Fitness4Her

Women's Fitness

Cheers To You For A Healthy And Happy New Year

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It’s time to say good-bye to the first decade of the 21st Century, and celebrate with hope and anticipation the coming of the New Year. A new beginning … a new decade … a new year.

If you haven’t made your New Year’s resolution yet, you might consider adding fitness to your list of things that you resolve to do in the coming year. It’s a wonderful way to look better and feel better and the benefits can last a lifetime.

New Year’s resolutions are a great way to recharge your mind, body and spirit. It doesn’t matter if some of your resolutions are repeated each year. Consider one of the most common New Year’s resolutions: to lose weight. Now, just because it was last year’s resolution or the year before doesn’t mean you won’t succeed this year. However, you might want to consider doing it just a little bit differently.

When you make your New Year’s resolution for losing weight, getting in shape or taking your fitness to a new level, write it down and begin making a list of all the steps you can take to make this resolution a possibility in your life. Believe that it is possible and it will be much easier to achieve.

Choose healthy ways to lose weight, like eating a balanced diet that is low in saturated fat and sugar and high in vitamins and nutrients. Make exercise a regular part of every day. Stay active by walking, bike riding, skating, swimming, dancing or jogging. Resolve to join a team such as tennis or soccer. Whatever you enjoy doing, just get out and get moving.

If you are interested in saving money as well as getting in shape, why not take the 90-day challenge at Fitness4Her.com. Just register at Fitness4Her.com to qualify. Not only will it be easier to stick to your New Year’s resolution, you could win an all expense paid trip to beautiful Palm Beach, Florida. A nice reward for sticking to your New Year’s resolution!

Empower The Beauty in You!®

~Karen

Karen Ficarelli

Tennis Serves Up Some Love-ly Benefits

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You could live a long healthy life if you started playing tennis at least 3 hours a week, as a matter of fact, you could cut your chance of a premature death in half! It’s a great cardiovascular activity that can burn up to 750 calories per hour.

Most importantly, you will feel better. It has been discovered that tennis players measure lower levels of anxiety, tension and depression than other athletes. They tend to be more optimistic and have a higher self-esteem.

The social aspect of tennis has a positive effect on your mind and spirit. A chance to get together with friends and team members, it helps to build self-esteem and optimism. But don’t let the cute tennis dresses fool you about this competitive sport. It has the capacity to burn more calories than inline skating, golf, or cycling.

If you’ve never played tennis before, you might want to seek out lessons from a tennis professional. You’ll need a tennis racket, tennis balls, tennis shoes, attire that’s easy to move around in and of course, a tennis court to play on.

When purchasing a tennis racket, make sure the grip fits your hand correctly. Hold out the hand that you will use to hold the racket, palm side up. Measure from the crease to the tip of the ring finger to get the measurement around the handle.

Scoring works a bit differently in tennis than other sports. The scoring starts at 15, the next point is 30, then 40. The next point is called game point or set point and it’s the winning point.

You may have heard tennis players talking about 30-love or love-30 that translates to 30-0, or 0-30, depending on which player is serving. The server’s score is announced first followed by the opponent’s.
If a game reaches a tie at 40 it is called deuce. The next person to score has server advantage and only needs one more point to win. If they don’t make this point the game goes back to deuce.

So, there you go, a brief lesson in tennis and some great reasons to take up the sport. And it hasn’t been completely proven, but tennis could make you smarter. Since tennis requires alertness and tactical thinking, it may generate new connections between nerves in the brain and thus promote a lifetime of continuing development of the brain, reported scientists at the University of Illinois.

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Seared Tuna

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Tastes like steak! Seared tuna is one of my favorite foods. Serve with green salad and tomato topped with your choice of low fat, low sodium Asian dressing. Serve on square plates with chop sticks for a fun meal with friends or family.

1 cup white and black seeds
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp wasabi powder (optional)
Pinch salt and pepper
2 pieces tuna loin, cut in half

Directions:
1. Combine seeds and wasabi
2. Sprinkle with salt and pepper
3. Heat pan on medium heat
4. coat pan with Pam then with sesame oil
5. Sear tuna 2 minutes on each side

Health Benefits
High in protein and low in fat, this alternative to beefy steak, is a taste sensation. Full of healthy omega 3 fatty acids. Black and white seeds contains over 100 nutrients, full of omega 3’s too.

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How to Stay True to Your Diet

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You started off strong, but lately you’re finding it hard to stick to that new diet or exercise program – so what gives? After that initial excitement and determination wears off, it’s hard for many women to continue exercising regularly, eating healthy, or both because things start to get in the way and excuses pile up, soon that fatty dessert becomes too enticing to resist.

You know you’ve got to get back on that exercise horse, because that’s what you do when you fall off, and girl—you have fallen way off. Here are a few ideas to get you up and moving and back on the healthy eating trail again.

Find a diet/exercise partner.
It’s always easier to do things with a friend. When it comes to dieting and working out, you won’t feel like you’re in it alone. The two of you can go out to eat healthy foods together and not feel bad about depriving yourself. You’ll be able to give support to one another and you can motivate each other to exercise on a regular schedule. Those days when you are having trouble getting going, your exercise partner will be there to challenge you on. You and your partner might enjoy shopping for smaller clothes together as a nice reward for all of the hard work.

Keep a positive attitude.
Daily affirmations are a positive way to start off your day. Positive words of praise and gratitude play a huge role in keeping you motivated to stay on track. Reward yourself for staying on your diet, especially if you’ve just fought off an overwhelming urge to eat fatty foods and opted for the turkey pita instead. Positive attitudes work for exercise as too. After your workouts concentrate on how good you feel for having completed your goals and how great your body feels afterwards. Savor that wonderful feeling of accomplishment and call it up everyday about an hour before it’s time to hit the gym or walking trail.

Mix it up to keep it interesting.
Vary your workouts between cardio and strength training every other day. This will give you something different to look forward to. On your cardio days, choose activities that are fun and that use different muscle groups and skills. There are so many fun things to choose from like walking, jogging, skating, dancing, swimming, playing golf, tennis, volleyball, soccer or softball.

If there are exercises that you absolutely hate to do, don’t do them. Choose another exercise that works the same muscle group or produces the same cardiovascular output. Make exercise fun so you won’t dread working out and you’ll be more likely to stick with your program. Vary your diet just as you do your fitness routine. If you’re always eating the same things you will no doubt get sick of them. Still eat healthy, but try new and different foods on a regular basis.

Look in the mirror not at the scale.
Don’t always rely on that number on the scale. Buy yourself a full-length mirror and check yourself out a little bit. What do you see? Can you tell a difference in the way that you look since you started your diet and fitness program? Muscle is smaller than fat, you can lose fat and build muscle and not see much difference on the scale, but when you look in the mirror you can see the results of beautiful strong muscles strengthened and toned.

Music tames the savage beast.
Anything that distracts the brain from the pain and discomfort that you feel during exercise can be helpful to get you through a workout. Listening to music can be extremely helpful. Our bodies naturally move to music so listening to upbeat music while you exercise actually helps you perform better. Music makes the time go by much faster because you can focus your mind on listening to particular songs and keep it from concentrating on being hot and tired. Load up your iPod with songs that you like, charge it up and take it with you on your walks, jogs or to the gym. It can be your little companion to keep you motivated.

Your health is important.
Most people want to look good, and there’s nothing wrong with that. One of the greatest benefits of healthy eating and exercise is the wonderful way that you look from the extra effort. But keep in mind that working out and eating right increases your life expectancy and improves your quality of life This alone should give you the motivation to start your diet and get your body moving in an exercise program that works for you.

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Spiced Pork Chops with Baked Sweet Potatoes

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Pork chops tend to have a bad reputation when it comes to meat. But a diet that isn’t varied can become boring quick. If you enjoy pork chops now and then, try this dish with some added spice.

1/2 cup Caribbean jerk spice
4 six-ounce thin pork chops
4 sweet potatoes (baked)
Cinnamon

Directions:

Sweet Potatoes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Rinse clean and poke potatoes with fork
Spray pan and bake in oven for one hour.

While sweet potatoes are cooking, prepare pork chops. To get a nice grilled flavor, sear on each side in a hot skillet for 1 minute on each side, before placing in oven.

Pork Chops
Spray pan with Pam
Coat pork chops with Caribbean jerk spice and bake for 20 minutes in 350 degree oven.

Health Benefits
Pork chops are the super meat of protein, one serving gives you almost all the protein you need for the day. High in omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. Choose lean varieties and bake or grill. Remember portion control is important, eat only one chop. Sweet potatoes are high in fiber, vitamins A and C, these golden beauties are nutrient rich. Low fat and naturally sweet.

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