fitguru

Sometimes we can be so hard on ourselves, especially when it comes to weight loss. I lost 55 pounds in a considerable amount of time, yet, I am still having a battle of the bulge, with this stubborn belly fat, that is hanging on to me like a leech. However comments of ” Have you lost more weight” have seem to been flying by me left and right. Are these people blind? Or is it me that is blind. Everyone tells me I don’t need to lose anymore weight, and my response is: You don’t see me naked. However my scale is not budging and my clothes are still fitting the same, which is good, because I am 5 pounds below the goal weight I set for myself, when I first started this weight loss journey. So sometimes, it is good to listen to your peers, because you may be seeing something that really dosen’t exist. So I learned instead of stressing about the last 10-15 pounds, or that stubborn as belly fat. You should just live your life, and eventually everything will fall into place, and you will be bikini ready for the summer in no time!

It seems like everytime I pick up a magazine, there is some new diet, or new weight loss procedure that is a must do. From Lap Band surgery to self-injecting B-12 shots. Of course it is easy to get caught up in those compelling ads that boast lose 7-10 lbs in an hour, a day, or in a minute! I get it, we want to look good, and want to look good fast. But what is wrong with exercise? If you think lifting weights is the only type of exercise think again. As long as you are engaging in some kind of physical activity, that is considered exercise. If you hate the gym, go dancing, swimming, hiking, cycling, take a martial arts class, play with childhood games with your children, if you have any. There are a lot of fun and exciting activites that you can perform, and still be able to slim down. Diet and exercise is the sure-fire way to see permanment results!

Sometimes following the same routine can get really boring. I mean the gym is great, but sometimes I don’t want to lift 300 pounds of steel. Instead, I rather take a brisk walk, and get in tune with nature. For example the other day I decided I was going to take my workout outdoors. I mean I could have made my walk a real adventure by going on a hike, or traveling off the beaten path. But instead I just took a nice little walk around the block. I never realized there were a lot of shops that I may frequent in the future that were in a brief walking distance from my home. I got so used to driving, that I would just drive my car to a familiar place. Little did I know that most of the places that I traveled a wide distance for, were right around the corner. And I learned all of this by taking my workout outside.

I was awakend by a disturbing statistic today. The new anchor announced that experts predict that by the year 2010, Cancer is going to be # 1 cause of death, outweight heart disease. Wow! Not by 2020, but 2010 and that is just around the corner, we all know how fast a year can past by. So what does this mean for us? We need to step up, and take it a step further. We need to change the way we eat, starting with swapping harmone-infested food, with organic and natural foods. As a close friend always says: ” If you can’t read it, don’t eat it! You can find great quality foods, at a reasonable price at Whole Foods, Trader Joes, or a natural food store in your area. Small changes can make a big impact.

I admit at times, I really hate  to exercise, it can be such a tedious task.   Therefore when I am pressed for  time, or really want to get a good work out in the least amount of time- I resort to the 20 minute work out.   Experts say that it only takes 20 minutes for your body to turn into a fat burning  machine.   So I make it the best 20 minute work out I possibly can.  My goal is to max out my heart rate- which my target heart rate is 126.    So I pick a cardio machine of my choice, today I chose the elipitcal,  and had a consistent heart rate of 135.    For only 20 minutes it felt like I was working out for the full hour, since sweat was dripping from my forehead.   I thought I only glistened, but with a high intense 20 minute workout you are challenging your body.  The key is to max out your heart rate, and then throughout the day your body will burn even more calories, even when you are at rest.      Wow what a workout, now I have tons of energy to help keep me going through the day!   Remember to drink plenty of water before, during, and after you workout!

Wow! I realized that it has been quite some time since my last post. But as they say life ; life gets in the way. I finally took some time to wind down, and take a few days off to jump start my freelance writing career. You may wonder what does a freelance writing career have to do with this post? Well as a writer, I follow my interest and my passions, and one of my interests happen to be maintaining a healthy weight. So to make a long story short, I was pitching a ” radio script” to one of my potential clients at a health club in my area, mind you a health club that I am a member of. So I did some searching inside of my brain, and realized that the health clubs biggest benefit was the unlimited support and encouragement that you get from an instructor. At this particular gym, the health instructors are invaluable resources to the success of the facility. I mean, I have tried a variety of different classes, and 99.9 % of the time, the instructors were sincere, inspiring, and encouraging. One instructor even came up to me while I was on the treadmill, and told me I had on the wrong work out shoes, and she was concerned because she did not want me to have knee surgery, like she did, because she was wearing the wrong shoes. Now talk about a health club! So when you are feeling self-doubt, just go into a group fitness class and an instructor will give you that extra push that you need!