The Pursuit of Healthiness

The Pursuit of Healthiness
Your Guide to Getting Healthy

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Workout 4: Swimming

Hi! Its officially summer for me and for me, favorite workout to do is swimming. I love the feeling of the water all around me and my arms and legs pulling me through it. I'm a horrible runner because I lack so much stamina but when I'm swimming I can go on forever. Which is good, considering have good swimming is for you. On average, you can burn 256 calories in just 30 minutes of swimming. To lose weight you really have to burn 500 calories a day. By swimming an hour a day, you go over that by 12.

Try mixing it up and swimming different ways to tone different muscles:
Lap 1: Backstroke: Concentrates on all back muscles and the hamstrings
Lap 2: Freestyle: Concentrates on biceps, triceps, pectoralis, shoulder muscles, trapezius, deltoids, gluteus, latissimus dorsi, hip flexors, and respiratory muscles
Lap 3: Breaststroke: Concentrates on inner and outer thighs, calf muscles, triceps
Lap 4: Butterfly: Concentrates on gluteus muscles, abdominals, back and shoulder muscles, quadriceps, hamstrings, biceps, triceps

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Tip 4: Plan Ahead!

Hi everybody! Sorry this took so long!

I recently noticed something that is really helping me! I'm planning my meals a day ahead. I write down my next day's breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two snacks. Then I tally up the calories! I know that if my meals add up to the total amount of calories I should have in a day, I'm not going to go and snack because I'm going over my calorie limit! Also, I account for one moderately unhealthy snack, like a Vienna finger or an ice cream bar. If I know that I'm having a treat later, I don't feel a need to snack on unhealthy things throughout the day. Doing this helped me kick my afternoon cappuccino habit!

Here was mine for today:
Breakfast: Oatmeal, coffee with skim milk, banana
Lunch: Whole wheat tortilla, part skim mozzarella, lettuce, tomato, turkey
Dinner: Mandarin Orange salad
Snack One: Grapefruit
Snack Two: Greek yogurt
Unhealthy Snack: Weight Watchers Ice Cream Bar

Give it a go and plan it out for tomorrow!