Healthy B.P.M.

Have you ever thought about which exercise works for you? I stumbled upon this great resource: Battle of the workouts. Consider running vs aerobics. Running wins. Tennis vs squash? Squash wins.Yoga vs Pilates. Pilates wins but I’m personally for yoga because I vouch for long-term effects and yoga promises you nothing in a matter of weeks.

Okay so you know which exercise works but do you have the time for it? I asked a yoga teacher about how people can really make time to work out?” That’s a question that doesn’t have an answer” he said.” You have to make time if you want to stick around for a little longer:)” So what’s more important you or your job? It’s all about striking the right balance. And all I can say is that it isn’t easy but it’s a must- do.

fitness, exercise, yoga, pilates, running, aerobics.tennis, squash, motivation

Summer M from the Mom is teaching 451press blog posted me a link and I thought it would be an interesting follow up to the previous posts this week. I remember the time when we used to get our report cards; there was no grading back then and we all looked to see who got the ‘highest’ marks. We’d argue over decimal points and look smug as we argued. To have your BMI on that report card would be really embarrassing if you are a student and ridiculous to a parent who already knows that his/her child is bordering on obese or already obese. Suddenly the teacher knows that personal number that you don’t want the whole world to know. And your peers in school have another thing to make fun off.

While doctors insist that more and more children are ‘gaining’ from this weight loss idea as they are forced to do something about the problem now that it’s in the open, others protest that peer pressure is leading to a more depressed bunch of over weight children. It’s up to the doctors to fix the problem, the parents to provide nutritious meals and the students to become nutritionally sensible. The Thinking Mother puts it so well in her post My Thoughts About Child’s BMI On School Report Cards:

“The report card is a scoring of the child’s academic progress as a measurement of the content taught at that school. The child’s weight status is none of the school’s business.”

Absolutely true. No one is perfect and school shouldn’t turn into some kind of continuous judgment day where you are judged on the base of your grades, communication skills, sports abilities and now your BMI. If the BMI has to be discussed at all it has to be a deal between the student, parents and physician. Getting the school authorities involved might just lead to resentment on the student’s and parent’s part. You have two kinds of parents: one kind take criticism in a better light and try to make a difference, the others get insulted,outraged and either brave their children to a life of proud obesity or a series of eating disorders.

Read As Obesity Fight Hits Cafeteria, Many Fear a Note From School

public school health, obesity, BMI, overweight children, report card

Have you wondered about how you perceived yourself when you were very young?You might remember a confident person curious about life and living. It’s the experiences that gradually seep into you and change the way you think. Then as you grow older, you try to get out of the mess that your thoughts have helped create. Dealing with your body image is just that. It’s revisiting your childhood and looking at the child you once were. Did you perceive yourself as fat, as skinny? Were you just a label?

No.

You had potential. A world to explore. Dreams.

Then as you grew older, the people who started crowding your universe started talking about the way you look and you started noticing. Maybe I am fat. Maybe I’m too skinny. And then it started to hurt. And then it took just a glimpse of yourself in the mirror to feel upset. I’m not good enough. You look at all those perfect bodies on magazine covers and splashed all over tinsel town. You watch the adoration they get and you feel glamor is beyond you, so is recognition and even love.

The story Body image boost key to treating eating disorders explores how self-perception is the key to battling eating disorders. Using a combination of cognitive-behavioral therapy and “experiential” therapy, doctors at the Menninger clinic have devised a 12 -week Eating disorders Program to help people with all kinds of disorders from anorexia to binge eating.

The program is interactive and takes people with disorders on a journey toward change in attitude. Because at the end of the day, you have to be positive about your self-image and combine a diet-exercise regimen with your change of heart. As they say, a healthy mind makes a healthy body.

eating disorders week, eating disorders, anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, night eating, Menninger Clinic, fat, skinny, obesity, weight loss, body image

Do your eating habits determine your job status? I came across this wonderful blog called Every Woman Has an Eating Disorder and the post “There’s no free lunch” caught my attention. Eating seems to tell people a lot about what you’re made of. Do you like to eat with your friends or at your desk? Do you usually eat alone? Do you eat too much or too little? Eating a pepporini pizza means you are lazy and your employee is watching you. If your bones stick out, you seem to be a better hire!

Read this article:When the food critics are deskside for more where that came from.

It’s like big brother is watching your every nibble and though I do think that understanding eating habits is a good thing, hiring someone because he/she is thin doesn’t make much sense. Everyone should get through an interview based on performance and you could get fired not because of your calorie count but because you fail to deliver.

What say you? Have you ever faced pressure from your colleagues to lose weight? Has excess weight ever affected you in your professional life?

eating disorders, workplace, food critics, interview, professional, big brother

Many times you get upset about the way you look when you hear a comment from a friend or a neighbour or someone you don’t particularly like. “You’ve put on some weight.” they might say or sometimes”You’re as thin as a rake!”. Then you consider what they said and decide to lose weight or if you are skinny put on more pounds.

That never helps. The will to change the way you look should come from a positive change within yourself. I always believe that the change starts within you. If you are merely reacting to what others say without really meaning it, then you are not going to follow up with your exercise program. There will always be some kind of nagging doubt in the back of your head.”It will never work. I can never change.”

When you feel heavy and your thighs rub against each other and life becomes uncomfortable, you know inside that it’s time to lose weight. You are your biggest motivator. You should read the literature, you should join the weight loss groups, you should move ahead positively.If you recognize your potential, there’s no stopping you.

Read this:Overcoming weight-loss setbacks

diet, exercise, fitness, motivation

I came across a a term called ‘Flow’ and it caught my interest. Everyone wants to be happy. There are different kinds of happiness. One kind of happiness comes from pleasure.You buy all the things you want, have all the wine you want, go out and party, vacation on the beach….but after that your happiness ends. Then you have happiness that you strive for when you keep doing what you love day in and out. That kind of happiness happens when you are doing your dream job or have a dream role.

‘Flow’,a term proposed by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi,is a high state of mental involvement in what you are doing. Flow is a measure of your happiness, since the more involved, focused and successful you are in a particular field the happier you are.

So if you are a writer and love it, time takes on a different dimension for you and work is no longer drudgery. If you are a singer, music will give you the high that means happiness.If you are a concept freak you will love this:FLOW: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE

Check out Deepfun.com for an interesting take on how to incorporate fun into your life.

Think about it. Are you happy? I’ll give you a simple exercise. What makes you happy and what doesn’t? Write it down and you will see how clear things become.

happiness, flow

“I don’t have time to exercise.” is something that almost everyone says. It’s not an excuse. It’s a practical problem that has to be overcome since you need your health to keep going. “Too busy to exercise” is a great post on how you can take those necessary mental steps to motivate yourself to exercise. In his Practical Personal Development Blog Alex writes:

“A technique that I use while I am doing my running is I stop concentrating on my present self and create an image of a different me. In my minds eye I picture me with the perfect body. I see every muscle moving in synchrony and as I flex my stomach I see the perfect abs harden. I visualize a body that is a perfect machine and would not tire no matter how long I run.”

Time saving tips is a great article that helps employed people, stay at home moms ,and students to achieve their fitness goals. You have to make a conscious effort in the mornings or when you get back from work. You could join a gym or indulge in an exercise program that suits your pace.

What kind of time-saving measures do you recommend?

weight loss, exercise, fitness

I came across a really interesting post by Praveen at his blog Tao of Simplicity. Check out his post on Present Moment Goal Setting. Now is the moment to change your lifestyle. I’m a zen freak myself and I’ve found the simplicity it advocates to be the most sensible and most difficult thing to do.According to Praveen, any ambition, including weight loss, begins now. If you postpone it, you are wasting time and falling deeper and deeper into trouble.

I’ll tell you why. If you can’t stop gorging on junk food and give up your sedentary lifestyle now, you are likely to start gaining weight. When you do, you are inviting high blood pressure,diabetes and joint pain. As you grow older, all that muscle mass weakens and you will be in more pain if you are obese. Then you won’t be able to have a happy old age and you will detest those moments with your family when the only language that talks to you is pain. Check this link for more:Lose weight now, move better later.

So now when you see all those foods stacked up in the supermarket you could stop yourself from impulse buying. You could start eating sensibly and exercising at least thrice a week NOW. It will improve the quality of your life.

diet, middle age, high blood pressure, old age, tao, zen, weight loss

Couples can get closer through their diet plans. I loved this story about how Julie and Kevin decided to tie the knot after they realized how much they shared the same goals when it came to losing weight and even living life. Engaged couple lose pounds, find each other on diet website is a story that really caters to Valentines Day.

The good thing about couples dieting is that when you are in love it’s even better if you share the same goals. Now if your diet is driving your partner crazy, we have a completely different scenario. To avoid conflict it would be a good idea to read “Your diet is driving me Crazy”. It offers a solution to all those food-related conflicts that can spoil your relationships.

Valentines Day, weight watchers, diet

Valentines Day is a great concept. It’s great to have one landmark day when everyone celebrates their love for each other. But how many of us really love our own selves, are proud of the way we look and celebrate our own achievements? I’m not saying we have to be foolishly narcissistic and blind to our own shortcomings. If that’s the case, we’ll never improve. We have to be able to appreciate our selves and not succumb to self-pity and cynicism. Self-appreciation helps weight watchers too since the moment you give up on yourself, your body will not respond to your efforts.

This Valentines Day, think about how much you love yourself and how much you criticize your own efforts. Are you being unfairly hard on yourself? Do you look at your self as a trivial atom in the universe? Do you underestimate your own ideas and abilities? Do you take criticism in an unsporting way and wallow in self-pity ? Attitudes like this lead people to make wrong choices such as indulging in eating disorders. You could be unhappy with the way you look or the way you live. But the only way to have a productive life is to be positive about yourself first.

How to love yourself is an art and the most successful people in the world ar often people who love what they see when they look in the mirror. They like the sound of their voices and they believe in their ideas.

Check out some tips on how to appreciate yourself better.You could start making decisions without relying too much on others and stick by your decisions. If you are unhappy about your weight, embark on a sensible diet and exercise plan that works for you. Keep a journal and record all your positives. Forgive yourself and try to get on with your life even when you make mistakes. Often people tend to be too hard on themselves. Treat yourself the way you should treat others- with compassion.

Happy Valentines Day!

Valentines Day, weight watcher, compassion

I loved this article on how to stay trim without using the D-word(Diet I mean). The word diet is so restricting. It limits your intake of food…the reason we want to make all that money. All we want is good food and a good house and a good life. When you limit yourself, you are inviting unhappiness.

Check out what B. Elwin Sherman has to say about eating healthy. He thinks that you can accomplish your weight goals if you eat sensibly and eat less crap. And of course you have to Exercise,Exercise,Exercise. And stay away from dieting resources, blogs, books………..now I wouldn’t recommend that:)

dieting resources, diet blogs, diet

The American Heart Association has started a new initiative called Start! urging all sedentary office goers to start walking and improve their health. As we all know walking has many benefits. Walking is the beginning; it’s not entirely sufficient but if you really don’t have any time for anything else it’s a great way to start.

Get started now!

The idea is to turn corporations into ‘fit friendly’ places where work is not just about slogging away at the expense of your health. Your work place shouldn’t be the place that kills you. Hope the initiative works.

Start

Food has a lot to do with faith. The prayers that you are taught to offer before a meal are gratitude for the nutrition that you take so much for granted. All cultures have assimilated food ,faith and fitness in some way or the other. In the east, fitness of the mind and body is linked to yogic postures that express your communion with the universe. Does faith really make a difference? It does, according to scientists.

In the context of the millions of obese people who are trying to lose weight, faith is a true godsend. More and more faith-based books are being sold out. Some of them carry meaningful messages. The more you eat unnecessarily, the more a poor person in some other part of the world falls into the vortex of malnutrition. Thinking about others is the good thing about faith and also fosters self-control.Books like Faith and Fitness: Diet and Exercise for a Better World emphasize on simple things like hygiene, compassion and good sense while eating.

In a world where there is hardly any time to think about anyone but yourself, such books help you do a rethink. You have to eat healthy if you want to live long enough to support your family. You have to be fit so that you can value your life on a day-to-day basis. Doing yoga, praying and meditating can help your body and your mind to benefit.

Read this:
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/health_and_fitness/article/0,1406,KNS_310_5218873,00.html

faith-based diet books

A lot of people don’t believe in weight loss as a possibility in their lives. The dissatisfaction that comes with dieting has a lot to do with bad experiences that dieters have had with fad diets,strenuous exercise and lack of support. Surveys have revealed that dieters who followed a diet and exercise plan combined with family support had better weight loss results than people who followed alternative dieting regimens, focused on fad diets, exercised too little, or relied on diet patches,pills and belts.

Weight-Loss Alert is an interesting survey that shows that out that though dieting is in vogue, a lot of dissatisfaction and cynicism has made its way into the dieting life. People go on dieting sprees and don’t follow a constant diet plan. Either they only exercise, or they indulge on low fat foods thinking it makes them thin, or they totally cut down the starch the Atkins way or they skip meals.People have become victims of bogus diet myths and want the easy way out of their problems.

Weight loss satisfaction comes only when you are happy with what you see on the scales. And that happens when you diet the right way.

dissatisfaction, Weight loss Alert

So now that New Year is around the corner what kind of weight loser do you want to be?

If your New Year resolution includes losing weight you have to ask yourself these questions:

-Do you have the time to do exercise?Be practical. Can you squeeze in half hour schedules everyday?

-Do you want to be your own master or do you need to join a program like the Weight Watchers to kick off the weight?

-Do you like your exercise to be gym-based or more creative?

-Have you ever kept up to any of your resolutions and do you ever intend to?

-Can you chuck junk food and soda pop on a permanent basis?

-How badly do you want to lose weight?

If you get the right answers to these questions you are all set to go this 2007!

New Year Resolution, weight watchers