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Fitness


Keeping Fit For Life

In order to keep fit, the first step is knowing what being unfit looks and feels like and to have the desire to get fit and the to practice keeping fit. A fit person practices staying fit by getting enough exercise, eating nutritious foods and by living a healthy lifestyle.

Exercise allows our bodies to have fewer aches and pains, it increases your energy level, and it can help to reduce your stress level. Exercise also keeps your organs, like your heart strong and healthy. Exercising burns off unnecessary fat on your body and in so doing, it helps maintain your proper weight. Did you know that exercise could help to increase your brain activity?

Another benefit to exercising is that if you choose to do exercising in groups like at a gym or as part of a sports team you will also enjoy positive social interaction, which helps your mental and emotional health.

Nutritious eating helps your body to be fit because you are eating the right foods needed for healthy organs, for strong bones and teeth, and so that body has what it needs on a cellular level for growth and repair.

Healthy eating includes lots of starchy foods including potatoes, bread, rice and pasta. Vegetables are a must for a healthy body to the tune of five portion sizes of fruits and vegetables a day. It is important to eat oily fish like salmon or mackerel at least twice a week. Your body also needs dairy products but to keep them as a healthy food source they should be non-fat or low-fat milk and milk products. Healthy eating also includes decreasing to minimum fatty and sugary foods. Eat only moderate amounts of red meat and substituting red meat with chicken, fish or lean meats. Reduce your intake of salty snack foods and preserved meats. Avoid stock cubes or packet soups due to sodium content. You can eat sweets but keep them to a minimum.

Having a healthy lifestyle keep your body fit. If you smoke, drink and do dangerous sexual activity you are exposing your body to a higher risk for disease. Choosing instead to not smoke, avoid alcoholic beverages or to drink them at a minimum and to avoid risky sexual activity is to choose to help preserve your health and longevity.

People who are fit take the time everyday to stay physically fit by exercising such as walking, or by joining an aerobics class, going swimming or by joining a sports team. Lots of communities have exercise classes that you can join to help you stay fit.

Keeping Fit and Losing Weight By Staying Motivated

A common time for people to resolve to lose weight is on New Year’s Day. Shortly after the New Year many if not all of those who resolve to lose weight lose their motivation to do so. Approximately 65% of American adults are overweight so there are lots of people who desire to lose weight. Losing weight generally involves making lifestyle changes in order to do so. Most dieters also need to learn how to eat in a healthy way. In order to make these lifestyle and eating changes it is important to stay motivated in your quest to lose weight because the newness of all the changes will soon wear off. Here are a few tips to help you stay motivated.

Staying healthy while losing weight needs to involve a certain amount of making justifications such as if you want a piece of candy or cake you need to make an adjustment to the other meals or snacks during your day. If your total caloric intake at the end of the day is what it should be than your exchange that you did in order to justify that piece of candy or cake worked. Justify by substitution or by eating smaller portions. Eating more calories than what your body needs or burns results in weight gain. The opposite is true if you don’t eat more food than your body requires than you don’t gain weight. If you burn more calories than you take in you lose weight.

Many studies have indicated that most people will eat what they are served whether or not they are still hungry. When fast food restaurants went to serving larger portions, especially Americans began eating more calories than they needed and we saw an increase in the number of individuals who were overweight. Keeping your serving sizes (portions) in check is one huge improvement most dieters can make that will yield fast results if they had previously been overeating.

Examine your eating and exercise habits and make note of areas that need improvements. Don’t be afraid to ask for professional help if need be. Have a written goal of every improvement you wish to make and then brainstorm ways to achieve those improvements.

Believe that you can be fit by losing weight. When you believe in yourself and your ability to control your weight you can do anything you set your mind to do. Enlist the help of friends or family. Develop a positive attitude and believe that you will achieve your weight loss goals.

Celebrate every small step you achieve. Every weight loss step you take is an achievement to celebrate. Keep a photo of what you looked like before starting your weight loss journey and then take another picture several months later do you see differences? Celebrate those differences. Are you in a smaller dress or pant size? Pat yourself on your back! These celebrations will motivate you on to your next higher goal.