Healthy Tips and Tidbits
Spring has sprung and some of us ain't having it. We are all expecting our bodies to be able to jump right in to rigorous activity, plant a garden, run our kids all over town for sports and keep up with the normal activity of shopping, laundry, errands, and so forth.
I have many friends successfully using supplements to help them jump start themselves into this frenzy of activity when we have all been hibernating for months. I also have felt the drag and dropping our YMCA membership meant I had to find something I can do to get sweaty daily and not whine about the cold.
So I have some advice that has helped me immensely and I figured I could break it down so in over a months time you will have added some great healthy habits that will be mostly free.
First week of getting Spring fit: First, write in your prayer journal or just pray that God will be your champion in getting fit, whatever that means for you. Not what you look like, but that you have the energy to begin and end your day with Him for yourself and others.
Start pouring water into a 2 liter pitcher and drink it throughout the day. If you want more or sweat alot in your workouts, drink another picher to get in a gallon. Also try getting 8 hours of sleep, in bed by 10, up at 6. {If you need to add anything to your water, try fresh lime or lemon, no fake stuff}
Second week: How did week one go? Just like anything else you will have days you don't get all the water in or you go to bed late, but keep trying to get those goals to stick. You will notice a difference.
Now, download 3 apps. MyFitnessPal, Mapmyride, Mapmyrun. If you don't have a bike, then disregard the ride one. Start your free sign up and setup your profile on MyFitnessPal, current weight, goal weight and how active you are. You can also keep track of your water. This week start inputting your food into MyFitnessPal. This will take the longest this first week since you are starting new. Once you have something in your diary it will pop up and if you eat alot of the same stuff you will be golden. You will be amazed at how quick your calories can add up and if you aren't burning them off, you will be sluggish. Whether you walk, run, jog, bike, do something everyday for 20-30 minutes. Even if you have to break it up 10-15 in the am, on your lunch break or in the evening. No matter what it is, try to break a sweat. Make a point to get your blood pumping and get those toxins OUT. Look at the foods you eat and see if you can make some small changes, plain oatmeal and add blueberries, walnuts, cinnamon and 1 tsp of honey. Throw spinach into your smoothies. Change out sugary yogurt for Greek yogurt. Try 1/2 and 1/2 instead of flavored creamer. Ditch sugar wherever you can. You will always feel sluggish the more sugar you eat.
Third Week: How are you doing? Water? Sleep? Inputting nutrition and exercises into your app? Are you feeling more rested? Hydrated? Less insomnia? Less cravings? If you are like me and crave chocolate alot, I read it can be a magnesium deficiency. After my 2 girls I noticed my PMS was off the charts. So I did some research and started taking B6, Magnesium, and Calcium everyday. By the 2nd month I could tell it helped so much with my irritability and cravings. If I am slacking on energy this too helps and I let myself jog instead of run, if not walk altogether, and sometimes more than once a day. Start including vitamins into your routine and really pay attention to your health around your cycle. Its so easy to give in to cravings, slacking off on exercise, etc.
Fourth Week: SO, here we are, so many changes. This week find something that you have been less than stellar on and improve on that. Is it the sleep? Water? Nutrition? Vitamins? Write sticky notes or set alarms on your phone to help remind you. And one last thing, and as usual I just found Fitness Blender on Youtube. Hundreds of FREE AMAZING workouts right at your fingertips. SO many options, weights or no weights, short or long workouts, arms or abs or both? Cardio or no cardio, strength training and HIIT options available. My option is to work out in the evenings, I am not awake enough to do it at 6 am and we homeschool during naptime, so the evening it is. If its too late I do short workouts but when the stars align I get a good 45 minute workout and I am drenched. The 20 minute ones I am just as sweaty as a good run, so I really love these workouts and I can tell I am getting fit. I hiked up a hill at a park with other Mommy friends and I felt no challenge or change of breath. Some friends who aren't as active were not enjoying the hike as much. My handsome hubby also commented on my back muscles, that is a WIN in my book!
I am praying we all have a healthy and fit spring!
* I am also adding to this post how much FitnessBlender and Stretching helped me in on month for from having horrible knee pain and was not able to do a 10K the way I wanted to-to run and be free of pain. If you look up how to train for a race, its all about running, a few cross training days. I chose to run twice a week and focus on stretching every day and using FitnessBlender 4 days a week, at least 30 minutes. I was strong, focused, paced, and zero knee pain for my 10k and had my PERSONAL BEST RACE ever.
I have many friends successfully using supplements to help them jump start themselves into this frenzy of activity when we have all been hibernating for months. I also have felt the drag and dropping our YMCA membership meant I had to find something I can do to get sweaty daily and not whine about the cold.
So I have some advice that has helped me immensely and I figured I could break it down so in over a months time you will have added some great healthy habits that will be mostly free.
First week of getting Spring fit: First, write in your prayer journal or just pray that God will be your champion in getting fit, whatever that means for you. Not what you look like, but that you have the energy to begin and end your day with Him for yourself and others.
Start pouring water into a 2 liter pitcher and drink it throughout the day. If you want more or sweat alot in your workouts, drink another picher to get in a gallon. Also try getting 8 hours of sleep, in bed by 10, up at 6. {If you need to add anything to your water, try fresh lime or lemon, no fake stuff}
Second week: How did week one go? Just like anything else you will have days you don't get all the water in or you go to bed late, but keep trying to get those goals to stick. You will notice a difference.
Now, download 3 apps. MyFitnessPal, Mapmyride, Mapmyrun. If you don't have a bike, then disregard the ride one. Start your free sign up and setup your profile on MyFitnessPal, current weight, goal weight and how active you are. You can also keep track of your water. This week start inputting your food into MyFitnessPal. This will take the longest this first week since you are starting new. Once you have something in your diary it will pop up and if you eat alot of the same stuff you will be golden. You will be amazed at how quick your calories can add up and if you aren't burning them off, you will be sluggish. Whether you walk, run, jog, bike, do something everyday for 20-30 minutes. Even if you have to break it up 10-15 in the am, on your lunch break or in the evening. No matter what it is, try to break a sweat. Make a point to get your blood pumping and get those toxins OUT. Look at the foods you eat and see if you can make some small changes, plain oatmeal and add blueberries, walnuts, cinnamon and 1 tsp of honey. Throw spinach into your smoothies. Change out sugary yogurt for Greek yogurt. Try 1/2 and 1/2 instead of flavored creamer. Ditch sugar wherever you can. You will always feel sluggish the more sugar you eat.
Third Week: How are you doing? Water? Sleep? Inputting nutrition and exercises into your app? Are you feeling more rested? Hydrated? Less insomnia? Less cravings? If you are like me and crave chocolate alot, I read it can be a magnesium deficiency. After my 2 girls I noticed my PMS was off the charts. So I did some research and started taking B6, Magnesium, and Calcium everyday. By the 2nd month I could tell it helped so much with my irritability and cravings. If I am slacking on energy this too helps and I let myself jog instead of run, if not walk altogether, and sometimes more than once a day. Start including vitamins into your routine and really pay attention to your health around your cycle. Its so easy to give in to cravings, slacking off on exercise, etc.
Fourth Week: SO, here we are, so many changes. This week find something that you have been less than stellar on and improve on that. Is it the sleep? Water? Nutrition? Vitamins? Write sticky notes or set alarms on your phone to help remind you. And one last thing, and as usual I just found Fitness Blender on Youtube. Hundreds of FREE AMAZING workouts right at your fingertips. SO many options, weights or no weights, short or long workouts, arms or abs or both? Cardio or no cardio, strength training and HIIT options available. My option is to work out in the evenings, I am not awake enough to do it at 6 am and we homeschool during naptime, so the evening it is. If its too late I do short workouts but when the stars align I get a good 45 minute workout and I am drenched. The 20 minute ones I am just as sweaty as a good run, so I really love these workouts and I can tell I am getting fit. I hiked up a hill at a park with other Mommy friends and I felt no challenge or change of breath. Some friends who aren't as active were not enjoying the hike as much. My handsome hubby also commented on my back muscles, that is a WIN in my book!
I am praying we all have a healthy and fit spring!
* I am also adding to this post how much FitnessBlender and Stretching helped me in on month for from having horrible knee pain and was not able to do a 10K the way I wanted to-to run and be free of pain. If you look up how to train for a race, its all about running, a few cross training days. I chose to run twice a week and focus on stretching every day and using FitnessBlender 4 days a week, at least 30 minutes. I was strong, focused, paced, and zero knee pain for my 10k and had my PERSONAL BEST RACE ever.
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