Week 3: Exercise Journal

Week 3: Exercise Journal and Healthy Habits (2 part)

Week 3 is another 2 part challenge A and B. Remember the article I posted about The 7 Healthy Habits of Highly Fit People? Hopefully you read it and took it to heart. If so, this challenge will be a piece of cake. This week we are going to incorporate two of them into our daily routines {because we are working on two of them, we are setting a healthy goal: the 6th habit, so essentially we are working on three...:)}. This challenge goes from May 17th to May 23rd. You will report whether or not you completed the challenge with your weigh in on May 24th.

A. It's simple: Park far away.

It's only for 7 days: you can do this for 7 days! You may find you really like it and keep it going after that. Any excuse to get some physical activity is what we are going for.

Healthy Habit #2: They Move

People who seem to be perpetually in good shape not only eat frequently, but they move a lot. This seems elementary, but in a sedentary society, we are moving less than ever before.

Highly fit people don’t shy away from physical activity in their daily lives, whether that is walking when they could have drove or taking the stairs when the elevator would have been more convenient. If we walked more, and drove less, we wouldn’t have to spend as much time on the treadmill at the gym. Yet our daily lives are often arranged in such a way to discourage physical activity.

Highly fit people consciously go out of their way to find opportunities to move. Whether that is parking a greater distance away from the shopping mall, taking the stairs at work, or even picking up their pace when walking from meeting-to-meeting, you’ll always notice that fit people seem to be on the move.

They also find ways to get exercise that doesn’t always require spending time at the gym. Whether that’s recreational sports, walking the dog, swimming, running, yoga, Pilate's or even stretching at their desks, they understand that staying in-shape is a lifestyle, not just a “kick” you go on.

B. Exercise Journal. Whether it be your weights and repetitions, or speed walking from the back of the parking lot into the grocery store, how much exercise are you getting? How are you going to improve and move more if you don't know? Write it down! If you are sunbathing and watching your kids swim...doesn't count. You jump in and swim laps with them, you can log it! Make a choice to move more and become more active. You should see progress from one week to the next, whether you run further, lift more, find a goal and work towards it. Exactly WHAT do you record? That is up to you, depending on your exercise goals, make it your own. If you goal is to get moving and become more active, write down all of your physical activities. If you're goals are more specific, that's OK. {For example: the past few months, I've been working on improving my speed. My journal is going to have the days I ran and how fast my mile was. Maybe you are trying to increase the weights on your chest press, if so yours would be the date with the amount of weights and repetitions.}

Healthy Habit # 7: They Record Their Progress

Healthy, highly-fit people keep track of their exercise so they can determine whether they are actually making progress toward their goal. You can’t improve what you don’t measure.

Most highly-fit people keep an exercise log of some sort or another. It may simply be a notebook where they write down each exercise, the weight and completed reps. Or it may be more formal, for example a store-bought exercise and fitness log or a sheet provided by their gym. There are even programs available for cell phones or PDAs that can help track progress.

One of the first pieces of advice I give someone who feels like they aren’t making progress with their workout routine or diet is to start an exercise and food log. Often, people aren’t working as hard as they think at the gym or they’re eating more calories than they originally estimated. By keeping track of the details of your diet and workout regimen, you can have better visibility into potential stumbling-points and improve them.

Fitness-conscious people understand this, since meeting their goals means understanding that progress from the little improvements you make each workout. Unless you are tracking those improvements, you’ll find yourself stalled and frustrated.

What have you learned?

Has the Food journaling been helpful at all? What have you learned? Comment and share!

The Seven Healthy Habits of Highly Fit People

The Seven Healthy Habits of Highly Fit People

March 22, 2008 on 6:55 pm | By Matt | In Fitness Tips & Guides |

Adopt these seven, simple habits of really fit people and realize the benefits of a healthier body.

Ever wonder how people who always seem to be in great physical shape got that way? More importantly how do they stay healthy, fit and in-shape?

Here are the seven healthy habits that almost all fit people seem to have in common:

Healthy Habit #1: They Eat

No one ever dieted their way to long term fitness and health. Despite the disturbing trend toward fad diets like Master Cleanse (which involve extreme calorie restriction or striking entire food groups from a person’s diet,) well-conditioned, in-shape people eat. And they actually eat a lot.

The difference between fit eaters and fat eaters, is that highly fit people eat differently— they tend to eat more whole, unprocessed foods; have higher lean protein intake; consume the bulk of their carbohydrates in the form of complex carbs like whole grains, vegetables and whole fruit; and avoid the “fat free food” trap. They also tend to eat more frequently (as many as six to seven meals a day), but make those meals smaller.

The result is that they have more stable blood sugar, more consistent energy levels, and are less prone to gain body fat because they rarely eat more calories in any given meal than their body can utilize.

Healthy Habit #2: They Move

People who seem to be perpetually in good shape not only eat frequently, but they move a lot. This seems elementary, but in a sedentary society, we are moving less than ever before.

Highly fit people don’t shy away from physical activity in their daily lives, whether that is walking when they could have drove or taking the stairs when the elevator would have been more convenient. If we walked more, and drove less, we wouldn’t have to spend as much time on the treadmill at the gym. Yet our daily lives are often arranged in such a way to discourage physical activity.

Highly fit people consciously go out of their way to find opportunities to move. Whether that is parking a greater distance away from the shopping mall, taking the stairs at work, or even picking up their pace when walking from meeting-to-meeting, you’ll always notice that fit people seem to be on the move.

They also find ways to get exercise that doesn’t always require spending time at the gym. Whether that’s recreational sports, walking the dog, swimming, running, yoga, pilates or even stretching at their desks, they understand that staying in-shape is a lifestyle, not just a “kick” you go on.

Healthy Habit #3: They Make the Time for Exercise

“I don’t have time for exercise” isn’t something you’ll hear from a highly fit person. Everyone is busy and everyone has career, family and community obligations. But highly fit people make time for exercise.

Indeed, they often hold their exercise time sacred and will always figure out a way to meet their other commitments, while still meeting their health, diet and fitness needs. The truth is that most people have far more time available in their day then they think. They spend time watching tv, playing video games, surfing the Internet, going to the movies or even sleeping an extra hour or two.

Exercise doesn’t require that much time. In general, less than 60 minutes a day. Most people easily have that time available to them, they just choose to use it differently. Highly fit people, on the other hand, make exercise a priority. They make a choice to watch an hour less of TV in the evening in order to take care of their body and health. And with all of the studies that show the tremendous benefits to regular exercise, it’s clear that more people should follow their lead and make it a priority as well.

Healthy Habit #4: They Drink Water

Highly fit people understand the benefits of water. When you see them, whether its at the gym, at home or in the office, a bottle of water will often be close at hand. Study-after-study has shown that proper hydration isn’t just important to athletes and runners, but everyone. Water can blunt fatigue, improve concentration and thought clarity, discourage the formation of kidney stones, improve digestion and improve performance in the gym. Highly fit people drink a lot of water … and they are healthier for it.

Healthy Habit #5: They Don’t Diet!

This is related to Habit #1. Highly fit people don’t “go on diets” — they are on a diet every day.

That doesn’t necessarily mean they are restricting calories every day. It means that they understand that long term health and fitness requires consistently eating smart. And smart eating for a highly fit person is just part of their every day routine.

You can often spot a highly-fit person because they don’t skip breakfast, they will often bring their own lunch to work and they seem to always be snacking on healthy foods like apples, vegetables and nuts. It’s also rare to see them eating fast food or drinking soda — arguably to of the worst types of foods a person can consume and a leading cause of obesity according to a 2006 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The one exception to this rule is competitive male and female bodybuilding. Competitive bodybuilders will often diet (drastically, some times) leading up to a competition in order to drive their body fat down to very low levels (for men the low-single digits and for women, the mid-teens.) It’s very difficult for any person, no matter how well-conditioned they are, to maintain these extremely low, competition-grade body fat levels for any significant amount of time. Still, even most competitive bodybuilders will admit that if it weren’t for their sport, they would never utilize these diet tactics.

Healthy Habit #6: They Have Goals

Highly fit, in-shape people always have a goal. After all, you can’t improve something unless you know what you are trying to improve it to. Those goals can be small and incremental, or large and ambitious. In either case, they act with a sense of purpose when it comes to their health and physical fitness.

Whether that goal is to maintain their current physique, improve it, reduce body fat, gain additional muscle, increase their endurance or stamina, become more flexible, improve their coordination, or develop a better golf swing, they will always have a goal that they are shooting for.

If you ask a fit person what they are currently working on, they will always be able to tell you their goal. And if you observe them exercising, you’ll be able to sense that they have purpose. They rarely sit still between sets, they minimize socialization in the gym during their workout, and again, they always seem to be on the move and “in the zone.” In other words, they won’t just be going through the motions, they’ll be striving for something.

Healthy Habit # 7: The Record Their Progress

Healthy, highly-fit people keep track of their exercise so they can determine whether they are actually making progress toward their goal. You can’t improve what you don’t measure.

Most highly-fit people keep an exercise log of some sort or another. It may simply be a notebook where they write down each exercise, the weight and completed reps. Or it may be more formal, for example a store-bought exercise and fitness log or a sheet provided by their gym. There are even programs available for cell phones or PDAs that can help track progress.

One of the first pieces of advice I give someone who feels like they aren’t making progress with their workout routine or diet is to start an exercise and food log. Often, people aren’t working as hard as they think at the gym or they’re eating more calories than they originally estimated. By keeping track of the details of your diet and workout regimen, you can have better visibility into potential stumbling-points and improve them.

Fitness-conscious people understand this, since meeting their goals means understanding that progress from the little improvements you make each workout. Unless you are tracking those improvements, you’ll find yourself stalled and frustrated.

The Takeaway: Make These Habits Your Own

Remember, you don’t have to be an athlete, competitive bodybuilder, aerobics instructor or fitness model to take advantage of these seven healthy habits. Regardless of your level, experience or personal health and diet goals, you can can live a healthier and happier life by adopting some of the same habits as highly-fit people.

Week 2 Challenge: Keeping a food journal

Figuring out WHY we eat is the dietary core to losing weight and KEEPING IT OFF. Mastering our emotional eating and taking control of our diets leads to long term weight loss success.

Instructions:

Week 2 Challenge comes in 2 parts A and B. Read thoroughly and carefully. This is personal so the journal will not be turned into me, but you will report to me if you completed the challenge the following Monday, May 17th with your regular Monday weigh in...again using the honor system.

Remember, we are still losing weight here, so don't give up on cardio....burn baby burn!

Things You'll Need:

• Notebooks
• Pens
• Pens
• Notebooks

A. Monday-Saturday (May 10th-14th)

Recording Your Eating Habits

1. Step1

   Record the day and time of your snack or meal.

2. Step2

   List the food and serving size at every snack or meal, with a different food or drink on each line. For instance, if you ate a hamburger, fries and a soda, list fries on one line and soda on another; then hamburger on the next line.

3. Step3

   On the same line, write down your reason for eating and your feelings during the meal. Were you really hungry? Bored? Upset?

4. Step4

   Make a note of where the snack or meal took place. Did you eat at home? At a fast-food restaurant?




B. Sunday (May 15th)

Interpreting Your Journal

5. Step1

   Determine your motivation for eating. Are you truly hungry when you eat? If not, are you eating for emotional reasons?

6. Step2

   Compare the types of food and portions you eat with the food pyramid. Do you eat well-balanced meals with good serving sizes? Do some areas have room for improvement?

7. Step3

   Take note of your eating habits. Do you eat regularly, or do you eat a little and then overindulge later?

8. Step4

   Use the above as guidelines to determine your problem areas, and brainstorm ways to repair those problems.

   
   

   You're doing awesome, keep it up!!

Worth the Challenge?

Want to know what you're playing for?

Each week the winner of the weekly challenge gets their pick of the following {drum roll please}...

Spa Gift Basket Including:

Bath and Body Works lotion

4 nail polish’s

2 Sachets

Head wrap towel for after shower

Bath pillow

Bath sponge

3 Bath salts/Pearls

Lg. package of Q-Tips

Sports Gift Box Including:

Pedometer

Aluminum Water bottle

Bubble bath for Muscle aches & pains

Stop Watch

Massager

Protein Bars

$20 It's a Sign Gift Certificate

$25 Nike Gift Certificate

$20 Target Gift Card

$25 Barnes and Noble

$10 Subway Gift Card

$10 Subway Gift Card

$10 Subway Gift Card

$25 Old Navy Gift Certificate (New Clothes for that New Body)

$20 Lowes Gift Card

$15 Crispers Gift Certificate

$15 Crispers Gift Certificate

$15 Crispers Gift Certificate

Again, a huge thank you to the people and businesses that contributed!

If you see something you want, complete the challenges and stick to your goals!

What's for Dinner?

Need some fresh healthy ideas for dinner? This is a favorite of ours, and the kids love it. Sometimes we will serve it with some multi grain pasta tossed with fresh vegies, a little balsamic vinager and extra virgin olive oil (Kosher salt and ground pepper to taste).

What are you cooking tonight? Give us some healthy ideas!

Balsamic Chicken

Try this age-old South Beach Diet™ chicken recipe, passed down through generations of home-style cooks-and non-cooks alike! A terrifically simple recipe to prepare, the baked chicken is flavored with a full-bodied, sweet balsamic vinegar recipe originating in Italy. Our version of this classic balsamic chicken is actually a baked chicken recipe, and different because it uses chicken breast (which cooks faster than chicken on the bone) and is baked for a short time in a hot oven, sealing in flavors. The chicken is marinated in a fresh rosemary and garlic recipe, with aromatics and herbs commonly used with pork and lamb - but equally fantastic with chicken. This South Beach Diet™ balsamic chicken recipe is the perfect dinner for you and your family.

Serves 2

Ingredients
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves, minced
2/3 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1-2 tablespoons white wine (optional)
1 1/3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Instructions
Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Combine the rosemary, garlic, pepper, and salt in a small bowl and mix well. Place the chicken in a large bowl. Drizzle with the oil, and rub with the spice mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Spray a heavy roasting pan or iron skillet with cooking spray. Place the chicken in the pan and bake for 10 minutes. Turn the chicken over. If the drippings begin to stick to the pan, stir in 3-4 tablespoons water or white wine (if using).

Bake about 10 minutes or until a thermometer inserted in the thickest portion registers 160°F and the juices run clear. If the pan is dry, stir in another 1-2 tablespoons of water or white wine to loosen the drippings. Drizzle the vinegar over the chicken in the pan.

Transfer the chicken to plates. Stir the liquid in the pan and drizzle over the chicken.

Nutritional Information:
183 calories
6 total fat (1 g sat)
65 mg cholesterol
4 g carbohydrate
26 g protein
0 g fiber
270 mg sodium

Roasted Carrots

, 1999, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, All rights reserved

Prep Time:

10 min

Inactive Prep Time:

10 min

Cook Time:

20 min

Level:

Easy

Serves:

6 servings

Ingredients

• 12 carrots
• 3 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh dill or parsley

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

If the carrots are thick, cut them in half lengthwise; if not, leave whole. Slice the carrots diagonally in 1 1/2-inch-thick slices. (The carrots will shrink while cooking so make the slices big.) Toss them in a bowl with the olive oil, salt, and pepper. Transfer to a sheet pan in 1 layer and roast in the oven for 20 minutes, until browned and tender.

Toss the carrots with minced dill or parsley, season to taste, and serve.

Running: The Perfect Form

How was your mile? Found this article you might find useful. It's easy on the joints, and make breathing a whole lot easier.

THE PERFECT FORM

Running better, from head to toe.

By Jane Unger Hahn

From the August 2004 issue of Runner's World

Head Tilt How you hold your head is key to overall posture, which determines how efficiently you run. Let your gaze guide you. Look ahead naturally, not down at your feet, and scan the horizon. This will straighten your neck and back, and bring them into alignment. Don't allow your chin to jut out.

Shoulders Shoulders play an important role in keeping your upper body relaxed while you run, which is critical to maintaining efficient running posture. For optimum performance, your shoulders should be low and loose, not high and tight. As you tire on a run, don't let them creep up toward your ears. If they do, shake them out to release the tension. Your shoulders also need to remain level and shouldn't dip from side to side with each stride.

Arms Even though running is primarily a lower-body activity, your arms aren't just along for the ride. Your hands control the tension in your upper body, while your arm swing works in conjunction with your leg stride to drive you forward. Keep your hands in an unclenched fist, with your fingers lightly touching your palms. Imagine yourself trying to carry a potato chip in each hand without crushing it. Your arms should swing mostly forward and back, not across your body,between waist and lower-chest level. Your elbows should be bent at about a 90-degree angle. When you feel your fists clenching or your forearms tensing, drop your arms to your sides and shake them out for a few seconds to release the tension.

Torso The position of your torso while running is affected by the position of your head and shoulders. With your head up and looking ahead and your shoulders low and loose, your torso and back naturally straighten to allow you to run in an efficient, upright position that promotes optimal lung capacity and stride length. Many track coaches describe this ideal torso position as "running tall" and it means you need to stretch yourself up to your full height with your back comfortably straight. If you start to slouch during a run take a deep breath and feel yourself naturally straighten. As you exhale simply maintain that upright position.

Hips Your hips are your center of gravity, so they're key to good running posture. The proper position of your torso while running helps to ensure your hips will also be in the ideal position. With your torso and back comfortably upright and straight, your hips naturally fall into proper alignment--pointing you straight ahead. If you allow your torso to hunch over or lean too far forward during a run, your pelvis will tilt forward as well, which can put pressure on your lower back and throw the rest of your lower body out of alignment. When trying to gauge the position of your hips, think of your pelvis as a bowl filled with marbles, then try not to spill the marbles by tilting the bowl.

Legs/Stride While sprinters need to lift their knees high to achieve maximum leg power, distance runners don't need such an exaggerated knee lift--it's simply too hard to sustain for any length of time. Instead, efficient endurance running requires just a slight knee lift, a quick leg turnover, and a short stride. Together, these will facilitate fluid forward movement instead of diverting (and wasting) energy. When running with the proper stride length, your feet should land directly underneath your body. As your foot strikes the ground, your knee should be slightly flexed so that it can bend naturally on impact. If your lower leg (below the knee) extends out in front of your body, your stride is too long.

Ankles/Feet To run well, you need to push off the ground with maximum force. With each step, your foot should hit the ground lightly--landing between your heel and midfoot--then quickly roll forward. Keep your ankle flexed as your foot rolls forward to create more force for push-off. As you roll onto your toes, try to spring off the ground. You should feel your calf muscles propelling you forward on each step. Your feet should not slap loudly as they hit the ground. Good running is springy and quiet.