Watch portion sizes Keep a careful eye on portion sizes, when eating out or serving up your own meals at home. It isn’t always what you eat that can make weight loss tricky, but how much. This can be especially true for dishes like bowls of pasta or fruit smoothies – their intrinsic 'healthiness' makes it easy to forget the portion size and calorie content.
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Study Probes Obesity And Chronic Pain Links Though it is well known obese individuals have a high incidence of persistent pain problems, a new study in The Journal of Pain, published by the American Pain Society, reports that comorbid obesity and pain also are linked to family history and mood disorders. Chronic pain and obesity are rampant in the U.S...
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| Exercise News
Exercise of the Week: Curtsy Squat
"How many squats, lunges or step ups can a person do before her head explodes?" This was what one of my clients said recently and I give myself credit for not saying, "Gee, I don't know. Let's find out!" Actually, her comment was understandable since squats, lunges, deadlifts and step ups are often the foundation of any lower body routine. It's easy to get into a rut but, sometimes the smallest adjustment can change an exercise and make it feel like something new and wonderful (or, at least, effective). The curtsy squat falls into that category because it's almost like combining a crossover step up and a squat into one exercise.
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Vote in this week's poll: How do you feel about exercise?
Trying to convince someone of the importance of exercise is probably a lot like trying to teach kids the importance of learning things math and English. Some day, they appreciate those things but, until then, they usually think it's a big waste of time.
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Dealing with Stinky Gym Clothes
It is H-O-T here in Chicagoland and the natives are dropping like flies. I like it oven-hot, but even I had to turn around on my run the other day to finish up in the cool air-conditioned heaven of my basement.
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What's The Most Embarrassing Thing on Your Workout Playlist?
Whenever I plug my iPhone into our music dock and hit shuffle, there are certain songs and artists that cause my husband to make fun of me. These are usually my 'exercise' songs - songs I would never listen to outside of my workouts. The Spice Girls, Air Supply, Kenny Loggins...and the list goes on. I'm not afraid to admit even this: I sometimes listen to the New Kids on the Block when I run.
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Fit Fact: Women Have a Different Heart Rate Response to Exercise
It's taken the medical and fitness world some time to figure out that women aren't just small men (and if they'd just read "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus," they would've known that) but they are getting there. We know that women's bodies work differently from men's - woman have More >>
Exercises of the Week: Stretch Your Hamstrings
You may not give your hamstrings much thought but they're probably thinking about you, especially if you've been sitting for long periods of time (and, frankly, I wouldn't want to repeat what they might be saying to you).
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Vote in This Week's Poll: What confuses you the most about exercise?
If you don't know what you're doing, exercise can be a confusing prospect. Case in point, I've been getting emails from one confused beginner for years, asking questions about different aspects of training. In all this time, he's been so paralyzed by indecision and so afraid of doing the wrong thing that he hasn't actually started exercising yet.
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Weight Loss Backlash
When you lose weight, you probably expect, or at least want, people to be supportive and complimentary. It's nice to hear things like, "Wow, you look amazing!" or "You look so good, I kind of hate you!"
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4 Things You Don't Know About Weight Loss
The single most common question I get (aside from "How do I get flat abs?") is: "Why am I not losing weight?" Since the ESP nodule located in my forehead doesn't always work when I want it to, I don't have a good answer to this question. It may be because they're eating too much, not exercising enough, or both. It could be a medical problem, a mental issue or the fact that they aren't holding their mouths right.
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Reader Success Story - Lunchtime Workouts
<a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://exercise.about.com/od/fittinginexercise/a/lunchtimeworkouts.htm">Lunchtime workouts</a> aren't the easiest to squeeze in and the logistics can be maddening - What will you do in such a short period of time? Can you really make it back to the office without smelling like a sweaty mess?
<p>One About.com member has found a way. As Occasional Lunchtime Exerciser says, "About once or twice a week, I exercise during my lunch hour. It's a great change from my morning workouts and gives me energy for the rest of the day."
<p>So, how does she manage it? She has it down to a science, focusing on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://exercise.about.com/od/intervaltrainingworkouts/Interval_Training_Workouts.htm">interval training</a> or ... More >>
Exercise of the Week - Pushup, Plank and Row
Pushups are already a challenging exercise, but if you're wondering how to make them even more intense, you're in luck. This More >>
Vote in This Week's Poll: Are you healthier than your younger self?
The first time someone calls you old can be a traumatic experience. It happened to me when I was about 25 and a 7-year-old boy pointed to me and said, "Tell that old lady to throw that kickball over here." When I asked him how old he thought I was, he shrugged and said, "I don't know, like, 50?" I admit, I considered telling him what he could do with that kickball, but, as an 'elderly' woman, realized I should set a better example than that.
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Liberate Yourself From Perfectionism
If you're a More >>
Post-Holiday Recovery - Recommit to Your Workouts
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Exercise Challenge of the Week - Find Your Focus
The other day I was working out at the gym and I caught myself doing about 10 things to distract myself from my boring treadmill workout. Not only was I listening to my iPod, I was watching TV, monitoring a woman in the weight room (had to make sure she was doing all her reps) and watching the guy in front of me as he methodically and endlessly flipped through 100 or so channels on his little treadmill TV. There's never anything good on, is there?
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What's Your Favorite Heart Rate Monitor?
I was at the gym the other day when something disastrous happened. I was in the middle of my workout when I looked down at my heart rate monitor (which I do approximately every 30 or so seconds) and saw weird blinking lights and numbers. I pressed the buttons, swore silently and even tried CPR, (almost falling off the treadmill and, thus, breaking my own rule that you should More >>
Vote in This Week's Poll: Did you eat too much over the 4th of July?
The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays and not just because of the endless supply of beer and barbecue (although that's a nice plus). Not only do we get to celebrate our independence, we get a day off to go outside and play. You can't beat that with a stick, although the food hangover the next day can be brutal.
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Creative Ways to Exercise
Summertime always brings out the restlessness in many of my clients. The sun is shining, the air is warm and they know they only have a few months before the snow flies again (yes, I just said the 'S' word...sorry). This fact makes indoor workouts seem a little too much like torture and while torture is always enjoyable, I do want my clients to have fun, too.
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Reader Success Story: How Steve Became an Exerciser
Going from More >>
What's Your Workout Mantra?
If you've ever had an argument with yourself about whether to workout or not, you know how silly and frustrating it can be. The argument usually starts with something like, "I don't really feel like working out." From there, the negotiations begin with false promises ("I'll just workout later"), outright lies ("I'll workout for 2 hours tomorrow!") or even ridiculous dramatizations ("I'll More >>
Exercises of the Week - Work Your Hamstrings
I've talked about the importance of More >>
Vote in This Week's Poll: What dieting mistakes are you guilty of?
Do you ever feel guilty when you eat? I ask this because I got an email from a young reader struggling with her weight. She mentioned watching her diet to the point of feeling guilty every time she ate anything and I know many of us can sympathize. We know we should eat fewer calories, but that often spirals into extremes - skipping meals, monitoring every bite and, sometimes, feeling guilty for eating at all.
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Barefoot Running - Should You Ditch Your Shoes?
The other day, I was driving to the gym and saw a man running barefoot. My first thought was "ouch," followed by, "I certainly hope everyone cleaned up his or her dog's poo this morning."
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Reader Success Story - How Elianada Lost Weight After Menopause
Uttering the word 'menopause' around a bunch of women can be an enlightening (or violent, depending on the crowd) experience, especially since one common side effect of menopause tends to be More >>
Stormy Weather Workouts That Aren't Boring
How fast can you run? One way to find out is to go for a walk or run on a cloudy, humid morning. Make sure you don't check the forecast or the radar for your area, because you want the coming thunderstorm to be a complete surprise. That first clap of thunder, say about a mile from your house, will motivate you to sprint like nobody's business. Of course, you'll be too freaked out to time yourself, but trust me...you're going really, really fast.
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