15 quick tips for people who don't like to exercise

  We've all had days when we don't have the energy to tie our athletic shoes,  let alone bounce around in them. But exercise can give a daily blast to your mind, body, and soul. 

 Here are fifteen quick tips to get you moving:

   1. Don't get intimidated by the prospect of a daily exercise regimen. You don't have to run a marathon. You need only get your body moving each day.   Once you tone your muscles, you'll naturally find yourself wanting to do more challenging workouts.

    2. Reframe the way you think about exercise. Begin to think of each workout as a gift you give to yourself instead of just another "should," "ought," or "must."
       3. Make sure you enjoy your exercise program. Some people like classes.  Some people don't. Choose what's right for you so it becomes something you actually look forward to.
       4. Make sure your workout is convenient. Schedule it for a time of day when you typically feel the most energetic. Have your gym bag packed and ready to go by the door or in the car. 
       5. Make your workout weather-proof. If you run or walk outside, get the right workout gear so weather conditions are never an excuse. 
       6. Make sure you're doing it right. One reason for wanting to quit exercising is injury or pain. Check with your doctor before you start an exercise program so you know you're safe in the workout you choose. And check in with trainers, too, if you're working on equipment at the gym or trying a new sport. 
       7. If you're having a low-energy day, tell yourself you have to exercise for only ten minutes. That will get you moving, and once you're in the exercise groove, you'll usually want to finish your workout. 

     8. Go with friends. Start a group for walking, running, or training. The camaraderie (and peer pressure) can do wonders for your daily motivation. 

     9. After a really good workout, write a few notes in your journal about how good you feel. Use it as a reference the next time you don't want to begin.  

    10. Start with small goals. If you want to run for 30 minutes, for example, start by walking fast. When you can do that, make a goal to spend those 30 minutes running for one minute, walking for one minute. When you build on these smaller goals, you'll be running in no time. And you'll give your confidence a boost, too. 

    11. Recognize that some days it will be easier to exercise, and some days you'll have to struggle through the workout. This has to do with a lot of factors, including mood, hormones, the glass of wine you had last night...Take the pressure off by understanding the fluctations. And exercise anyway. 

    12. Try behavior modification tapes. Mike Brescia has a good one for exercising at Momscape.com:  This audiotape is not self-hypnotizing or subliminal. You'll hear every message, but these messages are subtle and, for many people, effective.

13. Use a visible reward system. The effects of exercise are cumulative and long-term, so sometimes it helps to see your results on a daily basis. After each workout, put a big red star on the calendar as a symbol that you completed the day's workout. Take photos of yourself every month in your workout gear so you have a visual record of your results, too.

14. Get to the bottom of your exercise aversion. For women, if it's the run-of-the-mill gym you can't stand, try a women-oriented fitness center, such as Curves. This is a fast-growing fitness phenomenon, and many women feel like their workout becomes a 30-minute vacation--like a girls' night out at the exercise machines. 

15. Be gentle with yourself. Take a day off at least once a week. And if you do skip a few workouts, don't beat yourself up, but do get right back in the routine. The fewer consecutive days you skip, the more likely you'll be to make your workout a lasting gift you give to yourself. 

Fitness: By Susie Cortright

Healthy Eating on the Road

Staying On The Right Track... When You're On The Road.

 Typical freeway fare includes fast food, microwave-ready service station options, bags of chips, and lots of sodas. These foods are almost always full of bad fats, lots of calories, and not much valuable nutrition. Plus, eating junk food for a couple of days can leave you feeling fatigued and crabby, and give you a stomach ache.

With a little bit of effort and willpower, you can navigate your way around the junk food and maintain your healthy diet while on a long road trip. You'll feel healthier, more alert, and have more fun.

Breakfast

You may be eating breakfast at a restaurant, a hotel continental breakfast bar, or even the food aisle of a gas station. Avoid excess sugar. High carbohydrate meals may improve your mood for a short time, but lots of sugar can also make you sleepy. That's not good if you are the driver.

Healthy eating at a restaurant:

• Choose an omelet filled with vegetables and order a side of whole-wheat toast instead of a stack of pancakes and syrup.
• A bowl of oatmeal with fresh fruit is very filling and good for you.
• If you want something sweet, choose a bran muffin, which is a good source of fiber. Or opt for whole-grain toast with just a little jam or jelly.

At the hotel continental breakfast bar:

• Choose a whole grain cereal with low-fat milk.
• Fresh fruit gives you vitamins and fiber.
• Yogurt or hard-boiled eggs are good sources of protein.
• Avoid sugary muffins, sweet-rolls, and pre-sweetened cereal.

At the service station:

• Look for single-serving whole grain breakfast cereals and low-fat milk.
• Protein bars can make a good breakfast food substitute, but watch out for extra sugar and calories--read the labels.
• As a last resort, choose a hot breakfast sandwich or small breakfast burrito over donuts and sweet-rolls.

Fast food restaurants:

• Most breakfast choices have lots of calories and saturated fats, but breakfast burritos may have less than other selections.
• Fruit and yogurt parfaits will give you some calcium and protein without too much saturated fat.
• Drink low-fat milk or 100 percent juice instead of sodas and orange-flavored soft drinks.

Snacks in the Car

If you are the driver, you probably should not be snacking since eating can be a big distraction. Snacks to keep your passengers happy should be low in saturated fats, low in sugar and nutritious. Take a cooler with ice packs to keep your snacks and beverages cold.

When you stop for gas and restroom breaks, find a local grocery store which will have a better selection than the gas station.

Eat healthy snacks in the car:

• Load up on fresh-cut vegetables and fruit. Bring along a small cooler with ice packs to keep your snacks fresh.
• Bring plenty of water. It will keep you hydrated and, if you spill it, won't stain the upholstery like sodas.
• Individually wrapped portions of string cheese or vegetarian cheese alternatives can be kept in the cooler with the fruit and vegetables. They are a great source of calcium and protein.
• Bring baked whole grain crackers along on your trip. This is good for added fiber and nutrients.
• Don't overindulge in greasy chips. There are baked varieties that have a lot less unhealthy fats. You need to watch how much you eat of those too, however, since they don't offer much in the way of nutrition.
• You can also pack sandwiches made with whole grain bread and peanut butter or lean meats. Keep these in the cooler, too.
• Nuts such as almonds, cashews, and walnuts contain polyunsaturated fats and are easy to take on a trip in either individual bags or larger containers.

Lunch and Dinner

Lunch and dinner on the road usually means going to a restaurant. Don't spend too much time at fast food restaurants; instead opt for full-service restaurants that offer more choices.

Healthy eating in restaurants:

• Order a soup or a salad to eat with your main course. Soups and salads are generally healthy and start to fill you up so that you eat less of the more calorie-dense main meal.
• Skip the entrée altogether. Soup and salad might be enough for a healthy meal.
• Split a meal with your dining partner. Most restaurants serve huge portions, so there is usually enough food to share. This saves calories and money. Besides, sharing eliminates the temptation to take leftovers back on the road, where they can't be properly stored.
• Select foods that are prepared with healthier, low-fat methods. Baked chicken is healthy, but fried chicken has too much fat.
• Eat the vegetables. Most entrées come with at least one vegetable. If not, be sure to order a vegetable side dish.
• Skip dessert, or choose some fruit. A full meal that ends with a sugary dessert may make you feel sleepy. That might be fine if you are passenger, but a bad idea if you are the driver.

At fast food restaurants:

• Find sandwich shops like Subway or Quiznos that let you select your sandwich ingredients. Choose whole grain breads, lean meats, and lots of vegetables.
• Many fast food restaurants offer salads, but you need to be careful when you select one. Some of those salads are very high in fat, especially taco salads or those topped with fried chicken strips.
• Don't super-size your meal. It sounds like a great deal, but you will eat way too much calories, fat, and sodium.
• Order sandwiches made with grilled chicken rather than fried chicken.

At the Hotel

If your trip requires a hotel stay, you might get a bit hungry after a long day of travel. If going to a restaurant is not an option, you should still find healthy foods.

Eating at the hotel:

• Find a local grocery store and buy healthy snack items such as fruit, nuts, or healthy choices from a salad bar or deli section. If your hotel has a microwave, you can find healthier frozen dinners or soup.
• If your only choice for a snack is the hotel vending machine, skip the candy and chips and look for nuts or microwave popcorn.
• Some restaurants will deliver food to your hotel room and may have some healthy menu items available. If you go for a pizza delivery, don't order extra cheese or meats high in saturated fat. Choose lots of vegetable and mushrooms. Order a side salad too.

Follow these easy tips for better nutrition on the road, and have a safe and healthy road trip.

  by Shereen Jegtvig, About.com Guide

How to Stick to Your Diet

Keeping Motivated

Sticking to a healthy diet isn't easy, but it is essential for long-term success.

Thomas Egger

The most important aspect of maintaining a healthy diet isn't the type of diet you choose, but whether or not you can stick to it. Whether you go low-calorie, low-carb, low-fat or high-fiber, you need to be able to eat that way for a long time to keep the extra weight off and enjoy any real health benefits. Everyone who follows a diet has times when it is tough to stay motivated and that is when it is just too easy to give up.

Following a diet is easy at first, but how do you stick to your diet when it becomes boring and you're no longer motivated? Have a plan so that you know what to do when the initial excitement of a new diet wears thin. Here are some tips for maintaining a healthy diet:

Choose the Best Diet For You

The first thing you need to do is choose the diet that is easiest for you to follow. How do you choose the best diet? All diets require you to monitor your consumption of something. You need to count calories, carbs, fats, fiber or something. Which one is the easiest? That is really up to you.

You may also feel physically better following one diet over the others. Feeling healthy will help keep your willpower strong when you are faced with a dietary dilemma. If you really don't know which diet you would like best, you can always give a diet a two-week test drive. This way you can see how you feel and find out how easy the diet is to understand and follow. Remember to choose healthy foods, no matter which diet you choose.

Set Realistic Goals

Put some thought into why you are going on a diet. Are you trying to lose weight? Do you need to reduce your risk factors for chronic disease? Do you want to look good in a swimsuit? Maybe you had a heart attack and you want to do everything you can to see your grandchildren grow up.

Your goals are important to you, yet to be successful, you need to be realistic about how to set those goals. Don't put too much pressure on yourself to make huge changes over night. If it took you ten years to gain 50 pounds, don't pretend that you can lose 50 pounds in three months. You can, however lose five to 15 pounds in three months. Think along similar lines for changing from junk food to healthy food. If you eat a big bowl of ice cream and chocolate syrup every night after dinner, it might be tough to give that up completely and forever. Start with replacing that bowl of ice cream with a bowl of fresh berries two or three times per week. Keep your goals reasonable and you can have the fun of reaching them quickly and setting new ones.

Choose the Right Tools

Very few people can follow a healthy diet without keeping track of the foods they eat. Just like you need to keep track of your bills and the money in your bank account, you need to keep track of the calories, carb grams, fat grams, or fiber grams that you take in each day. In order to keep track of the foods you eat, you need to write them all down in a food diary or join an online service like Calorie Count. Keeping track of your diet will help keep you motivated and give you a realistic idea of how much healthy food verses how much unhealthy food you are eating.

Find a Friend or Join a Community

Sometimes it seems like everyone else around you is eating what they want and tempting you to go off your diet too. Dieting can be tough when you do it alone. Find someone to go on a diet with you. Having a spouse, family member, co-worker or friend who has similar dietary goals will help keep you both on track. Another option is to join an online community such as the message boards on About.com's weight loss site or on Calorie Count.

Keep Reminders

It is good to give yourself a little nudge now and then. Remember those reasons you have for going on a healthy diet? Write those reasons down on a small note card and tuck that card into your purse or wallet. You may not see it every day, but you will find it often enough to remind you about why you are watching your diet. Another option is to find a weight loss quote you like and use it as a screen-saver on your computer.

Make Your Bad-Mood-Foods Healthier

Sometimes your mood can have a major impact on your diet. Think of comfort food. What do you eat when you are having a bad day? A banana split? Big greasy burger and fries? A pile of fried chicken? All of these are real diet-breakers because the calories can pile up fast while you are feeding your bad mood. Find some new comfort foods. Make sure they are high in fiber and you will fill up before you eat too many calories. Did you love PB and Js as a kid? Make a healthier PB and J with whole grain bread. Instead of that banana split, how about banana chunks, strawberries and blueberries with whipped topping and nuts. It is just as sweet, but much better for you. Still want that fried chicken? How about just one piece after you eat a healthy salad.

Be Good to Yourself

We all slip up now and then. That's OK. If you fall off the healthy foods wagon, don't beat yourself up over it. Tell yourself you will do a better job with your next meal and when that next meal rolls around, choose something healthy like baked chicken or fish with lots of green vegetables. Congratulate yourself for eating a healthy meal again and know that you will do it again at the next meal.

Get Some Exercise

Physical activity will help you watch your weight, give you strong muscles and keep your heart healthy. Aerobic and resistive exercises will also boost your mood, decrease your appetite and help keep you motivated to eat right.

 By Shereen Jegtvig, About.com Guide