Go Slow
Posted by leah on Aug 5, 2008
This week’s tip: When lifting weights and doing toning exercises, perform each rep slowly. If you go too fast, you use momentum instead of muscle strength to perform the exercsie, and you put yourself at risk for injuries. Doing the movement slowly, while concentrating on using correct form, is more effective AND it’s safer.
Health Nut Wannabe Mom
Posted by leah on Aug 3, 2008
I found a fun health-related blog, called Health Nut Wannabe Mom. She writes about her health goals, along with information she’s found about health and nutrition.
I like this fun post about her diet soda “relapse”. Although diet sodas don’t have calories, they still probably aren’t good for you - lots of artificial chemicals in sweeteners, so even though they may be safe in small doses, I prefer to limit the amount of these chemicals in my diet.
My soda substitute? Bubbly water with a squeeze of lemon, or a splash of grapefruit juice - it’s refreshing, low in calories, and made with natural ingredients.
Fructose and weight loss
Posted by leah on Jul 31, 2008
According to Dr. Elizabeth Parks, a researcher at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, one of the reasons people on low-carbohydrate diets may lose weight is that they reduce their intake of fructose, a type of sugar that can be made into body fat quickly. She and a team of scientists conducted a study that showed a difference in the way the body processes fructose compared to other sugars.
One way to avoid getting too much fructose in your diet is to avoid foods with high fructose corn syrup, which is a common sweetener found in a lot of processed foods.
Dr. Parks points out that cutting back on fructose is only one part of the equation, and that it is important for people trying to lose weight to not consume too many calories. source
Warrior II
Posted by leah on Jul 30, 2008
Warrior II is a great pose for strengthening your legs and also balance. If you hold this pose, you might notice your arms get tired too, so it’s a good pose to try to hold for a little while to increase your stamina.
Carry a water bottle
Posted by leah on Jul 29, 2008
To make it easier to remember to drink water throughout the day, try carrying a water bottle with you. I use a refillable bottle that holds a quart of water, so I know that each time I finish it, I’ve had four cups worth of water. If you spend a lot of time in the car, keep your water bottle in your car’s cupholder, and it will always be convenient to sip some water.
Another reason to exercise
Posted by leah on Jul 27, 2008
From a press release issued by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis:
Absence may make the heart grow fonder, but endurance exercise seems to make it younger. According to a study conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, older people who did endurance exercise training for about a year ended up with metabolically much younger hearts. The researchers also showed that by one metabolic measure, women benefited more than men from the training.
So, to keep your heart performing like a young person’s heart, keep exercising! The study found that exercising for an hour 3-5 times a week was enough to improve heart function.
My workout schedule
Posted by leah on Jul 25, 2008
I thought I’d share my recent workout schedule for the last week. I managed to exercise every day, at least a little bit, and got to the gym twice.
The past week looked like this:
- Friday - cardio class at the gym - I’m training to teach this class, which is 45 minutes of cardio follwed by 30 minutes of toning.
- Saturday - easy stroller walking for an hour while running errands
- Sunday - did my 10 minute “baby workout” in which I use my son instead of hand weights and do some strength moves. He loves it, so I get to bond with him while doing something for me. Also worked on some choreography for my cardio class, but kept getting interrupted, so maybe 15 minutes of actual exercise there.
- Monday - got together with a mom from our mom group and did about an hour of yoga, mostly uninterrupted since it was naptime for the babies. It felt so good - I need to make time to do yoga more often. Later, ran errands, which means more pushing the stroller around.
- Tuesday - busy day, fit in 10 minutes of walking at lunchtime and another 10 minutes of pilates ab moves in the evening
- Wednesday - trained at the gym again, a really intense boot camp style class - the hardest I’ve worked since before I got pregnant! Then went for a half hour walk later because I could tell if I didn’t stretch out my tired muscles a little more, I’d be hurting the next day.
- Thursday - stretched for 10 minutes in the morning - as expected, my muscles were sore, but surprisingly it was just my legs, not my abs and arms, which also got worked. Went for a 45 minute walk around lunchtime.
Ideally, I’d be exercising an hour or more per day, but it doesn’t always work out that way. As you can see, walking is what I do most often. It is easy to do with a baby, and I can fit it in around whatever I’m doing that day - walk to the store, or walk while socializing instead of sitting at a coffee shop. But I do try to fit in some higher-intensity workouts too, to keep my heart strong, build muscle, and help me lose the last few stubborn pounds of pregnancy weight. If I had more time, I’d do yoga for an hour every day, because besides being a pretty good strength/balance/flexibility workout, it feels fantastic, and helps me relax.
Triangle
Posted by leah on Jul 23, 2008
Triangle pose is a great stretch for the side of your body and your legs. This is a pose that can easily be modified for people who are less flexible - instead of trying to reach your hand to the floor, you can put it on a block, or even on your thigh. You want to feel a good stretch, but it isn’t supposed to hurt, so only go as far as you can - when the stretch gts slightly uncomfortable, you are probably as far as you should go. Regular practice will help you get more flexible over time.
Here are instructions for triangle pose from about.com’s yoga site.
Keep a Food Diary
Posted by leah on Jul 22, 2008
A study by Kaiser Permanente, which will be published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine in August, found that keeping a food diary doubled the amount of weight people lost. So if you need to lose a few pounds, try keeping a diary of everything you eat.
Pigeon Pose
Posted by leah on Jul 16, 2008
This week’s pose of the week is Pigeon. I love Pigeon - it really stretches out my hips like nothing else. I wasn’t able to do pigeon late in my pregnancy, and I really missed it. Yoga Journal explains how to do this pose here, although I learned a slightly different position. I was taught to have the front leg not quite horizontal to the body, but at more of an angle, which is a little easier when starting out.