How to Build and Stick to Your Exercise Routine

Most of us need to exercise more. Being active isn’t just important when you’re trying to lose weight – exercising regularly also means you’ll have a decreased risk of heart disease, diabetes, strokes and even some cancers.

Perhaps you’ve tried getting into exercise in the past, but you always find yourself slipping back into your old habits. You might manage to get to the gym three times a week at first, but soon, you’re back to going a couple of times a month at best.

But you’re not lazy and you don’t lack willpower. All you need is an exercise routine that will actually work.

Here’s how:

Your Routine Needs to Suit You
Even if you played a lot of sport in college, you might struggle to exercise today. That’s because your lifestyle’s changed: you may have kids, a busy job, even a health condition that makes it tough to do certain types of exercise.

Your routine needs to work for you. Don’t feel that you have to stick to some “perfect” exercise plan from a magazine; instead, find ways to incorporate exercise into your life with as little disruption to your day as possible. That might mean working out in your lunch break, or walking/cycling to your workplace, instead of trying to get to the gym at 6pm.

Don't Shoot for the Moon
When you’re fired up for a new goal, it’s tempting to go all-out in pursuit of it. When it comes to exercise, though, you need to start small and gradually build up. If you try to run for an hour every day having never run before, you’re (a) going to get discouraged when you only manage five minutes and (b) likely to injure yourself.

Any exercise is better than none. Try starting with just 5 - 10 minutes of cardio activity, and add a little more every week. For moderate-intensity activity (the kind that burns fat and keeps you healthy), a good rule of is that you should be working hard enough that you can’t sing the words to a song, but you can hold a conversation.

Have a Minimum Target and Ideal Target
However motivated you are, there’ll be days when nothing seems to go right. Perhaps you’ve got a cold, or you’re really busy at work, or you forgot your exercise kit when you hurried out of the house in the morning.

This is when a minimum target comes in handy. Perhaps you’d ideally like to do a total of 40 minutes cardio, plus some weight training: but you’ll settle for a minimum of 20 minutes cardio.

You can still check off your exercise for the day, meaning you won’t end up thinking “I’ve failed, so I might as well just give up now.”

Track Your Workouts
Keep a record of your exercise. That could mean writing down brief details of what you did during each session, and how you felt afterwards, or it might simply mean putting a check (or a gold star if you want!) on your calendar.

Keeping track helps you stay motivated: if you can see an unbroken string of days when you managed to exercise, you’ll be loath to break the pattern. You may also spot patterns emerging: perhaps you find it tough to exercise at the weekends, for instance.

Switch it Around
Don’t get stuck in a rut with your exercise. If you always use the same cardio machine at the gym and always lift the same weights, you’ll find yourself getting bored. You may also run into problems if your favorite machine isn’t available, or if you can’t get to the gym at all.

Try out new types of exercise every few weeks. That might mean going for a jog, cycling, swimming, dancing ... anything new. As well as stopping you from getting bored, and helping to make your routine flexible, this also ensures that you keep getting fitter (if you do just one type of exercise, your body will eventually adapt to it, and you won’t see such good results).

Are you trying to get into a regular exercise routine?

Pen and Paper Trick to Lose weight

I'm sure you've seen plenty of weight-loss ads. They pop up in newspapers, on television, and all over the internet. Typically, they'll promise amazingly fast weight loss for very little work.

Feeling skeptical? You're right to be – companies get up to all sorts of tricks (like fake before and after pictures, exaggerated results and falsified testimonials) just to get you to part with your money. Some products are staggeringly expensive – and potentially harmful to your health.

But the good news is ... you really can lose weight fast, with just a few minutes extra effort each day. It doesn't cost you anything, either.

Here's how.

1. Write Down Everything You Eat
   Studies have shown that you can lose twice as much weight just by keeping a record of what you eat – a food diary. That means writing down everything, including the quantity (not "chips" but "30g chips" or "multipack bag of chips", for instance).
   
   You can create a simple chart in Word or Excel that you can fill in each day, or use online programs to track your food intake. There are dozens of apps for iPhones or other devices that will do just this.
   
   It doesn't sound like such a little thing could make such a big difference – after all, it only takes a few minutes each day to write down what you're eating. But people typically lose weight just from recording their food intake ... without even being "on a diet".
   
   Why does it work? Because you become instantly more conscious of what you're consuming. Instead of dipping into the cookie jar as you walk past, you ask yourself "do I really want that?" Instead of succumbing to that impulse purchase of a candy bar, you think "do I want to record that?"
   
   A food diary alone will speed your weight loss, helping you lose a safe and sustainable 1-2lbs per week. But the humble pen and paper can be used in other ways, too...


2. Record Your Exercise Sessions
   How often have you skipped exercising, telling yourself that you'll work out tomorrow? It's easy to let one missed gym session turn into a week and then a month of inactivity.
   
   To keep yourself motivated and on track, record the exercise that you do (you could write it alongside your food diary, or jot down details in your calendar). Again, this might not sound like much of a change to your usual habits – but seeing your activity in black-and-white will encourage you to do more.
   
   Your exercise log can be as simple as a tick for each day that you exercise. Ideally, though, you'll want to record a few details – like how far you jogged and for how long, or what weights you lifted. This lets you look back over past weeks to see the evidence that you're progressing.


3. Keep a Journal
   Some people end up overweight just because they have poor eating habits, or love large portions. But for many dieters, food has become tangled up with emotions – they comfort-eat, or snack when bored, or turn to chocolate to combat stress.
   
   Keeping a journal lets you spot patterns. For instance, you might realize that your snacking tends to happen after dinner, because you're bored and don't have much to do. Some dieters like to write down how they were feeling in their food diary, every time they record eating – hungry? Bored? Upset?
   
   You can also use a journal to work through difficult feelings. Perhaps you're stressed at work, or sleeping badly, or struggling with a particular relationship. Getting your thoughts out on paper is a really effective way to tackle them – the writing process helps you to work through your emotions, and get some objectivity about them.

Grab a blank notebook, or set up a document on your computer or online. Try keeping a food diary, exercise log and journal for just one week – and see what a difference it makes.

Bruce Lee had one of the most iconic bodies in the film industry. Even the big-shots of bodybuilding like Joe Weider and Arnold Schwarzenegger have nothing but praise for him. Here’s what Arnold Schwarzenegger has to say about Bruce:

There's a lot of people that do all those moves and they do have the skill, but they don't look visually as believable or as impressive as Bruce Lee did. He was one of a kind. - Arnold Schwarzenegger

Even though Bruce looks small compared to most of today’s A-list celebrities, I bet most people would much rather look like Bruce instead of looking like a muscle-bound freak. But, to build muscle one must work hard and smart. Most beginners waste precious time on stuff that just doesn’t work. As a result, they end up looking the same year in, year out.

By following the tips below you’ll be able to instantly bypass beginner mistakes, pack on more muscles and just feel good in your own skin.

Sound good?

Get ready to find out what it takes to get the body of a legendary movie star.

1. Start Lifting Weights
   Join a gym and start to lift weights. If you want to look like Bruce Lee then you need to have access to a barbell, a squat rack and a lot of weight plates. Body weight exercises just won’t cut it.
   
   You can also train at home, as long as you’re ready to spend some money on a good power rack, a well built bench and a 300 lbs barbell set. You can get all three items for less than $1000 on Amazon. Obviously, if your budget won't take this expense, focus on the remaining tips in this post.


2. The 80/20 Rule
   The 80/20 rule says that 80% of your results come from 20% of your work. The same rule holds true if you lift weights. 80% of your muscle and strength gains, come from just 3 lifts.
   
   Which ones I hear you say?
   
   Enter the The Big Trio:
   
   • Deadlift
   • Squat
   • Bench press
   Unlike most lifts, The Big Trio works your whole body. The more muscles a lift works, the bigger the spike of muscle building hormones.


3. Do Less, Be Intense
   At the hearth of each of your workouts should be just a few lifts, on which you give 100%. The more you stress your body, the bigger the spike of muscle building hormones while you sleep. It’s that simple.
   
   You need to let your body know that you want more brawn. The best way to do that is to train with intensity.


4. Focus on Getting Stronger
   Size follows strength. You’ll never look like Bruce Lee if you keep on lifting the same small weights each workout. Focus on The Big Trio (2nd tip) and go hard while you’re at it. Strive to add a rep or extra weight to the bar each workout.


5. Log Your Workouts
   If you want to lift more each workout, you need to keep track of how much weight you’re lifting. Your memory does a poor job at this task, that’s why you need to log all of your lifts in a small notebook. Write down how much you lifted as soon as you’re done with an exercise.
   
   If you have a smartphone, you can use a web app like Fitocracy to log your workouts.


6. Make Your First Set the Heaviest
   If any set counts it’s the first one. The logic here is that in the first sets of your lifts, your muscle fuel stores are filled up to the max. That’s why your muscles will be able to exert the greatest amount of force.
   
   With this in mind try to do your main lifts at the start of your workout and make sure you give 100% while you’re at it.


7. Learn Proper Lifting Technique
   Lift with good form and you shall reap the rewards. To be able to train long term with no injuries is a blessing many fail to grasp. Guys just can’t wait to be all jacked so they end up doing stupid stuff that gets them hurt. Most of the time good form is sacrificed in order to be able to add a few extra pounds to the bar.
   
   Spend those extra 2 to 3 weeks at the start, and work on your lifting form. Once you move on to big weights you’ll be glad you did that.


8. Warm-Up Before Exercising
   This is the first step of your two-part warm up drill. At the start of each workout, you must spend a few minutes to get your hearth rate up. A light cycle session of 5 to 8 minutes, done in a brisk way will do the trick. When you do this you raise your body’s temperature, your joints get lubricated and as whole, your body gets ready to bear the load of your workout.


9. Stretch Before Exercising
   This is the next part of your warm-up drill. You should do it right after your cycle session. When I say stretching I don’t mean hold the muscle stretched for minutes on end. More and more scientific studies tell us that that’s bad if your goal is to lift more weights.
   
   Do dynamic stretches. They are a great way to transition from rest to high-intensity exercise since they work your muscles through a full range of motion and make your nerves fire with more power. There are many dynamic stretches I could list, but if I had to pick just 3 that give you most bang for your buck, these would be the ones:
   
   • High Knee Walk to Spiderman with Hip Lift and Overhead Reach (sounds hard to do but it’s not)
   • Squat to Stand With Reach
   • Kneeling Superman
10. Use Lifting Aids
    Use lifting aids to make sure that your back muscles get worked up to the max. Most of the time, people aren’t able to train their backs as they should because their grip is too weak. This is a big issue for most pulling exercises - rows, pull-ups, pull-downs, etc.
    
    Lifting aids like lifting straps or liquid chalk will boost your grip strength so your back muscles can get a better workout. For me liquid chalk proved to be the best tool for building more muscles. It’s cheap, mess-free and it lets you lift more weight instantly (all lifts).


11. Limit Aerobic Activities
    Running and weight lifting don’t go hand in hand, at least not for most people. When you lift weights your body wants to add muscle. Running tells your body to drop weight - this also includes muscle. Just look at the marathon runners and you’ll see what I mean.
    
    While it’s OK to run, try to keep it at a minimum.


12. Get Plenty of Rest
    You grow while you’re at rest. There’s a big spike of muscle building hormones that takes place in the first hours of your sleep. That’s why it’s vital that you get at least 7 to 8 hours of good sleep each day.
    
    Space your workouts so there’s at least 48 hours of rest in between them. Try to set up your routine so there’s at least 96 hours of rest between your squats and deadlifts. When you work out, 3 to 5 mins of rest time between your sets will be enough to fill up your energy stores.


13. Learn to Listen to Your Body
    When your body tries to say something, be all ears. People take the “no pain, no gain” motto at face value and that’s not good. You need to discern good pain from bad pain.
    
    A case of bad pain is when your knee starts to hurt while you do squats. Knee pain (bad) is not the same kind of pain as training to failure or muscle soreness (good).
    
    Learn to love good pain but avoid bad pain like it’s the plague. Be also alert on slight cues your body gives when it starts to be drained.Take a few days off of your training if your body needs it - don’t want to risk overtraining.


14. Take Measurements of Your Body
    You can’t manage what you don’t measure. You need to track the right things to be able to see if your moving down the right path.
    
    Things to track while trying to build muscles:
    
    • body weight
    • body girths
    • the look of your body (take pictures)
    I didn’t list body fat on purpose. It’s really hard to track body fat if you don’t own costly gadgets.


15. Fix Your Diet
    
    

    When you are a martial artist, you only eat what you require and don't get carried away with foods that don't benefit you as a martial artist.-Bruce Lee

    
    
    The same rule holds true if a rock-hard physique is what you’re after. Try to eat as many whole foods as you’re able to and cut back on junk foods like sugary snacks, soft drinks, fast foods, trans fats, etc.
    
    This may be hard to do at first, but as time moves on you’ll learn to love this new healthy way of living.


16. Eat More Protein
    Muscles are made out of proteins. Try to get 120-160 grams of protein per day for. Diets high in protein help you keep your hunger at bay - you won’t feel the need to binge on junk foods.
    
    Foods with high levels of protein are:
    
    • meats - beef, pork, poultry, fish, sea food, etc.
    • dairy - cottage cheese, mozzarella, Swiss cheese, etc.
    • legumes - beans and lentils
    • eggs
17. Use the Right Supplements
    Most supplements are a scam. With that said, there are a few supplements out there that are worth your hard earned cash. Best of all, they won’t cost you an arm and a leg.
    
    Here are the only 3 supplements you’ll need for more strength and more health:
    
    
    • Creatine - research-proven, creatine monhydrate helps you gain strength, size and cuts your recovery time … the best supplement you can buy, bar none.
    • Omega-3 - these are essential fatty acids our bodies can’t make on their own, but are a must for brain health, joint health, eye health and a lot more.
    • Vitamin D - used to boost your body’s immune system, helps keep your teeth, bones and joints healthy, etc.
18. Try Intermittent Fasting
    Intermittent fasting is not a diet fad, it’s a way of life. Once you try this diet, you’re hooked for life. More muscles, more strength and less fat - you can do it with Intermittent Fasting. With tons of case studies and scientific research to back up its true power, Intermittent Fasting is slowly rocking the fitness world to its core.
    
    Here are some more benefits of IF:
    
    • more growth hormone
    • lower insulin levels
    • freaking easy to stick to
    I’m sure even Bruce Lee would love this diet. In case you’d like to know more, Martin Berkhan from LeanGains covers the topic of intermittent fasting more in-depth.


19. Have a Strong Mind a.k.a. Stay Motivated
    At some point in your quest for brawn, you will get scared and feel like you’re not enough. This is ok and you should not let these mind tricks get the best of you. You need to have a strong mind all the time, if you want to fight off these bad thoughts. But that’s easier said than done.
    
    The way to do that is to use good results as fuel to keep your mind strong. If you keep track of your workouts and body stats, a quick glance at your notes will turbo-charge your mind strength to new heights.


20. Don’t Do Stupid Stuff
    Don’t do stupid things that can put your health at risk. To show you what I mean, here are some of the things you should never do:
    
    • bench pressing to failure without a spotter,
    • deadlifting/squatting with bad form,
    • doing stupid lifts like “squats on an exercise ball” (yes, people do that too!), etc.
    Use good sense and you shall grow strong and big, just like Bruce Lee.


21. Love the Process
    It’s not about the end goal, it’s all about the process. The skills that stem from your hard work in the gym (persistence, mental strength, ambition) will spill over to other areas of your life.
    
    Success breeds success. All of the sudden, the idea of starting your own business won’t seem so far fetched. But in the end, do keep in mind that your is journey is unique to you so …
    
    

    “Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own.” - Bruce Lee

Do you know of any other tips to help you build muscle, lose fat and just feel good in your own skin? Please share them in the comments section below, I’d love to hear them.

Written on 3/16/2012 by Dejan Antic. Get Dejan’s Free Muscle Building Course designed for people that are having a hard time growing more muscles. For more awesome fitness tips like these, check out No Brainer Muscle - Dejan answers every comment he gets. Photo Credit:Ian Muttoo

Seven Lessons to Reboot Your Life

• Lesson One: Focus
  With my cognitive issues, I could no longer multi-task the way I once could. Tasks that used to be more automatic now take more time and concentration as I retrained my brain to make those connections again.
  
  With my brain injury, my brain’s “filter” suffered some damage. I now get overwhelmed by too much stimuli coming at me at once and, like water hitting an electrical device, I can short-circuit. I had to learn how to focus my time and energies on one task at a time, which is really not a bad lesson for any of us to learn in this uber-connected day and age. My new mantra has become quality over quantity.
  
  Focus on your priorities. There is no such thing as work/life balance. But there is such a thing as prioritizing who and what needs your attention more at certain times. Things will ebb and flow and you can tackle every single one of your dreams and ambitions: you just don’t have to do them all at the same time.


• Lesson Two: Be Authentic
  You can be who you are but also evolve as times change. During all those months of recovery and dealing with those cognitive issues, I had to accept the fact that there was a New Me, a new sheriff in town. I had to work and play in a whole new way. Never let anyone define you by your deficits. Play to your strengths and promise them to the world instead.
  
  Don’t try to be something you’re not – in your life or in your work – or even cling to something you used to be. Evolve, adapt, flow. You don’t want to run into the disappointment both you and others will feel due to unmet expectations. Promise what you can deliver and deliver what you promise.


• Lesson Three: Count on your Tribe
  It’s crucial to build a tribe before you need it and lean on it when times get rough. I had to rely on my husband for a lot; our roles in our house changed from equal partners to a dynamic of caregiver and patient and it was really hard. As I regained my strength, site and health, I had to rely on him for the cooking, the cleaning, the driving … which, come to think of it, doesn’t actually sound that bad, does it?! Seriously, though, it was hard to learn how to be completely dependent on somebody – and do so graciously.
  
  I’ve always been an independent gal and getting used to asking for help on a continuous basis went against everything I am. But, you can’t live your life effectively or build a successful business alone. You’re not an island. Seek out friends, experts, and cheerleaders when you need them. It’s smarter, less painful and way more efficient. Make the right investments in your life and your business to accelerate your progress and take off.


• Lesson Four: Practice Patience
  Patience never used to be part of my vocabulary. I don’t think anyone would ever use that word to describe me! But patience smacked me in the face during my recovery and I had no choice but to listen. Even though I lay in a hospital bed after just fighting for my life – shaved head, no vision, poor memory and bony, weak body – I did not fully grasp the severity of what I’d been through. I was ready to jump back into my life again and I thought I was going to just pick up where I left off. But I needed time to recover and adjust to the changes.
  
  It’s not about being lazy or not doing anything at all. Patience is not about stagnation. Patience is about understanding the realistic steps it’s going to take for you to get somewhere and measuring your forward progress along the way. As long as you can measure the steps along the way and you’re moving in the right direction, then you can keep charting the course. And eventually you’ll get there.


• Lesson Five: Learn to Say NO!
  Many people, women especially, were never taught how to say no gracefully. Obviously, with my cognitive impairments, the fact that I had to manage my blood pressure and my frequent overwhelm at taking on too much, I had to make choices and turn down things I might otherwise have added to my plate.
  I learned this lesson in stark detail with my first project back to work. Even though all my therapists said ‘Make sure your first project is organized, predictable, there are rules and boundaries’, I decided to take on a client project that was completely unstructured, completely chaotic, with absolutely no rules. It was not the smartest thing to do and I probably should’ve said no.
  
  Going forward, I made a firm decision about the clients that I would accept and which ones were going to be time and energy sucks so that I could be the best consultant I could be for the clients I did have. This sort of goes back to the lesson on focus.
  
  It’s hard to say no to anyone in our lives who we love or to turn down amazing activities. It’s especially hard for business owners to say no to clients, partners and potential revenue. But here’s the thing: If you’re spending your entire time saying yes to the wrong things in your life and work, when will you have the time to say yes to the right things? You have to clear the decks and make space so that the precious time and energy you do have can go toward the things that matter.


• Lesson six: Face the Fear
  Oh boy, fear. I had so much fear given my new role as patient, given the trauma I went through, and given some of the personality and cognitive changes I experienced. I questioned who I was and what I was capable of doing. As I said, I’m normally a very independent gal and this new dependence on people was scary. I went through a period where I was very anxious and panicky when my husband wasn’t around, simply because I got used to him being there all the time. It was rough.
  
  We didn’t go out very often at first because I wanted to stay in my comfort zone. I was stuck in this scary place because, as an extrovert, I’d never been the person who was scared to go out and live my life.
  
  I realized that I couldn’t live that way. I couldn’t enjoy the life which I was given a second chance at enjoying if I simply hid out on the couch with my dog.
  
  So I forced myself to go out; I forced myself to continue going to book club every month. I forced myself to meet people for coffee. I forced myself to dip my toe back into the networking waters and I figured if I kept acting brave, eventually I’d start feeling brave again.
  Great things happen not because people aren’t scared, but because they push through the fear. You don’t want to let fear of the unknown stop you from being the person you want to be, trying new things or building the business you desire.
  
  If you can embrace the fact that you’re supposed to be scared because you’re blazing a trail and just accept the fear and get on with it, you’ll succeed way more often than you fail.


• Lesson seven: Find the Humor
  It’s trite but it’s true: laughter really is the best medicine. So much of the early days of my brain injury were tense and scary. Initially, my short-term memory was impacted by both the brain damage and the meds I was on. In ICU, I don’t remember the month of August 2008. But I hear events played back through my husband, family and friends. Given my brain injury, I kept mixing up reality with memories with dreams. I ranted about a lot of nonsensical things: conspiracy theories, imagined appointments and even manufactured hospital intrigue. All of this was normal for both ICU patients and brain injuries.
  
  So my loved ones engaged in dark humor and found amusement amidst the fear as they dealt with the severity of my condition. They made light of some of my more creative ramblings, like thinking the hospital was a front for the TV show Gossip Girl (more in the book on this one!). They joked about my new inexplicable cravings: I apparently demanded ice cream and cranberry juice at every meal. And my husband gave me his own battery of memory tests about current events. Each day, I would forget what they were and react with shock and excitement when he would tell me the news again….and again…and again. He found this amusing, but also masked a deeper worry that it might be permanent!
  
  All of these little moments were about finding the humor in a tough situation. Some may find this inappropriate or crass. But finding humor in adversity is vital. Humor helps keep your head clear so you can think and problem solve. If we get caught up in anger, frustration and worry, we’re not going to be productive. Finding the humor helps us take a breath, lower our blood pressure and move forward.

Written on 5/31/2012 by Maria Ross. Maria is a consultant, author and speaker and creator of Red Slice. She’s the author of Rebooting My Brain: How a Freak Aneurysm Reframed My Life. Photo Credit:gilliannb

5 Steps to Loving Exercise

We all know the benefits of regular physical activity – increased energy, better cardiovascular health, reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke and looking more svelte.

But 80 percent of Americans don’t make exercise a regular habit, and, according to a recent American Heart Association website survey, 14 percent say they don’t like exercise.

So how do you overcome an exercise aversion? Mercedes Carnethon, Ph.D., assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, has some tips to help you incorporate exercise into your life – and maybe even learn to like it.
 

1. Exercise That Suits YouFind an exercise that best fits your personality, Dr. Carnethon said. If you are social person, do something that engages you socially – take a group exercise class, join a kickball team or walk with a group of friends. Or, if you prefer having time alone, walking or jogging solo might be a better fit for you.
   
    
2. Make it a Habit
   It takes about three weeks for something to become a habit, so give yourself the time to create a regular routine. One way is to try to exercise around the same time each day.
   “Exercise can become addictive in a positive way,” said Dr. Carnethon, who is also an American Heart Association volunteer. “Once it becomes a habit, you’ll notice when you aren’t doing something.”
    
3. Build Exercise Into Your LifestyleBe honest with yourself. If you don’t live close to a gym, it’s not going to become a habit for you. Likewise, if you are not a morning person, don’t plan on somehow getting up at the crack of dawn to make a boot camp class.
   
   “The key is building activity into your lifestyle so it is not disruptive,” Dr. Carnethon said.
   
   There are many ways to fit exercise into your life, and it doesn’t mean you have to make a big financial investment.
   
   You can borrow exercise videos from the library or DVR an exercise program. Do weight or resistance training with items around your home (for example, use canned goods as light weights).  Walking is great option, as well. The only investment is a good pair of shoes.
    
4. Do Bouts of Exercise It’s OK to break up your physical activity into smaller segments, Dr. Carnethon said. The American Heart Association recommends 30 minutes a day of exercise most days, but if that sounds overwhelming, try three 10-minute workout sessions.
   
   You could do a quick calisthenics routine when you wake up, take a brief walk after lunch at work and, if you commute with public transportation, get off a stop earlier and walk the rest of the way.
    
5. Keep GoingIf you miss a day or a workout, don’t worry about it. Everybody struggles once in a while. Just make sure you get back at it the next day.
   
   “It doesn’t take too long to get back on track,” Dr. Carnethon said. “It’s easy to make something a habit again. You will see same benefits before. Any little bit you can fit in will show benefits.”

Diet foods, Used Wisely, Can Help in Weight Control

Packaged foods and drinks labeled “diet” and “low calorie” may seem appealing if you’re trying to lose weight.

They’re easy to find, too. Sodas, crackers, frozen entrees and even sweets are on the long list of foods that come in diet varieties.

These items may help you kick-start a healthy eating regimen or learn more about portion control as you try to avoid extra weight. Between 60 and 70 percent of Americans are overweight , which are risk factors for heart disease. But there are some important warnings to keep in mind with diet foods.

First, be careful not to use low-calorie food to justify eating more later in the day, said Rachel K. Johnson, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D., who chairs the American Heart Association’s Nutrition Committee.

“As long as people don’t compensate for those calories it can be an effective tool,” Johnson said.  She warned against thinking: “Oh, I had a diet beverage … so, therefore, I can have the cookies.”

Read Labels, Control Portions

If you eat packaged “diet” foods, it helps to become a savvy nutrition label reader. Be sure to note the serving size because sometimes the foods don’t really contain fewer calories, said Johnson, the Bickford Professor of Nutrition and a Professor of Medicine at the University of Vermont.

Some of these foods don’t provide much nutritional value, either. For example, snack items in 100-calorie packs might just be empty calories in smaller quantities, she said.

Controlling the portion size of the foods you consume is crucial in healthy eating and weight management, Johnson said.

“If you’re craving chocolate once in a while, have a small piece (preferably  dark chocolate, rich in flavonoids), enjoy it and then move on from your craving,” she said.

Frozen low-calorie entrees can help you become familiar with what an appropriate portion size should look like, so eating those meals occasionally can be useful, Dr. Johnson said.

However, check to make sure the food isn’t loaded with too much sodium, which raises the risk of high blood pressure, a risk factor for  heart disease and stroke. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium a day.

One of the most important weight management tips is “to think about your drink” and move away from beverages full of added sugars, Johnson said.

Diet beverages can be useful in helping you make the transition from sugar-sweetened beverages to healthy beverages like water and skim or 1 percent milk.

Scientific Findings

The American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association issued a scientific statement in July about the use of nonnutritive sweeteners such as food additives aspartame, acesulfame-K, neotame, saccharin and sucralose and plant-derived stevia.

Nonnutritive sweeteners, when used judiciously, can help reduce the intake of added sugars in food and drinks and therefore assist in weight control. A high intake of added sugars can contribute to other health problems.

The potential benefits of nonnutritive sweeteners will be offset if using them leads to ingesting more calories from other foods, the scientific statement warned. The statement also said evidence is inconclusive about whether use of nonnutritive sweeteners is effective over the long run for reducing consumption of calories and added sugars. 

AHA Recommendation The American Heart Association recommends that most women eat no more than 100 calories per day and that men eat no more than 150 calories per day of added sugars. The association recommends an overall diet based on whole foods with plenty of fruits and vegetables, high fiber, whole grains, fat free and low-fat dairy  and lean proteins such as fish to maintain a healthy body weight.  Fats such as saturated and trans as well as cholesterol should be limited

No time for exercise? Try our Top 10 Tips to get more.

No time to exercise? Learn how to take 10!
You found your keys. You found the motivation to clean out your closet. Now you’ve got to find 30 minutes in your day to get physically active — and there are plenty of easy, no-cost ways to do it.

Think you don’t have time? You don’t have to do all 30 minutes at once.

You’ll get the same benefits if you divide your time into two or three 10- to 15-minute segments a day.

“Building physical activity back into our daily lives is one of the great public health challenges of this century,” said Russell Pate, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Exercise at the University of South Carolina. “Our bodies were designed to be physically active, and they don’t do well with long-term exposure to sedentary living.  Lack of physical activity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease.”

Here are some of Dr. Pate’s tips for getting active:

1. Get out the leash and walk your dog. It’s a great activity for both man and man’s best friend. Your heart — and your pooch — will thank you!
2. Take your child for a brisk walk. It’s an excellent way to get some one-on-one time (or one-on-three, depending on the size of your brood.) Spice up your routine by exploring new neighborhoods or turning your walk into a scavenger hunt.
3. Mall walk. Are you sweating (or shivering) at the idea of walking outside? Take a brisk stroll around your local mall instead. Window shop, people watch and give your heart a workout in a climate-controlled environment.
4. Join a team.  Pick an activity you love and round up some friends. Team sports can be fun — and keep you motivated and accountable.
5. Walk and talk. Even if you’re glued to your phone for work calls, you don’t have to be glued to your seat. Make it a habit to talk and walk. Some workplaces have walking paths to make it even easier to burn while you earn.
6. Tune into fitness during TV time.  Reject your inner couch potato. Walk, jog in place or use the treadmill at the gym while you watch your favorite 30-minute show.
7. Park and walk. How many times have you circled the parking lot to find “the” spot? Spare yourself the stress and gain more energy by parking far away (or even in a remote lot) and walking farther to your destination.
8. Take the stairs. The elevator may go up — but it doesn’t make your heart rate climb. Take the stairs instead. You may huff and puff at first, but over time, your body will thank you. 
9. Dance! Do it in a ballroom, at a club or even in your living room. You’ll burn calories and gain a new hobby.
10. Skip the cake, say goodbye to pie and take a walk after dinner. You’ll get a reward that’s sweeter than dessert: more family time.
    If these ideas don’t work for you, find something that you enjoy. Ditching the excuses can be the first step to a healthier you. Of course, if you have an injury, talk to your doctor first to see if there’s a low-impact exercise you can do or find out if you should wait until you’re healed.

And here’s more food for thought: “Our culture no longer requires us to be hunters and gathers, but our bodies still need the physical activity that is required by that way of life,” Russell said. So check out these tips to get moving today!

Losing Weight and Getting Healtier

Obesity takes toll on your health.

If you’re carrying around extra weight, you’re not alone.

Between 60 percent and 70 percent of Americans are overweight, which means they’re 20 percent or more above their ideal weight.

The problem is simple: Too much food combined with too little regular physical activity can lead to unhealthy weight gain and obesity. But the life-threatening health problems caused by obesity aren’t simple at all.

Being obese puts a huge strain on your heart, increasing the work it has to do. Too much weight raises your risk for cancer. It also raises your blood pressure and blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and lowers HDL (good) cholesterol levels. It can make diabetes more likely to develop, too.

Getting Healthier
If you’re not sure if you weigh too much, start by learning your body mass index or BMI.

The next step is to remember that losing the weight isn’t hopeless. Even dropping as few as 10 pounds can lower your risk of heart disease and help you feel better.

Keep losing weight, and you’ll probably experience fewer joint and muscle pains, regulate your blood pressure, reduce the burden on your heart and circulatory system and even sleep better.

“The initial emphasis should be placed on eating less,” Dr. Eckel said. “A deficit of 500 calories a day predicts one pound lost per week. More physical activity is also important but perhaps more so to maintain the weight loss once the weight is down.” 
  

Getting ActiveEven if you’ve never exercised — or if it has been years — it’s easy to get active with these tips. (Generally, you do not need to consult a healthcare provider before becoming physically active unless you have a chronic condition. Healthcare providers can help you attain and maintain regular physical activity by providing advice on appropriate types and amounts for your individual needs.)

• Do housework yourself instead of hiring someone else to do it.
   
• Work in the garden or mow the grass. Using a riding mower doesn't count! Rake leaves, prune, dig and pick up trash.
   
• Go out for a short walk before breakfast, after dinner or both! Start with 5-10 minutes and work up to 30 minutes.
   
• Walk or bike to the corner store instead of driving.
   
• When walking, pick up the pace from leisurely to brisk. Choose a hilly route. When watching TV, sit up instead of lying on the sofa. Or stretch. Better yet, spend a few minutes pedaling on your stationary bicycle while watching TV — and hide the remote control.
   
• Stand up while talking on the telephone.
   
• Walk the dog.
   
• Park farther away at the shopping mall and walk the extra distance. Wear your walking shoes and sneak in an extra lap or two around the mall.
   
• Stretch to reach items in high places and squat or bend to look at items at floor level.
   
• Keep exercise equipment repaired — and use it!

Medicines To Help You Quit Smoking

Medicines can help you quit smoking when you use them correctly. Nicotine replacement medicines contain gradually decreasing doses of nicotine to help reduce the headaches and irritability you may have when you quit smoking. Non-nicotine prescription medicines can also help you quit by making nicotine cravings less severe.

Your doctor or nurse can help you decide if one of these medicines might help you. Your doctor may also decide that using both a nicotine replacement medicine and a non-nicotine replacement medicine may work better for you.

When you talk to your doctor or nurse, ask how to use the medicine. Studies show that many people don't use their quit-smoking medicines correctly. If you don't use the medicine properly, it won't work well for you. The information sheet that comes with your medicine tells you exactly how to use the medicine.

Nicotine Replacement Medicines

You can't use nicotine replacement medicines if you keep smoking or use other tobacco products. The combined use of nicotine can be dangerous. You must stop smoking completely when you begin using a nicotine replacement medicine.

Nicotine replacement treatment usually lasts from two to three months. Even though you can buy many products without a prescription, talk to your doctor first about which medicine is best for you.

Nicotine Chewing Gum or Lozenges

Nicotine gum has helped people quit smoking for 20 years. You can buy the gum or lozenges in a drug store without a prescription. Be sure to read the instructions and use the gum or lozenges correctly.

• Try to chew a piece of gum or suck a lozenge every one to two hours that you're awake, but don't use more than 20 pieces per day if you use 4 mg gum or lozenges, or 30 pieces per day if you use 2 mg gum or lozenges. The number of pieces you use per day will decrease over time.
• Don't drink coffee, orange juice, cola or alcohol for 15 minutes before or while using a piece of gum or lozenge. These drinks make the nicotine replacement less powerful.
• If you don't use nicotine gum or lozenges correctly, you may have side effects such as mouth and throat discomfort.
• You may need to use nicotine gum or lozenges for three months.

Nicotine Patch

You don't need a doctor's prescription to buy the nicotine patch. The patches may come in different strengths: some brands are available in 5, 10 and 15 mg strengths; others may come in 7, 14 and 21 mg strengths. Read the package to determine what strength you should start using, depending on the amount you smoke. Taper down to the lower-strength patches on the recommended schedule.

• Wear the patch on your chest or high on your arm.
• Put on a new patch every 16 or 24 hours. If you have trouble sleeping or have disturbing dreams, remove the patch when you go to bed and put on a new one as soon as you get up.
• You may swim, shower and perform physical activity with the patch.
• Side effects may include redness and soreness under the patch. To reduce these side effects, change the location of the patch each day.

Nicotine Spray

To buy the nicotine spray, you need a prescription from your doctor.

• The spray goes in your nose, one or two times per hour, when you're awake.
• The spray may cause coughing, runny nose or watery eyes during the first week or two. These side effects get better over time.
• You may need to use nicotine spray for up to six months, but taper off starting at or before three months.

Nicotine Inhaler

The nicotine inhaler is a vapor (mist) that you breathe into your mouth and upper chest.

• You'll use between six and 16 cartridges (tubes) each day.
• When you first use it, the nicotine inhaler may cause mild throat or mouth discomfort.
• You may need to use the inhaler for up to six months, but taper off starting at or before three months.

No tobacco product is safe.  Smokeless tobacco should not be used for smoking cessation because long-term use moderately increases the risk of a fatal heart attack, fatal stroke and certain cancers.  It is also addictive – smokeless tobacco users often experience the same withdrawal symptoms as individuals who stop smoking cigarettes. 

Funding for comprehensive tobacco control and prevention programs in many states remains inadequate.  The American Heart Association strongly advocates increased funding for effective and accessible tobacco cessation programs.  Approximately one-third of tobacco users will die prematurely because of their dependence on tobacco unless treatment efforts are increased.

Non-Nicotine Prescription Medicines

Some of the major types of commonly prescribed smoking-cessation medicines are summarized in this section. For your information and reference, we have included generic names as well as major trade names to help you identify what you may be taking; however, the AHA is not recommending or endorsing any specific products. If your prescription medication isn't on this list, remember that your healthcare provider and pharmacist are your best sources of information. It's important to discuss all of the drugs you take with your doctor and understand their desired effects and possible side effects. Never stop taking a medication and never change your dose or frequency without first consulting your doctor.
Bupropion hydrochloride is a medicine for depression, but it also helps people quit smoking. Brand names include Zyban®, Wellbutrin®, Wellbutrin SR® and Wellbutrin XL® but this medication is also available as a generic.

Varenicline is a relatively new medicine that may help smokers quit. It is currently available under the brand name Chantix®.

• Both medicines work by blocking the flow of chemicals in the brain that make you want to smoke.
• Both medicines come in pill form. You start out with a low dose and gradually increase up to the full dose.
• It takes about a week for these medicines to work, so you need to start taking them before you quit smoking.
• Each of these medicines may interact differently with other medicines you're taking. Make sure your doctor and pharmacist have a complete list of all your medicines, including over-the-counter drugs, supplements and herbal medicines.
• You may need to use a non-nicotine prescription medicine for seven to 12 weeks or longer, as your doctor recommends.
• When you get ready to stop taking a non-nicotine prescription medicine, you may need to take a gradually decreasing dose before you stop completely.
• The FDA notified the public that the use of varenicline or bupropion has been associated with reports of behavior changes including hostility, agitation, depressed mood, and suicidal thoughts or actions. The FDA is requiring the manufacturers of these products to add a new Boxed Warning to the product labeling to alert healthcare professionals to this important new safety information.
• While taking these drugs, if you experience any serious and unusual changes in mood or behavior or feel like hurting yourself or someone else, you should stop taking the medicine and call you healthcare professional right away.
• Friends or family members who notice these changes in behavior in someone who is taking varenicline or bupropion for smoking cessation should tell the person their concerns and recommend that he or she stop taking the drug and call a healthcare professional right away.
• For more information about the FDA's warnings about varenicline and bupropion, read our press release.

How Cigarettes Damage Your Bodies

Cigarette smokers have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease.  Here’s why.  Factors like high blood pressure can stretch out the arteries and cause scarring. Bad cholesterol, called LDL, often gets lodged in the scar tissue and combines with white blood cells to form clots. The good cholesterol, called HDL, helps keep the LDL from sticking and building up.

Here are some other problems smoking causes

• Smoking robs you of some of your good cholesterol.  
• Smoking temporarily raises your blood pressure.
• Smoking increases the blood’s clotting likelihood.
• Smoking makes it more difficult to exercise.

Although cigarette smoking alone increases your risk of coronary heart disease, it greatly increases risk to your whole cardiovascular system. Smoking also increases the risk of recurrent coronary heart disease after bypass surgery. 

Atherosclerosis is the buildup of fatty substances in the arteries, and is a chief contributor to heart disease – the No. 1 killer in America.

Stroke risks are higher, too. Because smoking temporarily increases blood pressure, and also increases cholesterol build-ups and the tendency for blood to clot, both types of strokes are more likely for a person who smokes. There are strokes caused from bleeding because of a weakened blood vessel and strokes caused by blockages and clots that form in a vessel and cut off blood flow to the brain.  Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and adult disability in America.

Smoking also contributes to peripheral artery disease. Again, because of the added strain smoking places on the arteries and veins, peripheral artery disease is much more like among smokers, and the habit also further increases the risk for aortic aneurism.

There is hope and help

Despite all these scary facts, there is hope if you’re a smoker. Did you know that almost immediately after you quit smoking, your lungs and other smoke-damaged organs start to repair themselves?  You can start getting better the day you put down the cigarettes.

See how this process happens in the Smoke-Free Living– Benefits & Milestones.

Lung and breathing problems

Your lungs are “air-exchange organs.” They’re made up of tubes that branch out into small sacs called bronchioles and alveoli where oxygen exchange takes place.  Your body takes in the oxygen you breathe and uses it as fuel. When you breathe in, the sacs inflate. When you breathe out, the sacs deflate.

In a healthy person, these tubes and sacs are very elastic and spongy.  In a person with a chronic lung disease, these sacs lose their elasticity and oxygen exchange is greatly impaired.  When that happens, your body is in grave danger because we can’t live without oxygen!

The lungs protect themselves with a thin layer of protective mucus and by moving toxic particles out with small hairs.  In a smoker’s lungs, the small hairs, called cilia, move slower and struggle to remove harmful particles. You can’t cough, sneeze or swallow effectively to clear these toxins.  They become trapped in your lungs, leading to  higher risk for numerous dangerous health problems, including heart disease, stroke and cancer.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is usually made up of two conditions that make breathing difficult: emphysema and chronic bronchitis.  When you have emphysema, the air sacs in your lungs start to deteriorate and lose their elasticity. Chronic bronchitis occurs when the lining in the tubes in your lungs swell and restrict your breathing.  These conditions are directly related to smoking.