Don't Slack Off

Exercise is more important than ever during the holiday season.

Our routines are disrupted by extraordinary social obligations, shopping, fixing up the house for company, and maybe also year-end personal business and work demands -- all of which conspires to take the wind out of our sails in the realm of exercise.

But in fact we need to make exercise a real priority right now. Otherwise the pounds will pack on, our sleep will be disrupted and our stress levels can get into the danger zone.

There are a couple of built-in "positives" about the season that can make exercising easier. The weather, for one: in some parts of the country, winter has not locked itself in and your local conditions might actually be perfect for long walks, hikes or jogs--whatever your fitness level permits.

If you have a yard, raking leaves or prettying up your landscape can be great exercise, or if you live where winter is already rearing its head, then snow removal (done carefully) really burns calories, too.

Even shopping can provide exercise opportunities. Get to the mall early and do a couple of (or a few) loops around the shops before you slow down to hit the stores. Instead of trying to find a parking place near a store entrance, go to the farthest outer corner of the lot and walk. Walk back to the car with purchases and return again. Take the stairs rather than escalators or elevators within the mall or department stores.

Because of all the social outings we're getting into, I have been ramping up my exercise time by small increments. In addition to a morning walk of 45 minutes, I try to take a 15-minute walk at lunch. On weekends, I bump that 45 minutes up to 60 minutes and also hit the gym. I try to jog part of the way and/or add more hills into my route.

Holiday travel is another potential saboteur of exercise. Depending on the location and circumstances, I will look for a gym or at the very least be sure that I walk a lot, and at an aerobic pace for at least 30 minutes a day.

Bottom line: be vigilant about looking for exercise opportunities wherever you can find them. Five or ten minutes here and there add up over the course of a day, and your body will thank you come New Year's Day!

Home workouts on the cheap -- or free!

Trying to be "good" about exercise without spending the money on a gym membership? Want to set up a home-based routine without a big investment?
Check out this piece on "8 Ways to Set Up a Home Gym on a Budget." Click here to read the details; these are the eight tips:

1. Use the space you've got
2. Keep it simple
3. Invite your friends
4. Use household items as exercise equipment
5. Buy second-hand equipment
6. Or go equipment-free
7. DIY decorating
8. Do your cardio outside

How to get your kids to exercise

With one in three American children now overweight or obese, and with the pervasiveness of passive childhood activities such as texting, playing video console games, and watching screens of various sorts, parents have to be extra vigilant and creative in encouraging healthy habits in their little ones.

How can we interest our kids in exercise? According to this article ("8 Fun Ways to Get Your Kids to Exercise"), the answer is "by giving them activities that are fun, stimulating and unexpectedly burn lots of calories."

The suggestions:

1. Play interactive video games (the kind that "get players up and moving")

2. Create a rewards system to give them an incentive to acknowledge good behavior

3. Make your backyard a playground

4. Take up family sports -- play together!

5. Sign them up for sports -- try different ones early in their lives and let them find out which ones they are good at and like the most

6. Take the family to sporting events -- let kids see for themselves how being physically fit can pay off

7. Walk or bike to your destination (or park halfway there and walk the rest of the way)

8. Get in the water -- especially relevant in the summer, when most everyone wants to splash around in a cooling environment.

Worst exercises for your joints

As we age, our bodies' joints (knees, elbows, shoulders, wrists, and so on) are among the first (of many, alas) parts to wear out.
After years of step aerobics, my knees began to hurt so much that I went to an orthopedic specialist and asked her if she could fix my knees so I could do step classes again. She said, we can work on fixing your knees but you're going to have to give up step aerobics.
Lesson learned! I rarely use a step for exercise, and even then use one or sometimes no riser.
Step isn't the only exercise to avoid if you want to preserve your joints. Check out this article for the "8 Worst Exercises for Your Joints. Here's the top five (or should I say, bottom five):

Jumping jacks -- not a good idea!

• 1.       Jumping jacks
• 2.       Running
• 3.       Tennis
• 4.       Boxing
• 5.       Step aerobics

Sedentary job? Sitting all day? (Not good for us.) How to overcome

Want to "fight the effects of sitting all day?"
Check out this article, "22 Painless Ways" to do just that.

Ideas include stretches and exercises you can do at your desk or near it; improving the ergonomics of your chair, desk, keyboard or footrest; health habits during your home life that can make you feel better all day long; and other good suggestions.

Working with a Trainer, Week 1 -- and learning more about "Clean Eating"

So far, the personal training sessions (just two) have been easy, for the most part. He did show me the correct way to do push-ups, with my elbows close to my body, which makes it more challenging to do them. (Push-ups have always been among my least favorite exercises, in any case.)
The day after my first PT workout, I expected to have sore muscles, but it was insignificant -- slight soreness in my triceps due to the proper push-up form. I told my trainer --Dorsey, in the photo here -- and he said we'd kick it up a notch next week.

Pama and her trainer at Fitworks

As for eating, part of my assignment this week was to keep a food diary. Doing that makes me more conscious of what's going in my mouth, of course. The only new (for me) "clean eating" principle that I was able to incorporate was to eliminate any starches (aka carbs) at dinner....not including wine, which I still had a pretty hefty glass of each night. Thanks to cutting back on carbs at other times of the day, too, and paying closer attention overall, I lost about 2 pounds this week.
However, I'm flying to Raleigh this afternoon to spend the weekend with my brother and his family. He and his wife are foodies par excellence, wine collectors (their cellar dwarfs mine by a factor of 100) and he is a great cook. Plus we have dinner reservations at one of their fave restaurants, in Chapel Hill, Saturday night. I'm not expecting to maintain my slight weight loss, but we'll see.
Next week, Dorsey will give me a cardio plan as well as feedback about my diet.
Thenceforth until Thanksgiving, I plan to do my utmost to make real progress with my PT fitness goals:

• Improve my posture
• Strengthen my core and leg muscles
• Begin to lose fat as I drop a few pounds (long term goal is 5-7 lbs)
• Improve balance and mobility.

BEST TIME TO EXERCISE: before breakfast?

This is really interesting news, as published in the NY Times this week. Apparently, getting your workout in the morning before you eat can help counteract any over-indulgence you may have committed on the previous day. Here's part of the article, and go here for the whole thing.

The holiday season brings many joys and, unfortunately, many countervailing dietary pitfalls. Even the fittest and most disciplined of us can succumb, indulging in more fat and calories than at any other time of the year. The health consequences, if the behavior is unchecked, can be swift and worrying. A recent study by scientists in Australia found that after only three days, an extremely high-fat, high-calorie diet can lead to increased blood sugar and insulin resistance, potentially increasing the risk for Type 2 diabetes. Waistlines also can expand at this time of year, prompting self-recrimination and unrealistic New Year’s resolutions.

But a new study published in The Journal of Physiology suggests a more reliable and far simpler response. Run or bicycle before breakfast. Exercising in the morning, before eating, the study results show, seems to significantly lessen the ill effects of holiday Bacchanalias.

Since we recently put a treadmill in our basement and the weather outside has gotten way too cold (and icy sidewalks) for outdoor exercise, I've been doing about 30-35 minutes on it before breakfast for the past couple of days. Who knew that this was a brilliant move? :-)

What Matters More: Diet or Exercise?

Ideally, we'd all like to be thin and athletic, right? We'd never eat junk, fit perfectly into our skinny jeans and compete in marathons, or at least be able to run up flights of stairs without getting winded.
But since most of us can't do all that, it's interesting to think about what our top health goal should be.
Well, according to new research, it seems that being active -- getting regular exercise -- is more important than dropping the pounds.

Here's the scoop, from Real Age:

"Is your health goal to get thin or to get active? Science suggests it may be best to think more about breaking a sweat than about stepping on the scale.

"In a recent study, being inactive translated into a higher risk of heart disease, regardless of a person's body mass index (BMI).

Get Moving
"BMI is a measure of overall body weight that takes into consideration a person's height. Medical experts have used it as an indicator of body fatness and thus a tool for determining disease risk. But in a recent study, inactive people were in a higher heart-risk category no matter what their BMIs were. Seems their couch-potato ways translated into a disproportionately big waist, irrespective of how much -- or how little -- they tipped the scales. And a too-big waist means big trouble for the heart.

Body Composition
"Having a BMI within a normal range is great, but it's not the be-all and end-all of good health. You can have a normal BMI and still be unhealthy -- especially if you don't exercise. In the recent study, inactive men had a higher risk of future heart disease compared with active men. Again, this was regardless of BMIs and bathroom scales. Inactive women fared even worse than men when it came to heart disease risk, and it's all because activity affects body proportion. Exercise makes it less likely that your body fat will get stored in the most dangerous place you can store it: around your abdomen."

Good news/bad news on exercise (mostly bad?)

I think most people would greet with dismay the newest "conventional wisdom" about how much exercise we need each day to keep from getting fatter as we age. For a normal weight woman to avoid middle-age spread, she needs 60 minutes every day of moderate cardio-type exercise. If you start your journey into middle age with a few extra pounds, you'll have to diet it off as well as do even more daily exercise. Here's what the Real Age doctors say about these findings, along with links about how to make this daunting task easier.

In a long-term study, middle-aged women who averaged about 60 minutes' worth of moderate-intensity exercise like walking on a daily basis experienced almost no weight gain during a 13-year period.

Pound Pusher
If you struggle with your weight already, you might need a little more than a daily 60. The overweight or obese women in the study weren't able to halt weight gain with the same level of exercise that worked for their healthy-weight peers. For a truly effective weight loss plan, try our online version of the best-selling book YOU: On a Diet. This online version combines daily walking with an easy-to-follow, proven-to-work eating plan that has helped hundreds of RealAge members lose weight. Find out more with this quick 99-second version of the diet.

The Fitness Factor
The really great news about the exercise study? Moderate-intensity exercise helped the healthy-weight women avoid weight gain even while they continued to eat as they normally would. No special diet was needed. Having trouble keeping yourself moving? Here are three strategies for overcoming common excuses:

• No time? Here's the exercise advice the RealAge docs have for busy people.
• No cute shoes? Check out this video for tips on picking the best walking shoes.
• Don't know where to start? Learn the keys to walking for weight loss.

Holiday Survival Guide, Part 6: Staying Fit in Cold Weather

This dilemma stretches well past the holiday season: how do we stay fit when it's cold, dark and (worse) icy outdoors?
I am a dedicated exercise fanatic, and I'll bundle up and head outdoors even in the coldest weather. But I'm a complete coward about treading on ice. Since winter weather also brings out the cave-man instinct to eat more--storing up calories until the spring--we had better figure out how to burn off the hearty foods we're consuming. Here's my advice for all healthy foodies (including aspiring ones) to consider.

1. Get outdoors, even for short bursts. Put your exercise clothes out at night so first thing in the morning you can jump right into them and out the door. Fifteen minutes in the neighborhood makes a great start to your day. I'll go out saying to myself "just fifteen minutes" but once I've warmed up, that 15 stretches into 20, 30 or more. Do what your schedule will allow, and something is always better than nothing. Add a short walk at lunchtime and another one after work, and you're getting a decent amount total.
2. Join a gym, sign up for Jazzercise classes, get into mall walking -- in short, you do need a backup for times when outdoor exercise is just not an option. At least in Cincinnati (and probably elsewhere, too), fitness clubs over-expanded in the boom years before the crash of '08, and most are desperate for new customers. If the deal they offer you is too expensive, talk them down. It's really doable!
3. If all else fails, exercise inside your own house or apartment. Get free workout DVDs from the library or find exercise shows on cable television. This is not something I've ever had much interest in, but I know people who swear by their own private indoor workouts. A treadmill or elliptical trainer in the basement works for some folks, too.

Whatever you decide, make yourself a promise to get off your duff and shape up -- if in fact you're not already in the fitness habit. (If you are, bravo!)

I had a Jazzercise instructor once who used to motivate the class by saying if we work harder we can EAT MORE. She had us trained to call out those last two words in unison. I can think of no better reason to work fitness into my day than that very thing -- now I can EAT MORE. Woo-hoo!

Healthy foodies' holiday survival guide -- Part 2

Exercise is more important than ever during the holiday season.
Our routines are disrupted by extraordinary social obligations, shopping, fixing up the house for company, and maybe also year-end personal business and work demands -- all of which conspires to take the wind out of our sails in the realm of exercise.
But in fact we need to make exercise a real priority right now. Otherwise the pounds will pack on, our sleep will be disrupted and our stress levels can get into the danger zone.

There are a couple of built-in "positives" about the season that can make exercising easier. The weather, for one: in most areas, winter has not set in and in fact the temperatures and dryer conditions are perfect for long walks, hikes or jogs--whatever your fitness level permits.

If you have a yard, raking those leaves can be great exercise, or if you live where winter is already rearing its head, then snow removal (done carefully) really burns calories, too.

Even shopping can provide exercise opportunities. Get to the mall early and do a couple of (or a few) loops around the shops before you slow down to hit the stores. Instead of trying to find a parking place near a store entrance, go to the farthest outer corner of the lot and walk. Walk back to the car with purchases and return again. Take the stairs rather than escalators or elevators within the mall or department stores.

Because of all the social outings we're getting into (already--weeks before Thanksgiving!), I have been ramping up my exercise time by small increments. In addition to a morning walk of 45 minutes, I try to take a 15-minute walk at lunch. On weekends, I bump that 45 minutes up to 60 minutes and also hit the gym. I try to jog part of the way and/or add more hills into my route.

Holiday travel is another potential saboteur of exercise. Depending on the location and circumstances, I will look for a gym or at the very least be sure that I walk a lot, and at an aerobic pace for at least 30 minutes a day.

Bottom line: be vigilant about looking for exercise opportunities wherever you can find them. Five or ten minutes here and there add up over the course of a day, and your body will thank you come New Year's Day!

URL for the TIme Magazine weight/exercise story

Go here: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857,00.html?xid=newsletter-weekly

"The Myth about Exercise" and weight -- new info

Time Magazine had a very interesting cover story last week (dated 8/17/09) about new research questioning whether exercise actually helps with weight loss or even weight control. We've all thought that burning calories at the gym or playing sports as well as doing strength training will help us drop pounds--or at least not gain weight as we age.

The Time article blows some holes in those notions. Researchers are finding that when we do blast some calories through exercise, we end up hungrier than if we hadn't exercised, and can easily eat as much (or more) after our exertion than we would have otherwise. Moreover, other researchers have documented that people who exercise vigorously will go home and slug out, versus those who divide their activity levels more evenly across the day and evening.

My summary doesn't do justice to the article, so I encourage you to seek it out, if interested. The author does stress that exercise is still important for many other benefits besides weight control--one of the main reasons I am an exercise fanatic is that it helps me sleep better, for instance. But it is rather eye-opening and sobering to think that exercise and weight may not be all that closely tied.