that you are pregnant because in most cases, you don’t know you are pregnant until you are 4 weeks along already. As you may already know, consuming alcohol and smoking are extremely harmful to your baby during pregnancy and even after they are born – ever heard of second-hand smoke? Don’t allow your baby to suffer from something they have no control over.

I know it will be hard to stop drinking alcohol and/or stop smoking…but it will benefit you and your family in the long run, and I promise that you won’t regret it when your healthy baby comes!

Labor and Delivery

It’s always good to start with a plan of how you are going to have your baby delivered. Educated yourself on what to expect, what your choices are, and what’s best for you and your baby. If you are planning to get pregnant, or are already pregnant, I recommend watching a documentary called “The Business of Being Born“. It’s controversial and I love it because it will at least give you the other side of the story when it comes to having a baby. I feel that all soon-to-be Moms should at least know about natural births and the benefit that comes from them.

Tags: Baby, Business of Being Born, diet, doctor, exercise, Fitness, Healthy, healthy baby, healthy pregnancy, labor and delivery, midwife, minerals, no alcohol, nutrients, Pregnancy, Prenatal, prenatal pills, prenatal vitamins, stop smoking, vitamins, workout

Gym Etiquette guidelines to follow

Whether you are new to the gym or a seasoned gym rat, here are some common gym etiquette guidelines that you should be sure to follow:

•No muddy shoes on gym floor – you are sharing this gym with a lot of people, and nobody wants a dirty gym.  In most cases, the gym will provide a rug for you to wipe off your shoes.

•Must wear gym shoes while exercising – typically, you will not be allowed to exercise wearing  sandals, slippers or flip flops. This is obviously for safety reasons, and should be followed.

•No gym bags on gym floor – It’s never fun tripping over someone else’s gym bag just after you had an intense workout. Most gyms will have a policy in place to keep gym bags off of the floor, which is for everyone’s safety.

•No alcohol, smoking, or drugs allowed on premises – this should be an obvious, but it still must be mentioned!

•No offensive or abusive language – you are exercising around a lot of people, and should respect the fact that others will not want to hear your offensive language.

• Don’t talk my ears off! – Most people want to go to the gym to exercise rather than engage in social hour. Nothing’s worst than having to listen to someone else’s conversation about anything and everything for your entire workout. Respect the fact that other people are around you and don’t want to hear about your problems. If it’s just you and your friend at the gym, that’s another story. Then again…how can you have a successful workout if you are talking the whole time?

•Before changing TV stations, see if others are watching the TV or not – It’s OK to change the TV channel only
if nobody else is watching the channel that is currently on. If you change the TV channel without prior approval, it’s just plain rude.

•Share equipment – allow others to use the equipment during your rest period. Unless the equipment has your name on it,  you have to share.

•Share the lane – If your gym has a pool, be sure to share the lane with others. Just because you got there first, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t share the lane.

•Stop working out on a defective machine – If you are on an elliptical machine that keeps squeaking like crazy, get off and get onto a new machine. This is respectful to those around you who don’t want to hear the squeaking, and respectful to the gym so that they can have the machine repaired for future use.

•Return weights to the racks or plate trees after use – This is necessary for several reasons: 1) Everyone wants a clean gym rather than having weights laying around 2) You are sharing the equipment, and having a standard location to find the free weights makes sense

Now that you know the appropriate Gym Etiquette, you are ready to hit the gym!

Tags: equipment, etiquette, exercising, Fitness, gym, gym rules, machine, share, shoes

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

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

Cycling

Cycling is a fun way to get your body moving. I remember when I was younger I could ride my bike for hours since I was just having fun, feeling the wind in my face, and viewing the scenery. Back then, I didn’t realize that riding my bike (cycling) was actually good for me and that I was exercising.

Health benefits

Cycling is good for you for several reasons. First of all, it is a great cardiovascular workout (helps fight against heart disease). Cycling tones your muscles, such as your butt, your thigh muscles, and your calf muscles. More toned muscle comes with helping your body burn those calories, which if you want to lose weight, is a good thing. If you need to make sure you are careful with your knees, cycling is a great way to go. Cycling is easier on your joints than running for example, and can also help improve your joint’s movement, and reduces your risk of arthritis (which is usually caused by worn out cartilage in your joints).

Healthy you, Happy World

Another reason I can have an appreciation for Cycling? It’s not only good for your body, but also good for the environment. No pollution is a good thing, and something I just have to promote.

Tags: benefits of cycling, cardiovascular workout, easy on your knees, eco friendly, Fitness, fun, good for the environment, Healthy, Lose Weight, Month of May, National Cycling Month, prevents heart disease, toned muscle, Weight Loss, workout