Weight Watchers only Watches your Weight for a Short Period of Time
A little over a month ago, my mother, sister and grandmother started a Weight Watchers diet. My mother and grandmother want to get in shape for the summer, and my sister had her junior prom at the end of April and wanted to look good in her dress. Weight Watchers is a weight loss program based on a points system. Each food and beverage is given a certain amount of points. Based on different factors such as your weight, height, age, gender and how much weight you want to lose, you are allocated a certain amount of points every day.
For example, my mother, grandmother and sister were all allocated 24 points per day. They could eat whatever type of food they wanted as long as they didn’t exceed 24 points within that day. Seems easy, right? My mother, grandmother and sister thought so. They had no problem sticking to their diet. Whenever they felt hungry they would eat fruits and vegetables because they are worth zero points. Or drink water to fill up.
While this diet might seem easy. But once you stop, you gain all the weight back. My sister lost a total of 8 lbs on Weight Watchers in the month she was on the diet. However she only wanted to do it in the month leading up to prom. Her prom was on April 26, only 18 days ago, and she already gained back 2 lbs.
Diets seem like a good idea and an easy fix to your weight loss problem. But once you start eating how you did before the diet, you gain the weight back. If you don’t make a lifestyle change, you will never lose the weight you want, permanently.
To learn more about Weight Watcher’s, visit: http://www.weightwatchers.com
What the Heck is a Burpee?
It’s a weird name but a burpee is the name of a movement used in a work out. It’s also very useful as it engages your core abdominal muscles, leg muscles and arm muscles.
To perform a burpee:
1) Start standing up straight with your arms by your side
2) Squat down with your knees together and your hands on the outside of your legs, on the ground
3) Shoot your legs outwards to the back, into a push up position
4) Come back to step 3
5) Jump straight up, putting your arms outstretched above your head
6) Repeat!
It may not seem like much, but burpees are physically exhausting. They work almost every muscle in your body, and increase stamina. Adding these to your work out will surely increase the level of your work out and impress your friends.
The Results of my Pole Fitness Class!
As I mentioned in my post last week, I would be attending a Pole Fitness class on Saturday. It was amazing! I went to the class with my cousin Laura who has been going for a few months now, so I was a little nervous. But by the end of the class I was having a blast!
The class had a mixture of beginner and advanced students, so I didn’t feel out of place. The instructor Lauren was very accommodating and helped all of us new comers. No one pressured us into trying a movement we weren’t comfortable with either. The class was very relaxed, yet exciting at the same time.
When we first arrived we stretched to warm up our muscles. I haven’t stretched in almost two months, since dance season ended, so I was a little sore. After that the instructor showed us some basic movements and walked us through how to perform each of them. Some of the movements had more advanced levels, so the people who had taken the class, did that variation while the rest of us worked on the basic style. The class was an hour and a half long. By the end, I was completely exhausted but it was a good kind of exhaustion when you just finished working hard. I definitely felt my muscles aching the day after the class too. My arms, legs and abs never worked so hard in one class.
I would definitely go back and recommend this activity to all of you. It might seem intimidating at first, but like with anything you’ll get better over time.
Alternatives to the Traditional Work Out
Staying active is an extremely important part of a healthy lifestyle. We’ve all been told before working out is the best way to achieve the ideal body we have implanted in our minds. But there are other ways of reaching our goals. The traditional work out we would usually do entails activities such as running/jogging/walking outside or on the treadmill, lifting weights, using the elliptical and other machinery, and crunches and push ups. This may work for some people, but for others it could get boring or seem uninteresting. There are many alternatives to stay active besides the types I just listed. A few of the ones I find most interesting are listed below:
1) Yoga – For all of you who need a little more relaxation in your life, yoga is an excellent choice. It combines physical, mental, and spiritual practices to form an overall holistic approach to working out. Yoga Each pose requires physical strength and flexibility as well as mental determination and patience. Yoga can help to build muscle strength, increase flexibility, burn calories, alleviate health problems, and reduce stress.
2) Hot Yoga – This activity is exactly what it sounds like. Yoga (as described above), but in a room set with the temperature at 100 degrees. I attended a Hot Yoga class before and loved it. The temperature of the room starts warm and increases as the class progresses. I personally think Hot Yoga is better because the temperature allows your muscles to relax and be more flexible. A lot of people are worried because it’s so hot, they’ll faint. But the instructors allow for water breaks and are very careful when it comes to the health and safety of the students. So if you feel dizzy, they work with you to ensure you feeling better. Hot yoga has all of the same benefits of regular yoga, but you are expected to burn up to 500 calories per class!
3) Pole Fitness – I know what many of you are thinking, “Pole dancing? Like for strippers?”. No, pole fitness is an actual activity that is offered in the professional sense. There are centers where pole fitness is taught as an activity similar to yoga and dance. Pole fitness entails stretching, core work outs and using these two skills on the pole. However, performing the skills on a pole is much different than performing them on the ground. Pole fitness requires extreme amounts of upper, lower and core strength. You are required to hold your body weight and engage almost every muscle in your body. This activity develops muscle and mental determination. (I’ll be taking my first class this coming weekend, so look for a follow up post on how it went!)
4) Zumba – This dance craze has become incredibly popular since it’s introduction in 2001. It combines fitness, entertainment and culture into a dance-fitness work out. The main goal of Zumba is to make the work out feel like a “fittness-party”. They accomplish this goal by using choreography to up beat music that produces a total-body work out. Zumba classes are offered in 185 different countries in 140,000 locations such as local schools, gyms and recreation centers.
5) Hiking – While hiking may seem like more of an hobby than a way to stay active, it has health benefits that are similar to those from the traditional work out. Being outside in a different setting other than a gym is already a benefit. Hiking is a form of cardio and therefore reduces the risk of heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, and colon cancer. It also leads to better blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Since hiking is a walking up hill, it also increases the strength of leg muscles and bone structure.
These activities are all different forms of working out. They are mentally and physically engaging, yet in the unconventional sense. So whenever you’re looking for a work out to spice up your routine, try one of these!
Sources: Zumba.com, webmd.com
Why You Shouldn’t Watch the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show
So many people, every year, rush home from work, pick up some snacks and plop themselves right in front of the couch to watch the Annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. It’s become almost a ritual for every teenage/young adult aged girl (at least the one’s I know and follow on social media) to watch it and obsess over the models. “Why?” you may ask. I have no clue!!!
It’s extremely frustrating and irksome to hear everyone complain. “Eating a bag of chips while watching #VSFashionShow #fatgirlproblems” or “WHY are these models so skinny? Becoming anorexic now #VSFashionShow” are just two of the tweets I’ve seen on Twitter. People obsess over the models, meanwhile the show is supposed to be demonstrating the fashion.
Victoria’s Secret models give people an unrealistic sense of what a girl is “supposed” to look like. The average height of these models is 5′ 10″ and the average weight is about 120 lbs. According to a Body Mass
Index calculator posted by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, a person with those measurements has a BMI of 17.2. This person is underweight. A normal BMI would be between 18.5–24.9.
When people watch this show and obsess over these underweight models, they are aspiring to be unhealthy. People walk away from this show thinking “I want to look just like her”, then may either starve themselves or develop an eating disorder. The image of these models as “role models” for a good body is unrealistic. In order to get your body to look that way, there would have to be drastic measures taken.
It’s fine if the models serve as motivation. Thinking “I want to look healthy” is different from “I want to look just like her”. Some people don’t understand that these models aren’t a healthy representation of the human body. You should only aspire to be a better version of yourself.
To calculate your BMI visit: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/BMI/bmicalc.htm
Health and Charity
Taking care of ourselves is important. However, there are those who do not have the means to take care of themselves. I believe charity work is extremely important. With more than 15% of American’s living below the poverty line, charity is an extremely important outlet to provide help for those in need.
Our society makes it so easy for those who live in these conditions to access unhealthy foods. McDonald’s “Dollar Menu”, and other fast food restaurants value menu’s like it, price foods at .99 cents. This allows poverty-stricken people to buy inexpensive food. However, the foods on these value menu’s are high in cholesterol, sodium, and fat. Often, these people don’t have another option and are forced to eat unhealthily because nutritious foods are out of their price range.
Nourishing USA is a charity dedicated to providing nutrition for people of all social classes. There main focus is correct eliminate the link between low-income status and poor dietary health. They are able to do so by providing nutritious meals and nutritional educational to the public.
For more information, visit their website: http://www.nourishingusa.org/ or Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nourishingusa/info
The Benefits of a Good Night’s Sleep
We’re always running around. Taking care of work, school, kids, errands, or whatever other tasks we need to deal with. I know for myself, I work two part-time jobs, I have an internship, and I am the captain of my dance team, all on top of being a full-time student. Finding even a minute for myself is tough, but it’s necessary to make time to de-stress and relax.
If you find yourself running around like a crazy person, (as I do most of the time) you need all of the sleep you can get. The recommended amount of sleep for an adult is eight hours a night. This might seem impossible with all of the tasks we find ourselves preoccupied with, but without it you’ll feel drained and unable to complete these tasks to the best of your abilities. Trust me, I’m a college student so I know first hand how exhaustion can negatively affect one’s daily activities.
According to Heath.com, sleep provides important benefits many people are unaware of:
- Sleep improves memory. Consolidation allows your brain to “practice” skills you learned while you were awake.
- A longer life span was proved to be a benefit of enough sleep.
- Creativity: your brain is able to reorganize and restructure memories as well as stir emotions that link to improved creativity.
- Sleep relates directly to your athletic ability. Whether you’re an athlete or just an average gym-goer, sleep re-energizes you and give you what you need to succeed in your work out.
- Sleep deprivation can negatively effect your performance on grades. Sleep reduces the chance of distraction while learning.
- “A lack of sleep can result in ADHD-like symptoms in kids” Dr. Rapoport, MD.
- A study performed by researchers at the University of Chicago showed dieters who acquired enough sleep lost more fat—56% of their weight loss—than those who were sleep deprived.
- Sleep is directly related to stress and can even help reduce blood pressure and the risk of heart disease.
Sleep provides many health benefits that allow for our bodies to perform better in day to day activities. Our lives are busy, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take care of ourselves.
Healthy Snacks (yes they exist)
As much as we love our junk food, snacking doesn’t always need to be sweet candy or salty potato chips. There are plenty of snacks you can buy (or make yourself) that contain nutritious value.
A healthy snack, should be natural such as fruits or vegetables. Anything man made such as potato chips, cookies, or candy, avoid. These foods are packed with trans fats and other unhealthy ingredients your body will retain. The goal is to find a natural food.
One great snack food I love is almonds. Almonds are a great source of protein and they’re tasty too! (I usually try to buy the kind with less salt to reduce bloating.) If you don’t like almonds or are allergic to nuts, find a fruit or vegetable you like and try that!
If you want to get a little more crafty with your snacks, one of my favorites is half of a hard boiled egg with guacamole filling. I found the recipe on Pinterest and never turned back. First, hard boil your eggs. When they’re done, cut it in half and scoop out the yolk. Then fill the spot where the yolk was with the guacamole and enjoy. There are tons of other healthy recipes’s like this one on Pinterest. I definitely suggest checking them out!
Remember, it’s all about portions too! If you’re going to snack in between meals, try to portion out a small serving of whatever it is you’re eating. I know that if I don’t put my almonds on a plate, I’ll sit there and eat the whole container until I’m stuffed. Healthy snacks exist, you just have to try them out.
Let’s Move! First Lady, Michelle Obama’s Initiative to Fight Child Obesity
Let’s Move! The platform launched by Michelle Obama, first lady of the United States, in 2010, is an initiative to get children active. It is dedicated to helping kids avoid obesity through the promotion of different activities and by sharing health facts and tips with parents so they can better their children’s health. The first lady is determined to fight child obesity and believes it can be stopped by making a few lifestyle changes.
The Let’s Move campaign focuses on creating a healthy start for children, empowering parents and caregivers, providing healthy food in schools, improving access to healthy, affordable foods, and increasing physical activity.
Her platform has a number of programs including:
- Let’s Move! Cities, Towns and Counties
- Chefs Move to Schools
- Let’s Move Faith and Communities
- Let’s Move Outside!
- Let’s Move! Museums and Gardens
- Let’s Move! in Indian Country
- Let’s Move! Child Care
- Let’s Move! in the Clinic
- Let’s Move Salad Bars 2 Schools
Let’s Move has received the support of influential figures and agencies including, President Obama, the USDA, Walgreens, Supervalu, Walmart, The Partnership for a Healthier America, Nike Inc., The Department of Defense, Disney, and many more. These organizations have teamed up with Let’s Move, and supported them by changing their regulations or promoting healthier options. Let’s Move already has had a huge success and
To learn more about Let’s Move! and how you can become involved, please visit the website: http://www.letsmove.gov/
Dining Out
“Let’s go out to eat tonight” is the worst fear of every person who tries to eat healthy. Restaurant cooks are known for their heavy hand with the oil and calorie packed dishes. It’s hard to eat out and maintain your healthy lifestyle but it’s not impossible either! Here are some tips for eating healthy in a restaurant:
1) Depending on where you go, there might be a “Lower Calorie” part of the menu. Check it out. The options usua
lly contain dishes with a variety from each food group.
2) Replace bad foods with good ones. Instead of ordering french fries with your main dish, replace it with a baked potato or sweet potato. Both baked potatoes and sweet potatoes contain less fat, calories and carbohydrates than french fries. Add a little sour cream or butter on top, and enjoy!
3) Skip the appetizers. All they do is fill you up before your meal actually comes. And lets be honest, we end up wrapping our dinner when we eat too much before hand.
4) Don’t drink soda. The carbonation will bloat your stomach, making you feel full and you won’t be able to finish your meal (the part with the nutrition). Instead, try to drink only water.
5) Pick a meal that contains more iron than carbohydrates. An option such as steak or grilled chicken with vegetables is much better than a cheese burger or four cheese ravioli.
6) You don’t need that dessert! It probably contains a few hundred calories and contains no nutrients. If you’re really craving sweet food, stop by the convenience or grocery store on the way home from dinner and pick up a pack of low fat pudding. It tastes just as good and has more than half of the sugar and calories cut out.
You can go out to dinner and still maintain your health. It’s all about the decisions you make. Try to have will power and remember why you started eating healthy to begin with. But, if you want to treat yourself every now and then to a cheat meal, you definitely can! 😉
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