30-day Fitness Challenge - Day Twenty-Nine

Fitness Fact of the Day is taken from webmd.com

Fitness Fact of the Day: Exercise Boosts Performance

After a few weeks of consistent exercise, you may feel your clothes fitting differently and see that your muscle tone has improved, Atkinson says.

You may also notice your newly pumped-up muscles in other ways, especially if you're a recreational golfer or tennis player, or like a friendly game of pick-up basketball, says Atkinson. (or picking up your children, laundry, gardening, etc)  Exercising consistently will strengthen your muscles, increase flexibility, and improve your overall performance.

"Your muscles will work much more efficiently and you'll gain a greater sense of endurance," says Bryant. In addition, he says, your reaction time and balance will improve.

One of the biggest things I notice with regular exercise is that I don't run out of breath while walking up the stairs.  I have more endurance.  It now takes 5 minutes to run out of breath instead of 30 seconds.  

How about you?  Do you notice anything different about your stamina or performance in other activities in your life?  

30-day Fitness Challenge - Day Twenty-Eight

Fitness Fact taken from webmd.com

Fitness Fact of the Day: Weight Loss Is Not the Most Important Goal

Weight loss is the reason many people exercise in the first place. But it's certainly not the sole benefit of an exercise program.

Bryant says the long-term goal of weight loss is sold too heavily to people starting fitness programs, and that can be discouraging. People have trouble sticking with something if they don't see results quickly.

"Really, they should think about the level of functioning in the activities of daily living," says Bryant. "That can serve as the motivation to keep them coming back for more."

So whatever weight loss goal you have when starting a fitness program, don't make it your only goal. Strive to feel better, to have more energy, to be less stressed. Notice the small things that exercise does for you quickly, rather than getting hung up on the narrow goal of the number on a scale.

"With a goal of losing weight and enhancing health, exercise has to become a part of a person's life, not an afterthought," Astorino says.

What do you think?

30-day Fitness Challenge - Day Twenty-Seven

4 days and counting! 

I've been thinking over the past couple of weeks about what I want my next healthy habit to be. I'm tossing around the idea of portion control. What would it look like if we only ate the serving sizes listed on the box or recipe of what you make? Or what if we started counting calories? Ick! Thinking about that gives me hives. Moving on. What about giving up one of your road blocks? Mine would be sugary snacks or treats. Heck, who am I kidding. It would be white sugar altogether. I like sugar in my drinks, in my food, intravenously. I'm currently looking into healthy sweetener alternatives. (More on that to come). Notice I said "alternatives" and not "substitutes".  There's a difference. Again, more on that to come. 

Be thinking about what you want your next step to be. You don't want to come this far to quit and start from square one. 

What will your next step be? Share with the masses... um, I mean, with the 5 people who read my blog... 

And just for consistency, here's your tip of the day taken from webmd.com:

Fitness Fact of the Day: Exercise Lets You Eat More

Pound for pound, muscle burns more calories at rest than body fat. So the more muscle you have, the higher your resting metabolic rate. And, of course, you also burn calories while you're actually exercising.

All this means that "cheating" with a cookie once in a while isn't going to take you back 10 steps. "Can you eat anything? No," says Atkinson. "But you can afford to enjoy some of the things you really like when you exercise regularly. You can better get away with those things in moderation than you can when you're not working out."

30-day Fitness Challenge - Day Twenty-Six

Tip taken from webmd.com

Welcome to our last week!  Just five more days of our fitness challenge.  Keep up the great work! 

Fitness Fact of the Day: Exercise Helps Ward Off Disease

Research has shown that exercise can slow or help prevent heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis (bone loss), and loss of muscle mass, says Astorino.

It also helps ease some aspects of the aging process.

"Because exercise strengthens the muscles and joints, it is going to reduce your odds of having some of those aches and pains and problems most adults have, mostly because of the inactive lives they lead," Bryant says.

Provided you don't overdo it, he says, exercise can even boost immune function -- so you spend less time down with a cold or flu.

"There isn't a major health problem where exercise cannot have a positive effect," says Byrant.

How has your exercise regime affected your overall health and body?  

Clean Laundry

As I've posted a few times before, I've been in the process of making my own home and beauty supplies.  About three days ago, I posted a new recipe for Honey Cleanser.  I LOVE the honey cleanser.  I ran out yesterday and switched back to the Dr. Bronner's.  My skin was not the same.  Don't get me wrong, I love Dr. Bronner's for many things, but after my shower my skin was dry and itchy.  I had to use lotion for the first time in a few days.  With the honey cleanser, I didn't have to use anything after my shower.  It was nice.  I'm into quick and easy and not having an extra step of lotion makes it even quicker.  

I was talking to my friend Amanda the other day, and we were trying to decide if the laundry detergent we've been using is the most cost effective.  (It's the recipe on my home and beauty link).  One of the reasons I'm doing this is to save money for my family.  With our conversation in mind, I started searching for some other laundry recipes.  I found one that I'm going to try and I want to share it with you.  I've been avoiding using a powder recipe for laundry because I've never liked how it worked in the past.  I've always felt like the clothes are left looking whitish and dingy.  However, I'm going to try this recipe and see how it works. Having the soap flakes may help.  

Basic Laundry Soap Powder

1 cup washing soda

1 cup scented baking soda (drop a few drops of essential oils into your baking soda for scent)

1 cup soap flakes or finely grated pure bar soap (such as Dr. Bronner's or Kirk's)  

*You could always skip the essential oil and use a scented bar of castile soap.  

As I was researching soap flakes I found these recipes.  I may also try these.  

Let me know what you think.  I'll keep you posted as I try the recipes.  

Thanks for stopping by,