I Don’t Need a Diet. I Need a Nanny!

The other night, my husband informed me that a friend of his is training to be a personal trainer. Out of curiosity, I asked what their rates were. After all, a new trainer with no experience is likely to be not as expensive as one with loads of success stories under their belt. Then I thought about it… I haven’t been able to lose weight lately but that is not because I haven’t been eating right or exercising (those things that a personal trainer handles). My problem is that I’m not getting any sleep at night because the kids keep … Continue reading →

Sometimes You Just Can’t Make The Time to Exercise

I always try to be positive about weight loss efforts and, like most people who do exercise, I have the mindset that I need to make time to exercise. I’ve held this mindset for quite some time and really beaten myself up over it. Now I am finally admitting it. Sometimes you just can’t make that time to exercise. If you regularly read this blog, you know that I had a baby four months ago and you may also know that I have a pre-schooler at home as well. My plan was to get back to the gym six weeks … Continue reading →

Is Diet and Exercise Enough

I was like many people when I started thinking about weight loss. I thought you simply had to eat less and exercise a little more and the weight would drop off. While that did work to a certain degree, I also discovered that to accomplish some serious weight loss, more things needed to taken into account. For instance, one of these important factors was muscle condition and muscle tone. Although muscle conditioning and tone may be something coming later in a weight loss plan, for the long-term goal, it is an important consideration. In fact, I found it helps to … Continue reading →

Calorie Burners Right At Home

We were talking about an exercise component earlier when we were discussing your basal metabolism and we all know that doing a good cardio workout can burn calories. There are other ways that can help you burn calories and move towards your weight loss goals. Calorie burners around your home include any activity that gets you up and moving. So whether you are walking up and down the stairs with the laundry, playing with the baby, cleaning, vacuuming, taking the dog out for a walk or doing the gardening – you are burning calories. Does this mean you can skip … Continue reading →

Obesity = Slow Metabolism, Right?

We all know someone who seems to have won the biological lottery – you know what I’m talking about – the person who can eat anything they want and never seem to gain any weight? They can eat cheesecake morning, noon and night and they’ll still be svelte and skinny. Most of us attribute it to their high metabolism – after all, why else would they be able to eat that way? The truth is, metabolism doesn’t have as much to do with our weight as we might like to believe. People who slightly built or thin often have a … Continue reading →

Obesity & Breast Cancer

Research continues into the connection between obesity and breast cancer. Upper body and abdominal obesity are areas of the greatest concern. Statistics show that half of breast cancer cases have occurred in women who were obese. Studies also indicate that breast tumors that are cancerous are very difficult to locate in women that have an excess of 20% body fat. The link between the two conditions is entirely statistical and while scientists and research physicians are still trying to explore what links the two – the fact is they do seem to be linked. While I am not going to … Continue reading →

Bullies & Weight Loss

When it comes to schools, kids and obesity – there is a threat to getting overweight children more active in sports and PE because of the bullies who will taunt and tease. As we all know, children can be horribly cruel. It’s not just the bullies, but the other children that will jump in to make the statements because they see the reaction the others get as well. An overweight child who wants to get involved needs to have their confidence and self-esteem built; peer victimization destroys self-confidence and esteem. In fact, the more a kid is teased whether they … Continue reading →

Your Worst Abs Exercises

I talked about your best abs exercises earlier, so I thought it only prudent to bring up the three worst abs exercises out there. These exercises are not only unlikely to help you achieve your goals – but they could also hamper your ability to achieve the weight loss and figure reduction you may be looking for. Side Bends You know what a side bend is, right? You grasp a hand weight in each hand and then bending from side to side in order to trim up your oblique muscles. The obliques are what we fondly refer to as our … Continue reading →

Osteoporosis & Weight Loss

Osteoporosis is a common disease that affects people as they age, particularly women. Osteoporosis causes bones to become porous and brittle – this can lead to difficulty healing from broken bones and other health conditions. More than 10 million Americans are affected by osteoporosis and most of these are women. As women, we have a more than 25% chance of developing osteoporosis as we age. We reach our peak bone mass when we are about 30 years old. That can be pretty intimidating when you consider that at 30, we have only lived about 1/3 of our expected lifespan. So … Continue reading →

Overall Physical Performance and Weight Loss

Gauging overall physical performance and weight loss is easy. There are many reasons to track weight loss. The first is for motivational purposes. Knowing how much weight is lost and how much is left to be lost, can keep a person on a schedule. The second reason is to gauge if an exercise is working or if a new exercise is needed. Sometimes adding other exercises to a weight loss program can help make weight loss easier and quicker. Changing exercises can get a person interested in following a schedule. Instead of walking, perhaps playing a sport and being social … Continue reading →