WellDunn Fitness

Healthy pregnancy Part 4

Leticia — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:47:51 +0000

So much to say, so little time!

Went to the store today with my two little ones (3 and 1). We needed to buy food for the house and I won’t have as much time during the week but what a tiring thing. The good thing is that they both fell asleep in the car on the way home and I have time to write this blog.

I had someone ask me yesterday if I was done having kids. I say, emphatically, yes! I could have stopped at one! There are people out there who have many more than two, and they are great parents, but I could not handle more than 2 right now and stay sane. I wonder sometimes if that is a bad thing. I have got to stay within my limits. That’s not to say that if we had an oops, I would not love it and accept it the same as my other kids. Of course I would. So, kudos to all of you parents out there that have more than two and are doing great with it.

Now on to pregnancy. I found with my first pregnancy, it all seemed a mystery. Even if you told me something straightforward like, “you won’t have as much bladder control” it still seemed mysterious to me. I now know that it is not mysterious at all. I get “it” whatever that may be. There is so much you learn and appreciate post parent that you didn’t know or believe preparent. It’s a journey. So being on that journey, keep your mind open to the possibilities. Be flexible, relinquish control, because all of those things help to make your child happy and healthy and confident.

I guess what I am saying is that the more relaxed you are, the healthier you will be, your child will be and your family will be.

Being healthy during pregnancy part 3

Leticia — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 00:40:22 +0000

After you have decided to get pregnant and are already on a workout program and healthy eating lifestyle plan, pregnancy would be the next step. Sometimes it’s easy and sometimes it’s not. But If you are “trying” whether it’s with gusto or not, the goal is the same. Get pregnant and carry a healthy baby to term. The pregnancy part is a different kind of exercise that is not my focus today, so let’s move on to after conception.

Say you are now pregnant and you want to exercise but aren’t sure how to start. The most important thing to note is not to change your basic routine you were doing before you got pregnant. So, if you didn’t workout before, don’t start until your second trimester. Conversely, If you were running marathons before you got pregnant and probably during, continue with your training. Second most important thing is Listen to your body! I was training for races when I conceived both my kids. I found out right before the races and still ran them. Unlike other races, these were different because I had to fuel more often and my legs felt like lead as I ran. It was not as fun, so I stopped running soon after. I was also feeling sick, nauseous and tired so that caused me to slow down as well. I think those are all good reasons to change your habits but at least I went down in activity level and not up. Up is the more dangerous of the two.

So say you are in your second trimester and feeling great. You can start training (cardio and weights) and increase your exercise level during this time. When you hit your third trimester, you should start to slow down. You’ll know what to do as you listen to what your body tells you.

Now say you have not done any exercise during the first and second trimester. Should you start something during the third? No. That’s an emphatic no. Your body is going through so many changes, and is so out of it’s normal comfort zone that the only safe exercise is walking and your regular daily activity like climbing your household stairs, vacuuming, etc.

Remember, this time, unlike any other, is about the baby and not you. What you do to yourself directly impacts your baby, but you should not be worried about losing weight. Healthy weight is good!

More to come…

Pregnancy and fitness part 2

Leticia — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 03:16:38 +0000

Staying healthy during pregnancy=very important. But staying healthy as a parent is also really important. I don’t want to get off track though. I am recently back from a holiday with the family, and I have to share something that I notice everyday. Lots of pregnant women! I don’t know if their has been an influx but I do know that the modern woman doesn’t slow down or stop during pregnancy, they continue doing what they normally do everyday. I find it inspiring when I see someone who is pregnant working out or on their bike, or even walking their dog. It is hard to do, especially in your third trimester when you are big and uncomfortable and waddling along. Exercise is often the last thing on your mind. It is the best thing you can do for you and that baby! So shout out to all of you ladies out there who are confident doing it all until the end, keep up the good work!

Being healthy during pregnancy

Leticia — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 00:57:57 +0000

This is a subject near and dear to my heart because I have had two children and with every journey through pregnancy, being healthy was very important to me. I feel that it is so important to be the best person you can be when you are pregnant, and then continue that way once you have the baby. You are the best example that child can have.

Let’s start at the beginning. Before you get pregnant, what can you do. First, stop smoking and doing drugs (legal and illegal). That’s a no-brainer and yet there are people out there who don’t even think about it. So STOP! And never start again! With the smoking and illegal stuff of course, some people have to take medication, prescribed by their doctor-that’s important.

Next, start cutting back on alchohol. Another no-brainer. Don’t wait until you are pregnant to stop drinking, phase it out. Of course a lot of people get pregnant without knowing it-this is for those that are planning ahead of time. Start thinking about how you can best prepare this little person for the world and number one thing you can do is give him/her the right nutrition. So be healthy. Eat lots of vegies, fruits, whole grain breads and grains. Lots of water, little coffee, and altogether foods that are natural. Meaning not in a box or pre-prepared in the frozen section. Read labels. No MSG, very little preservatives, very little salt and processed sugar. Don’t assume that things are safe, make sure they are- check the labels on your detergents, your cleaning products, etc. Anything can be harmful, even the smell of things.

Get into an exercise routine. Walk, jog, bike, play sports, take a class, follow a program. Whatever works for you. To make sure it is balanced, talk to a professional-like a personal trainer, or a friend who has had some experience. Be active if you aren’t already. If you already are and have a routine you really like stay with it. You can continue the routine as you try to get pregnant and then when you are pregnant. If you haven’t started an exercise routine before you get pregnant, the rule is you can’t start one during the first 3 months of pregnancy.

If you want to be your best, start early.

This is the first part of several so stay tuned and I will continue in a few days.

Signing off,

Leticia Martin Dunn

WellDunn Fitness

welldunnfitness.com

The last of the 10lbs.

Leticia — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 05:25:25 +0000

Here is the last excerpt from my suggestions on how to lose those pesky last 10 lbs.
Confidence is so important yet so lacking by a lot of us. I am talking about overall confidence not piecemeal confidence. To be clear, piecemeal confidence is when you have one strength like you run well, or you play an instrument well, and you have confidence around that but you don’t have confidence about anything else in your life. Overall confidence means that you feel comfortable in most circumstances and with your overall self, inside and out. You make no excuses for who you are and what you look like. It is not arrogance or pretending pleasantries, but being your true self and not needing to prove yourself.
I don’t really understand why it is so hard to feel that way. Many of us lose any confidence we have around puberty and then spend many years as adults regaining it.
Let’s get back to why confidence has anything to do with losing weight.
Being sure of yourself and comfortable with who you are reduces stress. Why you wonder? Well, your internal dialogue for one. People who are not confident have a very negative internal dialogue passing through their thoughts many moments of the day. Just imagine for a second someone telling you how bad you are on a daily basis. For one, you wouldn’t put up with it but two, after some time, it would undermine your confidence. Many of us do the same thing to ourselves without even realizing that we are doing it.
So let’s review. You are telling yourself that you are a bad person, that you look ugly, that your thighs are fat, that you can’t do anything right, etc.
Those thoughts lead to feeling sad, feeling inadequate, feeling not good enough and not loveable. When you feel like that most of the time, it is impossible to feel confident. You get sicker faster, you are more prone to disease, you are more likely to get depressed.
Now is it starting to get more clear why you are under stress when you are not confident in yourself?
Just a side note to clear this up a bit. This is not set in stone. There are many variations and reasons why someone may not be confident and under stress. I am just addressing one point only.
Any kind of stress is proven to counter the body’s ability to shed pounds.
Now having confidence will help you to shed those last 10 or even one pound because you have an easier time finding the balance you are looking for when trying to shed the last 10.
Believing in yourself helps you to have the confidence that you CAN lose those 10 lbs, or any weight.
How do you get confidence when you don’t have it? Internal dialogue is one way. Change it from negative thoughts to positive thoughts. Everytime you have a negative thought, change it to a positive thought instead. For example, I can’t do that triathlon, try -I could do that triathlon instead. Or, my thighs are fat, try -I have an hourglass figure instead.
There are other ways too, but there are many books in the self help section that can help you with that.
Most importantly: take the time to get to know yourself and your special abilities and interests. Spend some time alone, enjoy your own company. Make friends who share the same interests and who support you in your positive endeavors.
A good friend is going to accept your changes and encourage you to reach your goals.
Losing ten pounds is hard, especially your last 10 before your goal weight. Being balanced through confidence, hydration, sleeping 8 hrs, exercise and a healthy balanced diet will help.
Changing your everyday life to incorporate these points and after time they will become a way of life and help you to keep it off!

Losing Weight or balance?

Leticia — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 02:19:15 +0000

Thanks to everyone for sending their comments. I love to hear from you.

So I am calling this Losing Weight but I want to change it. It’s just too mainstream for me. It’s not really about losing weight, or it shouldn’t be. If it starts that way and morfs into something more balanced that’s OK too.

Words matter. What we think and say has meaning to us and to others. The words we use to describe things can have a big impact on the people around us and on us too. So, having said that I should call it finding balance.

I call it finding balance because it is more than just looking good. That is why most people want to lose weight. Admit it, you want your close to hang better on your body. You may also want your spouse or significant other to be attracted to you. Most of us, even if we won’t admit it, want to lose weight for cosmetic reasons. I think that’s OK because the health usually follows and that’s what is more important. Being healthy.

So far I have covered exercise, sleep, food, I have a few topics left- water and internal confidence are the last two. Before I start, I want to mention something that my friend learned. She was listening to a famous psychologist on the TV who mentioned a book about diet. It is called “The Belly Fat Cure” by Jorge Cruise. I automatically thought “could this be another gimmick?” but when I heard the name of the psychologist I was more willing to listen. Anyway, she told me about the book a little. The premise is that we eat too much sugar in our diets (including natural fruits) than we should eat. If you limit the amount of sugar you consume, you will lose 4-9 lbs a week in Belly fat. I am mentioning this book NOT to promote it but to use it as an example of all the confusing information there is out there about diets. Lots of people write books about what kind of diet you should eat to be skinny. Some of these “diets” are harmful. A diet that you should only do for a short period of time is not a diet, it’s dangerous. A diet is the way you eat all of the time. It’s a way of life. Anyway, I am not opposed to this book because to me it is helping us to learn about sugars and why they are not good for us in large quantities. My friend is going to try this out and I’ll let you know how it worked for her.

So, hydration. Hydrating your body is simpler than it used to be. They (the scientists) used to insist that we should be consuming 8 glasses a day or water minimum on top of all the foods that we consumed in a day. Now, we know that vegies and fruits contribute to those 8 glasses, so do things like soup and juice.

What I find scary, is that a lot of us do not drink any water at all! No water? What? I don’t get it. You don’t like water? What’s not to like! It’s refreshing, good for you and calorie free! How could you do any better? A lot of people drink pop. Pop? Really? On what planet does it make sense to grab a pop instead of water? Even a diet pop is not refreshing! I know a lot of you disagree with me. The bottom line is, pop and juice and alcohol have a lot of calories in them and very little to no nutritional value. If you are trying to be healthy and lose weight NEVER drink your calories. Remember that. It is very important. Would you rather eat that drink? It is better for you get your calories from food than from drink. So start drinking less juice and pop, and even less alcohol (leave it for special occasions) and grab some water instead. I am getting thirsty just writing this.

On top of all of this, pop, even diet pop, has been proven to contribute to obesity. Yes obesity! That is serious stuff! I don’t think most people want to be obese. My father in law, stopped drinking pop once, he lost his beer belly! It wasn’t really a beer belly by the way…

I am so adamant about pop, that my kids are not allowed to drink it and I hope to sway them away from it as they get older. It is just one of those “consumables” that is not worth our time.

Just want to make a side note here: fruit juices (natural ones) are great every once in a while and milk is a great food. My main goal in this blog are to focus on the foods you eat more than the things you drink to get your nutrients and calories.

I will leave the confidence to the next blog. That one will be long!

Signing off- Leticia

That last 10 lbs.

Leticia — Wed, 19 May 2010 02:57:09 +0000

It’s been too long since I have updated this blog. I’ve been moving out of my house, moving into a temporary house, and waiting to move into our new house…
Anyway, I was talking about balance. So easy to say but so hard to do.
A wise person once said to me. We are all on a journey called life. When we are trying to achieve a goal, we are trying to change behavior and patterns that have been set for a long time. To start with, you will have peaks and valleys. The valleys will be deep and the peaks high. But as you practice balance, those peaks and valleys begin to meet and become more of a unifying line than a wavy line.
So our current topic is cardio. We talked about working hard and getting your heart rate up. It is also beneficial to be more physical in your daily life.
Taking the stairs instead of the elevator (up and down), walking to the store or work, etc. Anything that keeps you moving.
I do a lot every day and even when I am not working out I am moving constantly.
For a year I had a job where I was sitting at a desk all day. I gained 10 lbs in that year. When I started working as a Personal Trainer, I lost it but the difference in my exercise was minimal. The biggest change was that I was no longer sitting on my butt all day. Moving around burns calories. Go out and walk those dogs, play with your kids, come up with silly games, do things with friends like riding your bike, roller blading, etc. Make it fun.
Sleep. That’s a big one. Your body repairs when at rest. Your body heals when at rest. Your body releases hormones when at rest.
Many of us know these things and yet we still cheat our bodies of sleep at night. Eight full hours of uninterupted sleep is what we needed to feel rested for the next day.
We often can get too wound up in life to get to bed at the right time and get the eight hours we need. Without the proper rest, your body goes into survival mode. While in survival mode, the body is under stress. The body, generally, does not function normally while under stress because it is in fight or flight and doing whatever it can to survive. When your body does not function normally and is in fight or flight, it will not release pounds. It needs all the energy it can get so it’s going to hold onto what you have.
So number one thing = start sleeping eight hours a night.
On that note, it’s time for me to go to bed. Kids are down, now it’s my turn!

The stuborn 10!

Leticia — Sat, 01 May 2010 21:07:08 +0000

Exercise is the second portion of the equation. Specifically cardiovascular activity.
We all know that exercise is important to health right? What we don’t know is how much, and to what intensity. It’s a complicated formula when you are just learning but it will seem like common sense when you are practicing it.
Most importantly- do something! That’s not hard, walk, run, ride, jog, swim, hike, speed walk, play a sport, etc. The list goes on. So how often? 6 days a week for at least one hour. The intensity does not have to be high but you do have to get your heart rate up to your personal training zone.
That might work for some of you sedentary people to lose those 10 lbs but for most of us, it will not be enough.
The majority of the population needs to work harder than they are to see a difference. To do that, you need to be working within the higher to middle end of your personal target heart rate zone.
That means you are huffing and puffing but still able to maintain a conversation.
If you are out of breath and unable to speak, that is not bad, but only for short periods of time. Mostly, you should be able to speak.

The biggest misconception is that people think they are working hard enough when they are not. Most of us could work a lot harder than we do.
Have you ever seen the biggest loser show? It’s been on for several years and is very inspiring to watch. The people on the show, start off obese and needing to lose a lot more than 10 lbs. When the trainers get a hold of them on the first day, they start pushing them right away. Within a couple of weeks, they are training like athletes and doing things they never thought they would do. Even more inspiring, they no longer need to take medication for diabetes or other health related issues.
I watch that show and think “there is nothing we cannot do.”
If obese people can run 5 km, then so can someone who is 10 lbs overweight.
I need to mention one more thing before I sign off for today.
Treat yourself like you would your best friend. Encourage, support and love yourself. Once you do that, those 10 lbs may melt off.

The dreaded 10

Leticia — Sat, 01 May 2010 00:00:44 +0000

I am sitting here watching my 14 month old play with a shake and go car, and I can’t help but think that I hope she has less weight issues than I ever did.
Working on the last 10 lbs can make anyone feel frustrated. What is the best way? You may tell yourself “If I don’t lose 10, but 8, is it really going to make me less happy?” Is it the weight or is it something else?
There is no doubt that often losing weight is tied into something emotional, but many of us do not find that out until we have reached our goal weight first. Then when we discover we are still unhappy and unsatisfied, we review and discover it was much more than those dreaded pounds.
For those of you who are just determined to do it, and want to do it the right way, read on. For those of you who are looking for a quick fix, move on.
YOU want long term. YOU choose health over vanity. Vanity is a close second though!
When my daughter has the need to talk about it or lose weight at all, here is the advice I would give her and now, that I give you.
Eat less, exercise, sleep 8 hrs a night, drink water, and be happy with who you are. That’s right, it’s a long list. So start with the first: Eat less.
Most of us, even if we eat healthy, consume too many calories a day. If you exercise (everyone should every day) then those extra calories may be burnt off and you are indeed consuming enough. If you are sedentary, especially if you are 40+ the amount of calories needed a day, decreases. It sucks! We all like our food and want to eat whatever we want whenever we want. But we also want to be skinny. I say, That’s OK! Why? Because restriction often leads to destruction. If you cut yourself off from everything you love to eat, you are more likely to fall off your healthy food plan than if you allow yourself to eat small portions of what you love. Allow yourself to have it, just limit the amount. Have a square of chocolate, not the whole bar. Have one bite of pie, not the whole piece or the whole pie.
Start eating your main meals with a smaller plate. Dinner plates are big. Using a smaller plate, you serve yourself a smaller portion.
Giving yourself the permission to eat what you love, will decrease the need to eat emotionally because you are not depriving yourself of anything.
To recap, eating well and healthily is important, but so is the amount of calories you bring in a day. If there is a good balance, you can be healthy, satisfied, and skinny!
See tomorrow for more on losing the last 10.

WellDunn Fitness- Getting Fit Tip

Leticia — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:25:02 +0000

As parents, we want to provide the best for our kids. What’s better than giving them the gift of health. Even newborns can benefit from watching mom working out or just being with mom as she goes for a walk outdoors.