What I've Learned About...

I've never been a super-intense person about eating healthy or working out, but in the last year I've gotten more serious about it, and am feeling more energetic and healthy and loving it! So naturally, I thought I'd share just a few things I've discovered work for me:

1. Cut out most sugar. Especially sugary drinks. Seriously guys, this is a huge one. You all know I'm no scientist and therefore can't tell you how this all works, but I know that your body somehow stores sugar as fat, blah blah blah, liquid with sugar in it goes to fat stores faster, blah blah blah. Something like that. The point is, I've seen a noticeable difference since switching over to Splenda with some occasional natural sugars. Goodbye sugary coffees and sodas! Also candy.
2. Use all time for exercise. When I'm sitting on the BART I put my feet flat on the floor and squeeze my knees together the whole time, with 30 second rests between. The result is that my inner thighs have really toned up! When I'm sitting at my desk, I engage my lower abs and take turns lifting one leg slowly using only ab power, and then the other leg. 30 second rest in between sets of doing this, and I've got sore abs and visible results.
3. Do strength-training often! Muscle is the secret to your metabolism. If you're just doing cardio, you may keep your heart tuned up, but you won't necessarily keep your body looking fit. You need to do both. Muscle use burns fat, and the more you have, the more active your metabolism will be also!
4. Get plenty of sleep and help your body de-stress in some way (yoga is mine!). Stress and lack of sleep are common reasons for weight gain. Your body needs to recharge in order to function properly!
5. Vary your workouts. Don't do the same thing every day. I see a lot of overweight people on the elliptical at the gym, and I've been seeing them for over 2 years and they haven't changed a bit. My guess is they either are not eating healthy and having other good habits in their lives, or they don't understand that you can't just do cardio (see above) and you have to switch up your workouts. Intersperse strength-training (see above) to build up that muscle, and then use that muscle to burn off the fat and keep your heart pumping! Your body will get used to the workouts you do if you always do the same thing, and it will stop being effective.
6. Stretch! Stretching prevents injury, and keeps the lactic acid from settling in and causing aches. Aches keep me from wanting to work out, so I never stop dead in my tracks after a workout, but go straight to a long stretch session and sometimes roll out my muscles on a foam roller.
7. Exercise frequently. I exercise 7 days a week. Now, it's important that you give your body a rest and your muscles too, so I often do yoga workouts on the days that I need a "rest" or I go for a nice long walk. Those are low-impact, low intensity workouts that allow your body to recover while still keeping your muscles nice and warm.
8. Eat your protein! I always eat some kind of protein after a workout to make sure that it goes straight to my muscles to help repair them after using them. If you don't, you can risk muscle mass being eaten up by your body after a workout instead of fat.
9. Drink plenty of water! Water will help flush out harmful toxins from your body and keep you feeling hydrated and energetic.
10. Don't become obsessive. I used to track my calories and it caused me SO much anxiety. Some people weigh themselves to a fault. Whatever it is, don't worry about it! What's important is not how much you weigh but how healthy and fit and strong you are. Besides, your body weight can fluctuate so much each day anyway based on water retention, food, and muscle gain/loss.

My week usually follows this schedule:
Sunday - beachbody insanity plyometric workout
Monday - elliptical interval training for 45 minutes
Tuesday - yoga
Wednesday - pilates
Thursday - beachbody insanity plyometric workout
Friday - elliptical interval training for 45 minutes
Saturday - yoga and target area workouts (lower body/abs/etc.)

Since I can't run or swim, I have to be creative with my workouts, but I LOVE doing home workouts on downloadable videos. Today was a Pilates day, and after work I'm meeting up with some friends to walk The Dish in Palo Alto. Killing 2 birds with 1 stone! I know it seems like a lot of work to work out every day, but it's one of the things I've come to really look forward to each day! I feel fantastic afterwards, and my mood is much cheerier with all those endorphins pumping through me :)

Have any good tips or tricks that you've learned? Let me know! I'll leave you guys with this hilarious picture I found while browsing twitter: