Walking Off The Weight

When you first start out, you’re all excited about your walking workout, but after a while it starts to get a little boring, and we all know what happens next… we end up not walking one day, and then another and before we know it we’re out of our great little walking routine. The key is to keep thinks interesting so the boredom doesn’t sink in.

1. Play Some Music or Audio Books.
2. Walk with a Walking Buddy. You can keep each other accountable for walking each week.
3. Keep a Walking Journal and record how much you walk each day.
4. Change your walking route and explore new neighborhoods, parks and trails.
5. Join a walking or hiking group.
6. Join an online walking challenge.
7. Wear a pedometer and challenge yourself to walk more steps each week.
8. Get a game like the Nintendo DS Personal Trainer Walking.
9. Switch things up and do other workouts like playing a game of basketball or going for a swim.
10. Reward yourself with a nice little gift if you stuck with your walking workout for a  month.
11. Sign up for a Charity Walk and train for it.
12. Challenge yourself with a interval training where you mix up jogging and walking.
13. Add some walking poles to keep your workout interesting and challenging.
14. Walk on a track and see how many laps you can do.
15. Bring the kids along for a walk.
16. Go for a hike on the weekend.
17. Walk the dogs at your local animal shelter or offer to walk a neighbor’s dog.

Filed under: Articles on August 15th, 2009 | No Comments »

Tuna is a great source of lean protein. If you’ve never cooked your own tuna steaks, you may be a little intimidated, but this easy recipe makes it super simple and these turn our perfect for me every single time. Just add a veggie or a nice green salad and dinner is served.

Easy Tuna Steaks

• 1 cup of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/3 cup pitted and chopped Kalamata olives
• 1 tbsp capers
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 4 tuna steaks, skin removed
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Lightly oil a large ovenproof dish.

In a small bowl, combine the cherry tomatoes, olives, capers, thyme and olive oil. Season with black pepper.

Arrange the tuna steaks in one layer in an ovenproof dish, top them with the tomato and olive mixture. Bake in the oven until the fish is cooked, about 20 minutes.

Filed under: Recipes on August 4th, 2009 | No Comments »

If you’ve been walking for fitness and weightloss for quite some time now, you may be ready for a little change. Our bodies sometimes get so used to a certain type of workout, making it less effective in the long run. One quick way to change your walking workout routine is to add walking poles.

Walking poles look very much like ski poles, but usually have a different tip on the end, making them easier to use on a trail or even your sidewalk. You walk along with the poles. They give you a great upper body workout while the walking works your lower body and legs. Combined you get a great overall workout.

When you first start to walk with poles, you’ll notice that your upper arms and shoulders will get pretty sore. If you’ve mainly just been walking, those muscles haven’t gotten much of a workout. Don’t overdo it, but hang in there and they will quickly adjust to the extra work. The result will be nicly toned arms that you can’t wait to show off in a new sleveless shirt or dress. And of course you’ll be burning plenty of extra calories making your walking workouts even more effective.

Filed under: Articles on July 30th, 2009 | No Comments »

We love warm, freshly baked muffins on the weekends, but if you get them from the store, you’re stuck with all that fat and sugar and it takes you all day to work of those calories. You won’t believe how quick and easy it is to put these muffins together and they taste really nice and kinda gourmet. We love them.

Orange Muffins With Poppy Seeds

1 orange (preferably organic)
½ cup of milk
2 tbsp poppy seeds
1 egg
¼ cup oil
1 ½ cups plain flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb soda

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

In a little bowl, soak 2 tbsp poppy seeds in ½ cup of milk and let it stand for about 20 minutes.

Cut the orange into 8 pieces and remove any seeds. Place the whole of the orange (including skin), the milk with poppy seeds, the egg and oil in a blender and blend until smooth.

In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and add the wet mix to the dry and stir carefully until just mixed.

Fill mixture into muffin tins and bake for about 15 – 20 minutes.

Filed under: Recipes on July 25th, 2009 | No Comments »

I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but I live in the deep south and walking outside for exercise can be a bit of a challenge when it’s 98 outside with 90 to 100 percent humidity. Sure, I could just give up on my walking workouts using the hot weather as an excuse, but with a little ingenuity, I can still stick to my plan and keep myself in good shape all during the summer. Here are some of my best tips:

• Head Out Early
  I usually prefer to walk in the afternoon, but during the hottest summer months, I often change my routine and walk very early in the morning when it’s still fairly cool outside.
• Take Your Workout Inside
  I’m lucky and now own a treadmill, so on days that it’s too hot to walk outside (or when it rains for that matter), I can work out inside right in front of my tv. Before I owned the treadmill, I would go for walks in a local mall. I could window shop and enjoy the air conditioning and still get my workout in. You may also want to consider joining a gym and use the treadmills there to work out.
• Go For A Swim
  Walking doesn’t have to be your only form of exercise. I often go for a swim instead during the hot summer months. It’s a great low impact workout and works your entire body.

No matter what you are doing this summer, just keep doing something and remember to drink plenty of water when you are working out in the heat.

Filed under: Articles on July 20th, 2009 | No Comments »

I love to eat tomatoes in the summer and my neighbor grows a bunch of them in his yard and has given me quite a few of them over the past few weeks. I’m always looking for new and healthy ways to prepare them. This is one of my new favorites. Give it a try if you have a bunch of tomatoes.

Couscous stuffed Tomatoes

• 8 large tomatoes
• 6 oz couscous
• 6 fl oz cold water
• 1 ½ tbsp sunflower oil
• 1 bunch spring onions, sliced
• 14 fl oz chicken stock, heated
• 2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
• 1 oz butter, cut into small pieces
• Salt and Pepper

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Wash the tomatoes and cut a thin slice off the top of each of them. Take the flesh out and turn them over to drain.

In a bowl, add couscous and cold water and let stand until water is absorbed. Heat the sunflower oil in a frying pan and cook the spring onions for about 3 minutes, add the couscous and cook for another 3 minutes, whilst constantly stirring. Add 6 fl oz of chicken stock and gently simmer whilst stirring for approximately 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Take the frying pan off the heat and mix in the basil. Let it cool!

Before filling the tomatoes, pat them dry with kitchen paper, then stuff with the couscous. Arrange them in a buttered baking dish, put the top back on each tomato and add the leftover 8 fl oz stock. Sprinkle with the butter pieces and bake in oven for about 25 minutes.

This is a delicious main course especially when you serve it with a green salad. Enjoy!

Filed under: Recipes on July 15th, 2009 | No Comments »

How fit we are and how successful our latest attempt at losing weight is, has more to do with how we feel about this matter than it does with genetics and high or low metabolisms. Sure, they play a role, but any of those factors can be overcame with the right attitude and determination. Developing that right attitude of course can be the hard part. Let’s take a closer look.

Psychology has a lot more to do with how much we weigh that most people realize.  Our subconscious plays a role in how much we eat, whether and how much we exercise, and what weight range we deem as acceptable for ourselves.  When it is discovered that someone is anorexic or bulimic, it’s apparent that the problem goes deeper than eating habits.  But what many of us fail to see is that the same thing applies to those who are overweight

There are infinitely many reasons that a person may feel compelled to overeat.  Here are a few general ones.

* Some people overeat as a way of making up for something that is missing in their lives.  This need often goes back to childhood, but it can also spring from more recent events.  For instance, someone who has recently divorced might overeat to compensate for the lack of a partner.

* Those who have been or are currently being abused may overeat.  In the case of sexual abuse, the victim might overeat to make herself less attractive as a means of preventing future abuse.  Victims of other types of abuse may overeat in an effort to comfort themselves.  These patterns often continue long after the abuse is over.

* Overeating is sometimes a reaction to stress.  Instead of facing the sources of stress head-on, some people eat to take their minds off of them.  This only works temporarily, however, and when the stressor resurfaces, the cycle continues.

Healthy Mind, Healthy Body

Those who are overweight are rarely that way because they want to be.  They often try diets, medications, exercise programs and alternative treatments, only to fail.  But if they were to work on the underlying issues before attempting to change what’s on the outside, they would have a better chance of success.

The psychological problems behind obesity have a way of setting us up to fail at losing weight.  They are often accompanied by low self-esteem, which is notorious for thwarting weight-loss efforts.  Even if we give it our best shot, a lasting reduction in weight does not happen overnight.

However, low self-esteem can lead us to believe that lack of quick results means that we’re incapable of succeeding, so we give up too quickly.  And even if we do manage to lose the extra weight, if the psychological problems are still there when we go off the diet, the weight will reappear.

Getting treatment for psychological problems is essential if we want to stop destructive behaviors such as overeating.  By improving our state of mind, we give ourselves the foundation we need to make lifestyle changes that will help us achieve a healthier weight.

Filed under: Articles on July 11th, 2009 | No Comments »

By now I don’t have to tell you that walking is a great workout that’s good for your overall health and endurance. It is easy to do, there’s no special equipment needed (other than a pair of sneakers) and just about anyone can start a walking workout routine. But what if you want to supercharge your workout and get into shape faster?

The type of walking that you do everyday around your house will eventually get you to you goals. However, to supercharge your workout, look at a new way of walking. One of the best ways to walk is to do interval training when you walk. This routine will supercharge your workout routine.

The best part about interval training when it comes to walking is you can get twice the workout in about half the time that it would normally take you. This means that you can hit your snooze button a few extra times in the morning before you head out for your walk.

Interval training is all about increasing your heart rate at short bursts. It takes more energy to increase and decrease your heart rate than to keep it steady. When you walk at a steady rate throughout your workout you miss that added energy burn of the continual increase and decrease. Using this type of walking will take some getting used to.

Interval walking in a basic way is easy to do. You need to set a scale as far as exertion for you goes. Look at the scale as being 1 to 10. Level 1 would be lounging in front of your TV. Level 10 would be sprinting. Begin your walking with five minutes of walking at a moderate pace. This pace would be a level 6 or 7. For the next five minutes you will want to increase your pace to a level 8 or 9. You need to continue alternating between the two paces for the rest of your workout.

To help you to know when to change paces in your workout, you can record a workout tape. On this workout tape you can alternate slow and fast songs to remind you what speed that you should be walking at. You can do interval walking outside or you can do it on your treadmill. It is an easy workout to use no matter where you are.

Interval training is one of the most effective walking workouts there is. You can burn twice the amount of calories that you would normally do out on you regular walk.  There are also ways to make this walking workout even more effective as a way to achieve your fitness goals. You can stop after two rounds of increasing and decreasing your walking pace and do some squats and lunges.

The sky is the limit when you include interval walking into your workout routine.

Filed under: Articles on July 4th, 2009 | No Comments »

Your metabolism plays an important role in weight loss. As you eat less, your metabolism slows down to compensate for the apparent shortage of food. Thankfully there are a lot of ways to speed up your metabolism.

Speed Up Metabolism

Metabolism is essentially the speed at which our body’s motor is running. The speed at which our body burns calories is called the metabolic rate. It’s how fast your “motor” is running when you’re still in a reclined position or sleeping. About 60-75% of energy is expended by the body at rest in such activities.

The metabolism is based on the number of calories we burn throughout the day. Our body constantly burns calories to keep us going whether we are eating, sleeping, cleaning etc. People with a lower percentage of body fat (i.e. muscular) have a higher metabolism than others that are less muscular because muscle uses more calories to maintain itself than fat. Some people have a slower metabolic rate and have a harder time staying slim. Younger persons have higher (faster) metabolism because of the increased activity of cells. A slow metabolism actually causes to store fat. The slower the metabolic rate, the greater the weight gains. How to build muscles to improve metabolism? What type of exercise is ideal that speed up metabolism so that you burn calories even at rest or sleep? There are simple exercises that speed up the metabolism.

Causes for Low Metabolism

Fasting
A low calorie diet
Snacking throughout the day on high sugared foods (candy, colas, cakes, gum).
Eating or drinking too much sugar containing foods.
Lack of physical activity.
Under-active thyroid.

Metabolism Boosters

There are some natural metabolism boosters (natural foods) that improves your metabolism. Do not take over the counter pills containing animal thyroid extract that claim to boost up metabolism. These products may have side effects as diarrhea, increased heart rate, excessive sweating, nervousness, tremors, bulging eyes, etc.

How to Improve (Speed up) Metabolism

* Do not skip any meals
* Exercise daily
* Build your muscles
* Avoid alcohol, sugar, and fasting
* Drink 8-10 glasses of water daily
* Eat foods with high nutrition values

Filed under: Articles on April 20th, 2009 | No Comments »

Now you can enjoy eggs benedict on the weekend and not have to feel bad about it. The eggs make a great weekend breakfast or brunch.

6 Servings

Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons hot water
* 1/2 cup light mayonnaise
* 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
* 4 slices (2 ounces) Canadian-style bacon
* 2 English muffins, split and toasted
* 4 whole eggs for poaching

Directions

In the top of a double boiler, blend hot water with mayonnaise, stirring frequently, about 7 minutes or until heated through. Stir in lemon juice. Remove from heat and set aside.

Pour 1 1/2 to 2 inches of water into a large frying pan and bring to a simmer while you prepare the muffins and bacon.

In a large non-stick frying pan, cook bacon approximately 3 minutes or until heated through (may also be heated in the microwave). Remove from heat and place one slice of bacon on each English muffin half.

One at a time, break each egg onto a saucer or into small cups or bowls. Slip eggs carefully into simmering water by lowering the lip of each egg-cup 1/2-inch below the surface of the water. Let the eggs flow out. Immediately cover with a lid and turn off the heat. Set a timer for exactly three minutes for medium-firm yolks. Adjust the time up or down for runnier or firmer yolks. Cook 3 to 5 minutes, depending on firmness desired.

Lift each perfectly poached egg from the water with a slotted spoon, but hold it over the skillet briefly to let any water clinging to the egg drain off. Place one egg on each muffin half. Top each egg with 2 tablespoons of lemon/mayonnaise sauce. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately.

Nutritional Information per serving:
Calories: 325
Fat: 12g

Filed under: Recipes on April 8th, 2009 | No Comments »