Lunch Break: Lose weight while cleaning your home
by LauraLoo
While these routines are definitely not for me, I support whatever works for an individual to lose or maintain a healthy weight.
For some people, it’s a lifelong challenge to be a disciplined eater and exerciser. I walk with one girlfriend 1-2 times a week and every day (at least 90 minutes by myself) before going in to work and on the weekends. My areas of improvement include more healthy food choices throughout the week and weight (strength) training to boost metabolism.
Any tips or words of encouragement for those who need to lose weight – or for those who need to keep persevering to lose weight?
Email LauraLoo with your Lunch Break suggestions.
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
I would recommend everyone interested in exercise check out http://www.fitocracy.com. This is a great website for those who are looking to lose or gain weight, or…really are at any level with fitness regimens. Aside from being an exercise tracker, Fitocracy gives points for fitness activities, and when certain point goals are reached, you level up. Right now I’m 528 points away from level 7. There are also quests to be completed (such as doing 100 push-ups in the fewest number of sets possible) or achievements to be earned (such as running 1000 miles in your lifetime). The community is encouraging and positive, it’s free to join, you don’t need a gym membership, and the number of loggable exercises is enormous (walking up the stairs, ashtanga, swing dance, hula hooping, and jump rope are all loggable exercises). I’ve had great fun with it, and I highly recommend it as a fitness tool to anyone who’s looking for one.
I have been a prolife Body for Life girl for years.
http://www.bodyforlife.com
These exercises would drive me insane! I hate “exercising” (I am an active person but I don’t like doing exercises just to do them) and I hate cleaning – the combination of the two would push me right into despair! lol I know lots of people get “runner’s high” or whatever from exercise but I have NEVER felt that – I ran distance track in high school so it wasn’t for lack of effort or perseverence. I am just not a designated-exercise person.
Instead, I structure low-intensity activity into my normal life. I live in a 4th-floor walk-up, so I make multiple trips up and down each day, and while it never leaves me out of breath it does keep me in shape. Plus whenever I do laundry or buy groceries I get some nice weight training in (and it’s better for my wallet, too – shopping sprees are less attractive when I have to carry everything I buy home and up four flights, haha). I use public transportation, which means that I walk at least a mile a day, usually more, in small errands, commuting, etc. And when I walk, I walk fast – I don’t “stroll,” but that’s really more about it being a method of transportation than about me trying to get my heart rate up. Still, the result’s the same. I get a lot of weight training/muscle-building at work, since I do a lot of physical labor. And I play games with friends, depending on the organized sport my company has joined in any given season. I don’t really like baseball so I’m out this season but I’ve done kickball and bowling in the past.
I also frequently go walking several miles in new neighborhoods, or biking along the river etc, with friends on my days off.
Really, the only designated exercise I do is yoga, but I think of it as not really exercise at all, more like…almost the same sort of self-care as taking a bath or getting a pedicure. I am a naturally very flexible person but because I do so much muscle work at my job I can get really tight and cramped. I also stress a lot. I do yoga to kind of stretch everything out and quiet my mind down for a bit.
My younger sister is an exercise fanatic, running miles every day and spending countless hours weight-training at the gym. I get virtually no exercise beyond what I do in my normal daily routine and work duties. But we generally have the same cardiovascular fitness level and I am actually stronger than she is (that’s mostly from work stuff). We’re also both roughly the same size – she’s a couple inches taller and a pants size bigger but we are both petite and fit, and share clothes etc. It’s just different health preferences, really, but we both get to the same place eventually.
As far as food, I pretty much only focus on eating “real” food – not on calories or carbs or anything like that. ie, I feel better about eating “real” cookies, made with real ingredients, than eating a microwave Lean Cuisine dinner. I don’t drink much soda because most of it has HFCS, but I drink Jones and other real-sugar sodas for a treat when I come across them. Generally speaking, I find that if I am eating “real” foods, I crave a mostly healthy diet. I crave vegetables most often and so I eat them most often, but I also really crave fish sometimes. When I’m snacking at home I usually have popcorn – not the bag kind but the kind you make on the stove. I make it in a bit of (non-genetically-engineered) canola oil, which is a heart-healthy oil rich in omega-3′s and monounsaturated fats. It tastes way better than bagged popcorn and I frequently sprinkle some Penzey’s smoky salt on it, to give it a nice kick.
When it comes to sweet things I crave them rarely enough that making them from scratch, or buying individual servings made with high-quality real ingredients, is feasible. I rarely seem to crave fruit but I try to keep it around since it’s a good “fast food” and I don’t dislike it, just never really think to eat it if it’s not there in front of me.
I try to focus on the good in whatever food I’m eating. So many of my friends will say that they’re “being bad” having a hamburger but I just think – “hey! I’m getting tomatoes and lettuce (bonus points if it’s a great burger joint that uses non-iceberg lettuce!), plus iron and protein etc”! Basically I try to focus on what IS in my food rather than what ISN’T, on what I’m getting rather than what I “should” be getting. I’ve found that it’s a very positive outlook on food, and also has made me naturally seek out “more real” foods, regardless of whether they’re viewed as “good” or “bad” by most cultural assumptions.
That said, McDonald’s fries are the ultimate, unsurpassed hangover cure. I almost think of them as medicine rather than food.
Thanks for sharing! It’s all about remaining active and making good food choices for life. LL
I don’t know from shaving off ten pounds or maintaining a perfect weight. I have ideas for those of us who have had to lose 20 or 200 lbs. Now those are my brothers and sisters in weight control!
You moderately unfit frighten me!