continued....

Committing to Looking Great

Meanwhile, Kerriann's inspiration to go to the gym came from the good old ego.

"I'd bring my son to the park, and it seemed like all the other moms had these great bodies. I knew that didn't just happen—it's the rare woman who can get her body back with no effort. So I had to stop making excuses because, obviously, they didn't."

And how has that worked out for her?

"I've lost 20 pounds in the last six months. It was slow going at first, which was the most frustrating. But I was going from a half-mile to a mile, then using the incline, then running. I can honestly say I've never felt better."

For Danielle, committing to a time made the most sense.

"I realized that I just had to make it a point to carve out my own time. Once I made a schedule, I stuck to it. I started working out just twice a week, then three times, then four. Oh, and the thing I changed? Once I had a great workout, I stopped rewarding myself with food. That had kept my weight up and frustrated the whole process. Now I reward myself with a book or an outfit for the kids. It's made all the difference."

We all know that getting fit isn't easy. But here are some handy points of reference to read when your momentum lands you on the couch.

Sane Fit Quickstart's Five Reasons for Getting in Shape

1. Gain self-confidence.
   Feel comfortable in your own skin. What better way to "dress for success"?
2. Have more energy.
   There won't be more hours in the day; you'll just feel like there are.
3. Control your weight.
   The days of your weight controlling you are over.
4. Gain strength.
   Lift your baby, your briefcase, and your groceries with ease.
5. Age gracefully and beautifully.
   Aging is inevitable; it doesn't have to be unenviable.

American Heart Association's Five Tips for Exercise Success

Want to get the most from your workout, plus and incentive to keep coming back? The American Heart Association has these tips to keep exercise from becoming yet another chore in your life:

1. Choose activities that are fun, not exhausting.
2. Use music to keep you entertained.
3. Surround yourself with supportive people.
   Find a companion to exercise with you if it will help you stay on a regular schedule and add to your enjoyment.
4. Keep a record of your activities.
   Reward yourself at special milestones. Nothing motivates like success!
5. Don't overdo it.
   Do low- to moderate-level activities, especially at first. You can slowly increase the duration and intensity of your activities as you become more fit. Over time, work up to 30-60 minutes of physical activity on most days of the week.

Pre- and Post-Exercise Eating Tips

By Greg Shealey, M.S. Discovery Health

Scheduling exercise into a busy lifestyle can be a challenge, and planning meals and snacks around the exercise is another. Eating too much food, or the wrong food before exercise, can hamper your performance or cause indigestion, sluggishness, nausea and vomiting. On the other hand, if you haven't eaten in six hours and try to work out, you may feel weak and unmotivated. The type and time of meal is important.

A large breakfast may be troublesome if you are going for a morning run, but it is fine for a jog before lunch.

In terms of food, your goal should be to have fuel in your body from nutritious food that is no longer present in your stomach at the time of your workout. The pre-exercise food prevents hunger during exercise. Carbohydrates are easily digested, but foods high in protein and fat may linger in the stomach for some time, depending on how much you ate. Large meals can take up to six hours to empty from the stomach.

Snacks, depending on their content, take about an hour to leave your stomach. Eating a high-carbohydrate snack two hours before exercising can leave you ample energy and a calm stomach for a great workout. Many athletes avoid food within two hours of a very hard workout, but can tolerate a lighter snack within one to two hours of a light workout.

Pre-Exercise Eating Tips

Experiment with your eating schedule to see what works best for you. Keep these tips in mind:

• A high-carbohydrate, low-fat snack is easily digested and normalizes blood sugar.
• Avoid fatty meals or snacks, because they may stay in your stomach for long periods of time.
•  Meal should be moderate in protein, i.e., just enough to satisfy hunger.
• Drink lots of fluids. Your snack can be a liquid meal such as a fruit shake.
• A light workout can be preceded with a light snack, but leave more lead time for intense workouts.

Depending on how heavy a meal you have eaten, wait at least 30 minutes to two hours before exercising. The bigger the meal the longer you will need to wait. If you just eat a light snack such as pretzels or a fruit drink, you should be ready to work out within 30 minutes.

Eating and Your Exercise Routine

If you exercise first thing in the morning, some fruit or a small amount of juice and water should suffice. If you exercise mid-morning, then a breakfast high in carbohydrates will help give you the energy you need to get through your workout. A bowl of oatmeal, wholegrain toast and jam are good choices.

If you exercise in the late morning before lunch, you may want to try eating a light snack before working out and then a carbohydrate- and protein-rich lunch (such as a turkey sandwich) that will replenish your body stores after you exercise.

People who work out later in the afternoon, from noon to 3 p.m., probably do not have to eat anything before a workout provided they have eaten a well-balanced lunch and breakfast.

However, if you exercise closer to dinner, a light snack, like a bowl of yogurt or fruit, will provide some energy. When exercising after dinner, just make sure to wait an appropriate amount of time depending on the size of your meal.

Do What Works for You

The above recommendations are guidelines. Each individual is different and has a unique digestive system, so you have to experiment to see what makes you feel best during your workouts. Some days you feel great if you work out soon after a meal, whereas other days you might get cramps and feel nauseous. It varies from person to person and day to day.

Keep a Food and Exercise Diary

Write down what you eat, when you ate it and how you feel during your workouts. This will help you pinpoint the foods that enhance your performance and those that make you feel sluggish. You'll find certain foods work for you and others, no matter how good for you nutritionally, just will not cut it.

Post-Exercise Eating Tips

Eat foods rich in carbohydrates during the hour or two following your workout and you should be enhancing your energy reserves for the next day's workout. Also, after you exercise, drink plenty of water to rehydrate your body. Research shows that fatigue during exercise can be related to low levels of water and stored carbohydrates. Since we use carbohydrates as energy during exercise (including many forms of resistance training), we need to replenish these storage depots after a workout. This will assist weight trainers but is especially important for people who do a lot of aerobic exercise (more than 60 minutes) on consecutive days.

In addition, consumption of protein is necessary during your post-exercise meal. It will help rebuild the tissues damaged during your workout. In addition, protein will facilitate carbohydrate storage to improve recovery if it is consumed with carbohydrates during the initial two hours after a workout.

Greg Shealey is a health educator and president and founder of Bio-Fit and Wellness

Jumping Rope: Just Skip It

By Carol Krucoff - Discovery Health

Take a fitness workout tip from the pros: one of the world's best exercise devices, the jump rope, costs less than $15, fits in your briefcase and is easy enough for a child to use.

Jumping rope has long been considered "kid stuff" �?but that's changing. Professional athletes in a variety of sports, particularly tennis and basketball, are jumping rope as part of their fitness workouts �?for the same reason boxers have "skipped it" for years.

An unparalleled all-around workout, rope jumping strengthens the heart, muscles and bones, promotes leanness and improves agility, coordination, timing, rhythm and explosive power on both sides of the body.

Jumping Rope for 15 Minutes Burns 200 Calories

Jumping rope has become an integral part of many kinds of fitness classes, including cardio-kickboxing classes and boot camp workouts. Fifteen minutes of jumping rope burns about 200 calories, with some variation depending on how fast you go and how much you weigh. And despite concerns that jumping rope is hard on the joints, it's easier on the knees and hips than running, since you land on the balls of your feet so the calves and shins absorb and control the impact.

Choosing Your Jump Rope

While you can get a decent workout with a length of clothesline, a good jump rope won't cost much. Many experts advise fitness jumpers to use a beaded rope, which typically sells for less than $20. These ropes are made of cloth or nylon and covered by plastic "beads" that give it a satisfying weight and sound as it hits the ground.

Competitive speed jumpers often use ropes that are wire-thin, while those doing tricks �?such as double-dutch jumping �?use thicker cloth ropes.

Although jumping rope is child's play, even active people unaccustomed to repeated jumping may find it difficult at first. But with proper instruction and practice, anyone can jump rope, say experts.

Rope Jumping Tips:

• Be sure your rope is the right length. When you step in the center, the handles should just reach your armpits.
• Wear a good pair of aerobic or cross-training shoes.
• Jump to music that has 120 to 135 beats per minute.
• Avoid concrete or hard tiles and jump on wooden floors, rubber tiles or low-nap carpeting.
• Keep shoulders relaxed and elbows in close to your body.
• Don't jump too high �?unless you're doing tricks.
• And turn the rope with your wrists, not your arms.
• Warm up with 5 to 10 minutes of light activity, then stretch gently before jumping.

If you've been sedentary and you're a man over 40 or a woman over 50, check with your doctor before beginning any vigorous activity.

• Start by alternating brief periods of jumping with resting moves, such as turning the rope alongside your body without jumping.
• Over time, do fewer resting moves and more jumping.
• Your goal is to jump continuously for at least 15 minutes.