A Little Bit Makes A Lot of Difference!

You keep telling yourself that you must exercise. You keep beating up on yourself when you haven't exercised. You keep telling yourself that you haven't got the time to exercise. Perhaps it's time to stop calling it 'exercise'.
The word sounds like such a chore...and who likes doing chores. It's something you do because you have to, not because you enjoy it. You want to get it out of the way, and subconsciously you're clock-watching, waiting for it to be over.
If you're trying to lose weight, don't exercise...do fat-burning (activities). This is what I've been doing for the last four weeks. As much as I love doing Tae Bo and Harvey's Fighting Fit Fighting Fat DVDs, I want to keep myself physically active, as much as possible, each day.
It doesn't have to be something requiring you to change into workout gear. There are lots of fat-burning activities you can do per day/per week, that will contribute to you trimming down your weight. Recently, I've done the following:

• Putting on a children's CD and dancing around the living room with my two young DDs
• Putting on my salsa/merengue CDs and doing salsa dancing/zumba-like fitness, while cooking, cleaning, tidying up.
• Brushing up, instead of vacuuming. I've found brushing a carpet requires more energy than vacuuming. I've incorporated waist twists for even more fat-burn.
• My own armlifts - no, not using weights...but my three year old daughter! This started by chance, when I lifted my daughter into the air and put her back down...and she wanted me to do it again...and again...and again...and again...It's now a regular in our household. I'm not complaining!
• Lifting up both my DDs on either side of me and being a human see-saw! This they enjoy!
• Being a lover of Strictly Come Dancing, who would love to learn the 'old fashioned' dances, I like to pick up either of my daughters, and dance the foxtrot..or the tango...and the waltz, and waltz around the room. They love it! My DDs sure aren't light (at 3 and 5), so I'm certainly developing some muscles in my arms when I lift them!
• Occasionally walking back from school after taking first my eldest, then my youngest(in the afternoon). 'Power walking' to school to pick them up. It's about a twenty-five minute walk to school, but I often get there in fifteen minutes!Yee har!
• Walking up and down the stairs at home, as much as possible per day.

I've been noticing the difference too - I'm looking a little trimmer, and have had a few comments from people too, so I guess I must be doing something right. I've also been changing how I eat...but I'll leave that for another blog post.
A little bit really does make a difference, and it hasn't felt like a chore at all.

Do I need a Diet AND Fitness Routine?

Dieting and Fitness

When it comes to living a long and healthy life, there are two necessary ingredients: diet and fitness. While some believe that they are one thing all together, nothing could be further from the truth. It is quite possible to have a perfectly healthy diet with terrible fitness habits. It is equally possible to be very physically fit with less than savory eating habits.

There's a clever little line in the Jimmy Buffet song "Fruitcakes" when his 'lady' is lamenting:
"I treat my body like a temple
 You treat yours like a tent"

I can't help but think of this line whenever I think about all the people around the world who are going on these garbage in, garbage out diet plans hoping to achieve the weight loss success of those who are endorsing these products.

To be completely honest, it is possible to shed pounds through diet alone. It is difficult but possible. It is also possible to be physically fit and have a few extra pounds hanging around. To a large degree we are what we eat. If we consume a high fat low substance diet our bodies are going to lack the fuel required to burn the fat. At the same time if we aren't providing our bodies with the tools it needs to build muscle it doesn't matter how many weights we lift.

When it comes to diet and fitness, the best results are achieved when they work together rather than separately. Use your fitness routine to burn excess calories and use your diet in order to properly provide your body the nutrients and fuel it needs to build muscle. I've heard many times in my life that a pound of muscle weighs less than a pound of fat. While this is not true at all, a pound is a pound regardless; a pound of muscle occupies less space on the body than a pound of fat. Pound for pound, I would much rather mine be composed of muscle than fat. Dieting alone does not build muscle and that is something you will do well to remember in your efforts.

You should also realize that as you are building muscle you may be shedding inches while not showing a great deal of progress on the scale. It is very important that you keep this in mind throughout the weight loss process. Do not measure your progress by the scales alone or you will achieve misleading results. The problem is that far too many people do just this and get frustrated and give up when they are actually making progress. Do not allow yourself to be a victim of the scales. Look in the mirror, try on your tight pants, and measure your waistline. Measure your success by how you feel after climbing a flight of stairs not by how many pounds fell of the scale this week.

By incorporating fitness into your diet routine you are also enabling your body to burn off any extra calories you may have consumed during the day. This means that if you want to have a small 'cheat' during your day, you can make up for it by burning a few more calories than normal in the evening. This isn't something that should happen often but an occasional occurrence isn't going to make or break your diet.

You should also look at dieting and fitness as a ball and glove type of relationship. While you can play ball without the glove, it seems to work so much better if you have both. Diet and fitness when combined can create fantastic weight loss results for those who take them both seriously. The thing to remember is that neither works as well alone and neither will work unless you are willing to do the work. You must make this a priority in your life in order to achieve the best.