Healthy Lifestyle More Important Than Dieting

Spring break is fast approaching myself and other University of Florida students.

It is important to maintain a healthy diet while on vacation. However, Americans have been doing a better job of eating less fast food. But our food intake is still much higher than it should be according to the Centers of Disease Control. The CDC says maintaining a healthy weight is not about dieting but adopting a healthy lifestyle.

It is important not to stray away from the healthy habits you have learned while enjoying some time off.  If you are going somewhere exciting for spring break, you might be worried about what you are going to eat. Chances are those delicious meals probably might be making you feel a tad bit guilty after you finish dining. However, there are a few easy steps to avoid this guilt trip and to enjoy your mealtimes while you are kicking back somewhere and relaxing.

If you aren't able to hit the gym, there are some workouts you can do without weights or access to a fitness center.

I will try to implement this workout while also going on some distance runs while I enjoy my time off with family and friends.

Run Fit: Rest Days and Running Hills

Being busy with class, work, and station duty sort of forced my hand but it also gave my body enough rest from my last run. I really want to be better at giving my body ample rest so I don't get injured.

After running six miles yesterday, I plan to give my body a few days off and to hydrate and eat properly for my next run hopefully on Friday.

Lisa Tamati will share the importance of getting the most out of your running program by giving your body rest and changing up your pace and your course in order to get maximum results in this short and sweet video.

Running Tips : How to Stretch Before & After a Run

After taking a few days off, I went for another distance run yesterday morning. I was really proud with my six mile run because I decided to do that rather than take a two hour nap. Half of the battle of running is just getting the motivation to go out there and run. I listened to my body and was careful not to over due it after giving my body a few days off.

It is really important to stretch before and after a run. I hope this YouTube video can help give you a routine and get you in the habit of stretching in order to prevent injury.

Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug

“Don’t make me think” reinforces the point that when web site makes you stop and think about what you’re doing, it is making your life more complicated, and chances are isn’t designed to get the most out of it.

Generally speaking, no one usually wants to carry a heavier load than is necessary. That could mean overloading your cart at a supermarket or trying to download too many files at once from your computer. So why should we do this to our brain? Things that stop and make you think add to your brain’s workload, which really drives the point home that being clear in what we want to articulate. A clearer message prevents people from getting lost and feeling unsure on how to react.

I have really found this to be true in my own experience. I regularly look up sites related to sports and news. I have a game plan on what I want to find and sort of have a list of sites that I routinely go to ESPN in order to get up to date on the latest breaking news.

Steve Krug offers some food for thought on how people use the web. Krug points out most people don’t read a web page in it’s entirety, but skim it for the first thing that looks appealing, and then follow the link they were attracted to. He adds people really don’t mess around trying to get an in-depth feel of a web site. I will again use my example of ESPN. Usually ESPN has a featured story that they have a video to, I'll usually play the video and follow the various links they send me to.

Krug really tried to emphasize the importance of designing your website for scanning, not reading. He gave tips on how to make your site friendlier to the eye like clearly defining portions of a page and what is clickable and not "clickable." I really think ESPN does a good job of this. They list the stories they have in short headlines that give you the story and the option of pointing and clicking to get more detail about stories that interest you. 

He also urged to keep writing for the web brief and make the page easy to navigate.  Page names are important and should match what you click to get there. Tabs should be your best friends of navigating because they are hard to miss and well, make the site look more legit.

Krug spoke about a method he liked to use called the “trunk test.” He explained as if you’ve been blindfolded and locked in a car truck, you should still be able to answer certain questions about a site immediately once your blindfold is taken off. These questions include: What site is it? What page am I on? What major sections does this site have? Where can I go from here? Where am I in relation to the rest of the site? Where can I go to search?

I can answer all of the "trunk test" questions. The site is ESPN. I'm on the home page. The site is divided by all of the sports stories of the day or by each individual sport. You can find headlines of stories that grab your attention and follow them to other mediums. The search bar is located in the top right hand corner of the page.

You can’t navigate with an effective home page. They should allow you how to get what you want from the site and to sort of push you to things that you really didn’t intend to find once you found the site. Home pages should include taglines and welcome blurbs in order to get the person to avoid going back to their search engine.

Krug was also devoted to get his message a cross with a list of “Do’s” and “Don’ts.” Like telling people what they want to do and making the site as user friendly. Some of the don’ts where to not hiding information potential users wanted to find and don’t get too bent out of shape with fancy features, which serve mainly as distracters.

I found the book to be very helpful and guide I intend to use and share with some of my friends. Its to the point, filled with useful info, and pictures which add to Krug’s delivery.

Latest Workout

I was able to find time today and go to the gym. I worked out my upper body and worked on my abs.

I did six sets of fifteen repetitions of my dumb bell bench press using fifty pound weights in order to work on my chest. Whatever you do for chest I also made sure I worked out my back in order to maintain balance.

Following those workouts, I worked on shoulders with a shoulder press using thirty-five pound dumb bells. I did five sets of twelve repetitions.

I did some bicep curls also using dumb bells but raised the weight I was using to thirty five pounds. Since it has been a while I have been at this weight I only did three sets of eight in order not to strain my muscles too much. I then wrapped up my upper body routine with some triceps.

I finished off with some abs and did some planks to cool off a little bit. Looking forward to drinking some protein to recover for my next gym session.

Going The Distance

I remember when running used to be a form of punishment for me. When I was younger, I wasn't the most athletic kid around. I struggled with my weight since I was in the second grade and quickly ballooned.

I believed it became a cycle that literally fed into compounding and making my problem a lot worse. The combination of low self-esteem, a sedentary lifestyle, and unhealthy eating habits would've led to a future with with health problems and a shorter lifespan.

When I made the decision to losing weight and not just losing weight but to undergo a transformation. I remember watching Extreme Makeover: Extreme Weight Loss edition and realizing that if I continued on my path I would lead a life similar to the morbidly obese Americans that were featured on the weekly shows. I would ask my mother and sister if I was fat and they of course answered "No".

Despite this encouragement, I knew they were lying to protect my feelings which did not help matters. But I continued to eat.

I lost 30lbs during my senior year but following my car accident during Spring Break I eventually gained all of the weight I lost back by June of 2012. I was unhappy and knew that a change was needed. I tried sprinting because I knew I could only sustain running short spurts once spring classes ended in early May.

However, the weight kept piling on and I was confused on why these 3 or 4 sets of sprints were not peeling away the fat. I knew the answer, the fact that I was addicted to how food made me feel less empty.

I realized a workout regime consisting of cardiovascular workouts, weightlifting, and adopting healthy eating habits were the way to go.

I used to hate running. But now I wonder where would I be without it. I love running.

Running has allowed me to leave my struggles with weight in the past. Today was my most recent weigh in and I tip the scales at 163lbs, just five lbs away from my goal of losing 70 since the end of June.

For the first time in my life, I have confidence in the way I look and feel that those five lbs are unnecessary. I have come so far and realize it is more important to celebrate and cherish my work and also strive to maintain it.

I look forward to continue to go the distance.