How much exercise do you do?

[franke1]

How many of you do some form of exercise once a day? It is very important to do that, and the papers and TV are full of fitness etc etc.
How many people are regular in their exercise routine ? I am.
:D

[Audrey]

I walk daily. I used to belong to a gym. However my intentions did not drag me there often enough. So, for right now, it's walking daily. What type of exercise do you do?

[tam2005]

LOL Audrey...right now the only exercise I get are with my fingers! Sad, but true.

January, I plan to change that. :mrgreen:

[valentine21463]

LOL Audrey...right now the only exercise I get are with my fingers! Sad, but true.

January, I plan to change that. :mrgreen:

:funny:

I use to be an avid excerciser. I felt guilty if I missed a day. Lately, for the past 2 yrs. I'm become a finger tapper too and my body shows it. My wrists are smaller? Does that count?:rolleyes:

[Audrey]

I know that when I exercise more, I feel better and I look better. However those two things do not always motivate me to exercise more. Here's an article I wrote about weight loss. The last paragraph is about exercise:

Simple Weight Loss Tips

As women, as we get older, our bodies change yet again on us. As they change, our bodies do not want or need as many calories as when we were teenagers. Yet we still love cheesecake, cheeseburgers, and milkshakes. So how can we have these foods while still keeping those extra pounds off?

I’ll share some of my own personal tips and secrets.

Living each day for just that day is really important. If yesterday, you overate, you can not undo that. No matter how upset you get, how much you want to change what happened yesterday, we can’t. So, forget about yesterday and think about just today.

I try to be very aware of what I’m eating. It’s so easy to eat food mindlessly, either while watching T.V., or while talking on the phone, or even while reading. When we eat mindlessly, it means that we really are not tasting or enjoying the food. Instead, take a short break and enjoy the food and become conscious of what you are eating.

Cut white breads out of your diet. When I eat bread, I eat either grain or whole wheat bread. I am a white bread lover, so it did take some getting used to, but I actually much prefer 12 grain bread over white bread now.

I am very careful how many “low fat” items I buy. Low fat products almost always have higher sugar content. When you put more sugar into your body, your body naturally craves sugar. The more you reduce the sugar going into your body, the less your body will crave it. Because of my love for chocolate, I could never be sugar free, but again I make very conscious choices. If I have a slice of chocolate cake, I try to stay away from other sugars that day.

Don’t deprive yourself. When we know we “can’t” have something, or know we “shouldn’t” have something, we want it. We think about it. We crave it. Instead of deprivation, instead think of moderation. I love Snickers bars. A trick I learned was to cut one bar into 4 pieces and then freeze it. When I want a Snickers bar, I take one piece out of the freezer and see if that satisfies my craving. Very often it does. When I want ice cream, I never put it in a bowl. Instead I take one of two spoonfuls from the container. Again, almost always I feel satisfied. I also love Starbucks. I go there twice a week. I feel very satisfied and there are some weeks I only go once a week. Again, moderation, not deprivation.

Eat more fruits and vegetables.. I have tons and tons of different salad dressings. This is one area where I do buy both fat free and low fat. I also buy tons of ingredients for the salad, lettuce, tomato, zucchini, cucumber, bell peppers, raisins, olives, broccoli, carrots and more. Oh my gosh, if it’s in the vegetable section, I buy it for salads. I do not eat salad every day, but I do enjoy salad several times a week. We do buy a lot of fruit. I love melons, peaches, grapes and cherries.

Rotate what you eat. Variety is important is not feeling deprived. Plan menus a week in advance. Most weeks, I never have the same thing twice for dinner. When you cook nice meals, you often have leftovers for lunch the next day. This premade lunch is yet another way to lower your calorie intake. A piece of chicken with vegetables is much lower in calories than the lunchmeat sandwich.

My last suggestion is about exercise. I think I’ve only met a handful of people in my entire life that say “I love to exercise”. Most of us would rather do anything other than exercise. So, turn exercise into something fun. Dancing is exercise. Bicycle riding is exercise. Swimming is exercising. Golfing is exercise. Yoga is exercising. Do you have dogs? Walk them, but go a bit longer. Walk with them for 30 minutes. There are just so many ways to turn exercise into something fun. If working out at a gym is not your thing, save your money and try swimming or biking instead. Instead of meeting a friend for lunch, meet for a walk.

Combining all of the above tips helps me be very conscious of what I’m eating and how much exercise I am getting.

Audrey Okaneko can be reached at audreyoka@cox.net or visited at http://www.scrapping-made-simple.com

[eapoosmama]

I do not excercise much. I get some, but nothing on a consistant basis any longer. I am very active throughout the day but am unable to do anything rather serious. Today, we were moving and stacking a cord of wood. I had to stop. I have two hernias and adhesions that do not permit a very physical lifestyle any more. So some of my surgical limitations keep me low key.

I am not a person who watches what I eat, since I don't focus on food -- it is a means of survival. I eat often and small meals, sticking to protiens and complex carbs and this helps keep the need to burn calories for me.

Besides -- my sons keep me hopping.

[cuellarhatcher77]

I am but I slacked a bit during the holidays. I'm now back to being active. I feel great when I exercise.:D

Thanks for the article Audrey. It is a simple way to adapt a healthier lifestyle. I'm not one to work out at the gym; I'd rather be walking my dog or playing outside with my 3 sons.

[sammy]

I am sorry to say i am the same as tammy and melanie ,just a finger tapper.

[KatiC]

I think we're pretty active as a family so I don't worry to much about 'working out.' We walk to school some days, more when it's warmer. About 1-2 miles per day. When I'm not at the computer, I'm definitely hopping around with the kids and taking care of the house.

We joined a gym a couple of months ago so our two boys had a pool to swim in. That's been great. I don't like treadmilling it but I think about how good I'll feel after I'm done.

I just joined the group - glad to be with you all!

[sammy]

Hi KatiC

Welcome to the forum.
You sound a very fit family indeed.
I used to be on the go all the time when my 4 were little ,but now they are teenagers the do`nt need me so much now.
Expect as a taxi lol

[Piladio Girl]

Hi all!

I was not even looking for exercise questions here, but I am glad that I found one because I love to exercise. I actually am a fitness instructor. I give in-home pilates lessons.

I exercise about 5 days a week. I mix it up everyday because that keeps your body guessing and working harder. I do Pilates to help my flexibility, mobility, core strength, and relieve stress. I also do cardio to get my heart rate going and burn calories. I also lift light weights. This is because building muscle actually helps you burn fat!

I am glad to hear so many of you are staying active. It will be so beneficial for all of you to stay active. It helps keep mental acuity as you get older and it lowers your risk of disease. I wish the best of luck to all of you and remeber that just doing the household chores everyday is considered activity.

I also use nutritional supplements. Most people do not realize that what you put into your body is actually more important than exercise. I only use 100% all natural products that give me energy and have been shown to reduce the risk of disease. I am in this for the long haul and want to make sure that I am around to see all of my kids lives!

[longroad]

I walk every morning for at least 20 minutes. I know its not much, but it does wonders in waking you up and really stretches the muscles.

I then go for another walk in the evening, up to 30 minutes.

I try and throw in some weight training, tennis and bike riding in during the week as well.

I love exercise, it really clears your mind and refreshes you.

[Audrey]

I"ve read in many places that 3 segments of 10 minutes each walking do wonders for you. My walks are shorter with the colder weather. When summer comes, it's easy to walk 45 minutes. Winter...I don't usually go more than 10-15 minutes each time.

Having dogs really helps as I have to walk!!!

[Web Content Writer]

I'm going to be honest, I hate exercising. But I know I need to, especially as I am getting older. I have a dog which is great motivation to walk at least once a day and I live near a walking/biking trail so that makes it easy too. Usually our walks last about 30 minutes. I am also good about stretching several times a day. But I'd rather be blogging. :shades:

[Audrey]

My dogs get me out of the house at least twice a day. We usually only go 10-20 minutes per walk.

[Hisgirl0305]

I wish working on the computer counted! LOL. I get very little...but I try to walk a couple days a week...

[crsuccess]

:good1: not enough .. I waitress which gets me excercise but i'm also around food all day :crybaby: i guess they cancell each other out :p

at least thats what my waist line says

[Victorious]

None! I do no exercise at all! I need to lose that post-delivery belly, but have no time taking care of baby and doing business!

[annesegal]

I do some strech exercise every night for 10 minutes before bed and that's about it. I feel quite quilty about it. I used to walk 3 times a week with 2 miles each. I felt so much more energetic then. But my schedule is just impossible right now to take walks. Good thing I do a lot of housework. I clean the house once a week. Major clean.

[Audrey]

My dogs love having a huge yard now. The problem is that I'm not walking any near as much as I used to :(

I really need to put more exercise into my day.

[melamom192]

I love working out, but it's been hard this pregnancy to do as much as I like. I still walk-occasionally, and yoga-it's great for my back and leg cramps.