A Balancing Act

A Balancing Act

Many people have personal goals to lose weight. A better approach is to want to be healthy and achieve this through: eating a healthier diet, exercising regularly and living a healthier lifestyle in general. Think about it as a lifestyle change. If you take this approach, excess weight will naturally come off. Also, you will feel more balanced, energized, and you will keep off the excess weight that you lose!

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Everything in moderation

Exercise

It is never good to do too much of anything. Working out too much can be a bad thing! You could hurt yourself, which could put you out of commission for working out for a while, and once you stop working out as much, your body will put the weight back on.

MayoClinic suggests to “[g]et at least 150 minutes a week of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic activity. You also can do a combination of moderate and vigorous activity... spread out this exercise during the course of a week.” MayoClinic also reccomends that you “…do strength training exercises at least twice a week.”

Here are some ideas for exercises:

Moderate Aerobic Activity

-brisk walking

-mowing the lawn

-swimming

-leisure bike rides

-roller skating

Vigorous Aerobic Activity

-aerobic dancing

-running

-elliptical machine

-stairs

-cycling

Strength Training

-free weights

-weight machines

-TRX

-rock climbing

Diet

Every Day

You should try and incorporate as many fresh, organic fruits and vegetables into your regular diet as possible. Fruits and vegetables are very high in vitamins, antioxidants, and fiber, and some veggies are high in protein and in calcium.

Dessert & Cravings

I wouldn’t recommend eating dessert every night, however it is absolutely okay to indulge every once in a while. If you give into your cravings IN MODERATION, it will help prevent you from binging on empty calories such as junk food.

I am a major chocolate lover, so to keep myself from eating an entire chocolate cake in one sitting, I have a few squares of dark chocolate a few times a week or whenever I am in the mood. Dark chocolate is high in antioxidants so…it could be worse. WebMd calls dark chocolate “healthy chocolate”, because it can help lower high blood pressure, however, they also state that it is “…no license to go on a chocolate binge”, and that you have to “balance the extra calories [from the dark chocolate] by eating less of other things.” Unlike other sources that simply say that milk chocolate is less beneficial, WebMd also includes states that "[their] findings indicate that milk may interfere with the absorption of antioxidants from chocolate ... and may therefore negate the potential health benefits that can be derived from eating moderate amounts of dark chocolate." Although this is only a possibility, it's safe to say that you should stick to plain dark chocolate, and eat it without an accompanying class of milk. 

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Personally, I find that eating lots of fruit or consuming fruit through smoothies on a regular basis really helps me with my sweet tooth and cravings. This is probably due to the fact that fruit is high in sugar. I also find that if I eat a protein bar that has dark chocolate in it during the day, that I am less likely to crave dessert at night. These are just my experiences, and everyone is different, but it’s worth a try!

Overall
Overall, being healthy and staying trim is a lifestyle. If you eat lots of fresh and healthy foods and exercise about 4-5 times a week, you should be in good shape. Set realistic goals for yourself and remember-- everything in moderation!

Leave me a comment - Let me know if it works for you!