The Bean Part 2

Saturday, December 12, 2009

I have been using the Bean for 10 days now and I am noticing a difference in the way my arms look. I am starting to get some definition in my shoulders. Cool Beans. Oooops, no pun intended. I have a tender back since I was very young and the shoulder pain just kind of goes along with the back pain. Since I started using the Bean and doing their total body workout, my shoulders are not nearly as painful as they usually are. This is good news. I have been living with the sore shoulders and back for decades. Nothing that needs surgery but painful nonetheless. The Total Body Workout on the dvd that came with the Bean is the one I have been doing. It works every muscle in your body and I am starting to feel better everyday. Before I got the Bean I was working out but sometimes would go 2 or 3 days without working out and that's not good. A sure way to put the weight back on. Since I got the Bean I have worked out almost everyday. I think I missed one day. I also really love doing the workout to the dvd. It makes me want to stick with it and its like having someone work out with you. The crunches are brutal but I am able to do more everyday than I did the day before. The have an exercise where you keep part of your body on the Bean and do push-ups. I really like this exercise because I feel like I am getting something done and the push-ups are easier to do than the conventional ones on the floor.

Exercise the Right Way

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Some time ago I read an article that said that you don't have to exercise everyday to get results. That got me to thinking about this statement. I thought well if I can get results only exercising 3 or 4 days a week imagine what my results would be if I exercised everyday. So I had a daily routine that I followed everyday in the same order. I soon noticed that I was not getting results and I was very confused as to why. This is what I learned. When you do the same exercises day in and day out your muscles become used to this exercise and it's a normal use of the muscle. The muscle becomes used to this exercise and pretty soon you get no results. The muscles need to be stimulated in a different way. It's kind of like if you eat the same food everyday you become bored with that particular food. Same goes for your muscles. If you exercise the same muscles in the same way every day the muscles become bored. The workout of you muscles is what is expected. So I found in an article about muscle confusion. If you want to work out everyday make it a different routine a few times a week. Exercise a particular muscle with different workouts to use the muscle in a different way. Using a different exercise. So now I do different routines on a weekly basis. This seems to have worked as I am back to getting results. So try this and see if it helps you as well. One more thing I learned. I used to burn more calories than I was eating and couldn't lose a pound. So make sure that you eat enough calories to be able to burn calories and lose weight. And if you really really want that candy bar just burn it off after you eat it with exercise.

Take a Walk Today

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Take a walk today and improve your health all at the same time. We all put on many miles in a normal day. If you add a little extra walking to your day you can lose a bit of weight and make your self healthier at the same time. Walking for pleasure and in no great hurry, you can burn 238 calories in an hour for a person who weighs 150 pounds. The more you weigh the more you burn. This is the method I used when I first started my diet and exercise plan. It's easy and very inexpensive and very good for you. If you are going to use walking as part of an exercise plan, I would suggest a good pair of walking shoes. We all need shoes so next time get a slightly better pair so you don't get sore feet. I started to walk about 1 mile a day and it was brutal. I didn't rush but was determined to walk the mile. My lower legs were burning. As I progressed my legs started to feel better and better. As this happened I would go a bit farther each day. Today I can go 6 miles without any problems. There is some equipment that over the past year I have added, to make my walk more enjoyable and safe. I have a couple of friends who walk with me occasionally but most days I walk alone. So to help me feel safe I now carry a walking stick. I got this stick for 11 dollars and I feel more protected when I carry it. I only walk in town, not in the woods or anywhere I feel unsafe. Mostly I carry the walking stick because there are a few dogs in town that are running lose and I don't want them to bite me. Thankfully that hasn't happened but you never know. I also just recently purchased an mp3 player and listen to music as I walk and this makes the walk more enjoyable and seems to make the walk not seem so far. I don't always walk the same distance or route so I also have a pedometer because I like to know how far I have walked and how many calories I burn. All of this equipment was very cheap and I don't leave home without them. Take a walk today you might be surprised how good it makes you feel.

Resistance Bands

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Resistance Bands are a wonderful addition to your home exercise equipment. They are very cheap these days and are easy to store taking up very little space. Some of the top brands have resistance bands that are very costly, im my opinion you are paying for the name. But you can find them in some stores for affordable prices. I would suggest buying the cheap ones to make sure this is the type of strength training that you are interested in. The first resistance band I purchased cost an amazing 2 dollars in a reduced area within a retail store. I got lucky, and that resistance band is still going strong today. I needed more resistance so I recently bought a resistance band that has 3 removable bands with varying degrees of resistance. You can start with one band and as you get stronger you can add one or more bands for a tougher workout. Most resistance bands come with different exercises that you can do working on different parts of the body. So if you don't want to spend a ton of money on a set of weights, resistance bands are the way to go, they are much cheaper and very easy to store, taking up little or no space.

The Bean

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

I recently got a new piece of exercise equipment called The Bean. This inflated device is similar to an exercise ball just a different shape. It is an amazing piece of equipment in that it supports your back when doing certain exercises like a crunch. The Bean is shaped like a bean and is rounded on the bottom for a rocking motion. This makes the crunch just a bit easier to do, which in my opinion is a good thing. The University of San Diego did a study on the best crunches and determined that the 3rd best crunch is done on an exercise ball. Doing a crunch on an exercise ball or The Bean is great because it doesn't hurt your tail bone. The Bean also comes with a dvd with 6 different workouts and doing the exercises with a video is great. You don't have to think much just do what is shown on the dvd. One of the exercise workouts is a back strengthening and Relief workout and the program guides you step by step through a series of stretches and exercises that will improve your back and make it stronger. The stretching exercises are wonderful. The other exercise workouts target different parts of the body as well as a pilates workout. I really love this piece of exercise equipment, it has turned into my favorite piece. For more information on The Bean you may visit their website at www.bean.com.

The Holidays

Friday, November 20, 2009

I have been so darn busy writing on HubPages and InfoBarrel but thought I better get back over here and do a bit of writing here as well. So how do you stay on a diet when the holidays are coming and all the good food and cookies are everywhere. Well I think that if you do extra exercises before and after you eat you should probably be ok. Sometimes you just have to go off the diet for your sanity. I know I do. Just today as a matter of fact we had a huge book sale in our town. We have a book warehouse business in town and once or twice a week they hold a sale to get rid of books they can't seem to sell. I got 4 different dvd's on exercise which I love cos I can just put them in and do my work out without much thought. What a great thing, exercise video's. One of the videos came with a small exercise ball so I will have to give that a try. Sounds like fun.

Bad Cold

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

So I have not exercised at all this past week as I have a very bad cold. It started with my oldest son and progressed on down through the whole family. I am finally starting to feel better, don't have all my taste buds back yet ( I hate that ), but am feeling better. Hubby is not feeling well, he was the last to get the cold so he is still in the worst part of it. Think today I will lift some weights but I am not going walking. It was in the 30's this morning with a very hard frost. Not to bad this afternoon but I just don't have the energy to walk today. Maybe in a few days when I get my energy back. Feeling sleepy now so thought I would post just to kind of wake myself up. Maybe I will go look and download some public domain pictures. That's a lot of fun, I am getting some really good pics online. Okay guess I will go lift a few weights not much though just so i don't feel so guilty about my lack of exercise this past week.

How to maintain that wonderful weight loss

Friday, October 23, 2009

I started my diet in August of 2008 and finally got to 119 pounds this past summer. Now I have to maintain the loss. I swore to myself that I would never be overweight again and I strive everyday to stick to that promise. As I said before and anyone who has ever tried to lose weight, its a hard promise to stick to. I still do my diet shakes a few times a week but mostly I just try to watch what I eat. I also try to drink some soy milk at least once a day because I have been hearing lots of good things about soy. Its a complete protein, and is the only vegetable that is. Amazing. Its like eating a piece of meat only without all the fat. I tried tofu once, I put chunks of it into my spaghetti sauce and it broke up into tiny little pieces that I really didn't even notice a taste. My son said he could taste it but hubby and other son said they couldn't. I have a soy cookbook that has some recipes for tofu and I am going to be trying some of them soon. I'll let you know how it goes.

The ( Dreaded Exercise ) Part

Tuesday, October 20, 2009


My walking is wonderful. I remember when I first started to walk, I would get about 2 blocks from home and my calf's would be just burning. This would go on for at least half a mile. Now pretty much I don't have a problem with that at all. I'll tell you what I have a problem with is the cardio and strength exercises. Talk about burn, (although that's the point), now we start to burn. I do about 20 minutes of cardio just about everyday. I do have my days where I just don't do much of anything. These are just exercises to get the heart pumping. You can find cardio and strength exercises on google, it will give you a million hits. One of my favorites sites is Self.com. They have tons of exercises. I just pick 10 or so exercises that I like and do my cardio. As most women of age such as myself, we start to get wings on our upper arms. Man I hate those. So for a couple of months now I have been doing exercises for that particular area. I think my son called them triceps. Me thinks this is going to take a very very long time to get rid of if ever. I should be so lucky. I am using Self.com exercises for the triceps, called something like Sculpting The Arms, and a couple my son showed me. I try to do all these exercises everyday but stuff happens and I don't get to them all everyday. My sister calls me obsessed, and maybe I am, but I have never felt better. All of this stuff I do is a personal choice, you must really want it, because it takes lots of work and dedication. I love it though. And now its time for my walk, you all have a good one.

More of my journey

Monday, October 19, 2009

So what did I decide to do about the whole weight loss situation, well I started to look at many different plans and such to see what would work for me. After looking and thinking for about a month I settled on a plan. I talked with an Herbalife distributor and decided to try their plan for 1 month. Now dieting is not an easy thing as we all know, but I do believe that dieting is a personal choice and if its not your choice it won't work no matter what anyone else says. You must do it for you and not anyone else. Having never really dieted before I wasn't sure anything would work for me and certainly wasn't sure my convictions were strong enough. Really the only thing I had going for myself was the fact that I was scared that I was so close to the age my parents were when they passed away. A strong enough reason for me to at the very least TRY. So that's what I did. I bought Herbalife shake and a few of their nutritional supplements. I didn't exercise or anything, I just followed the plan to the letter, never cheating once in the month I gave myself to make this work. And it wasn't easy let me tell you. My hubby and kids love their donuts and so do I but not once during that month trial period I had set for myself did I cheat with donuts or anything else that wasn't good for me. Imagine my surprise when I stepped on the scale and had lost 8 pounds the first month. I almost cried. So I decided to give it another month. Again I lost weight. That second month is when I decided to start exercising. So I started to walk. A fairly brisk walk, going about a mile each and every day. Soon I was walking twice a day for a mile each time. And actually enjoying it. I don't like to run so walking was perfect for me. The pounds started to melt off me. Soon I had to hold up my size 14's and moved into my size 12's that thankfully I hadn't thrown away. People were starting to notice. What an incredible feeling when someone would say to me wow Diane what are you doing, are you losing weight? You look great. There were times people I knew would stop their cars and yell out to me how good I looked while I was out there walking. This was huge incentive to keep going on my diet. I am not a vain person, and not the most feminine woman on the planet, I wear once piece of jewelery my wedding band, I don't wear make-up, and I mostly wear jeans and t-shirts. I do love my perfume though. But I was starting to look good. As I saw the weight coming off I next stepped up my exercise routine. I started to add more miles to my walking, sometimes walking 3 miles at a time, twice a day. I purchased a pedometer to see how far I was walking and how many calories I was burning. I got a walking stick and some pepper spray just to protect myself, we have a few dogs in the area whom give me the willies. Thankfully I haven't had to use those 2 items on anyone. But they make me feel safe. And sometimes it gets boring out there walking so I got an mp3 player and jam while I walk. Today I can easily walk 6 miles in one trip. I also have a friend who walks with me twice a week and that makes the walk even more enjoyable. Tomorrow I will tell you all about the rest of the exercise I am currently doing. Have a good one.

My Diet Journey

Sunday, October 18, 2009

In my old age I have become a health fanatic. Let me tell you why this came about. Last year when I turned 50 I realized that I was a mere 15 years give or take from the age both my parents passed away. Wow did that scare me. It was then I decided to do something healthy to help me go well beyond the age my parents were when they died. I am 4 foot 10 inches and was about 30 pounds overweight. I weighed 151 pounds, way to much for my height. I have never dieted always being a small woman until I had kids. Then I just couldn't seem to get the baby weight off. But I really didn't care, I had a very happy marriage ( and still do by the way ), so what did I care. I would eat when and what I wanted. Before long I started to get fatter and fatter still not really caring. My hubby loved me and all was right with the world. Soon I was in size 14 jeans and they were tight. I am an older parent, currently I am 51 and my sons are 18 and 17. I was always tired and never wanted to do things with my kids because frankly I couldn't keep up. We as a family would go camping, fishing, and hiking every summer for vacation. Many many times while out hiking I would have to stop and rest while my hubby and kids were anxious to continue. So they would go on ahead while I panted and rested on the trail. It got to the point where I would stay at camp because the hike was to much for me and my menfolk would go without me. It was a sad situation. Then the big day, my 50th birthday. It was then I decided to get healthy and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my 50 years on Terra Firma. More on my story soon.