Being healthy is something I work on constantly, specifically in regard to nutrition and exercise. I devour information on both topics and keep numerous resources on hand so I can make good decisions a little more easily. One of these resources is a book called "Eat this, Not that" from Men's Health magazine. I think I have mentioned this before, but it is a small book that gives information and makes suggestions on the best food to eat at fast food and other restaraunts. I don't eat fast food very often but when I do I consult this book to make the healthiest choices. Some of the suggestions seem obvious but others are not so obvious. For example at Quiznos one of the best sandwhiches to order is the honey bourbon chicken sandwhich, which I wouldnt have thought of initially but is actually really good and spicy. I highly reccomend this book and I also have a copy if you would like to borrow it sometime.
Men's Health also has a list of best supermarket foods. They have 125 categories on this list and include foods like ice cream, hot dogs (real beef hot dogs too!), salad dressings, chips, beer, cookies, crackers, frozen meals, pizza, chocolate etc. Basically my philosophy is to never completely cut out any food item that you really enjoy, but make informed decisions and if there is a similar substitute go with that and occasionally have the full fat version. There have been many times I have stood in front of the frozen food section craving pizza and scutinizing the nutrituional labels to try to find the healthiest choice, but this list saves me that time and energy. I find it very useful and if you at all have a desire to eat healtheir, this takes the guess work out.
I also have many resources in regard to exercises and weight training. If you are a woman I do not reccomend reading Shape or any one of thise girly mags for exercise advice. They are full of inefective exercises and unrealistic plans that promote great results that you probably wont see. I highly reccomend Hers Body Building magazine for that type of advice or the original Body Building magazine for both men and women (just ignore all of those print ads for supplements featuring steriod using scary muscle people). I get bored really easily when it comes to my workouts so it is something that I constantly change up. It is also good for your body because it will help you avoid over use injuries and even small changes in your routine can cause you to work muscles differently and keeps it challenging. Because of that I have a really thick binder of exercises and training ideas that I refer to so I can change up my routine frequently.
Recently I have had multiple people inquire about my routine at the gym which makes me super duper happy because I work really hard and to have other people notice it just makes me feel like I must be doing a decent job and making some gains. I have a passion for weight training and fitness and it makes me happy to share that with other people because it is become such a big part of my life. So if anyone ever wants to look at my bible of weight training exercises broken down by muscle groups that I keep I would be more than happy to let you borrow it.
I know that most people who read my blog don't care about this stuff so you have already probably stopped reading and thats ok. I don't mean to sound preachy and I hope I dont come across as a know-it-all because I absolutely do not know it all. I am constantly trying to expand my knowledge on the subject and learn more and I have a deficit for the science of it all. But I do have a love for learning about it and talking about it and I will continue to do so because it makes me happy and ultimately life is about finding your passion.
And with that I will stop boring you:)
"I know that most people who read my blog don't care about this stuff so you have already probably stopped reading and thats ok"
ReplyDeletesee, i was moving right through, wanting to leave a comment based on something in the first paragraph and reading it all just to make sure i didn't miss something, and there it was. quite the funny gem.
my initial comment had to do with skimming that book @ target on new year's eve.
Was that a favorable skimming of the book?
ReplyDeleteyeah, i thought it was a cool idea. i did think it could be problematic with changes in menus, new restaurants, or even just local stuff. but i did think it could be helpful for people to see options.
ReplyDeleteand, i did like how they broke it into all sorts of sections (food, drink, fast food, supermarket, etc). i also always love to see what "healthy" seeming foods are actually quite bad for you.
but, i doubt i'd carry it around with me and have it when i'd actually need it.
Yeah I hear ya about having it around, I try to leave it in my truck but I can easily forget it since I dont always know when I will be going out to eat. They update that on their website I think in terms of menu changing, but again it isn't always practical.
ReplyDeleteI'm very interested. Maybe not so much on the weight training right now but more so on being skinny. I checked out the 125 best supper market foods and wrote some things down. My only gripe is that alot of the foods had a very high fat content. Since a little before New Years my goal has been to keep my meals under 15 gr of fat and my total calorie count under 1500. Let's just say I'm doing better on the fat intake than the calorie consumption.
ReplyDeleteWell weight training will actualy help you slim down and lose fat a lot sooner than just eating well or just doing cardio will (both diet and exercise in combination is the best method). I am a huge proponant of weight training with real weight, not barbie weights, it has been the most effective way to lose and maintain weight loss. Plus being strong just makes you feel good.
ReplyDeleteIf you ever need any guidance as far as weight training goes I would have no problem putting a plan together for you and/or showing you some stuff. That can be really intimidating to go into a gym and do for the first time.
And the amount of calories you are consuming sounds good, but fat can also be good for you so and proccessed foods in generally where you get those bad fats.
Are you doing weight watchers or basing it off that? Weight watchers is one of the best "diets" you can be on although the word diet in general should be banned because any weight loss goals can only be met in the long term if you can be consistent so adopting a diet plan that you feel you can stick with the rest of your life is the best one to have.
Sounds good. I know I need to exercise as well. I'm trying not to overwhelm myself with changes but incorporate them slowly. My plan is to start going to the gym on saturdays to ease myself into the process.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of my diet guide. It's acutually the Alli pill. I started taking it in December. Basically it helps me to make sure I stick to the guideline because if I don't I might get "treatment effects". I don't have very good will power so this helps give me an incentive not to cheat.