Plan of Attack

Plan of Attack 

In order to achieve any goal in life, one must establish a plan of attack.  Just like you wouldn’t start any business without a foundation, your fitness and nutrition program deserves the same level of attack.

Worthwhile Fitness Investments To Stay Motivated

Worthwhile Fitness Investments To Stay Motivated

   Heart Rate Monitor

  

Heart rate monitors are helpful for both athletes and the exerciser looking to improve fitness. Keeping the heart rate at an appropriate training zone is the key to tracking and improving fitness level, and a heart rate monitor allows you to do this.

Exercise Bands

 

Exercise bands are great exercise accessories. Not only are they portable and easy to use, they’re extremely effective for developing muscular strength and endurance. 

    Water Bottle

 

  You will be more motivated to drink the recommended 8-10 glasses of water a day if you carry around a water bottle, so why not make it a cute permanent part of your fitness accessories.

     

  Great Pair of Sneakers

Sneakers have found an important place in the cupboards of most people. They are comfortable to wear and look trendy too. While most of the other types of shoes available in the market can cause you a pain in your foot, sneakers are not amongst them. They are a great pick to accompany you on an outing, especially if it is an adventurous.

      Cute & Fashionable Gym Bag

Packing a good gym bag is essential to a good workout for comfort and also to keep you motivated.  The best ones have pockets for everything, including wallets, cell phones, water bottles, ipods, workout gloves and clothing.

The Meaning of Hip to Waist Ratio

The Meaning of Hip to Waist Ratio

 The Waist to Hip Ratio indicates your probable health risks. People with more weight around the waist face more health risks than people who carry more weight around their hips.

Your health is not only affected by how much body fat you have, but also by where most of the fat is located on your body. People who tend to gain weight mostly in their hips and buttocks have roughly a pear body shape,  while people who tend to gain weight mostly in the abdomen have more of an apple body shape.

If you have an apple shaped body rather than a pear shaped body, you are at increased risk for the health problems associated with obesity, such as diabetes, coronary heart disease and high blood pressure - that's something you inherited, and have had since birth - but you can take special care to keep your weight at a healthy level, eat nutritiously, exercise as appropriate, and maintain other healthy lifestyle habits.

As long as you avoid excess weight, being an apple shaped body or a pear shaped body doesn't put you at special risk - it's just one of those things to keep in mind. And even pear shaped people should take particular care to keep their weight within normal limits, to avoid the health problems associated with obesity.

What is Waist Circumference?

According to the National Institutes of Health, a high Waist Circumference (WC) is associated with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension and cardiovascular disease when the BMI is between 25 and 34.9. (A BMI greater than 25 is considered overweight and a BMI greater than 30 is considered obese.) Waist Circumference can be useful for those people categorized as normal or overweight in terms of BMI. (For example, an athlete with increased muscle mass may have a BMI greater than 25 - making him or her overweight on the BMI scale - but a Waist Circumference measurement would most likely indicate that he or she is, in fact, not overweight). Changes in Waist Circumference over time can indicated an increase or decrease in abdominal fat. Increased abdominal fat is associated with an increased risk of heart disease.

THE IMPORTANCE OF JOURNALING

 THE IMPORTANCE OF JOURNALING

Whatever your goals are, journaling your workouts and keeping tabs on your nutrition can both help you get better results. 

Why is journaling so important?  Its simple…you can look back at the end of each day or week and say “WOW, I lifted that much weight” or “I ate how many calories this day”?  And you may be inspired to accomplish even more.  Keeping a nutritional/fitness journal shows you whether your goals are realistic, as well as give you insight into your “living” patterns. 

A journal will keep you honest!!!

A Sample Food Journal