Eat Right at Night

I can't go to bed without dessert. I admit it. It's a bad habit, I know, especially after reading the latest Health issue. Turns out, those who eat after 8 P.M. rack up 248 more calories than those who finish eating after dinner. Well, duh. I actually thought it would be more. That's not the real killer. The killer is that your body wants to burn off fat at night, which is while people who get the full nine hours weigh the least. Your body is like a machine. Even when you're asleep, its gears are still working, but it needs fuel. It's not getting food so it takes fuel from fat. It's a great system.

Problem is this mode can't begin the second your head hits the pillows. It takes time to burn the calories. Health recommends eating dinner late and going to bed an hour later, so you don't have time to eat dessert. The body needs about twelve hours to convert that fat. Basically, eat dinner at eight, eat breakfast at eight. For the summer, sure I can do that. For the rest of the year, not so much. I wake up at 5:45 A.M. and eat breakfast at 6:00 A.M. Then I eat dinner between 6:00 P.M. and 7:00 P.M. I don't go to bed at eight. I usually go to sleep between ten and eleven. So no I'm not one of those people who gets the full nine hours.

Here's my rule: Don't focus on the 12 hours. Focus on the old rule that says no eating after nine. Before that I'm not giving you a pass. Don't eat whatever you want. Try to eat something with a little fiber content. If you get cravings at night, give in, but only a little. If you want chocolate, eat a Fiber One Brownie, not a giant hot fudge sundae. Dessert won't wreck your diet, as long as your careful of the time you eat and the content of your treat.

Workout #17: Make a Run for It!

Even when I was little, running was my enemy. I remember running in the Presidential Fitness Challenge every year and I could never run faster than a twelve minute mile. I used to feel so bad when my friends would run beside me and try to get me to run faster, but I never could.

My sister is almost as bad as I am, but not quite. She's never been over weight but she's never been a great runner either. I was more than surprised to hear that she decided to run a marathon. On her way home for the Easter break, she texted me and asked if she wanted to go for a run the next day. My first thought was "Is she crazy?" I was going to immediately say hell no but I ended up texted back that it sounded like a good idea.

The next day she woke me up, tossed me a pair of sneakers, and pulled me outside. We walked down one house and then we made a run for it. Needless to say, I was ready to quit only a few houses down from that. I started to slow up, so my sister ran a little faster and I struggled to keep up.

We didn't talk much, so I ended up listening to my neighbors around me and focusing on my breathing. Eventually, I managed to steady it and fell into step with my sister. I kind of liked the sound of our feet hitting the pavement in unison. Every now and again she told me to slow up and pace myself or, when I started to feel like stopping, she'd tell me to focus on one thing at a time. Rather than focus on reaching home, she'd tell me to get to the next mailbox, and then I could slow down if I wanted to.

The thing was, after I reached one mailbox, I wanted to run to the next one, and the next one, and the next. Before I knew it, my house was in view. She told me earlier on in the run that we could walk from there, but instead she decided we'd sprint. I struggled to sprint but didn't slow up until I got back through my front door.

While I don't plan to run any marathons just yet, I don't mind training with my sister for the time being. Maybe I'll be running one in a couple years.

Workout #15: New Year, New Workout

Last year, I did pretty much all the same workouts: biking, swimming, walking, Zumba. This year I'm in the mood to try something different. I'd go on Exercise TV, find a workout, and follow the trainer for the 20+ minutes. Well, today I discovered that Exercise TV is no longer on my cable package. After getting so used to it, I panicked a little to find out my safe and comfy routine was gone.

But I didn't panic for long. I got a pair of Piloxing gloves for Christmas and I put them to good use. I made my own routine, setting it to music, and was surprised to discover that my heart was pounding and I was sweating bullets by the end of the half hour set. It got me thinking, what else was I missing while I was caught in my rut?

My goal this year is try as many new workouts as I can. I'm trying out hot yoga, hip hop classes, ballroom dancing, and whatever other classes I can find! But the workout doesn't just have to be a class. You can try plenty of workouts straight out of your home, like using Piloxing gloves or a kettlebell. Or try the new Beach Body workout, Les Mills Pump Workout, on sale this week, which you can order here. The workout is based on the globally famous BodyPump classes, taught at 14,000 clubs in 80 countries. I hate lifting heavy weights, so this works for me because it is based on using light weights and higher repetition. It can tone muscle and came burn up to 1000 calories per workout!

Workout #14: Impromptu Party!

Its holiday break and your bored already. Instead of breaking out the Christmas cookies and settling in to watch Rudolph for the fourth time, why not host a party? Sound like weird way to work out? Then listen up!

Gathered together a small group of close friends? Then pull out the Wii or Connect for XBox 360! Rent a dance game and pick your favorite songs! Don't worry about sticking to the moves perfectly. You'll have more fun and torch more calories if you and your friends just have fun and add in your own variations. Sure, you can play Wii Just Dance any day, but it is so much more fun to play with friends. Plus you get the bonus of extra calorie burn when you're talking and laughing.

Gathered up a huge group of party-goers? Time to crank up the music and dance to your favorite songs. Hit a club or host the dance party in your own home. Blast the music, make a dance floor and party! Fist bump, electric slide, or whatever you like. But if you are staying at home, just make sure you don't disturb the neighbors!

Playlist of the Week

Here's a heart pumping playlist to blast away those halloween calories!

Warm-Up: Time is Running Out- Muse

Criminal- Britney Spears

Love You Like a Love Song- Selena Gomez

Without You- David Guetta

Cool Down: Turning Tables- Adele

Tip #17: Set a Plan and Act on It!

Its so easy to make excuses for why you don't exercise. You're tired! You're too busy! You're bored with your usual workout! I do the same thing. We all do! I know I've talked about Sparkpeople on this blog before but I had to share something new I discovered about it. There is a fitness tracker on it that can give you a set amount of calories to torch in a week! It works like this:

You enter in the amount of days you want to work out and select about how long you plan to exercise (shoot for half an hour to forty minutes four days a week! I exercise Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday because I usually have the most time to work out). Then the tracker calculates the minimum number of calories you should be burning in a week. For me, its about 800. I know it sounds like a lot, but its easy to burn off if you break it down. Try to even go a little over if you can! Think about it like this: 40 minutes of kikboxing is about 400 calories, 40 minutes of Barre is 340. You are at 740 and you only completed two of your workouts! Its a lot easier to met your goal than you think! Plus its a lot easier to force yourself to get your butt off the couch when your workout for the day is put down in writing!

Now, you don't have to use Sparkpeople (even if it is free!) so you can just write down a page of your planned workouts for the week in your food journal! Also, set a reminder on your phone! No excuses that you forgot to or are too busy to workout when you schedule it in! Good luck and have fun with it!

Workout #11: Sketchers Shape Ups

Recently, the hurricane Irene hit our town. It left many people with flooded houses and basically everyone with flooded streets. Naturally we couldn't drive anywhere and were forced to walk instead. I'm a bit of an optimistic myself and can't help but look on the bright side here: A workout without going out of my way squeeze it in. My sister, mother, and I took a walk down to the local Walgreens about six streets over. I strapped on my new pair of Sketchers Shape-Ups and walked the whole time, no breaks with the cool night air against us. The amazing part was that my legs actually hurt after the walk. Admittedly, my ankles hurt a bit too, but that was mostly because I stupidly forgot to put on socks.

My legs hurt thanks to the calorie burn I managed to get! It's not a major burn but it is still something! A 125 lbs woman can burn about 180 calories in an hour. And thats only at a leisurely pace. All in all, I did feel a change in my legs and I do feel like my posture is better, like the advertisements say, however this isn't some miracle product. Buying these Shape Ups and walking for twenty minutes at the leisurely pace once a week isn't going to do much. Instead, opt for a walk in the Shape Ups when you want to take a day off from working out. If you did a really tough workout one day, take a walk around the block to put in a relaxing fifteen minutes, without a guilty conscience of thinking that you completely skipped a workout. At least you burned off that 180 calorie afternoon snack!

Tip #6: Be Social and Burn Calories!

I find that its a lot easier to do something with a little support. Take dieting, for example. It's hard to eat one piece of dark chocolate when the other people you are with are diving into a slice of chocolate cake with chocolate fudge filling and whipped chocolate frosting. What helps me to eat only the piece of chocolate and not the cake is surrounding myself with health conscious people. I inform my friends that I am trying to get healthy and the people who are health conscious only try and help. They say that they won't order anything that I can't eat and they will pass on dessert so I won't get tempted and they'll stop eating whenever I do. They commend me only my weight loss efforts, some even saying that I'm their role model and they are trying to do the same thing. Its easier to diet when someone is backing you up one hundred percent.

Exercise is the same thing. It's hard to push yourself into running the extra mile when you are the only one running. It's a little different when a track star is running next to you. You want to push yourself harder. You want to prove that you can be just as good as they are. It's just human nature. I join my friend for her dance workouts, even though she has been dancing since she was 3. She's crazy when it comes to practicing her routines, but I know she got her body from doing these workouts. I can do the same. I also play tennis with another friend who plays on a tennis team. I took lessons when I was 10 and that's it but it is fun and challenging to play with her. Tennis and dance both torch tons of calories but I don't even notice because I want to prove to myself that I can be just as good as they are.

When my friend who dances and I get together, we often end up playing Wii Fit or the Michael Jackson Experience or Just Dance, all three of which are challenging and major calorie burners. Neither of us notice because we are so busy going, "Oh come one! Best two out of three!" or "You got the star points! I did the actually moves! Rematch!" We plan on doing it for half an hour and end up playing for over an hour! You can play with up to four people so gather up groups of friends and just have fun!