Do you remember the day you first joined your gym? Wasn’t it a great feeling, knowing that you had finally taken that first step towards living a healthier life? Making a conscious, positive decision to improve is rewarding, and hopefully we’ve all kept that promise to ourselves. But try as we might, it seems that there’s always a handy excuse to not exercise.
While gym attendance peaks around January, it slacks off every March/April as people forget about their New Year Resolutions. Summer BBQ’s and vacations tend to make people stay away from the gym, and six months later holiday parties and planning to the same thing. Finally, we can all relate to those days when we simply don’t want to work out!
The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, a trade association serving the health and fitness club industry, reports that the average health club member in the United States spends only about 90 days at the gym per year.
The purpose of this article is to help you STAY MOTIVATED to exercise! We don’t just want to help you with the ‘how’ of exercise - we want to help you with the ‘why’ too! We want you to look forward to exercising!
So what can you do to stay motivated? Here are five great ideas to help us all keep that inner fire burning..
1) Find an exercise buddy! When we know that someone else is going to meet us at the gym at a certain time, we will automatically be much more likely to show up ourselves. After all, who wants to abandon their friend? Don’t have a friend at the gym? Invite one along! She will appreciate the invitation, and will be much healthier for it!
2) Get to know people in the gym! One of the many reasons why women enjoy the gym so much is that it’s part exercise facility and part social club! Visiting with friends and family while we’re exercising makes the time go by so fast it hardly even seems like we’re doing something good for us. It’s great to get out of the house or office and just have some fun with other ladies!
3) Talk with your doctor! We all know that exercise is good for us. From helping to prevent cancer to lowering our blood pressure to helping us fit into that swimming suit, exercise is the best thing we can do for ourselves. Even with that knowledge, it’s sometimes encouraging to hear about our progress from our doctor. Here’s a hot motivation tip: ask your gym for a copy of your fitness records (monthly body fat analysis and measurements) and then share that information with your doctor. He or she will be so happy that you’re exercising, and will encourage you to continue!
4) Chart your progress! The CEO of a Fortune 500 company once said “What gets measured gets done”, and that advice is as good for us as it was for that business. Take the time to keep a food journal, an exercise log, or simply write down your fitness goals. Post it where you will see it every single day (on the ‘fridge, in the car, on the mirror, etc.). Life is just so busy these days, a constant visual reminder of our goals may be just the motivational push we need.
5) Give yourself a reward! Sometimes the ‘big picture’ can be too intimidating. For example, if you have 80 pounds to lose it’s tempting to think “It’s too much! I shouldn’t even try.” That’s one of the biggest motivation-killers out there, so combat those discouraging thoughts by rewarding yourself for smaller accomplishments. Treat yourself to a manicure when you lose that first five pounds. Buy a new outfit when you’ve lost ten pounds. Take a mini-vacation when you’re halfway to your goal. Give yourself small rewards for achieving smaller goals, and guess what…..many small steps make up a long journey! Before you know it, you’ll have accomplished your overall goal!
There are many other ways to give yourself the motivation to succeed. Try some of these tips today - the only thing you have to lose is the fat!
* Copyright 2005 Pick Up The Pace. Permission is not required for the distribution of Pick Up The Pace articles as long as they are used in their entirety, are properly credited to Pick Up The Pace, and are accompanied by our website link: www.letspickupthepace.com.
* The information in this article and on this site is for general reference purposes only and not intended to address specific medical conditions. This information is not a substitute for professional medical advice or a medical exam. Prior to participating in any exercise program or activity, you should seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health professional. No information in this article or on www.letspickupthepace.com should be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any medical condition.
Tracie Johanson is the founder of Pick Up The Pace, a 30-minute exercise studio for women, focusing on fitness, health and nutrition for maximum weight loss. Please visit http://www.letspickupthepace.com for more information.
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Today I would like to talk about when is the best time to exercise for maximum weight loss. While the type of exercise, the intensity and duration is important with respect to weight loss, the time of exercise is equally as important - if not more so.
Timing your workout can be crucial. There are specific times during the day during which your body burns fat most efficiently. It has to do with your eating cycle - or more accurately with your body’s digestive cycle. The body burns more fat when you exercise on a relatively empty stomach - contrary to many claims out there that state otherwise. The longer you wait to exercise after a meal the more fat your body will burn.
Is that truth or myth?
A university researcher studied the effects of exercising on a full versus an empty stomach. A group of women participated in 2 exercise studies. In one they exercised twice before meals and in the other, after meals. Evidence showed that when the subjects exercised on an empty stomach (before meals), blood glucose levels were lower in the periods following meals and during the night, than the when they exercised on a full stomach (after meals).
This suggested that exercising before meals can help to regulate blood glucose levels almost as well as 2 popular glucose-lowering drugs. (1)
To take it one step further, since this type of exercise method lowers blood glucose, lower amounts of glucose may translate to decreases in body fat. Remember excess glucose in the blood (from carbohydrate) may be stored as fat.
This study, it seems, supports the widely popular theory that the best time to exercise for fat loss, is on an empty stomach. A theory which many claim is only a myth.
I decided to put this theory to the test.
I am well into my thirties now, and I find it more difficult too keep the pounds off these days (with everything being constant). In other words, I am not eating more calories than I did 10-15 years ago and I’m also not exercising any less. And yet I had put on an extra 12 pounds. By the way, I also have a slow metabolism.
So, I wanted to see if there would be a significant difference when I exercised before breakfast instead of 2-3 hours after dinner which is what I had been doing. My workout was exactly the same, I didn’t change anything. I jogged for 30 minutes and followed that by 15 minutes of high intensity interval training.
The results were shocking. I lost 11 pounds in four and a half weeks - that was extra weight around the mid-section that I was carrying around for quite some time.
In truth, however, I am not really a morning person and find that my body has a hard time waking up for a workout first thing in the morning. If you’re not a morning person, you’ll know what I mean.
So I am going to experiment by switching my workout period to first just before lunch and then just before dinner (on a fairly empty stomach). I’ll let you know what the results will be. I have a feeling they’ll still be more favorable with respect to weight loss than when workouts are conducted after meals.
Reference:
http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/0506/Nov21_05/06.shtml, “Exercise nearly as successful as drugs at lowering blood sugar”, retrieved 6 July 2006 from http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/0506/Nov21_05/06.shtml
John Tiniakos helps make weight loss easier through proven weight loss methods using information and analysis from the worlds leading scientists. To subscribe to his blog or his free monthly newsletter that includes valuable, up to date tips on diet, weight loss and health and to receive 2 free reports visit http://www.nulife-weightloss.com For more information on his latest ebook “Nulife Natural Weight Loss Program” visit http://www.nulife-weightloss.com/natural.htm
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A heart treadmill, used by physicians to determine their patients’ heart health, is not always an accurate cardiac problem indicator, according to some studies.
While a heart treadmill can tell if men with no current heart difficulties may be destined for cardiovascular episodes somewhere in their future, it may not be a good test of heart troubles in women. Because the heart-related events for these women are so few statistics cannot be considered meaningful.
Tests using a heart treadmill are not usually conducted by doctors for patients who are asymptomatic of heart problems, in any case. One reason for this is that insurance carriers will not reiumburse a patient for these charges if her doctor sees no cardiac symptoms.
A heart treadmill is used by physicians to indicate how a patient’s heart acts during exercise. While a patient undergoes stress tests on a heart treadmill she or he is hooked up to electrodes. These are connected to devices called leads which are connected to an EKG (electrocardiogram) and a monitor, that delivers a printed as well as visual look at the patient’s hearts’ reaction to the exercise.
To prepare for a heart treadmill exercise tests you must avoid food or beverage for four hours prior to the testing. You are then hooked up to the electrodes as well as a blood pressure cuff. A heart treadmill is not the only way to conduct the stress test, however. Though the most common, exercise bikes are the alternate choice. During the test the treadmill’s speed and incline will increase gradually - generally every 2-3 minutes - and the patients’ heart and blood pressure reaction to the increase is monitored.
Timothy Gorman is a successful Webmaster and publisher of Treadmill-Solutions.com. He provides more treadmill ratings, rankings and treadmill reviews that you can research in your pajamas on his website.
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