Health and Fitness.

[MoonlightDancer]

I'm not sure if there's a topic for this already (If there is I'm sorry). But I was wondering what people on Narniaweb do as far as fitness and keeping healthy. Does anyone else run regularly? I usually run 3 miles a day, and once a week I run 5 miles. (Two days a week I take off for resting, though) I've been trying to lose weight so I've been changing a lot of my eating habits. I'm slightly obsessed with eating healthy. I used to eat a lot of soy products before I found out that wasn't so great... I can honestly say that I never eat salty junk food, like chips or snacks of any kind. My weakness is chocolate and sweets.

What do you guys do to stay healthy? Do you have any favorite healthy foods? Do you have a work out plan?

[Valiant]

Yes well...let's say I could be more healthy. I'm fairly skinny, but I do need to work out more. I try to run every day. I find its easier to run when I'm playing a game like hockey or soccer. However I find its hard to find people who are willing to play with me.

[wolfloversk]

Well at college I swim for an hour twice every week, but outside of that I don't do much regularly. I'd like to run more (and maybe long jumps), and I severely need to eat more vegetables (Like extremely severely.)

As for dairy, I'm covered- actually I really need to cut back. I've been known to drink a half gallon of milk a day (At least I'm not addicted to anything alcoholic ). But yeah I need more water and less milk (my poor kidneys )

I'm at a good weight, but I'd like to build up more muscle and endurance. And my digestive tract has been suffering from a poor diet

[Aslanisthebest]

I used to be really skinny a year or so ago, but then started eating more. I'm not, well, fat...but I do definitely need to be more fit. I'm finding myself really lethargic lately. I am short and petite, just definitely not in the very skinny category.

Usually, I find going on a daily walk helpful. In my Health elective, I read that 20 minutes of a walk burns 100 calories. (My memory is so, so bad on this, so I could be totally wrong.)

Agh, my weakness is chocolate, sweets, cheese... food in general. *le sigh* I'm trying to eat healthy.

I read somewhere that it's harder to lose weight and one stays flabby if they wake up late, sleep late, so I'm trying to improve my sleeping schedule by waking up early.

For inside excercise (which I like, because EVERYONE here has a dog that has not witnessed a normal passer-by and barks like a maniac. *rolls eyes* I'm scared to death of dogs now.) I had some warm up, muscle toning, then faster, then cool down excercises in my Health elective. They actually worked really well, two years ago when I needed to lose some weight. I need to take that up again...

I always eat whole grain when I can. After learning about the horribleness of white flour, I try get wheat bread when I can, but there's no compromise on my confectionaries. That's too big a price.

[Valiant_Lucy]

I'm not the most healthy person in the world, but I'm certainly interested in getting more healthy...

I take a gazillion vitamins, try to make sure I get enough protein (I'm practicly a vegetarian), drink tons of water/green tea, and attempt to do some situps/pushups when I'm not too lazy. That's about it. XD I really need to walk daily or something but it's soooooooo hard to get motivated!!

[Shantih]

I'm terrible with exercise, every time I think about doing it I decide to read a book instead

I eat pretty healthily, I'm vegetarian and don't eat meat replacements (most vegetarians downfall) so I eat a ton of fruit and vegetables, and proteins and fat from foods like tofu, hummus and chickpeas. Most of my meals I make from scratch, microwave meals are taboo in my house I do drink a ton of tea (ordinary black tea with a dash of skimmed milk), it probably averages out to 9-10 cups a day. The benefits of this are dubious, I think in moderation it's good for your kidneys or something but I've no idea if it's the same in the quantities I drink it though. I have no intention of cutting down my tea intake

Cheese is my real weakness, obviously it's good in moderation but I have trouble picking between them all for a daily portion and will often wind up eating cheddar and stilton and various other types during the same day and convince myself it doesn't count because they're not the same type of cheese I've definitely cut down recently and I feel much better for it.

AitB, I've been trying to improve my sleep schedule over the last few months for a variety of reasons and it's definitely improved my overall well being. I find having a nice early breakfast sets my stomach up for the rest of the day and I'm less likely to snack.

[IloveFauns]

I have started using the wii fit a lot to get fitter, not so much lose weight.Maybe lose a 1kg or 2kg.

[MoonlightDancer]

Getting good sleeping patterns is definitely huge. I feel so much better about myself when I wake up early, plus when I'm up early I have no trouble falling asleep at night. The only problem I have (and I don't know if I'm the only one) is that about 3 in the afternoon I basically crash. I have to either take a nap or drink a big cup of coffee, energy drink, or eat something with a lot of sugar. I usually don't have time to nap so there we go.

I'm a whole lot hungrier during the day when I eat breakfast, which I think is a good thing. When I'm at school I almost live at the gym, I spend anywhere from 2 to 3 hours there a day. I know that's excessive but I overly rely on it to deal with all my stress, which is probably not a good thing.

It's really hard for me to be healthy here at home when my dad does the grocery shopping. But next week I'll be moving into my own apartment and doing all my own shopping, so it's going to be a lot easier to cut down on bad food by simply not buying it in the first place.

[Shantih]

I actually found it harder to eat healthily when I moved out (I lived with friends but we bought our food separately because we all liked different things). This was mainly because it was so hard to eat fresh food before it went off when it just you eating it. I strongly recommend canned vegetables, it made it so much easier!
This is probably because my family are healthy eaters though, if they weren't then eating well at home would be a nightmare.

[Aslanisthebest]

Val, you sure look very healthy.

Shanith, my sister was just saying she really respects vegetarians who don't eat meat replacements. I've heard that meat takes much longer to digest and can cause some problems, so I've been considering temporarily giving up meat (because I've gone so long eating meat, I doubt I could give it up.) to lose some weight. ... I don't know if that would be beneficial, though.

That's what I've found, Shantih and Moonlight--whenever I wake up early, I always feel much better throughout the day. When I wake up at noon or later (during summer break.) I feel lethargic and pathetic the whole day.
I have insomnia sometimes, so being tired a little before going to bed is wonderful, for me. However, yes, the biggest thing that bothers me is staying up reading the night before, waking up early, crashing at 3/4, taking a nap, not being able to sleep until late at night because I napped, then either pushing myself to get up if there's something to do, or going back to sleep...

I found, along with canned vegetables, that frozen ones are great. If you know how to prepare them right, they are wonderful. Nothing can beat the taste of natural food, but preseved food, as long as it's not giving the oppostie results, can taste really good with the right recipe. My mom cookes a lot of Indian Food and uses frozen vegetables for the vegetarian fritters of different sorts, and they're really healthy, apart from being deep fried.

[Louloudi the Centaur]

My recommendation: go for a series of short walks a day. Its helped me keep fit just fine, and it's a good time to get some Vitamin D when it is sunny outside. Doing it in short strands will make you more willing to walk. Maybe when you are on break or something you can take a short walk or something. This is just my view of it.

Walking is also a good way of thinking. I'm not really sure how to describe it, but walking helps me clear my mind and relieve stress.

[Miss Rosario]

I'm terrible at exercising regularly. Every time I think about doing it I either get "conveniently distracted" or am too lazy to attempt anything. During the school year I stay up to date with running and fitness, but during the summer it all falls back. I always have great plans, but it's soso hard to get motivated!

Lately, however, I've been trying to get some walking in every day. It helps to lessen depression, or so my doctor told me. So hey - anything that works!

As for eating habits, I get good amounts vegetables, fruit, dairy, and grains. My mom is a dietician, and I come from a family where fruit is desert and meat/meat replacements are both no-no's (I can count the times I've ever eaten meat on one hand, lol). We grow our own garden vegetables, and have whole wheat everything instead of white. So I don't have issues with junk food, as it's never around the house; it will doubtlessly become an problem once I move out on my own, though. I have a huge special place in my heart just for salty stuff, cheese (!!!), and sweets. And chocolate. And iced tea. Eep.

I've found a good sleeping schedule to be very helpful, Bella. Not only does one feel more awake and alert, but it seems to keep me more in shape too. It's just so hard, when I want to stay up really late (or early, rather) to write, read, and whatnot. I'm working on it. Especially with school just around the corner; I NEED sleep this year. Oh yeah, and when you get to sleep at a good time you're not as liable to take those loverly midnight snacks (or the one o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock ones either).

[IloveFauns]

It is opposite with me, in the summer i do a lot and during school, i am to tired.

[johobbit]

'Tis interesting reading about everyone's habits and lifestyles.

Not being overly young anymore , I have made it a point to keep very active, both in exercise and trying to consume a goodly amount of fruit and vegetables every day ... also water. Whereas I used to enjoy white bread, I began switching to whole grain a number of years ago now, and can hardly abide the thought of white anymore. And since we enjoy pasta, thankfully there are now whole wheat options out there. When I bake, I always include more than half whole wheat flour: I would use it all, but some of my family doesn't care for that taste in full force.

My food weaknesses? Very old cheese and ... ♥ chocolate ♥. I don't care for any hot drinks (although I might have hot chocolate once or twice a winter), drinking only cold drinks, particularly water, natural fruit juices, and 1% milk. And I loooooooooove salads, especially when I don't have to make them, heehee. Actually, I'm known around town (and even further afield) as the gal who has a salad for dessert. Yes, 'tis a very common occurrence with me.

As for exercise, my two favourites are swimming and walking. I love the water so much that often I wonder whether I should have been born a fish (preferable dolphin ).

In the summer, I swim laps almost every day (we just made our rectangle pool into a lap pool, with the deep end off to one side), and in the colder weather I am in our community pool twice a week.

The heat really bothers me, so I always miss my regular walks each summer, but on any morning that has had a hint of autumn in it, I get out around 6 a.m., jog for 15 minutes or so, then brisk-walk for 30. So, understandably, I'm longing for falltime, which is just around the corner. I especially love being out under the stars, so once the daylight hours lessen more, I'll also be out in the evening for the same amount of time—jogging, then a energetic walk.

As for sleep, I go to bed anywhere between 10 and 11:30, and the alarm goes off at 5:45 a.m. I'm a light sleeper, but if the house is quiet, I sleep 'like a log', and wake very rested and raring to begin the day.

[Conina]

I liked reading everybody's post.

Aslanisthebest, Indian food is amazing. A friend gave me a recipe for potato curry and we made it last night and it was so good. It called for a spice I'd never heard of before called Garam Masala, which made it taste more authentic than other recipes I've tried.

I put on weight at college (about 25 pounds ) I'd say it was from eating fried cafeteria food, junk food while studying and not exercising enough. I'd go hiking every Saturday afternoon with a group of friends but then we'd all go out for pizza or ice cream which somewhat counteracted the good of the hike. Sigh...

This last year I have been back at home. My mom and I both cook pretty healthy when left to our own devices. We cook with lots of fruits, veggies & whole wheat everything, almost no meat/meat replacements.

Since March I've had a rule for myself of exercising a minimum of 4 times a week. I do 1 hour yoga class or else spend an hour at the elyptical then lift weights at the gym, or go on walks or hikes. That's worked better than any other exercise plan, I've ever come up. This one I actually have stuck with. It will be Wednesday and I'll think, "Okay, I went hiking Sunday, and yoga Tuesday, I'd better go to the gym today)

The first fifteen pounds came off pretty easily with those changes. So I have ten pounds left to drop in order to reach my pre-college weight. And those ones seem a little more stubborn. But, I've found that spicy food and herbal tea are my friends in helping me not crave the junk food I got used to eating at college and the exercising 4 times a week has been awesome. Maybe this will be the week, I finally break into that final ten.

[MoonlightDancer]

I gained alot of weight at college too., like 20 pounds. I honestly don't know how it happened because I avoided fried foods like the plague, and all I kept in my dorm for late night snacking was water, green tea, carrots, apples, yogurt, soy milk, and fat free oatmeal. I would occasionally have pita chips but very rarely. Plus I went to the gym 5 days a week. My usual workout was this: 30 min on the ellyptical, run 2 miles, walk 1 mile, 15 minutes on the stairmaster, then dumbbells, ab repetitions, and the muscle machines. However, the weight I gained was NOT muscle. So it must have been the drinks.

I've been feeling pretty down on myself since gaining the weight, I've been running everyday this summer and increasing the distance but I just can't seem to lose any of it. My future apartment roommate (my best friend) is also trying to lose weight, so I'm hoping we'll both keep each other accountable and no unhealthy food in the apartment! lol