The longer I live, the more I learn, the more I experience, the more I realize that taking time to be active every day is not just a weight loss thing. It's not just a physical fitness thing. It's an overall health thing. It's what our body was designed to do. We were not designed to be still. Your body wants to move, it needs to move, it LOVES to move!
Think about all the things that happen when you are still, all the diseases in which a sedentary lifestyle is a contributing factor, all the thing that develop if you are still for too long. Your body needs to move. Your body is designed to move.
I personally have discovered how much my own body relies on exercise. A few years ago I started having strange and severe pain in my pack along my spine near the bottom of my shoulder blades. The pain would be so uncomfortable I could neither move or lay still without it hurting. The first time this happened resulted in a trip to the emergency room at 3:00 am. They suggested then that it was probably just a muscle spasm. I had other fears, but was relieved that it could be something as simple as that. So they sent me home with some pain meds and muscle relaxers. A few days rest and I was back to my normal self.
I went the better part of a year before I had another one. So, this time I went to see a Chiropractor. He thought he felt a vertebrae in my back slightly out of line so he spent several visits trying to realign my spine. A few days after each visit I would get an even more intense pain in my back that would surround my whole torso and eventually become so severe that I would vomit. When I finally made the connection that these more intense episodes came just a few days after each chiropractor visit I stopped going, not surprisingly these episodes subsided.
I started working out again. Something I fell out of the habit of doing a few weeks before the the second spasm. I did my usual routine, the routine I had done throughout college, light full body workout, then a half hour on the treadmill or a 3 mile run on the cross country course which ever the weather dictated. (Yes, I am a fair weather runner). Months went by without any back pain. Throughout my entire weight loss journey I did everything from lifting, running, Insanity, flag football...etc. I even tried out for the Pittsburgh Passion - women's professional football. Not one problem in all that time, but recently, with wedding planning, holidays, and buying a new house I kind of fell off the workout wagon and guess what? I had another back spasm, but this time it happened just before a well check up with my doctor. She did the typical exam, pressing on parts of my back and spine to rule out bulging disks and things of that nature. She told me she believed it to be muscular-skeletal in nature. And guess what she recommended? Specifically light lifting, even more specifically lat pull downs, lat rows, and push ups. Why? because your muscles actually help keep your spine and skeleton in place. This is why as most people grow older and become less active they develop more back and joint problems.
Incidentally, I ran this by my sister who is an Occupational Therapy Assistant and she confirmed that for most physical injuries some sort of physical therapy is often part of the healing process specifically for the reason of your muscles helping to stabilize your body.
So, I have even more motivation to move. Instead of wasting money and time at Chiropractor's offices. I just move.
This got me thinking about all the different diseases and ailments that are out there and how much staying active can help in preventing many of them.
If an ill patient lays in a hospital bed too long he will develop sores simply from being still for too long. If you stand around all day at your job you develop varicose veins. A lack of movement throughout the day burns less calories which contributes to weight gain. Without moving during the day your heart muscles weaken. The American Diabetes Association lists lack of exercise as a risk factor for diabetes. The American Heart Association suggests that living a healthy lifestyle plays a big role in reducing the risks of Heart Disease - they list getting plenty of physical activity as part of a healthy lifestyle. Blood failing to flow properly is one of the many factors for developing blood clots that can lead to strokes or heart attacks as can happening during prolonged immobilization according to WebMD.
So moving and staying active is about more than vanity. It's about maintaining a high quality of life.
You can read more on the articles referenced in this post by going to the following websites or clicking on the hyperlinked text above:
American Diabetes Association - Diabetes Risk Factors
http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/prevention/risk-factors/
American Heart Association - Coronary Heart Disease
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/More/MyHeartandStrokeNews/Coronary-Artery-Disease---Coronary-Heart-Disease_UCM_436416_Article.jsp
WebMD - What is a Blood Clot?
http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/blood-clots
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Friday, March 29, 2013
Sony Walkman W Klout Perk #FitnessWalkman
Hey Friends and Fans!
As some of you may know I'm on Klout.com. My Klout Score is currently 58. Having Klout can get you some pretty awesome things. The best thing I have earned to date is my most recent Klout Perk: A Sony Walkman W!
You all know I try to stay active and having good music to listen to can serve as great motivation to keep me pumped during your workouts. I have my favorite playlist on my smartphone that automatically plays when I used certain fitness programs. I even have a smart setting that I created to automatically play my favorite workout playlist when I connect my headphones, but I'm really looking forward to receiving my Sony Walkman W because it will allow me to listen to my favorite playlist without the worrying about wires getting in the way!
The Sony Walkman W is a wire-free, hands-free MP3 player that also claims to be super comfortable. It holds 4GBs of memory (That's a lot of playlists!) AND it has a quick charge feature (which is always great because I usually forget to charge any of my electronic devices until the moment I need them). To find out more you can visit the Sony Store.
With your help my perk can get even better! My perk will be upgraded to the Waterproof version IF I am among the top 5 influencers receiving this the Sony Walkman W. Which means I can even run in the rain while listening to my favorite playlist! I love running in the rain!
While there's not doubt a wire-free, hands-free MP3 player would be great for an runner like myself. I can't help but day dream about all the other things I could do with my Sony Walkman W. This is where I need some help from you, my loyal fans!
If you are interested, here's what you can do:
1) Share this post, my Facebook Posts, and any Tweets I tweet about this perk from @JJasMyself that I post with the hashtag #FitnessWalkman
2) Share with me your suggestions for activities and adventures you think I should try with my wireless Sony Walkman W and if I like your idea I'll try it and post pictures and stats about my experience!
Thanks for you help! I can't wait to see what kind of adventures you all come up with for me!
As some of you may know I'm on Klout.com. My Klout Score is currently 58. Having Klout can get you some pretty awesome things. The best thing I have earned to date is my most recent Klout Perk: A Sony Walkman W!
You all know I try to stay active and having good music to listen to can serve as great motivation to keep me pumped during your workouts. I have my favorite playlist on my smartphone that automatically plays when I used certain fitness programs. I even have a smart setting that I created to automatically play my favorite workout playlist when I connect my headphones, but I'm really looking forward to receiving my Sony Walkman W because it will allow me to listen to my favorite playlist without the worrying about wires getting in the way!
The Sony Walkman W is a wire-free, hands-free MP3 player that also claims to be super comfortable. It holds 4GBs of memory (That's a lot of playlists!) AND it has a quick charge feature (which is always great because I usually forget to charge any of my electronic devices until the moment I need them). To find out more you can visit the Sony Store.
With your help my perk can get even better! My perk will be upgraded to the Waterproof version IF I am among the top 5 influencers receiving this the Sony Walkman W. Which means I can even run in the rain while listening to my favorite playlist! I love running in the rain!
While there's not doubt a wire-free, hands-free MP3 player would be great for an runner like myself. I can't help but day dream about all the other things I could do with my Sony Walkman W. This is where I need some help from you, my loyal fans!
If you are interested, here's what you can do:
1) Share this post, my Facebook Posts, and any Tweets I tweet about this perk from @JJasMyself that I post with the hashtag #FitnessWalkman
2) Share with me your suggestions for activities and adventures you think I should try with my wireless Sony Walkman W and if I like your idea I'll try it and post pictures and stats about my experience!
Thanks for you help! I can't wait to see what kind of adventures you all come up with for me!
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Paleo-Curious
If you've been following this blog at all then you know that my whole approach to health and fitness is based on three principles. 1) It has to be applicable to the average every day real world working family and because of that it then also has to be 2) affordable and 3) It cannot be depriving or overly restrictive.
While the first two principles should be easy enough to understand the third is one I often have people disagree with me about. There are plenty of well known diets and fads out there that tell you to give up something entirely and you'll lose weight or get healthier or whatever their claim happens to be however, these types of approaches are typically recipes for failure because it's just not very realistic that you can go the rest of your life without eating a certain food group, it's not realistic to expect that wherever you go the people with have the ability to cater to your particular diet, it's not realistic to go the rest of your whole life eating meals that arrive in the mail. It is realistic that you can go the rest of your whole life making better choices at each meal and every where you go. This blog has been based on the idea that you can improve your health by making a series of small better choices in your daily life that will get you to better health and fitness. I am living breathing healthy proof that this approach works and keeps working.
Anything you see on this blog is my own experience. I rarely post anything without trying it first. Which makes this particular post a landmark event because I'm posting about something that I haven't tried in full force yet. Something I even dismissed as unrealistically restrictive at one point, but this is what happens when you continue to make small improvements. Those small improvements go from almost unnoticeable choices to a whole new life style.
The common remark I have gotten from people when I've told them I've gotten to where I am by setting a calorie goal and making sure I workout out for at least 20 minutes at least three days a week is that this approach doesn't work. Or my personal favorite:
"If all you are doing is counting calories you're not going to eat any healthier because you can still eat junk food and stay within your calorie goal."
While this is a perfectly true statement those who say this to me tend to think they came up with some major revelations I've never considered of before. As though I eat a double whopper meal each day and tally up the calories and say "Well I've reached my calorie goal, no more eating for me today!" to which I normally respond, "Well, this is true, but the fact of the matter is I actually do want to be healtheir and I don't want to walk about feeling hungry all day so I make it a point to look for foods lower in calories so I you can eat more of them. And those foods tend to be the healtheir foods such as fruits, veggies, and lean protiens." (however, I am in the process of amending this approach slighly as I've finally gotten to the point that low calorie/not calorie sweetners are pure evil-more on this later)
I've been doing pretty good with this approach. I've looked up recipes from many different websites and of course my go to recipe book is the Elite Nutrition guide I got with my copy of Insainty, but I feel like the next step is Primal or Paleo oriented because I think the series of small steps I've taken throughout my health and fitness journey have gotten me to a place inwhich I can at least commit to a suedo Paleo lifestyle... at least at home. That is, I think I can easily commint to making Paleo/Primal dinners and snacks for my family when I'm at home on the weekends and Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners, and snacks on the weeknds. I even ordered the Top 100 Fast Paleo ebook to try some recipes out.
I purposely chose the Top 100 Fast Paleo recipes because in order for it to applicable to this blog it had to be applicable to a full time working single mom, so I need easy fast recipes. I have to admit I'm kind of intimidated by some of the ingredients I haven't tried before and the seemingly over abundance of the use of Coconut Flour, but I definitely feel like this is the next step for me. So, I'm going to try some recipes over the next few weeks to see what I can do. If you're looking for more Paleo-oriented recipes check out the Facebook Page: Just Eat Real food. That is the page I've been following for a while now that has inspired this next step and it's also where I was able to order the Top 100 Fast Paleo ebook. I do not know the people who post on that page nor the people who make the Fast Paleo recipes. I do not get any kind of conpensation for writing this blog post nor did they ask me to write a post about it. This is simply just the next step in my health and fitness journey and I thought I'd share it with you.
I'm still learning about the Paleo lifestyle and what the difference is between Paleo and Primal or similar diets so if you have anything to share with me on this topic please comment below!
While the first two principles should be easy enough to understand the third is one I often have people disagree with me about. There are plenty of well known diets and fads out there that tell you to give up something entirely and you'll lose weight or get healthier or whatever their claim happens to be however, these types of approaches are typically recipes for failure because it's just not very realistic that you can go the rest of your life without eating a certain food group, it's not realistic to expect that wherever you go the people with have the ability to cater to your particular diet, it's not realistic to go the rest of your whole life eating meals that arrive in the mail. It is realistic that you can go the rest of your whole life making better choices at each meal and every where you go. This blog has been based on the idea that you can improve your health by making a series of small better choices in your daily life that will get you to better health and fitness. I am living breathing healthy proof that this approach works and keeps working.
Anything you see on this blog is my own experience. I rarely post anything without trying it first. Which makes this particular post a landmark event because I'm posting about something that I haven't tried in full force yet. Something I even dismissed as unrealistically restrictive at one point, but this is what happens when you continue to make small improvements. Those small improvements go from almost unnoticeable choices to a whole new life style.
The common remark I have gotten from people when I've told them I've gotten to where I am by setting a calorie goal and making sure I workout out for at least 20 minutes at least three days a week is that this approach doesn't work. Or my personal favorite:
"If all you are doing is counting calories you're not going to eat any healthier because you can still eat junk food and stay within your calorie goal."
While this is a perfectly true statement those who say this to me tend to think they came up with some major revelations I've never considered of before. As though I eat a double whopper meal each day and tally up the calories and say "Well I've reached my calorie goal, no more eating for me today!" to which I normally respond, "Well, this is true, but the fact of the matter is I actually do want to be healtheir and I don't want to walk about feeling hungry all day so I make it a point to look for foods lower in calories so I you can eat more of them. And those foods tend to be the healtheir foods such as fruits, veggies, and lean protiens." (however, I am in the process of amending this approach slighly as I've finally gotten to the point that low calorie/not calorie sweetners are pure evil-more on this later)
I've been doing pretty good with this approach. I've looked up recipes from many different websites and of course my go to recipe book is the Elite Nutrition guide I got with my copy of Insainty, but I feel like the next step is Primal or Paleo oriented because I think the series of small steps I've taken throughout my health and fitness journey have gotten me to a place inwhich I can at least commit to a suedo Paleo lifestyle... at least at home. That is, I think I can easily commint to making Paleo/Primal dinners and snacks for my family when I'm at home on the weekends and Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners, and snacks on the weeknds. I even ordered the Top 100 Fast Paleo ebook to try some recipes out.
I purposely chose the Top 100 Fast Paleo recipes because in order for it to applicable to this blog it had to be applicable to a full time working single mom, so I need easy fast recipes. I have to admit I'm kind of intimidated by some of the ingredients I haven't tried before and the seemingly over abundance of the use of Coconut Flour, but I definitely feel like this is the next step for me. So, I'm going to try some recipes over the next few weeks to see what I can do. If you're looking for more Paleo-oriented recipes check out the Facebook Page: Just Eat Real food. That is the page I've been following for a while now that has inspired this next step and it's also where I was able to order the Top 100 Fast Paleo ebook. I do not know the people who post on that page nor the people who make the Fast Paleo recipes. I do not get any kind of conpensation for writing this blog post nor did they ask me to write a post about it. This is simply just the next step in my health and fitness journey and I thought I'd share it with you.
I'm still learning about the Paleo lifestyle and what the difference is between Paleo and Primal or similar diets so if you have anything to share with me on this topic please comment below!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
A Better Blog ReNaming
Hello Fellow Fitness Fans.
I've been thinking about changing the name of my blog for quite some time now. It made sense to name it A Better Reflection when I first started blogging about my health and fitness journey, because when I looked in the mirror I hardly recognized myself and I knew my healthier more active self was still in there somewhere I just needed to find her.
Throughout my fitness journey I have improved in many different areas. The one problem I fixed the most was my own self image. As you may have read in posts on My Fitness Pal or in my Facebook Groups, I have lost about 35 lbs and have kept it off for over a year now. My original goal was to lose 50lbs but as I became more fit, and did more research on health and fitness, and learned things along the way. I've come to realized how amazing my body not only because of all the amazing things I have done that I never thought I was capable of doing, but also because of it's unique beauty. I have proven to myself that I am in great shape and my health is at an optimal level. I've learned to love myself and my body throughout this entire process. Which is why I don't think the title of "A Better Reflection" adequately represents what this blog is about.
Adopting a healthier more active lifestyle is not about just looking good. As a matter of fact as time has gone on, how I look has become one of the least motivating reasons for staying healthy and making better choices. My health, a long life, more energy to be a better mom, a better teacher, a better friend, the way I feel, the ability to move with easy, feeling comfortable in my own skin, reducing the costs of health care and clothing. These are the things that motivate me... and yes, it's nice to look "good" too. But I find the folly in wanting to look good is that most people, especially women think they have to look like the girls in magazines, without realizing those girls don't even look like they do on the glossy pages in real life. There are a thousand different ways to be beautiful and being healthy is one of the most beautiful things I've ever discovered. Life is so much more beautiful when you feel good from the insides out.
I also want people to know that when they read my blog it's written by a real woman, who lives and works in the real world, who enjoys the occasional sweet treat along with all array of deliciously healthy fruits, veggies, grains, and proteins this world has to offer. I want them to know that too can feel better and live better without spending extraordinary amounts of money on food or supplements and without sacrificing all the things they enjoy to eat, without denying themselves and entire food group, no matter what their schedules are or how busy they are.
So I need some suggestions. Any ideas?
I've been thinking about changing the name of my blog for quite some time now. It made sense to name it A Better Reflection when I first started blogging about my health and fitness journey, because when I looked in the mirror I hardly recognized myself and I knew my healthier more active self was still in there somewhere I just needed to find her.
Throughout my fitness journey I have improved in many different areas. The one problem I fixed the most was my own self image. As you may have read in posts on My Fitness Pal or in my Facebook Groups, I have lost about 35 lbs and have kept it off for over a year now. My original goal was to lose 50lbs but as I became more fit, and did more research on health and fitness, and learned things along the way. I've come to realized how amazing my body not only because of all the amazing things I have done that I never thought I was capable of doing, but also because of it's unique beauty. I have proven to myself that I am in great shape and my health is at an optimal level. I've learned to love myself and my body throughout this entire process. Which is why I don't think the title of "A Better Reflection" adequately represents what this blog is about.
Adopting a healthier more active lifestyle is not about just looking good. As a matter of fact as time has gone on, how I look has become one of the least motivating reasons for staying healthy and making better choices. My health, a long life, more energy to be a better mom, a better teacher, a better friend, the way I feel, the ability to move with easy, feeling comfortable in my own skin, reducing the costs of health care and clothing. These are the things that motivate me... and yes, it's nice to look "good" too. But I find the folly in wanting to look good is that most people, especially women think they have to look like the girls in magazines, without realizing those girls don't even look like they do on the glossy pages in real life. There are a thousand different ways to be beautiful and being healthy is one of the most beautiful things I've ever discovered. Life is so much more beautiful when you feel good from the insides out.
I also want people to know that when they read my blog it's written by a real woman, who lives and works in the real world, who enjoys the occasional sweet treat along with all array of deliciously healthy fruits, veggies, grains, and proteins this world has to offer. I want them to know that too can feel better and live better without spending extraordinary amounts of money on food or supplements and without sacrificing all the things they enjoy to eat, without denying themselves and entire food group, no matter what their schedules are or how busy they are.
So I need some suggestions. Any ideas?
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