Answer: You didn’t say whether or not you gave birth to all nine children. Assuming you did, I recommend you begin slowly with an exercise program, following a complete physical exam by your physician.

Walking is the best overall exercise to begin because it’s easy, gentle and can be done anywhere at any time of year. For walking, you do not need to join a gym, buy expensive exercise equipment or learn intricate moves. What’s more, it gets you outdoors in fresh air. You can add socialization and motivation by having a friend or family member join you. Since you have no shortage of family members, this may be a great choice. It will also allow you some one-on-one quality time with either your husband (if you have one) or one of your nine children.

Begin with 10 minutes twice a day. In bad weather, shopping malls are great places to walk, either before the stores open or early morning. Most malls open early and encourage groups or individuals to walk there. Joining a walking club is another way to socialize.

Now that you’ve begun to get moving and burn some calories, you need to adjust your diet. Restrict high fat foods (fried, processed and desserts). Cut your portions by one third. Increase intake of fruits, vegetables and grains. Check fiber content on cereal boxes as you inevitably buy lots of it for nine children. The higher the fiber content, the better. Drink six to eight glasses of water a day. It helps decrease appetite and flushes out fat as you lose it.

Answer:
It’s good that you are aware that your daughter leads a sedentary life. You are also rightfully concerned that she is not getting enough exercise. It is, however, wonderful that she likes to read, a waning pastime with many children due to competition from television, video games and music videos.

Do encourage her to continue to read but also get her the swing. It will be a way of getting her outside in the fresh air and there is a certain amount of activity in swinging. The legs move; the arms hold on tight; the head bobs up and down, back and forth. In other words, she will be active. While it may not be aerobic exercise, it will certainly balance her inactivity. Don’t hold her to the promise of swinging “every day.”

Children do get bored with the same exercise. Do encourage her to take part in group activities and team sports in school or in little leagues. Any sport will do. Just get her out there participating as much as possible. You might try joining her in activities such as tennis, golf, tossing Frisbees or beach balls at the beach–anything to get her moving. And be thankful you have a child who likes to read.

Our families have had the greatest influence on who we are, but you have the greatest influence on who you can be.

Family issues, unresolved past trauma, and relationship problems can all cause emotional stress and dysfunction in daily activities. We all develop unhealthy coping mechanisms. The desire to make positive changes can be enhanced and directed by a professional therapist. Your trainer-therapist is fully credentialed and experienced to help you make lasting change.

Socio/cultural Influences

Supermodels, working women, homemakers, teens and even young girls canât escape constant scrutiny about their bodies.

Heightened awareness of the onslaught of negative messages women receive from media and the popular culture can help protect you against the pressure to conform to a certain Îlookâ. If youâre not a size six or trying to get there, most advertisers attempt to send the message that youâre somehow less of a woman, not worthy of love, money, sex, a good haircut or even a good meal. As you build your positive sense of self with Fitness Therapy youâll reject those rigid standards of beauty and experience a healthier, more vibrant outlook.

Personal Fitness Training

Fitness Assessments

Fitness assessment helps you focus on improvement ö no matter what your starting point.

Assessing your present cardiovascular fitness level, muscular strength and flexibility provides a baseline for change. Many fitness and health trainers focus exclusively on weight and body composition. Fitness Therapy™ takes a different approach. You can lose weight and/or inches as a result of exercise and maintaining a healthy eating pattern, but it need not be the main goal. We strongly believe in developing fitness at any size. Top of page

Strength Training

Years of dieting and the natural aging process lowers metabolism. Increasing muscle mass revs up metabolism, making the body more efficient at burning calories.

Strength training is the process of exercising with progressively heavier resistance (free weights or resistance equipment) for the purpose of strengthening the musculoskeletal system. Regular strength training results in increased muscle size, strength, changes in body composition and is essential in protecting against normal muscle and bone loss due to aging.

A major goal of Fitness Therapy™ is to help you increase muscle awareness, learning to connect with your bodies inner strength and power. Strength training offers emotional gains as well, leading to increased confidence, enhanced self-concept and improved body image.

If you are a compulsive overeater, frustration, depression and food obsessions are an unwanted part of your life.

Talking about and working through emotions during Fitness Therapy training can aid in your control of these unwanted behaviors. If you suffer the physical damage, emotional stress, low self-esteem and depression associated with compulsive eating Fitness Therapy will help you feel empowered and make lasting change. Top of page

Do you suspect you are a compulsive overeater?

Obesity

Are obesity and morbid obesity caused by: emotional, bio-genetic, behavioral or socio-cultural influences?

There is no definitive answer. But one thing is certain: If you have grown up in our culture you have been affected and damaged by our size-prejudiced, fat-phobic society. When you come to Fitness Therapy, youâre coming to a small private gym where all are welcome, regardless of size. You’ll work with a trainer who knows what obesity feels like, and you’ll be free to work your body with less inhibition and more confidence.

In the Fitness Therapy program developing full body awareness works to enhance self-esteem, improve body image and empowers you to feel you have a place in getting and feeling fit·at any size.

Depression

Depression is experienced by almost everyone at some time.

Psychotherapy when joined with physical exercise is a very effective combination. Your trainer has advanced credentials as a certified personal trainer and as an experienced psychotherapist who has worked at New York City top medical facilities and rehab centers. Traditional psychotherapy is an effective tool in combating depression. Talking through feelings can correct errors in thinking and break negative thought patterns. Depression can have several causes, chemical, situational (for example, coping with the loss of a loved one) and chronic low self-esteem and feelings of worthlessness (a common effect of coping with obesity). Over time exercise can elevate the daily levels of the body natural mood enhances. Exercise releases endorphins into the blood. Additionally, serotonin levels ÷ one of the brain chemicals that effect mood and emotions rise without the use of medication. Though medication may still be a part of a complete treatment plan.

Body Image

Body image begins in childhood, is culturally influenced and can affect every aspect of your life.

Having a positive body image is vitally important to good health and well being. Are you happy with your body image? Do you measure your self-worth by the shape of your body? You are not alone. You can be helped to improve your body acceptance without weight loss. Feeling happy and accepting of your own body allows you to concentrate on the important business of getting on with your life. Positive body image is also a component of positive self-esteem; a resource well recognized for its — which in turn contributes to positive outcomes in one’s personal life and career.

The muscular system, like all others, adapts to stimulation. In order to continue growing, the muscles must be exposed to something new and challenging. In an effort to keep the muscles from anticipating the oncoming stress, bodybuilders use a technique called “periodization.” This is a fancy term for “mixing things up.”

The practice of varying exercise movements can be a creative and intellectual pursuit in itself. Sometimes we need a helping hand. That’s what makes a publication like FitnessLink so valuable. It can provide a fresh perspective to an old idea.

What does this verbose dissertation have to do with building muscle? It’s just my way of introducing the technique of bi-sets.

To perform a bi-set, choose two different exercises for the same muscle group and perform them with no rest in between. Using the chest as an example, you might choose the bench press and dumbbell flyes. After completing a set of bench presses, pause just long enough to take a few breaths and then proceed to the dumbbell flyes.

Because you’ll be drained from the bench press, you’re bound to fatigue quickly from the flyes. Adjust the weight accordingly, but don’t go too light. The idea of bi-sets is to shock and confuse the muscle — to give it more stimulation. The objective isn’t to do more work, but to force a new level of intensity.

After resting as long as you would normally, perform another bi-set using the same two exercises.

If you are wanted to reduce mass then you need prefer some cheap appetite suppressant to decrease your appetite and hold your weight in check.

Like all other routines, bi-sets will work for a while and then their effectiveness will diminish. That’s part of the training experience. Give bi-sets a try for two weeks. They provide a nice change of pace and give you another option to draw upon when it’s time to, once again, change things around.

“When you eat at night, you don’t burn it off and you’ll gain weight!” We’ve heard it over and over again, and by now most of us have come to believe it. But, is it true?

The reasoning makes sense. When we eat late in the day, we don’t have time to burn off the calories before going to sleep, so they must be stored. If fact, doctors have warned against high-fat evening meals, telling us the increased blood levels of fat can increase the risk of a heart attack.

Another reason for avoiding late-night eating is that it can make sound sleep difficult for some people. During sleep, the body is busy repairing and replacing damaged cells. So, if digestion is taking a lot of energy, how can the necessary cell renewal take place?

Recent studies dispute all of this. They say late-night eating is harmless. It does not lead to weight gain and does not impede any bodily processes. However, we do know the combination of fats with sugar leads to fat storage. That fact is not currently being challenged.

Okay. So, what is correct? The best advice is this: Any late eating should be limited to relatively low-fat foods. Large amounts of protein are probably not appropriate, but reasonable portions are acceptable. Carbohydrates should be of the complex genre. High-sugar foods should be avoided. Any food consumed should be eaten in moderation. The idea is to satisfy hunger without over-eating.

Some examples of good nighttime snacks include:

Cheese and crackers
Toast with peanut butter
Carrot or celery sticks with low-fat dip
Cereal with low or non-fat milk (soy milk is the best choice)

So, if the urge strikes, listen to your body. Eat, but choose wisely. Here’s to your good health!