HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE--GUEST AUTHOR MELINDA CURTIS ON 5 TIPS TO GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR WORKOUT

In addition to teaching Spin and R.I.P.P.E.D. classes at 5:30 a.m., Melinda Curtis writes the Harmony Valley series of sweet, fun, and emotional romances for the Harlequin Heartwarming line (book 4 coming 3/2015). She also writes independently published, hotter romances as Mel Curtis. Melinda has received high praise for her romances from both Brenda Novak and Jayne Ann Krentz. Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

Melinda is offering two freebies to readers of this blog. Download a FREE copy of the steamy Amber Rules from Melinda’s website October 8-14, 2014.  Three books are currently out in the series.  Link: www.MelindaCurtis.net Username: Amber_Rules Password: blogtour2014

And if you sign up for Melinda’s newsletter, you’ll receive a FREE fun, sweet novella set within the Hollywood Rules world. Link: http://www.melindacurtis.net/join-melinda-s-mailing-list

5 Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Workout by Melinda Curtis

I’m a writer, which means I have Writer’s Butt (a documented phenomenon, similar to Reader’s Butt, I’m sure). But I’m also a fitness instructor, which means my Writer’s Butt isn’t as bad as it could be.  Here are five tips to combat Reader/Writer’s Butt and get the most out of your workout.

1. Set Goals: Do you want to lose weight? Get stronger? Whittle your waist? Get fit? This impacts how much you need to up your cardio, increase the weight you lift, target trouble zones and/or change what you eat.  Bonus tip: always change what you eat to amp up your results. Replace chips with nuts (good fat), soda with Mio (carbonated water plus a squirt of water enhancer tastes just like soda), and your favorite Starbucks drink with the skinny version.

2. Start Slow: Figure out what motivates you to exercise. Don’t just show up at a class without knowing what you’re getting into. You want to find something that fits your ability and makes you smile. If you like to walk outdoors, walk outdoors. If you hate to step to the music, don’t force yourself into a step class.  Similarly, if you aren’t a runner, don’t sign up for a 5K.

3. Seek Variety: There’s been a lot of research into the science of muscle tone. One I find the most interesting is the 6-week theory. Basically, your muscles get smart after 6 weeks of the same routine. Yes, that means the step class you go to with weights 2x a week is no longer effective if the instructor isn’t varying the workout. Yes, that means the circuit you’ve been doing in the weight room for years has reached a plateau…long ago.

4. Think in Intervals: World class athletes often train with a High Intensity Interval Workout.  What does that mean?  If they don’t offer a class like this at your gym, super-charge your workout with 10-30 second high intensity bursts – go faster, kick higher, dance with more hip action. For example, in the midst of climbing a hill in spin class or while road cycling, go faster for 10 seconds. Wait another 20-40 seconds and do it again. If you walk to music, pick up your pace on every chorus, slow back to your regular pace on the verse.

5. Say Hello: You’re more likely to show up consistently at the gym (or at the park where you walk everyday) if you interact with other people. Say hello. Start up a conversation. If someone misses you, you’ll show up more often, and be more likely to meet your fitness goals.

The Christmas Promise

From the Sweet Christmas Kisses anthology

When a chocolate heiress bumps into a wounded warrior during Christmas, chaos ensues thanks in part to three fairy godmothers...er, a trio of meddlesome nuns. The Christmas Promise is a romantic comedy novella that’s a cross between Runaway Bride and Romancing the Stone. It’s available in the Sweet Christmas Kisses anthology for 99 cents.

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GUEST AUTHOR MARGO BOND COLLINS ON RUNNING FOR YOUR LIFE

photo by Peter van der Sluijs

Multi-published author Margo Bond Collins teaches college-level English courses online, though writing fiction is her first love. She enjoys reading urban fantasy and paranormal fiction of any genre and spends most of her free time daydreaming about vampires, ghosts, zombies, werewolves, and other monsters. Learn more about Margo and her books at her website and blog.

Running for Your Life

A few years ago, I started running as part of my exercise routine. I don’t really like it, exactly. I’m not especially good at it. I tend to be better at the stretchier kinds of exercise—yoga and such. But I’ve discovered that running is kind of addictive. I like the meditative state I can reach when I finally hit my stride, and the way that running gives me time to let my body do its thing while I spend some quality time up in my head. Many of my plot problems get worked out when I’m running. So it’s perhaps not surprising that Elle, the heroine of my latest release, Legally Undead, would also take up running.  In her case, though, she is literally running for her life:

Graduate courses in history don’t prepare one for running away from a vampire. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been to the gym. “Out of shape” was an understatement. He caught up with me easily, just as I reached the corner of the nearest building. I felt his hand brush the back of my neck, felt his fingernails--claws? something sharp--dig into the top of my back.

With a final burst of speed I didn’t know I had in me, I rounded the corner into a pool of light. And ran smack into a man walking out the door.

I think “bowled him over” might be an accurate description. He’d been carrying a stack of books, and they went flying everywhere as he and I went down. I think I skidded across him and rolled to a stop--I know I ended up flat on my back on the concrete apron in front of the door, staring up at the sky, just in time to see Greg do some complicated flip over me.

And like many of us who come to running out of a desire to live a longer, healthier life, she overdoes it a bit at first, and has to come to terms with the fact that becoming a real runner takes time—especially for people who begin life as exercise-phobes:

I turned over, ready to spring out of bed, and instead rolled up into a groaning ball. I hurt all over. Every single muscle. My arms felt like they’d been pulled halfway out of their sockets. My neck was stiff, my calves felt like they were contracting up into my stomach somewhere. The sheets scraped against my battered knees like sandpaper.

From now on, I vowed, I was going to hit the gym every single day. If I was really going to continue to live, I needed to be able to get away from vampires that attacked me, and that meant being able to move. Quickly. And reliably. If I couldn’t trust my body not to go into the fetal position when I tried to move it, I wouldn’t survive long.

Although she doesn’t keep her vow to go to the gym every single day, she does manage to survive—even if she has to keep running longer than she ever anticipated!

So what do other exercise-phobes do to overcome a reluctance to hit the gym (or the track)?

Legally Undead

A reluctant vampire hunter, stalking New York City as only a scorned bride can.

Elle Dupree has her life all figured out: first a wedding, then her Ph.D., then swank faculty parties where she’ll serve wine and cheese and introduce people to her husband the lawyer.

But those plans disintegrate when she walks in on a vampire draining the blood from her fiancé Greg. Horrified, she screams and runs--not away from the vampire, but toward it, brandishing a wooden letter opener.

As she slams the improvised stake into the vampire’s heart, a team of black-clad men bursts into the apartment. Turning around to face them, Elle discovers that Greg’s body is gone—and her perfect life falls apart.

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HEALTHY LIVING WITH GUEST FITNESS EXPERT AND AUTHOR JULIA DEREK

photo by Billy Coleman

Swedish-born New Yorker Julia Derek is a fitness trainer by day and writer by night. A former serial egg donor, she's the author of young adult, new adult, and romantic suspense novels. Learn more about Julia and her books at her website. 

How to Get Killer Abs—Without Killing Yourself…

A lot of people dream of having a body with a great stomach. Ab machine manufacturers take advantage of this by inventing new equipment, using models with sexy washboard abs to sell them in infomercials on TV, reinforcing the erroneous belief that if only you work your abdominals enough, it’ll be flat. The only time this may come true is if you have very low body fat and unusually weak ab muscles.  And if you happen to be one of the very few who fit these criteria, you’d still be better off saving your hard-earned cash and simply following the advice below.

1. WATCH YOUR DIET. It may seem obvious that you should eat healthy foods and only consume as many calories as you burn (fewer if your goal is to lose body fat). Still, this may be the number one reason your stomach is a lot flabbier than you’d like it to be. It doesn’t matter how strong and firm your abdominals are if a layer of fat covers them. In other words, all those crunches/ab exercises you’re doing WILL NOT also magically burn off the fat on your stomach. I’m not saying you should not include ab exercises into your workouts—pilates-style exercises AND crunches—but know that they’ll only strengthen your abs, not melt off the fat on top.

2. DO INTERVAL TRAINING. If you’re a glutton like yours truly, you must work out so hard you burn more calories than you consume. I don’t like to deprive myself of the good things in life, so I incorporate interval training into my workouts. Not only does interval training burn a lot more calories than steady-state cardio, but it drastically increases your fitness levels. Generally speaking, the harder you work out, the flatter your abs will be without you ever doing a crunch, especially if you include several full-body exercises. Read this article for maximum burn workouts.

3. IMPROVE YOUR POSTURE. Every day when I go to the gym, I see super lean people who work out like maniacs, yet some of them look either depressed or like they’re pregnant. (Well, if they’re females.) As I was teaching a small group TRX class, one of my participants pointed to a woman we often see working out around us and whispered, “Wow, is she pregnant again?” I looked at the woman and it took me two seconds to determine that this twelve-percent body fat person slouched so badly she in fact looked like she was about four months pregnant! Instead of standing up straight, her hips were pushed forward and her chest sunken in–partly due to over-training her pecs.  Avoid this look by always walking tall and proud. Lift your chest and chin and keep your shoulders down/back and the rest will fall into place!

Do you have great abs? What are your best tips to get a flat stomach?

Smiley Killer

Seventeen-year-old Riley has been fascinated with crime investigation since she discovered CSI on TV. So, when it’s announced a serial killer is loose in the city, hell-bent on killing girls like Riley’s little sister, Riley’s on full alert. Not even Mark, the super hot college boy pursuing her, can get her mind off the case. 

A victim found near the research lab where Riley’s friend Alyssa volunteers makes Riley think she’s found a lead: The killer’s signature—sad smileys—appears in the lab, so it seems the killer could be someone working there. Riley alerts Alyssa and the two notify the NYPD. But the police dismiss their claims. 

Convinced she’s onto something, Riley embarks on her own investigation together with Alyssa. When another victim is found near the lab, it seems they’re close to finding the killer. Problem is, their prime suspect is a scientist’s younger brother—who happens to be Mark… 

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HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE--DIET GUIDE

Many people try to lose weight. Some succeed; many don't. E.S. Abramson, author of the highly acclaimed From Fat to Fabulous: A Diet Guide for Restaurant Lovers, which has been seen on ABC, NBC, and PBS, lost a lot of weight and has kept it off in a way that might surprise you. E.S. also writes the award-winning Thursday’s Child series as Elaine Abramson. To learn more about her and her books, visit her website. -- AP 

Dieting is Fun

“There is no love more sincere than the love of food.” -- George Bernard Shaw.

I have a body by disaster and hair by wash and beware. Now that my physical characteristics are out of the way, let me say that after 40 years of trying just about every known diet that doctors, nutritionists, celebrities, and dietitians dreamt up, none of them have worked for me. I would take off 20, 40, or 50 pounds one year and the following year I would weigh far more than the day I began the diet. There were a number of reasons those diets didn’t work for me. (1) They were time consuming. It seemed to take forever to measure, weigh, and prepare the foods recommended. (2) Their instructions were hard to follow. (3) They required tons of high-impact exercise. (4) They were boring. (5) They were expensive. (6) They required me join a diet group or purchase specific prepared meals. (7) Most important of all, they were not fun, and they did not work.

The news media reports on a daily basis about obesity, weight loss programs, weight loss successes, and politicians who are trying to end obesity not because of the health problems it causes but based on the burden it costs taxpayers.

In less than one week, the Today Show has had boxer Lila Ali, who never eats pork and keeps her refrigerator stocked with chocolate bars; Dr. Oz’s lose-ten-pounds-in-thirty-days diet by limiting your calorie intake; Snookie Polizzi, a reality star who counted calories and lost forty-two pounds; New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who tried to legislate the end to sugary drinks over sixteen ounces; the Mayo Clinic’s money as a motivator to lose weight program; and Today Show weatherman Al Roker, who repeatedly gained and lost weight until he underwent bypass surgery and worked out with a personal trainer.

Mr. Roker says, “Diets never work.” In addition to this, celebrities hawk every diet and exercise plan under the sun. Nielson Company’s TV ratings reported that NBC’s The Biggest Loser did not draw as many viewers as thirty-six other prime-time broadcast programs which rated much higher. I don’t know about other viewers, but I find it boring to watch contestants count calories, exercise until sweat pours off their bodies, constantly weigh in, and be booted off the program when they are unable to lose the weight required. Where is the fun in any of these diets?

I needed to be extremely motivated to begin a traditional diet and stick to it, but motivation always seemed hard to come by. My enthusiasm quickly died when I discovered that each diet came with a “yoyo syndrome” attached to it. If I ate one thing that was not on the diet’s approved list or if my writing or art got in the way and I didn’t have time to do the strenuous exercises required, I found myself right back where I started from. I spent my life fighting the battle of the bulge and watching my scale groan with every pound I gained. On traditional diets, all I ended up with was frustration and anger because I was fighting a battle I could not win.

One of the reasons for not being able to lose weight is eating sugar, and one of the less obvious sources of sugar is your medicine. While doing research for the second edition of From Fat to Fabulous: Another Diet Guide for Restaurant Lovers, I read books on diet  and nutrition, calorie and carbohydrate counters, and books on pills and vitamin supplements. I could not find any mention of sugar being contained in drugs in any of those sources.

Actress Julie Andrews portrayed a fictional character in the movie Mary Poppins. When she sang about a spoonful of sugar helping the medicine go down, she was telling it like it is. What I’ve said is not intended as medical advice nor is it intended to make you give up the medicine you are taking. It is strictly to inform you that sugar is found in some of the most unlikely places. In the 1970’s I worked in the weighing room of Barre National, the firm that manufactured Revco’s generic drugs. I weighed the sugar that went into the pills they manufactured. Because so-called traditional diets do not take the sugar in medicine into account, it seemed like nothing I did took the pounds and inches off and kept them off. Because I no longer have access to the USP-NF, a book that gives the exact measurements of all the ingredients that go into making each drug, I cannot tell you the amount of sugar used. But I noticed that if I ate bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, or dessert after I took my medicine for arthritis, thyroid, allergy, or osteoporosis, I weighed more, so I limit those foods in my diet.

My entry into creating and writing my restaurant lovers’ diet came the day I stood in my kitchen and screamed because the pain in my knees was so bad I could not stand long enough to prepare a meal. I had gained so much weight that my knees caved in under me. My husband, being the wonderful caring soul that he is, put the food back in the refrigerator and took me out to dinner. Before I could scream my head off the next night, he took me out to dinner again. Night after night we left the kitchen for one restaurant after another. After a while, just about every restaurant in town knew us and greeted us on a first name basis.

WOW! You’re probably saying to yourself, this lady has it made. You’re right; I do. At the end of three months I noticed that my clothes were falling off me. I also began to notice less pain in my knees. Best of all, for the first time in my life I was enjoying my meals and losing weight and proportions at the same time. I do not count calories, carbs, trans fats, or any of the other things dieters do to lose weight. As for the sugar in my medicine, on my restaurant lovers’ diet I rarely have to consider it. The only physical exercise I get is walking the dog and riding a stationary bicycle. The strenuous stuff I leave to others.

Most people have the mistaken perception that eating in restaurants is fattening. My answer is that it is not fattening if you eat the right combinations of foods. The other mistaken perception is that it is expensive. In From Fat to Fabulous: A Diet Guide for Restaurant Lovers I give a list of ways to cut costs. My husband and I have discovered that with all the waste in preparing food at home, it costs us practically the same amount to eat out. Best of all, it is fun to choose a new restaurant and to select from multiple choices on the menu.

With the odds stacked against me, I lost 50 pounds in one year on my restaurant lovers’ diet.  During my second year on the diet, I lost an additional 35 pounds and have gone from a size 22 to a size 12. I have a sluggish thyroid, do not have a spleen, and take medication that causes weight gain, had a slipped disk, and have bad knees which makes any form of exercise extremely difficult.

It has been four years since I have set foot in a kitchen to prepare a meal. My only cooking skills are microwaving restaurant leftovers and boiling water for a cup of tea. The day my microwave goes on the fritz or my refrigerator does not keep my leftovers frozen is going to be a bad day at black rock in our house.

On my restaurant lovers’ diet I am having the time of my life. No mess, no fuss, and nothing but fun. For me, it is happy eating and weight loss at the same time. Recently I have taken up a new hobby. I shop for new clothes every time I get one size smaller. I am no longer the woman who only collected jewelry because one size fits all.  The charity shops love my restaurant lovers’ diet, too, because every couple of months I fill their shelves and clothes racks with the clothes that have become too big on me.

For most of our married life, the Jack Spratt nursery rhyme described my husband and me. He was thin, and I was fat. He could eat four times what I ate and never gain an ounce. All I had to do was look at food and I packed on the pounds. Around the time I began my restaurant lovers’ diet, for the first time in his life my husband’s clothes were tight on him. With the exception of breakfast, where he finds it impossible to give up hot cereal, he’s on my restaurant lovers’ diet, too. In addition to losing inches, he says my diet gives him more energy.

With my weight loss, my husband, who is proud of what I have accomplished with my fun, enjoyable, no work, no mess, no fuss, never boring diet, tells everyone, “I’ve lost a whole other wife.”

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HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE—GUEST AUTHOR L.B. JORAMO

Have you ever felt the need for change? L.B. Joramo did, and she’s here to tell us about it today. Learn more about her at her website. 

I worked in the health and fitness business for sixteen years before I packed it all in and went back to school for my Master’s in US Military History; my area of concentration is the American Revolution. I had been planning to quit for several years, since my ultimate goal was to actually make a living at my writing, and my early “retirement” couldn’t have come at a better time. Before I quit my business, I partly tore my rotator cuff again and strained my groin. I could barely walk, let alone lift anything with my left arm. Obviously, I was doing something wrong, but what it was, I could have cared less, since I didn’t have to work out for my job anymore. I was elated!

For the next three years I became more and more sedentary. Hey, I was a part-time Master’s student, hence a lot of sitting while I read, and was actively pursuing getting published with my writing—even more sitting. And with my injuries, I didn’t mind sitting more. I really didn’t mind, but my body did. I started to gain weight, but what disturbed me the most was my mood. I was sad more often than I ever had been and agitated. I just thought it was because I was having such a struggle with getting published, but it was more, much more, than that.

You see, I know the science behind why our bodies do what they do. I knew better than to sit around with two injuries. The quickest way to heal is movement--gentle, consistent movement. The best way to lose a few pounds is movement. I’m sorry diet industry, but it’s been proven over and over again that diets don’t work. Activity does. Besides, what the diet industry really doesn’t want mainstream Americans to know is:

1.) being overweight does not mean you are unhealthy—the stats show that a person who eats more healthy meals and consistently moves, yet is overweight, will live longer and have less diseases than a thin person who does not eat the same kind of healthy meals or move regularly. And,

2.) most people are overweight by their standards, which might not be accurate or even scientific. All my male clients were 20, 30, sometimes even 40 pounds overweight, but none of those pounds were fat. All of my guy clients were fine with that. With my female clients it was more difficult to talk about the scale, because many women valued their sense of self with the number on that scale. And that broke my heart.

However, many of my women would open up to the idea that muscle did weigh more than fat. We would do a science experiment, where I would cube an inch of butter and an inch of steak, and the steak would sometimes weigh three times more than the butter, especially lean steak—in other words, pure muscle. The only way to get that muscle was to move.

I’m a realist, as well as a very sedentary person now. I do not, nor have I ever, thought you had to work yourself until you’re purple in the face to gain muscle. And don’t get me wrong, I do love a challenging exercise class, where I end up dripping sweat. But that’s me. Everyone has different emotional needs, so why not have different physical needs too? Some people move all the time, yet never work up a sweat, and they have great muscles and cardio health to prove it. Some people, like me, will want to burst with energy and lift weights and or do power yoga until sweat streams off us. Both these kinds of examples are proof of movement and people being active, and they are both right for those particular people.

We’ve been studying exercise for a long time, and the one thing that has been proven over and over again to work for people is doing what they like consistently. That means, when I was a trainer, I would have to think outside the box for training my clients. One of my clients actually liked cleaning, and I helped her set up her own organization of cleaners to help people who are diagnosed with a fatal disease. She cleans all day long, happy as a Jay bird, gets fit, and does it all for a great cause.

Another client of mine was a preacher’s wife, and for the longest time I couldn’t find anything that she loved so much that she would want to do it every day. Until I found strip aerobics for her. Yep, my client, the preacher’s wife, knows how to have a good time, and her husband has no complaints either.

The point is that exercise should be some activity that is fun and something you look forward to doing almost every day. My problem, before I quit, was that I had forgotten that, and was just working out because it was my job. As a consequence, I started to listen less and less to my body as I was moving, and that’s how you get a couple killer injuries.

Listen to your bodies, move as often as you can—during commercial breaks, get up and dance for me, lend a hand to your neighbor when they’re sick, show your kids how terrible you are at the hula-hoop, but the most important rule of exercise is to have FUN! Find something you find completely exhilarating and do it as often as you can! 

Our bodies will adjust and want something else to do soon enough, so then it’s your job to find that something else that is incredibly fun for you to do. It’s a journey, like so many other things, and I guarantee you will not only discover so much about your body, but yourself too. I’ve been privileged to watch my clients change, adjust, and grow, and now it’s my turn to do the same. I hope you’ll join me! Let me know what you like to do for exercise, activity, or movement, whatever word resonates with you?

The Immortal American

As black clouds gather for America in 1775 Violet Buccleuch transforms from simple colonial farmer to become the Immortal American.

While Boston roars with protests, Violet Buccleuch fights to survive. The lone provider for her mother and sister, Violet knows that soon enough she must surrender to the only option a woman of 1775 has: marriage.

For two years she's delayed a wedding to Mathew Adams, her fiancé. He’s loved her since they were children, and Violet knows he will be a good husband. But he’s gone and committed the most dangerous mistake a man can make: He’s introduced her to his friend, Jacque Beaumont, a Frenchman and a spy, a dark, dangerous man Violet can’t stop herself from wanting.

Then Violet’s life is shattered--brutality, death, and the threat of debtor’s prison surround her. Both Jacque and Mathew come to her aid--one man rescues her farm, the other rescues her heart. As the Battle of Concord rages at her door, Violet is entangled between her loyalty to Mathew, even as she's drawn further into Jacque's shadowy, mysterious world – perhaps a world from which there's no return.

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HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE -- MUFFIN TOPS

Good grief! Bathing suit season is upon us, and my muffin top is showing. Health editor Janice Kerr offers some tips for flattening my tummy and yours. -- AP

Well, Anastasia, we all know Cloris has never baked a muffin (or anything else for that matter,) you could resist. So it’s no wonder you’ve grown your own muffin top. You need to start eating better. Here’s how:

The first step is to start with foods rich in protein. They build muscle. And don’t forget fiber. Eating lots of fruits, veggies, oats, and beans will help shrink that muffin top. Studies have proven it. And walk away from the sugar!

Here’s a helpful tip -- mix a teaspoon or two of flaxseed into your morning yogurt to keep your pipes from clogging up, but don’t forget to drink extra water.

Glute Bridge

And for heaven’s sake, you need to exercise more. Get off your butt and move. Every morning as soon as you get up, begin your day with the Glute Bridge and the Bird Dog, three sets of eight reps each.

No, not that bird dog. This Bird Dog:

Bird Dog

Gee, Janice, I never took you for such a drill sergeant. But she’s right, readers. I need to change my eating habits and exercise more. That muffin top is only going to get bigger and bigger if I don’t. Anyone willing to join me? Maybe by Labor Day we’ll all have bodies we won’t mind showing off in bathing suits. Post a comment to enter the drawing for a book from our guest author on Friday. -- AP

HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE - EXERCISE FOR COUCH POTATOES

Health editor Janice Kerr has some advice for all of you couch potatoes who veg out in front of the TV for hours each night. -- AP

The best thing you can do for your health is to turn off the TV. The more you sit, the more you increase your odds of getting cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Too many of us sit all day at work, then come home and sit for hours in front of the TV at night. However, a study a few years ago found that overweight individuals who cut their TV viewing in half burned on average an extra 120 calories a day.

Yes, I know you’ve all worked hard during the day, and you’re entitled to some mindless down-time. Chances are, you won’t be giving up CSI or Dancing With the Stars any time soon. So why not try to have your mind candy and exercise, too?

Try this: get up from the sofa during the commercials and either dance or march in place while the advertisers are trying to convince you to buy a new car or switch your brand of toilet bowl cleaner. The average hour long program contains approximately 15 minutes of commercials. If you watch two hours of TV a night, that’s a half hour of exercise you’re getting in. The faster you dance or march, the more calories you’ll burn, but even walking in place or back and forth around the room during the commercials will benefit you.

HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE - WORKED UP ABOUT WORKING OUT

Health editor Janice Kerr has invited a guest blogger today to speak about working out. Danae Matthews is a young graphic designer working and living in the San Francisco Bay Area. She loves to cook, be creative, run around with her friends and most of all lead the happiest life she can. For more great tips and info check out her company’s website Women’s Health Base. -- AP

WORKED UP ABOUT WORKING OUT

Recently I was lucky enough to land a full-time job. Lucky because I can pay rent, not lucky that my social life is non-existent, but that’s not the point. In my first few days on the job I learned about all the benefits my company had to offer, notable was a majorly discounted membership package to one of the best gyms in the city. I signed up and learned as a new member one of my “perks” was a personal training session with one of the premier trainers at the club. “AWESOME!” I thought. I had been trying so hard to maintain my weight, go to the gym diligently and now it seemed that working 40 hours wasn’t going to impede my process. I was on a high.  

The session started with some forms, some jokes back and forth, a tour and then a healthy dose of scrutiny. The PT and I went through every detail of what I ate, how I worked out and how and why all of it was bad. Then he brought out the Body Fat Analyzer and told me to hold it in between my two outstretched hands. Thirty seconds and one beep later my PT was pointing to a chart on the wall gesturing towards the scary red zone that read “obese.”

Obese who? Me, obese? When? Now? How? I didn’t feel, gulp, obese.  I looked at him like he had just told me he was an alien from planet “sh** you don’t say to women.” I could feel the air escape from the room and my heart sink. Here I was so pumped about getting back into my gym routine and in an instant I felt like I was standing at the base of a very steep hill looking straight up. It took me a week and several bottles of Cabernet to recover.

But then.

I did what every reasonable, smart, independent and confident woman would do in my situation, I called my mother. She told me how a few years ago she had the exact same experience with an all-women’s gym chain and how it turned her off, not from working out, but from that particular place. She told me that for her being fit is 1/3 the way she looks and 3/4 the way she feels. That was all I needed to hear to snap me back to reality. I plucked my obese ass up by my 34D bra straps, and I went back to that gym with the best personal trainer I know: myself. Because me, myself and I have gotten Me pretty far in the last couple of years. If I can trust Me with life decisions, like Argentinian guy at the pub who bought me a pint, then why can’t I trust Me with my fitness routine?

I realized then that I was getting too worked up about working out. The Nike campaign really had something going with their “Just Do It” campaign. All I needed to do was make a plan and execute that plan as much as possible. I had to accept the fact that summer is over and I never got into my itty-bitty tiny bikini, that working after work sucks, that I’m not going to run any marathons any time soon and that that is OKAY. I am eating better than ever before, I am more active than I ever have been and I don’t get tired when I climb the stairs to my apartment. So obese or not (although I’d say not), I know for a fact that I am on the right path. 

Thanks, Danae! That's great advice. Readers, do you work out? What do you do to stay fit? Post a comment to enter the drawing for a book from our Friday guest author. -- AP

HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE - WALK WHILE YOU TALK

Who has time to exercise? You do, says health editor Janice Kerr, and she’s here today to show you how. -- AP

We’ve become a nation of sofa spuds. Even when we’re not sitting in front of the TV, we’re sitting -- at work and in the car. We Americans sit an average of 54 hours a week. That’s 2-1/4 days of sitting out of every 7 days. Yikes! No wonder obesity, diabetes, and heart disease are higher than ever.

If we got on our feet and moved just an extra hour or two a day, we’d do wonders for our health. So…I can hear you all screaming about how you don’t have time. You most certainly do! And you won’t even have to give up something to achieve those extra hours of being active.

Every time you’re on the phone, walk while you talk. Just walk from room to room. Or walk in place if you’re on the phone at work. If you’re home and have stairs in your house, go up and down a flight or two for good measure. The more you talk, the more walking you’ll get in.

When you do hit the couch in the evening, get up during the commercials. Again, walk in place. Or better yet, jog in place. The average half hour show is only 22 minutes of programming; the average hour long show is about 43 minutes of program. The remaining minutes are filled with commercials. For every hour of television you watch, that’s 16 or 17 minutes of exercise.

Your body will thank you!

Once again, Janice has offered some great advice for staying healthy. How many of you readers will take up the challenge to move more each day? Let's hear from you. Post a comment to be entered in the drawing for a free book from our Book Club Friday author this week. -- AP

EAT WHAT YOU WANT DAY

Do you know what today is? Health editor Janice Kerr does. Keep reading. You’ll be glad you did. -- AP

It seems like there’s a holiday for everything lately. Today is no exception. It’s Eat What You Want Day, a day to reward yourself for being so diligent in your healthful eating habits and exercise routines. This holiday was created by Thomas and Ruth Roy. They sell herbs and e-cards and come up with quirky holidays like Eat What You Want Day. As quirky holidays go, this one is pretty cool and so much more appetizing than some of the other holidays they’ve established, like Return of the Slugs Day, which falls later in the month.

So go ahead. Take the day off. Splurge! But remember, it’s one day and one day only. Going off the health wagon one day of the year isn’t going to make a difference in the greater scheme of things, as long as you don’t have food allergies or any other medical reasons to stay away from certain foods.

Tomorrow it’s back to getting in shape for those bathing suit days that are fast approaching. Just remember, it’s Eat What You Want Day, not Pig Out Day. Watch those portions. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow it’s back to salads and the treadmill.

So readers, what will you treat yourself to today? -- AP