Good Morning Everybody
Dena~~~Hey gal! I tried to look up past EXERCISE threads but was unable to. tell me what happened to you that you are recouperating from. Hope you are well.
As you know, I was doing weight watchers at home earlier this year. It worked well for me as far as the food part but I just couldn't get into the exercise part because I needed more direction in that area. Body for Life (BFL) is a great program that incorporates nutrition and exercise together.
The program consists of a total of12 weeks. Each week you eat right and exercise 6 days a week, taking a Free Day once a week. On the free day you do NOT exercise and you EAT WHATEVER YOU WANT
. So, I figured that I can do anything for 6 days if I can have that free day, and I gave it a try.
The food part consists of 5-6 SMALL meals a day. Each meal consists of a fist size of protein (chicken, tuna, lean meat, fish, egg whites or eggbeaters, cottage cheese, etc.) AND a fist size of carbs (oatmeal, fruit,potato, pasta, bread, etc). You are allowed as much vegetables as you like, just be aware of the high sugar/starch ones.
The exercise part includes some form of cardio at a high intensity, interval level and weight lifting. If you do the exercise according to his book, the cardio only takes 20 minutes and the weight lifting only takes 45-55 minutes.
I use the stationary recumbant bike or the elliptical for my cardio sessions. I started out with 5# weights for the exercises because I had a herniated disc in my neck repaired last January and didn't have alot of strength in my arms. So, if I can do it, ANYBODY can do it
Just yesterday I tried a different variation of the cardio session according to Dec. Muscle Media magazine's article "Guerilla Cardio 2". It is only 12 minutes on an exercise bike or elliptical. For the first 4 minutes you go at a 50% pace. Then for the next 4 min you alternate with 20 seconds going as fast as you can, then slow down for 10 sec (to catch your breath
), 20 sec as fast as you can, slow for 10 sec, etc. The last 4 min are at the 50% pace to cool down. Try it ! You will not believe what a workout you get in only 12 minutes.
I hope that everybody has a great workouy today.
~~~Sil