Fitness4Her

Women's Fitness

Archives for March 2011

The Fitness Journal Is A Critical Component To Women’s Fitness

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Fitness4Her is all about women’s fitness for a healthy and happy you. Whether you want to gain weight or lose weight, we have a program that will help you reach your fitness goals. A complete diet and exercise program developed especially for women, Fitness4Her believes in the power of the fitness journal. That’s because it has been proven that those women who keep a journal of everything that they eat and drink and all of the activities that they do, have a much greater chance of success than those who simply diet and exercise without keeping a journal.

The first step in keeping a fitness journal is to understand your current eating and exercising patterns. You must know your starting point in order to recognize success. Journaling, or keeping a food and exercise log, is a great way to do it. By writing down everything you eat, you may discover that you consistently make the same poor food choices.

Chronicling what you eat and how you much fitness activity you do can be very enlightening. You might be surprised that you consume more food than you thought. Journaling helps to keep us accountable for what we are putting into our bodies. It also helps to challenge us to become more physically active.

Begin your journal today and keep it up for at least 90 days. That’s the key to a successful program, you’ve got to give it enough time to work and the rest will be easy. Fitness4Her offers an online journal just for you.

It’s also nice to have a journal that you can actually hold in your hands and there is something magical about the act of writing by hand. When you physically write your goals and daily activities by hand, you trigger a response mechanism in your brain. The effort involved in the act of writing helps to validate your desire for change.

There are many journals to choose from and they come in all sizes. You can select one small enough to fit in your purse or a larger one with full size sheets of paper to write on. It’s your journal so look for one that suits you best. To keep you excited about your journal, find one that is attractive and that allows enough entries for your day-to-day exercise and your short-term and long-term goals.

Remember, keeping a journal is fundamental to your success. Changing the way you eat and making a habit of exercising is not easy. The journal may be the easiest part of your whole program, a simple process that is also a critical component to your fitness plan.

Are You A Woman Who Lives To Serve?

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By helping others, we are able to enrich our own lives.

I recently heard an older woman friend of mine say that she lived to serve. It seemed such an odd statement at the time, but I realized there are many of us who live to serve, though we may never even mention it. Of course there may be others who are reading this and thinking, “No way, I’m not here to serve anyone.”

As women, even though we may reject the thought of serving another, we do live a life of service when it comes to family matters. Years of raising children, assisting the husband, helping the elderly grandparents or parents, volunteering for community projects or just simply helping neighbors are all forms of service to others.

Living a life of service is something to be proud of. It is through each of us that God is able to help others. That’s why it is important to take good care of your health. If you wish to be of service to someone else, you must first provide for your own well being.

Don’t neglect your health or overlook the things that you need to do for yourself. Visit your doctor regularly for check-ups and eat a nutrient rich diet. Get plenty of exercise and fresh air and laugh often. Seek positive avenues of entertainment that will refresh and inspire you.

Give yourself 30 minutes a day that you can call your own and start exercising today. For those of us who serve, we sometimes neglect ourselves, especially when it comes to fitness. With a whopping 1440 minutes in every day, you’ll still have plenty of time to help all the other people in your life.

When you make time for yourself, you become much more effective when helping those that you love. Exercise too, is a great way to spend your time because it gives back ten-fold. Exercise strengthens, builds muscle, increases flexibility, and improves endurance. But it does so much more. Exercise allows the body to burn off calories during and after the workout. It alleviates stress and boosts confidence, too.

Just 30 minutes a day is all it takes to keep yourself healthy and happy so that you can lead a life of service. For those who depend on you, your dedication to your workout will be a benefit to them as well.

Long and Slow or Fast and Hard – What’s The Best Workout For You?

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When it comes to losing weight, many women want to know what type of workout is best. Should they engage in aerobics such as running or playing tennis or opt for a slower paced workout like walking? Women’s fitness programs that include both types of workouts might be the best way to shed the pounds and stay in shape. Plus, mixing the exercises up will keep it interesting and help you to avoid injuries that come from overworking the same muscle groups.

Burning calories is the path to losing weight and exercises that burn the most calories will certainly help you to lose weight quickly. However, high intensity exercises can lead to over stressed muscles, injuries or burn out. That’s why low stress exercises like walking are very effective for losing weight, at least for a while.

Walking is a wonderful way to get your weight loss program off to a good start. However, if you want to continue or increase your weight loss results or avoid getting bored with your activity, why not add some other aerobic activities to your program. High intensity exercises like running or playing tennis will burn many more calories in the same amount of time. Alternating the two different types of cardio activities will help you to lose weight. Add strength-training exercises to build muscle and keep your body in shape for all the aerobics.

Strength-training exercises are the secret to losing a greater amount of weight. That’s because these exercises help to build muscle and muscles burn calories in order to grow. Even after exercise these muscles are burning calories, which is another great reason to exercise regularly.

Keep in mind that if you want to lose weight and keep it off, a complete women’s fitness program is the best way to shed those pounds, worry free. One that incorporates a healthy diet with a variety of exercise is a great way to have fun and take off the weight effortlessly. So whether you like it long and slow or fast and hard, mix up your routine for the fastest and most lasting results.

Good Things Can Happen With Positive Affirmations

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Just the other day, a friend of mine commented that anything can happen and that bad things happen to people every day. I looked at her for a moment; she has faced many obstacles both in health and financial matters in recent years. Her statement came as no surprise but I also knew that the opposite is true as well.

I smiled and told her that I agreed, that many matters are not in our control and that yes, bad things can and do happen. But I told her that everyday, every moment, good things happen to people, too.

She asked me how I maintained my positive attitude. It’s something that I strive for every day and in order to achieve it early, I begin each day with positive affirmations. Not only do I use them to keep me focused on my fitness program but I use them for nearly every area of my life.

I use my affirmations wisely, so that they don’t fall on deaf ears. By this I mean that what I say to myself is sincere. I repeat my affirmations aloud with conviction and believe whole-heartedly that these statements are possible. This positive self-talk sets my day on the right track.

Some examples of my affirmations are as follows:

I feel rested and energized and ready to start the day.

I look beautiful today.

I will have a great day, today.

I eat a healthy breakfast and it tastes wonderful.

I will leave for work on time.

When I exercise today it will make me feel stronger.

I will help someone today.

Don’t let others get you down, with their negative talk or constant complaints. While you can make suggestions that may help them, it’s important that you surround yourself with people who have a positive outlook on life.

Positive affirmations are a proven and easy way to make a significant difference in your diet and weight loss efforts. Believe what you say and allow your affirmations to focus your mind on making the right decisions.

When Food Becomes Your Drug of Choice–Fighting the Food Addiction

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Kathy thought about food constantly. Since quitting drinking, it seemed Kathy’s appetite had increased significantly. She ate healthy food and always included fruits and vegetables with her meals, so she told herself the food was good for her. However, if a little was good, a whole lot was better when it came to the way Kathy had been eating. It had been that way with alcohol, too. She drank way too much and couldn’t seem to quit when she got started. That’s why she quit drinking. Now she had started to wonder if she had replaced one addiction with another. Was food becoming Kathy’s drug of choice?

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At every party or get together, Kathy seemed compelled to try every type of food at the gathering. She often found herself milling about the buffet table and realized that she was more interested in the food that was being served than she was about what she was going to wear. A far difference from the way she had been in the past. But Kathy didn’t want to return to her old ways of drinking in an effort to fight her food addiction. She needed help and support.

What’s the difference between normal food craving and food addiction? While we all have cravings for our favorite foods now and then, an excessive and constant interest in food may indicate a problem. Ask yourself these ten questions to determine if you are addicted to food.

1. Do you think about food a majority of your waking hours?
2. Do you use food as a means of comforting yourself?
3. When you go to a party do you find yourself lingering around the buffet table most of the night?
4. Do you hide food or eat food secretly?
5. Do you sometimes feel ashamed of the way that you eat?
6. When you eat do you feel elated?
7. Do you continue to eat past the point of satisfaction?
8. Do you have an addictive personality?
9. Has it ever been determined that you were addicted to any other stimulant?
10. Is there any certain food that you must have every day?

There are several options that are available to treat food addiction. Doctors including psychologists can help as well as nutritionists, counselors, or eating disorder specialists. There are group support programs such as Overeaters Anonymous that have meetings in different areas and also online.

Drinking at least 8 glasses of water each day will help to curb your appetite and cleanse your body of toxins. Begin exercising gradually and aim for at least 30 minutes of exercise each day. Try to stay active as much as is physically healthy for your body type. This will give your mind something else to be preoccupied with instead of eating.

Make your health a priority in your life. Don’t allow an addiction to food or any other substance rule your existence. Seek professional help, if you need it and find a support team that will be there when you want some encouragement.

A diet rich in vitamins and nutrients, based on a five meal a day plan may help you to lose weight and break your unhealthy food addiction. The Fitness4Her Diet is based on healthy eating habits that allow you to love food and enjoy eating while preparing your meals with less salt, saturated fat, cholesterol and sugar.