Fitness4Her

Women's Fitness

Keeping The Motivation For Exercise Through Imagery

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If you feel like you just don’t want to exercise maybe you need a boost in your motivation. It helps to try new things when you need to trick your mind to comply. If you’ve never tried imagery to help you get motivated, I’ve outlined the steps to help you get started.

1. Find a place to sit comfortably, without interruptions or distractions.
2. Relax your body and take several long, slow breaths.
3. Close your eyes and begin to create a vivid and convincing image. This image can be something you’ve previously experienced, or something you desire to take place.
4. If you become distracted or find you are thinking about something else, simply acknowledge it and let it go.
5. Focus on your breathing if you lose the image.
6. Keep a positive attitude throughout your session, don’t allow negativity to enter or stay.
7. Imagine everything about the experience—the sights, sounds, tastes, feelings, and even the smells.
8. Allow details of the scene to fill your imagination. What are you wearing, who is there, what are you hearing, how do you feel?
9. If your imagery session is not going the way you want it to, simply open your eyes and start from the beginning, concentrating on your breathing.
10. Be sure to end with a positive image.

Follow these steps with positive affirmations. If you need some help getting started with your affirmations, or if you just don’t know what to tell yourself, read my posts under Affirmations. You will find plenty of ideas to inspire and motivate you to reach your fitness goals.

Don’t forget your fitness journal, it’s the next step to get your morning revving for a great day on the racetrack of life. Once you begin writing, your motivation will soar.

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Honey Halibut Steaks

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Sweet and delicate, halibut is a flavorful fish that makes this meal heavenly. A white fish, with few bones, halibut steaks are a favorite of mine. Pay careful attention when cooking and don’t overcook.

1 pound fresh halibut steaks
1/2 cup chunky salsa
2 tbs. of honey
2 tbs. of Dijon- style mustard

Directions:

1. Arrange fish in baking dish, spray with PAM, bake 450 degrees 6 to 9 minutes until flakes with a fork
2. In a small bowl mix salsa, honey and mustard, spread on top of fish 3 to 4 minutes till mixture is hot.
3. Serve with fresh green beans

Health Benefits:
Nutrient dense, halibut is an excellent choice for this meal. High in magnesium, phosphorus and potassium. Low in saturated fat and high in Omega-3 essential fatty acids. The salsa adds just the right zing with added antioxidants to make this dish taste good and make your body feel good, too.

Expecting to Stay Fit: The Benefits of a Fitness Journal During Pregnancy

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Pregnancy is a very special time. It is a time of excitement, anticipation and joy. It is also a time during which your body experiences dramatic changes. These changes can be overwhelming and some women feel they have lost control of their body. During this time, it is important to remember that this is a normal, natural part of pregnancy. Additionally, your health has never been more important. A useful tool during pregnancy to help maintain a healthy lifestyle is a fitness journal.
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Obviously pregnancy is not the time to be considering a diet to lose weight. It is however a great time to be aware of your health and to monitor it. This can easily be done by using a fitness journal. Even if you have never used a fitness journal before you can benefit from one during your pregnancy. It is a valuable tool that can help you monitor what you are eating, how much you are exercising, and even the changes to your body.

A fitness journal can help you monitor your diet carefully. By simply recording what you are eating in your journal daily you can be more aware of what you are eating and when. This is valuable information for anyone, but especially for a pregnant woman. You will need more calories than ever before in your life. This can make it challenging to eat well. By keeping track of what you are eating you can ensure that you are making wise choices and eating nutritious food.

It is also important to record your activity levels in your fitness journal. Swimming is a wonderful exercise when you are pregnant because you are weightless. The complete body workout that it gives you is very beneficial. Of course, check with your physician before beginning any exercise program.

Although the amount of activity you engage in is very likely to fluctuate throughout your pregnancy it is still important to monitor it. Knowing how active you are and how your activity level is changing is priceless information during pregnancy. It can not only help you make day to day decisions but can also be of great use to your health care providers.

Each pregnancy is different, so keeping a fitness journal during your pregnancy is a wonderful idea. You may want to consider having a special fitness journal for just your pregnancy. Be sure to include notes, thoughts and other information in this journal. Decorate it, add pictures and celebrate your changing physique. If you become pregnant again, you can compare your notes.

This part of your life is very important and will become a memory before you know it. Keeping a fitness journal will be a great memento to treasure for years to come. It will be all about you and baby, before baby was born.

After the baby is born, your body will need a period of rest to heal and rejuvenate. Before you resume your normal fitness routine, consult your physician. If you are given the go ahead for exercising, you can record your meals and activities in your fitness journal. Use this journal to plan your fitness goals too. Be sure to measure yourself before pregnancy, during pregnancy and after pregnancy as well as weighing your self too.

For some women, resuming a regular diet is difficult after the birth of the baby. Having gotten accustomed to additional calories every day, we sometimes find it hard to cut back. Use your pregnancy fitness journal to continue recording your meals and physical activity. By being mindful of what you are eating, you can make food changes so that you eat fewer calories but are not left hungry. The fitness journal can help you monitor your weight loss or gain after a pregnancy too. It’s a great way to stay on top of your health.

Remember to take some time to devote to yourself after the baby comes. Your hormones may be off balance and you may feel anxious or overwhelmed at times. All of these things are normal and will usually pass. Use your journal to unload your mind of these thoughts and feelings and begin making goals for yourself, too.

You’ll want to stay healthy after the baby is born and your diet can help keep you that way. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables everyday, as well as getting enough calcium and protein. Try to avoid processed foods that are high in sugar and sodium. You can keep track of all of this in your fitness journal.

Trying to eat around a baby’s schedule can be challenging. Try eating five small meals instead of three. You won’t get so hungry between meals and if you have to delay eating to tend to the baby you won’t feel like you are starving.

This part of your life is very important and will become a memory before you know it. Keeping a fitness journal will be a great memento to treasure for years to come. It will be all about you and baby, before baby was born.

Clearly there are many benefits to keeping a fitness journal during your pregnancy and after. Not only will it allow you to better monitor your health, but it will also help you to feel in more control of the many changes that come with pregnancy.

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Inspiring Words For Your Diet

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It’s not easy to stick to a diet, not in a world of advertisements for food that is not the best for our health. Couple that, with the easiness of fast food, both at drive-through restaurants and convenience stores, it’s no wonder that it’s hard to stay on a diet.

No one said it would be easy. At least not in the beginning. Changing the way that you eat, takes some time and a lot of determination and restraint. Breaking old habits is hard to do, but it has been successfully accomplished time and again and the good news is, it can happen for you, too.

Sometimes all you need are some words of encouragement to keep you focused on your goal. The pursuit of a healthier, more attractive body because you care enough about your self and those around you, to strive for something better and that means a healthy body.

So here you go: I hope these will help you to take the first step, or if you have had a little lax period in your diet, maybe these ideas will help to get you going again.

Make the decision to love your body. If you don’t truly love your body, how can you ever do anything nice for it? Healthy eating takes some getting used to. Cutting down on sugar and sodium means making changes to foods that might at first not have as much taste. You’ve got to give yourself time to get used to these foods, if you love yourself and keep in mind the reason you are selecting healthy foods is because of the love that you feel, it will be much easier to do the right thing.

Think about your those people that you love. Once you start losing weight, how will they be affected? If they are close to you and see the joy and confidence you reap from your weight loss, they will probably be ecstatic. You most likely will be happier and that will make everyone around you happier too.

Repeat to yourself that what one woman can do, I can too. You know others have successfully stuck to their diets and lost weight from eating healthy. So what’s up with you? You are fully capable of doing what you set out to do—I know you can do it!

Inspire us and our readers with a comment in the space provided below:

Down Home Chicken Soup Curry

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Down Home Chicken Soup Curry

Just like Mama used to make when I was down with the sniffles. This family favorite has the power to cure just about any ailment or at least make you feel better. Depending on the number of people you are feeding, you can add 1/2 cup chicken for each additional person, this recipe serves 4.

5 cups water
1 3oz package chicken flavored ramen noodles
3 teaspoons of curry powder
1 cup fresh sliced mushrooms
2 cups cubed chicken
1 medium apple cored and chopped
1/2 cup water chestnuts drained and sliced

Directions:
1. In large saucepan combine water, flavoring package from ramen noodles, curry powder
bring to boil.
2. Break up noodles and add to mixture, with mushrooms.
3. Return to boil, then simmer.
4. Stir in chicken, apple, water chestnuts, heat through.

Health Benefits
High in protein and low in fat. Such a versatile meat that you can serve it several times in a week without cooking the same thing over and over. Curry on the other hand has been proven to reduce inflammation due to the high levels of turmeric found in curry. This powerful spice may also help protect against cancer, heart disease and even Alzheimer’s disease. Plus it tastes so good.