Staying Hydrated

Part of having a healthy body is to stay hydrated.  Your body needs fluids in order to work. 

While exercising, make sure you stay hydrated.  You lose fluids to sweating and your body is using fluids to help your joints, muscles, blood flow, etc while you are moving. 

Fluids also help in weight loss.  If you are trying to lose weight, make sure you continue to drink plenty of water.  It also helps fill your stomach which hopefully takes off the edge of being really hungry.

Stress and Eating

So after writing the last post, I watched "Killer At Large," a documentary about obesity.  It mentioned that "eating healthy and exercising" was easier said than done and I thought that was a really good point.  For a lot of people, stress makes them want to eat.  Usually the opposite happens to me - I get so sick with stress that I have no desire to eat.  To be honest, neither are good for you.

I have no recommendations as to how best combat eating and stress but I will suggest striving to keep stress levels low.  One thing I have learned lately is that sometimes I really just can't control things I would like to - I can't control how late I am for something when I'm stuck in rush hour-construction traffic.  There's no way to get where I'm going any faster than I'm already going.  I can't change the fact that I slept through my alarm again.  I can't go back in time and fix that lame thing I said to someone.  And when I'm asked to speak in front of a group and I've committed to being there, I can't back down.  In all these situations, I can't necessarily control the event or outcome, but I can control my stress levels.  For me, a good, long drive or talking it out with someone usually takes care of my stress.

My suggestion to you if you have a problem with eating while stressed is to use something other than food to calm yourself down.  Some people run, some people nap, and some people let their minds get involved in a good movie.  Whatever it is, use it to your advantage to help your body and your brain stay healthy.

Exercise & Pregnancy

I started this blog a while ago in hopes to relay all of my applicable knowledge on exercise and nutrition, however, I found myself in quite a pickle when I found out I was pregnant.  This being the first time, it was quite a shock (seeing as we weren't planning on becoming pregnant) and because my whole life seemed to change.

In the beginning, I felt sick constantly and had very strong food aversions.  I could eat fruits, potatoes, breads, and crackers.  Anything more normally made me feel pretty sick afterwards.  I also didn't move much.  Exercising was too strenuous and walking for too long made me feel very nauseous.  So I thought, how can I keep this blog up when I can't even eat and exercise properly?

However, I've learned some important things since then.  The most important is to remember to do as what you can.  Luckily, many grocery stores sell prenatal vitamins that can help insure that you get the vitamins that you need so if all you want is bread and peanut butter, you can eat all you want of that and take your prenatal vitamins.  Once you start to come out of the first trimester and are able to eat normally again, then is the time to start worrying about making sure you are eating a well-rounded diet, as well as intaking a prenatal vitamin.

Second, exercise when you can.  There's no point in trying to work out if you don't feel well.  It is miserable and only makes you not want to do it the next time.  For me, during that first trimester, I made sure I parked far away from a store so I had to take a walk to the front doors.  Once inside, if I had time, I'd stroll around the store.  It was a nice break from lying on the couch most of the day.  Then, if I had to, I would find somewhere to sit and just relax for a while before continuing on.  When my energy levels started improving as I worked my way into the second trimester, I would gradually try to increase the amount and intensity that I would walk.  But keep in mind, don't do more than you feel like you can.

The last main thing to remember is to not start new physical activities.  For example, I love to play tennis.  I have played for the past 12 years and the winter and lack of indoor tennis courts is the only thing that stops me from playing.  Since tennis is not a new thing to my life, if I choose, I can continue playing tennis.  However, soccer is something I've never really picked up.  Therefore, soccer isn't something I should start playing until the pregnancy is over.  There is a risk for serious injury to you and the baby by starting something brand new.

To go along with this, make sure you talk to your doctor about a fitness program.  It is very important to exercise during pregnancy, however, if you were not an avid work out person before becoming pregnant, it is necessary to talk to the doctor about what you can do now.  They will help provide some simple but effective exercises to help make sure you stay healthy, as well as keeping your baby healthy while it is still growing and developing.

The 6 PM Rule

I was recently asked about the 6 pm rule ... the rule that states that you shouldn't eat after 6 pm.

The myth: not eating after 6 pm will help you lose weight.

The concept: by stopping your food intake at an earlier time like 6 pm, it will help you at least maintain a more stable weight because the likelihood of you moving around a lot in the evening is not very likely. Because of this, by ceasing food consumption at an earlier time, you will burn more of the calories you eat throughout the day.

The truth: the most important part of a healthy lifestyle is balancing exercise with eating. If you have ever been to Europe, it is very clear that they have a very small percentage of overweight people. If you haven't been to Europe but have been to a nice restaurant, the same concepts apply to those who live in Europe: eat the correct portion size and move.

It doesn't seem like a hard concept, right? Except for us Americans, it is very hard. We are all about getting what we have paid for - the small portion sizes of the fancy restaurants aren't filling and we want to be full when we leave a restaurant.

Also, for most Americans, there are a million things to do in a day and not enough time to do it. Traveling by cars is fastest and we want to park as close to the building we need to get to in order to arrive there fast. There just isn't enough time in our daily schedule to exercise ... or is there?

One of the most important things to remember about exercise is that you need time to do it - setting aside time in your schedule to exercise is just as important as setting aside time to eat. Make exercising a part of your daily routine. And don't stop there. Park far away from where you need to go, take the stairs instead of the elevator, and if you live close to many stores and restaurants like I do, walk there instead of driving for 2 minutes to where you want to go.

So the 6 pm rule has a great take-home concept: make sure you burn the calories that you're eating. It's okay to eat at 11 pm but just remember that those calories still need to be burned.