Target heart rate is a way to measure your initial fitness level and monitor your progress in a fitness program. This approach requires measuring your pulse periodically as you exercise and staying within 50 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate.
Many people eat not because their tummies tell them to, but because their minds are consumed by the stresses of the day; this is called emotional eating. Have you ever found yourself watching your favorite reruns with a bag of popcorn right after a stressful day at work or school? You’ve stuffed so many handfuls of popcorn (or M&M’s for you chocolate lovers) into your mouth that you topped off the bag before the theme song is over. Many people wonder how to stop this not to helpful habit. Well, I don’t have a complete answer and I’ll admit I don’t know everything, but I’ve read about HALT and think the concept is good (I just have to practice what I preach:)
Okay here it is
The next time you open the pantry to satisfy your emotions think HALT~
Hungry
Angry
Lonely
Tired
Ask yourself, am I really truly hungry? Or just angry because …….. (fill in the blank) Or am I lonely and need some company? (I think bored should be added to this list, I like food and so when I’m bored I want to do something I like: eat. Besides there’s nothing else to do. (so I think:) And lastly are you tired. You feel zapped of energy because that research paper was due early this morning and you stayed up way past bedtime. You reason that you’ll need more energy from food because you stayed awake all night… so you eat because you’re tired.
Hope this helps~
I just coined a new word! (at least I don’t think it’s in the dictionary)
Closet Snacker
I define this as:
a noun: a person who sneaks snacks unbeknownst to others.
Sadly, I myself have developed this habit. I love chocolate! Sometimes I eat plain chocolate chips just because I’m craving that wonderful heavenly taste. Most often I eat these morsels of chocolate delights when no one’s looking. Usually the morsel-sized portions turn into a handfuls. Recently, I read a post on a very similar situation. I’m not alone.
It’s easier to grab for that second cookie without a second thought when no one is looking. For some reason I think that “if no one sees me eating that treat, then it doesn’t count.” Boy! My reasoning is a little off… A calorie is a calorie (no matter if it’s consumed in the presence of others or by oneself).
Well,
I’m off to break my habit of being a Closet Snacker
By Ann Hettinger , Ann Hettinger a freelance health writer and adjunct professor of magazine journalism at Syracuse University.
Is a good night’s sleep the first thing you sacrifice when life gets too full and busy? If so, this is your wake-up call: You’re not just sabotaging your next day’s performance (news to none of us), but you’re actually harming your health. “Sleep deprivation is a serious medical risk, but few people are aware of that,” says Joyce Walsleben, PhD, an associate professor of medicine at NYU School of Medicine. “You have to pay as much attention to your sleep as you do to eating a nutritious diet.” A spate of studies is turning up clear links between inadequate sleep and obesity, as well as several related conditions: heart disease, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes. For example, people who typically get fewer than 7 hours of shut-eye per night are more likely to be obese than their well-rested peers, according to an analysis of almost 7,000 people enrolled in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. “Sleeping less and weighing more are two of the most obvious social trends over the past century,” says Eric Olson, MD, codirector of the Sleep Disorders Center at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. “The less you sleep the more likely you are to be overweight.” The good news is that with adequate shut-eye, these conditions may be reversible, our experts say. Drawing on studies about what robs us of quality sleep, they have devised strategies that can help you get the rest you need. Here’s a lineup of the most insidious sleep thieves–and the latest recommendations on how to bar them from your bedroom forever.
Sleep Thief #1: An Overactive Mind
The reason you sometimes obsess over a tricky work project or an argument with your best friend when you’re trying to fall asleep: You can’t refocus your thinking at the edge of slumber the same way you can when you’re alert, says Colleen E. Carney, PhD, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Insomnia and Sleep Research Program at Duke University Medical Center. “People have little control over their thoughts, because they may be going in and out of a light stage of sleep, even though they think they’re awake,” Carney says.
Rest easy When fretful, get up and go to another part of the house (but leave the lights off). “Your anxious thoughts will usually stop right away. Then you can go back to bed and fall asleep,” Carney says. This well-studied strategy, called stimulus control, also prevents you from associating your bed with anxiety. Another tip: Set aside time early in the evening to problem solve. Write down your pressing concerns, along with a possible solution for each, a few hours before retiring.
Sleep Thief #2 Weekend Sleep-Ins
Late nights followed by extra sack time the next morning throw off your internal clock, which is controlled by a cluster of nerve cells in the brain that also regulate appetite and body temperature, says Lawrence Epstein, MD, medical director of Sleep HealthCenters in Brighton, MA, and author of The Harvard Medical School Guide to a Good Night’s Sleep. When Sunday rolls around, you’re reprogrammed to stay up past your bedtime, and you feel like a zombie on Monday morning.
Wanting to find a new recipe that’s low in calories and fat. Or perhaps you’re going for high protein? I have a solution! Here’s recipe finder that you’ll love (and your family will too).
By Joe Henderson
For the past two years, I’ve been teaching a class for beginning runners at the University of Oregon. But this is no typical college course, because we spend more time running together than discussing and debating.
The class meets twice a week for 50 minutes at a time. For homework, I suggest that class members do an additional run or two each week.
I’ve shrunk my class lectures into mini-lessons that I can speak in minutes or write in a single paragraph. I give my students only those nuggets that are most important for them to learn in our 10 weeks together.
Think of these lessons as Cliff Notes for “Running 101.” Learn them, and you can make it through your beginning-running efforts with an “A” grade.
1. Welcome to the starting line. This might be your first try at running, or a return visit, or an attempt to improve on what you already do. The less running you’ve done recently, the more you can expect to improve your distances and speeds in the next 10 weeks. On the other hand, the less you’ve run lately, the more likely you are to hurt yourself by doing too much running, too soon. That’s why it’s so important to set two related goals as you start or restart your running program: maximize improvements and minimize injuries. You win by improving. You lose by getting hurt.
2. Buy the right shoes. They are the biggest equipment expense for runners, so it’s important to get it right. Spend wisely by buying well-made shoes from a major brand. Search out a model that fits you properly, and is designed for the surface you’ll run on most often-roads, tracks, or trails. If you’re not sure which shoe will work best for you, shop at a running-specialty store staffed by veteran runners and shoe experts. After you buy your shoes, remember that even the best have a limited lifespan. Plan to replace them after about 350 to 500 miles of wear.
3. Make a plan. The two basic raw materials of a running routine are time and space. And the two main reasons given by those who don’t run? “I don’t have time for it,” and “I don’t have anywhere to do it.” Let’s dissect those excuses. You can run well and get in great shape with as little as a 30-minute session every other day. Think of it as the time you won’t waste by watching a sitcom rerun. As for finding places to run: Anywhere that’s safe for walking is also fine for running. Off-road routes (parks, bike paths, high school tracks) are better than high-traffic streets, and soft surfaces (grass, dirt) are better than paved ones, but any choice is better than staying home. Major suggestion: Map out the best courses in your immediate neighborhood. That saves time, solves the “place” issue, and makes it much more likely that you’ll actually do your planned runs.
4. Take the mile trial. Friends who hear that you’ve begun running will soon ask, “What’s your best mile time?” so you might as well get used to it. Before long, you’ll be calculating your pace-per-mile on longer runs, but you should begin with a simple 1-mile test run (four laps on a standard track) to determine your starting point. Think of this run as a low-key test, not a race. Run at a pace a little beyond easy but less than a struggle, and count on improving your mile time in later tests as your fitness improves.
5. Get F-I-T. Kenneth Cooper, M.D., a giant in the fitness field, long ago devised a simple formula for improving as a runner: Run 2 to 3 miles, 3 to 5 days a week at a comfortable pace. It’s easier to remember as the F-I-T formula: frequency (at least every other day); intensity (comfortable pace); and time (about 30 minutes). Even with walking breaks, you can cover 2 miles in 30 minutes, and you might soon be running 3 miles in that time. It’s important to run these efforts at an easy, comfortable pace. Think of yourself as the Tortoise, not the Hare. Make haste slowly.
Finish reading this article here
Advice for the runner looking to become a racer.
By Kristen Wolfe Bieler
Photographs by Meredith Jenks
PUBLISHED 06/08/2007
For one brief moment, probably while endorphins were still pumping through your body after a good run, you flirted with the idea of doing a marathon. Then the endorphins disappeared and the reality of training for four months and trying to squeeze in a handful of three- to four-hour long runs set in. Fair enough. How about a 5-K instead?
It’s the perfect distance: 3.1 miles require relatively little buildup, the training doesn’t take over your life, and the race is over fairly quickly. By logging only three or four runs per week, you can be ready to toe the line of a 5-K in just five weeks. And having that race date on your calendar gives your training purpose, says Jane Serues, of Springtown, Pennsylvania, founder of Making Strides and First Strides training workshops for women. “The runners I coach are much more motivated knowing the 5-K is approaching than they would be if they simply promised themselves they’d run.”
Chris Carmichael, founder of Carmichael Training Systems, also encourages runners–whether they’re competitive or not–to try a 5-K. “People run for a variety of reasons, but I’ve found that they get more out of it when they are working toward something specific,” he says. “And a 5-K race is an attainable goal for any runner.” Plus, there’s the “fun factor,” says RW columnist Jeff Galloway, coach and author of Running: Getting Started. “My favorite thing about 5-K races is the atmosphere. Almost everyone there is in a good mood. How many other events in your life are like that?”
To continue reading from one of my new favorite websites click here
All running shoes are not created equal.
I’m so excited!! Why, you ask. Because today I went for a run! So of you may think I’m crazy, but it’s a wonderful feeling of accomplishment to run 3.1 miles nonstop outside. (I even ran a little more which made it a total of 4 miles run).
I had 3 reasons for running outside as apposed to running on a treadmill (my usual mode of running adventures):
1. I couldn’t make it into the gym today.
2. It was a beautiful day to go for a run. (Warm, partly cloudy, sun at times, and not too windy. My kind of weather for exercising outdoors).
3. In two weeks, on May 3, 2008, I will be running my first 5K!!!!!!!!!!! I’m super excited about that. I thought it’d be smart to actually run on terrain similar to what the race will be like.
I consider running 4 miles outside an accomplishment. (I could have never done that 5 years ago) I’ll keep ya posted on how my first race goes.