Having Fun with Zumba!

Posted in Health, Diet & Fitness | 0 comments

You know, after trying to lose weight for eons already, I have already realized that the best fat burners is simply good old healthy diet and exercise. Life could really hold one back though. Sometimes things get too busy and I always find the excuse I am too busy to exercise. Which led me to a solution that I should make exercise fun and something to look forward to.

And so I bought a Nintendo Wii which had been great and enjoyable but now I’m looking for something more intensive. I tried out Hip Hop Abs and its wonderful. I guess I found dancing to be a really good workout. Now I’m trying out Zumba for a little bit more flavor. And I’m absolutely crazy about it. Not only do I get a good body workout, I’m also learning how to dance, which means I won’t be bumbling like a baboon the next time I attend a dance party.

I love the energetic, sexy beat of Latin music and this is the core of Zumba.  Right now I’m doing the basics and the 20 minute workout on DVD and I think I’m moving on to something more intensive in a month. Also, I’m really tempted to order the Wii game version of this. Lol!

Here’s a video of the basic steps. It’s so upbeat and broken down into easy steps to follow so even if you have two left feet, I’m sure you’d be grooving in no time..

Setting Goals for Healthy Living

Posted in Girl Talk, Health, Diet & Fitness | 3 comments

I’m all inspired to be on the ‘live healthy’ side. While there are a whole lot of reasons to live healthy, personally, my topmost reason is that I want to live longer and to avoid any diseases while I’m still young. Being healthy for me isn’t just physical, I also want to take care of my mental and emotional health. I also don’t want to have too much financial worries when I grow old so I want to prepare for it now. I want to save more and if possible have a senior life insurance.

But how do I achieve and maintain a healthy living lifestyle. I think it’ll be a good idea to set some goals with regards to this.  For one thing, it’ll keep me in track. There are times coming for sure that I would waver from this goal, so having some simple easy to achieve goals or steps will help me much more.

Setting goals starts with assessment. Where you are right now and what you want to achieve. This I have to do. A check of example how much weight loss I want to achieve.  It’s also a must for me to have a thorough physical health check-up so I would know where are the areas I need to improve on.

I have to pick goals also that are actually realistic for me. For one I don’t plan to be reed thin like a model, that I would never be. I just want to achieve the weight that is right for my height. I also have to list it down and make sure it is specific, measurable – I could check on my progress, rewarding and can also be place on a time frame.

I think it’ll also be more successful if I share this goals with people who care. Like my family and my friends. At least they’d be there to prod me in case I’m deviating. And lastly, one thing I learned – to listen to your body. Sometimes we tend to overdo things, so I want to listen and learn to interpret the signal my body gives off.

Some Easy Egg Recipes

Posted in Health, Diet & Fitness | 0 comments

Still on diet and I’m thinking I’ve reached some weight loss plateau. I’m currently on South Beach Diet, Phase II and it has worked wonders and was effective. But lately I’ve reached a point where the weight I lose is just minimal. It’s kinda frustrating but instead of fretting about it and deciding to jump ship and learn what is maltodextrin, I’ve just added toning and cardio workouts to my routine to build more muscles.

SBD also uses a lot of protein in the diet. And one of the easiest diet food I could hussle up is eggs! But honestly, the variety of recipes I know is just limited so I’ve been hopping about looking for easy to cook egg recipes. Here’s some I’ve tried.

Egg White Muffin Melt ( I love this specially when hubby asks me make creme caramel and we have a lot of spare egg whites. I don’t like throwing food so..)

You’ll need: 3 egg whites; Whole-grain English muffin (i just substitute whole wheat bread); 1/2 cup spinach;1 slice reduced-fat cheddar cheese; 1 slice tomato

How:
Scramble 3 egg whites. Cover half of a whole-grain English muffin with 1/2 cup spinach and the other half with 1 slice reduced-fat cheddar cheese; toast until cheese is melted. Add egg and 1 slice tomato.

Frittata Italiana

You’ll Need: 1 1/2 cups egg whites; 1/4 cup nonfat cream cheese, softened ; 1 cups finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes; 4 leaves fresh basil, finely chopped ; 4 slices whole-grain bread, toasted; Salt and cracked black pepper to taste; Cooking oil spray

How:
Whisk together the egg whites, cream cheese, salt, and pepper. Spray a nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat the skillet. Add the egg white mixture and cook until it begins to set. Immediately add the sun-dried tomatoes and basil leaves. Cover and cook about 2 minutes or until the eggs are completely set.

To serve: Slide the frittata onto a cutting board and cut into four wedges. Serve two wedges and two slices of toast on each plate. Garnish with pepper and additional fresh basil.

Recipes via FitnessMagazine

A Low Carb Diet

Posted in Health, Diet & Fitness | 1 comment

Huh?! Another blurb about dieting? Indulge me ok? Hahaha, its something that is dominating my consciousness for the past few weeks. I’m simply happy that I finally found a dieting way to help me lose the extra pounds. I’m not sure yet if this would work for a long time and if I would manage to achieve my weight loss goal, but things are looking rosy and I can’t help but be positive.

I realize now that nothing really beats going on good old diet and exercise, not even the best fat burners. What is currently working for me is a low-carb diet. I picked South Beach Diet simply because while it is the same as other Low carb diets, it is different in a way that it chooses unsaturated fat vs. saturated fat.

Low carb diet is really effective in jump starting your weight loss mainly because it requires an almost total withdrawal from carbohydrates forcing our body to use stored fats. This is usually in Phase I. Then Phase II, you’ll be adding gradually small amounts of carbo and this way, I have managed to find and adjust to eating a good and healthy amount of carbohydrates.

One thing about this diet, you have to drink plenty of fluids specially water and a doctor friend, also advised me to take a daily multivitamin to ensure that my body is receiving the right nutrients. I have also started to exercise more regularly since after losing the fat, its expected that you will lose muscles, so muscles can be maintained by some strength training.

Discovering Healthy Living..

Posted in Health, Diet & Fitness | 0 comments

It’s a known thing. I’m trying to lose weight for the nth time. I’ve done all sorts of things to achieve this goal. And it skipped my mind, in my frantic attempts to lose weight quickly, that the real secret to my quest to a healthier weight it is to live healthy.

Though I didn’t really go to extreme lengths like take slimming pills, so I was spared the side effects of extenze, still I went on mad diets, crazy exercise schemes etc. Sure I lost a bit of weight every time I go into these things but I usually gain it back in no time.

It’s only just recently that it seriously hit me what living healthy means. It’s definition may differ for each person but we’d pretty much agree on the fact the healthy living includes eating a healthy well balanced diet and having some form of exercise on a daily basis.

I also realized that trying to live healthy is a slow process. One that cannot be hurried up overnight. Perhaps it might work for some people to change overnight, but definitely not for me. So, I’m taking gradual but definite steps towards a healthier lifestyle.

I’ve been changing my goals from just losing weight to living healthy. Unconsciously, going for this new goal has the positive side effect – I’m starting to lose weight! I’ll be talking about this more soon..But for now, it’s what I wanna share. Having healthy eating and lifestyle habits does have its just rewards.