March 18, 2024

How’s your Attitude?

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Check your Attitude!

Check your attitude and leave your ego at the door! Fitness has peaks and valleys, so prioritize a positive attitude for long term success. Your attitude is your choice!

Here’s how to do it:

Let it go. Fall short of a goal? After reviewing your actions, let it go. Holding on to regrets will only increase your self-doubt and anxiety, hindering your progress.

Be realistic. Where is your fitness now, today? Take inventory of your current status, design a plan, then move forward.

Commit every day. Life happens, how do you respond? Make a commitment every day to continue your fitness journey. There’s always a way to make exercise happen, if you want it badly enough.

Make a vision board. Make a collage of words, pictures or quotes of what you plan to accomplish in your fitness. Place the board where you will see it many times each day. Each glance will give you energy and motivation to keep moving forward.

Surround yourself with positivity. Spend time with those who support you, who strive to improve themselves, who focus on the bright side of things, and who practice problem solving to stay on pace toward a goal.

 

Are you on the right track to fitness? By Nicole Bryan

The complex and multi-faceted experience of living a long-term healthy lifestyle is ongoing. In the journey to wellness there will be accomplishments, setbacks, days of confidence, as well as days of uncertainty. And that’s the way it should be! If we’re not experiencing all of those, maybe all within one week even, then the regime needs reevaluating. Just as other life experiences are all emotionally and physically encompassing, the path to wellness is no different. However, somewhere along the line many of us got the impression that getting healthy is easy. The truth is, making the choice to get fit is easy. The “getting fit” part of getting fit takes sacrifice, effort, and often the daily renewal of commitment to the goal.

Here’s how to know if we’re on the right track with our fitness regime.

Are you experiencing results and progress? Results will most likely not be ongoing in a dramatic capacity in a long term fitness program. The body adapts in stages, and that’s often how we’ll experience results. So if results have temporarily slowed, try some unaccustomed exercise to ramp up results again. If progress has taken a back seat, change your regime entirely.

Do you experience feelings of being unsure and doubt that you’ll be able to stick with it? Uncertainty is part of setting goals that force us to stretch our comfort level to reach them. The goals should be big and far out enough to inspire a feeling of “is this really possible.”

Does your regime require effort? If you’re day dreaming through your workout, or cruising through class on auto-pilot, time to mix it up. Your regime should require taking day in and out action steps.

Do you have to build a strategy and think about how you are going to approach your goal? If you walk into the gym and do the same thing, in the same order, with the same weights, reps and sets without a thought as to how you’re going to approach or complete your regime, time to change approach. Your regime should make it necessary to develop a plan of attack regarding how you are going to get to your goal.

Do you miss your routine when you’re away from it? If you miss how your exercise makes you feel better, miss the energy it brings and satisfaction you experience from completing each workout you’re definitely on the right track.

Is it fun, does it bring you joy? It won’t be all laughs all the time, but more often than not it should be an enjoyable, fun, happy experience. If you’re not smiling even once during the workout, change it!

Buckwheat Apple Pancakes by Shirley Plant

Buckwheat Apple Pancakes

Ingredients
•    3/4 cup buckwheat flour
•    1/2 cup almond flour
•    1/4 cup tapioca flour
•    1 egg
•    3/4 tsp cinnamon
•    1 1/4 cup Silk coconut milk
•    3/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
•    1/2 apple grated
•    1 tsp baking powder
•    1/4 cup raisins

Directions
1.    Mix dry ingredients together. Add in wet ingredients and mix well
2.    Pour into a greased pan ( I use coconut oil) and cook over medium heat.
3.    Cook until you see bubbles and then flip
4.    Serve with fresh maple syrup

 

Recipe by Shirley Plant- Nutrition Coach and Author of Finally Food I Can Eat. Looking for the latest and most reliable information on all things health, food and nutrition? The Eat Real Food Summit is here. Get FREE access today. You won’t believe the lineup! Check out her website via www.deliciousalternatives.com. Follow her on Twitter via @sherrecipes

How to Get INSPIRED!

Have you fallen off-track with your fitness? Are your workouts lacking motivation? Is your exercise energy lagging? Here’s how to GET INSPIRED!

JOIN US for your weekly dose of fitness motivation, inspiration and FUN!

#HealthyWayMag Fitness Chat every Monday at 5pm(Pacific)/8pm(Eastern) on Twitter.

 

We chat about all things fitness: finding fun workouts, goal-setting, problem-solving, overcoming obstacles, hot new workouts, racing, community athletic events, just to name a few.

Joining in the fun is easy! Here’s how:

Log into your Twitter account
Enter #HealthyWayMag in the “Search Twitter” box.
Follow questions noted as Q1 (Question 1), Q2 (Question 2), etc.
To participate in the conversation answer using A1 (Answer 1), etc.
Chat and have fun with other fitness-minded folks!

 

Tomorrow, March 30th Fitness Chat is Sponsored by goChia!
GoChia is an innovative all natural chia seed beverage that offers an alternative to sugary and stimulant laden drinks. Low calorie and low sugar, plus the power of the mighty chia seed! GoChia provides enhanced hydration, endurance and immune system support. They are the only chia drink that has the power of chia with B-complex vitamin, selenium and zinc as well as being rich in plant sourced-omega-3 fatty acids. Follow them on Twitter @DrinkChia. Find their Chia Bites now available in Costco NE region, and their Chia Drinks and Snacks available on Amazon.

Small Changes Lead to Big Results by Josh Anderson

Small Changes Lead to Big Results

Who wants to live their life losing 10 pounds in a week only to regain 15 pounds after quitting their incredibly hard diet? Many people do this continually – wash and repeat. That sounds like a terrible version of the Twilight Zone – harming your metabolic capabilities and hurting your psyche. So what’s a person to do? One option to shoot for a realistic caloric deficit of 100-200 per day that can result in 0.8 – 1.7 pounds a month which seems trivial but that equals 10 – 20 pounds a year respectively! The best part is creating a gentle caloric deficit like this is really simple.

Here are two options:

Snack Swap: If you would simply swap your normal, at-work vending machine snack with a piece of fruit, you could have cut out 150-200 calories! Get this; one 2oz. (56g) bag of salted potato chips has roughly 307 calories which you could have swapped for something like a large peach which has only 68 calories (175g; not to mention the vitamins, nutrients, fiber…etc.). With that swap you would actually be eating more food while saving yourself 239 calories. Do that every day for a month and you save 7100+ calories which equals to 24.9 pounds worth of calories a year!

Drop the Sugary Drinks: Sugary drinks are literally packing the pounds on people; they are so easy to consume! Let’s take the example of your typical classic Coca-Cola (12 ounce can) which has roughly 140 calories in it. If you simply stop drinking one soda per day you can literally cut out 4200 a month or 14.6 pounds a year worth of calories (51,000+) – that’s pretty simple!

Wrap-Up

It’s not all about cutting out calories; it’s about living a long, healthy life. If you’ve tried and failed in the past, it’s time to stop thinking of weight loss as a sprint. Instead, start thinking of weight loss as a fulfilling journey. Have patience with yourself in order to make weight loss work – make the small changes and give it time!

Josh (M.S.) is an AFAA Certified Personal Trainer and the founder of Always Active Athletics: “Your #1 Source For At-Home Fitness and Nutrition”.  He loves blending science with sustainable practices that can be implemented by literally anyone in order to live a healthy life!

Healthy Habits That Stick by Nicole Bryan

Small Steps to Successful Healthy Living

Long- lasting sustainable wellness happens with small consistent behavior changes. Going “on” or “off” a healthy eating or exercise plan for example, will defeat your efforts and only be effective and lead to results for so long. Just as you wouldn’t ever consider going “on” or “off” brushing your teeth or combing your hair, you shouldn’t consider a healthy lifestyle as something you are on or off of either.

The key is to consider healthy living as something you simply are, not something you do. So, how do you get there? Break your unhealthy habits down into small steps to slowly wean off or replace with new healthy behaviors. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Replace waiting time with walking time. How many minutes do you waste sitting and waiting for meetings or appointments? Instead of sitting around and wasting time, why not head out for a walk instead. Even standing instead of sitting is a more productive option. Keep an extra pair of walking shoes in the trunk of your car so taking advantage of the found time is easy and simple.

Replace juice with water. Save 100-plus calories plus countless sugar every single day by swapping out one glass of juice as your go-to beverage and drinking pure calorie-free water instead. Reducing simply 100 sugar calories a day equates to 700 less calories a week! Over the course of a year, the health benefits will really add up.

Make Monday mandatory exercise. Make Monday your non-negotiable fitness day. Always exercising on Monday sets a healthy tone for the week. You’ll be less likely to skip the rest of the week. Exercising on Monday also provides a great confidence booster and motivational tool to have one solid workout already completed for the week.

Small changes also eliminate the feeling of being deprived and punished. Small changes are the key to sustainable and effective wellness and healthy living.

Fitness Goals: The Mental Side by Tera Busker


So much attention is focused on the physical side of goal setting, but what about the mental and emotional aspect of striving to reach a goal that’s important to you? Train and prepare your mind, as well as your body. Only then will your experience be complete…and more enjoyable!

Every day is a new day, a new week and a new chance to start working towards your goals. So, what are goals exactly? Goals are something that are within your reach that you WANT. It may take WORK to reach them, but the WANT will carry you to them.

Enjoy the journey. Sometimes we get stuck in the “work” part of the goal. It’s too hard, it’s too far away, it will take too long, and we forget about why we wanted to reach the goal in the first place. The fire that burned inside of us, the excitement, the JOY. Your goal is obviously something that you want and is going to be awesome when you reach it, so why not enjoy the journey until you get there?

Focus on the positive. You are working towards something positive, so if you stay positive and focus on how great the changes are, you will keep moving forward. If you get stuck in the negative or keep looking for the negative, you will have an awful time.

Your experience is your choice. You may struggle or have bad days, but look at those as lessons learned. You found a way that doesn’t keep you on track, so don’t go down that path again. See, negative into a positive. You are the one who is on this journey – you control how you experience it. You can make the best of it or you can make the worst of it.

 

Tera Busker is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer and owner of Fitness To Go, an exclusive In Home & Private Studio Personal Training Service based out of Roberts, WI. www.fitnesstogo.net

POWER UP your workout motivation!

POWER UP your workout motivation!

Join #HealthyWayMag Fitness Chat tomorrow, Monday January 26, 2015 at 5pm(Pacific)/8pm(Eastern) on Twitter.

How does it work? Simply log into Twitter, enter #HealthyWayMag to join in the conversation as we chat all things fitness. Follow along with questions, offer your answers, chat with others and GET MOTIVATED!
 

Tomorrow, January 26th Fitness Chat is Sponsored by MilestonePod!
No more guessing when to replace your running shoes. MilestonePod is the easiest way to track miles on your shoes. Follow them on Twitter @MilestonePod.

Online Fitness 4-1-1 by Jenna Michael

We’ve all done it. Looked in the mirror, found something we don’t like and then immediately googled how to make it smaller. It’s human nature and the beauty of the internet. We have unlimited resources at our finger tips with the quick punch of a key. One quick search for “butt toning workouts” and you have millions of links to all sorts of tips, tricks, and workouts. So how do we sift through the junk to find quality workouts online?

Is your workout coming from a reputable source?

We all have that trusty blogger that we can’t get enough of. Your blogger of choice may post amazing recipes, healthy tips, DIY tips, daily adventures, workouts and many other things but before you get too attached, check their credentials. Does he or she have a fitness certification, license, or degree that validates their advice? I can’t tell you how many times I have come across a pinterest workout of the “best kettlebell moves” or “amazing flat abs” exercises that were created by non-certified fitness enthusiasts and have been pinned hundreds of times. While I have nothing against aspiring fitness enthusiasts, I do suggest only taking the advice of qualified professionals.

Does your source have adequate information for you to execute the workout safely?

Look for proper form and ample exercise explanations from your source. You don’t have to be an expert to see major mistakes like contorted body positions, awkward moves, or exercises that make you think “that can’t be healthy”.

Does he or she clearly explain how the workout is supposed to be executed?

One of the hardest parts about using workouts from the internet is figuring out what the author wants you to do. Repetitions and sets can get mixed up, timing can be poorly explained, and don’t even get me started on weird exercise names!

The moral of the story is to do your research thoroughly, don’t trust everything you read, and don’t be afraid to ask questions.  When your health and safety are on the line don’t settle for anything but the best.

Jenna Michael is a certified personal trainer, group exercise instructor, and author of Little Green Running Shoes, a healthy living and exercise blog. She blogs about her latest exercise tips while providing a common place for active people to discover new workout trends. Her passion for active living began at an early age in the dance studio and flourished thanks to her parents. Jenna has dedicated her life to helping others reach their healthy living goals through exercise and positive thinking. Don’t settle for anything less that what you want and always keep your focus on the ultimate goal.

Are You at Risk? by Laura Maydak

Winter Dehydration: Are You at Risk?

Here’s a question: Is the risk of dehydration in the winter similar to that in the summer?

Using context clues (the title), you may have an idea as to the correct response.  But, if you still aren’t sure, the answer is yes.  Here’s the next question: Do you know why?

Think about summer: It’s hot and humid, the sun is blazing, and you’re noticeably sweating.  You’re losing a lot of body water when you exercise, and you’re fully aware of it.

Now, think about winter: The air is dry and cold, you can see your breath when you breathe out, and you’re bundled up in layers.  You’re losing a lot of body water when you exercise, but you’re unaware of it. The reasons for fluid loss in the winter are less obvious than those in the summer, but understanding them is critical for optimal hydration status and athletic performance.  Here’s what you need to know:

The air is dry and cold
When you breathe in, your body humidifies the air.  This is the reason you can see your breath when you breathe out.  What you may not realize is that this causes you to lose considerable amounts of fluid through respiration.
Also, these conditions make for fast evaporative sweat loss.  Any part of your body that is exposed to the elements will not be sweaty for long, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t losing body water.

You’re bundled up in layers
Depending on how many layers you wear, you may be carrying a significant amount of extra weight.  Extra weight means extra effort to move.  Extra effort to move means increased exercise intensity.  Increased exercise intensity lends itself to heavier breathing and more sweating, which takes us back to the problems listed above.

You don’t feel thirsty
This is the most important issue of which to be aware.  In the summer, when we become dehydrated, our bodies elicit a thirst response, helping to prevent dehydration.  In the winter, our body’s ability to elicit this response is decreased.  Without getting into the specifics, the way our bodies respond to cold temperatures alters the brain’s ability to detect dehydration.  When we aren’t thirsty, we don’t drink, which allows for further dehydration.

Dehydration seriously hinders performance and wellbeing.  Avoid it by taking note of these tips:
 
Hydrate early and often:
- Drink non-carbonated, non-caffeinated fluid (~16 oz every hour) before you exercise to ensure that you start fully hydrated
- During exercise, drink 4-8 oz of liquid every 15-20 minutes
- For workouts lasting longer than 1 hour, drink a sports drink to replenish lost electrolytes
- After exercising, drink 16-24 oz per pound lost (weigh yourself before and after you workout to determine pounds of water lost)

Be aware of the signs of dehydration:
- Early fatigue
- Faster breathing and heart rate
- Dizziness
- Headache
- Dark yellow urine (you want it to be almost clear)

So remember, bundle up and drink up!

Laura is currently a graduate student in the University of Pittsburgh’s Coordinated Masters in Nutrition and Dietetics program, one semester away from being eligible to become a registered dietitian.  Connect with Laura on twitter (@lmaydak) for motivation and tips to live your healthiest, happiest life – all given with a healthy dose of humor.