Having Help

I have found over the last 2 weeks that it is extremely motivational and fun to have a buddy or buddies to work out with. It is so much easier to stay on track when you have another to work out with you.

Thanks Karrie, Chris, Ammon, Victoria, Bryan, Christian, and Dominique. :)You have made getting healthy alot easier.

Get and stay motivated!!!

People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily. - Zig Ziglar


You control your future, your destiny. What you think about comes about. By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands - your own. - Mark Victor Hansen


Do not wait; the time will never be 'just right'. Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along. - Napoleon Hill


A man may conquer a million men in battle but one who conquers himself is, indeed, the greatest of conquerors.
- Buddha


Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer


Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.
- James B. Conant


Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.
- Marilyn Vos Savant


Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sharing My Favorite Workout

This is just one of my favorite work outs. I love how my back and spine feel after I do this workout.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. In fact, I do the first half of the first video every morning as I'm getting out of bed and getting ready for the day. It really stretches me and prepares me for the day ahead.

Here is a link to my Youtube channel with my Health Playlist, it will auto play all 4 videos for you if you want to give it a try. I started by leaning 1 video at a time, but you can do whatever works for you :) ENJOY!!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/homework28#play/user/342BC94035B9FCE5

Addiction

How do you help an addict?

For most of my life I have been very unhealthy and unhappy. I try to take a step to a healthier life and then just crash. I must admit I have a major addiction! This addiction is food. Some would say food is a very easy addiction to conquer, but this is not true. Food is as much as an addiction as meth is to an drug addict. It gives me a great high and then a great low. At a very young age I let food become my everything. Food was my comfort and my best friend. I use food whenever I am happy and want to celebrate or food is my comfort when I am sad and I need comfort to ease my pain. I try to tell myself that food is killing me a little every day, but when I need that high I just can't seem to say NO.

Last week I started my normal "HEY, I am going to be healthy and start a new healthy life" and I did a great job for one week working out one hour every day and watching how much I ate and what I would eat. I lost 7 LBS and then you got it I needed that HIGH and I have not been able to stop wanting that high since.

Give your health a spike with a hike

Yesterday I woke up feeling broken. The night before I was commited and excited at the perspective of going for a hike at Shampoeg Park with Chris and his dad. When I woke, my tail bone felt broken and my shoulders and upper back felt like it had been beaten and bruised. I almost talked myself out of going for the hike, but I am so happy that I didn't.

Chris helped motivate me by letting me know that the pain was probably due from me sitting for such long hours at work and school, so I decided he was right and that I should take some IBuprofen and suck it up.

It was a beautiful and perfect day for a hike; sunny and warm, with a cool breeze. The further we walked, the looser my muscles and achey body became. Stress began to melt away and a feeling of relief spread over me. I felt as if I could walk forever. The pain was being stretched away. A smile naturally began to form on my face and all my worries seemed to disappear. Yeay Endorphins!

I was so happy to be able to get past the hump of not wanting to work out and go out and be rewarded with a body that felt good. I could breathe better, smile easier, and positivity seemed to surround me. Exercise, especially stretching and walking is one of the best ways to get rid of pain (Not every pain falls under this category, so ask a doctor or physical therapist if you are uncertain). I wish that I could go hiking at places like Shampooeg park every day.

Remember that exercise doesn't always have to be mechanical and routine, mix it up a little bit. Go swimming, play soccer or volleyball, try a new dance class, play tag, do something fun that you enjoy and you will be sure to stick with a great physical activity that burns calories and fat.

When to eat, When not to eat.

I've always wondered should I eat before I work out or after? So finally I got a straight answer from a little pamphlet that came with my 'Hip Hop Abs' DVD's. So this paragraph says: Don't eat just before you work out or right before bed. You want your body in "fat-burning mode" when it looks for energy. Even avoid energy bars and soft drinks in the hour before you exercise, as they encourage your body's "carb-burning mode" instead.

It's the secret enemy of exercise: the wrong food at the wrong time. While your overall diet is important, it's also important to maximize the effect of exercise to burn stored fat. Controlling the foods you eat before you work out is the one step most people don't know about. And it is amazingly effective.

Your body has two main sources of energy: stored fat and stored carbohydrates. When you eat or drink substances like energy bars or sports drinks, which are generally high in carbs, your body's insuline levels rise to cope with the additional carbohydrates in you system. That means, during the time you process those carbs through your bloodstream, your body's hormones are focused on burning that type of fuel for energy. Thus, if you consume those carbs before you workout, you will be in the mode to burn carbs in your body more than the stored fat around your waist and thighs! That's why it's highly recommended to put your body in a semi-fasting state, meaning you are working out with little to no food in your digestive system. For hydration, don't use sports drinks, use water. Your body will then be in "fat-burning mode," and the results from your effort will be maximized.

According to some high-profile dieticians and trainers, if you exercised for a month and didn't see the fat reduction you wanted, it's probably due to your insulin levels being too high while you were working out. That means your body wasn't attacking the fat stores, even though you were working your hardest.
So if you limit your carbs before exercise and before sleep, your body has more time to function as an effective fat-burning machine!
Pretty cool information huh? It's just nice to know why they tell us certain things to do or not to do. So hooray! I'm starting today!!!

Good health

Okay so I've totally been more aware of my health too since Janet's trip to the hospital as well as my own mom going in last year needing 4 units of blood. She had a colon problem. so I right away started eating more oatmeal, vegetables everything healthy. Then with Janet going in I started thinking about heart health and cholesterol. So now I'm exercising almost daily and trying trying to eat right and lose weight. I don't want to end up in the hospital!!!! Since I've started Hip Hop Abs I've lost 2 inches off my abs and lost a couple of pounds. And when I start exercising like I could totally be in a bad mood or not wanting to exercise but the endorphins are so obvious. All of a sudden I'm in a way better mood, have more energy, and feel like I can conquer the world. And I do have to conquer things in my world, and I do!!!!!!

Welcome

This is a blog that was motivated by mom's emergency visit to the hospital. I, like many of you, want to be a healthier individual. I don't like it when the people I love are threatened by their poor health and I like it even less when that threat could be fatal. I want to be a healthier individual that can also help others by motivating and informing them while undergoing and experiencing my own personal journey towards good health.

So please, feel free to blog about your successes, your failures, your healthy recipes, your personal thoughts, motivational thoughts and feelings, things that exercise our minds, physical exercises or exercise routines that work well, things that exercise or strengthens our spirits, or whatever fits into the category of good health.