Weight Debate

Both physical activity and exercise refer to the voluntary movements you do that burn calories.

Physical Activities
Physical activities are activities that get your body moving such as gardening, walking the dog, raking leaves, and taking the stairs instead of the elevator.

Exercise
Exercise is a form of physical activity that is specifically planned, structured, and repetitive such as weight training, tai chi, or an aerobics class.

Physical activity and exercise are both important and can help improve your ability to do the everyday activities you enjoy.

There are many ways to be active every day. Find something you enjoy doing, include it in your regular routine, and try to increase your level of activity over time.

More than 2/3′s of older adults don’t engage in regular physical activity.

Many adults who are 90 years old and older, who have become physically frail from inactivity can more than double their strength through simple exercises in a fairly short time.

For these adults, that can mean the difference between being able to get up from a chair by themselves or having to remain seated until someone is available to help them get up.

In one study, some adults 80 years old and older were able to progress from using walkers to using canes after doing simple muscle building exercises for just 10 weeks.

61 year old Ron Ekovich, of Leesville, South Carolina says, “Exercise is like a savings account. The more you put in, the more you’re going to get out of it.”

Whatever your age, stay as physically active as you can. Always talk with your doctor first before starting a new exercise program, so that you will feel safe and that you are doing the right thing.

There are certain foods and beverages that can harm your baby if you eat or drink them while you are pregnant. Here is a general list of foods and beverages that you should avoid while you are pregnant:

• Alcohol - Instead of drinking beer, wine, or a mixed drink, enjoy apple cider, tomato juice, sparkling water, or other nonalcoholic beverages.
• Fish that may have high levels of methyl-mercury - a substance that can build up in fish and harm an unborn baby. Don’t eat more than 12 ounces of any fish per week – that equals to four 3 ounce servings, each about the size of a deck of cards. During pregnancy, do not eat:
  • Shark
  • Swordfish
  • King mackerel
  • Tilefish
• Soft cheeses such as feta, Brie, and goat cheese and ready-to-eat meats including lunch meats, hot dogs, and deli meats. These foods may contain bacteria called listeria that are harmful to unborn babies. Cooking lunch meats, hot dogs, and deli meats until steaming hot can kill the bacteria and make these meats safe to eat.
• Raw or undercooked meat, fish, and poultry. Avoid raw fish dishes, such as sashimi and some types of sushi and ceviche. When raw or undercooked, these foods may contain harmful bacteria. Cook fish, meat, and poultry thoroughly before you eat them.
• Large amounts of caffeine in beverages. If you are a heavy coffee, tea, or soda drinker, talk to your doctor about whether you should cut back on caffeine. You can try a decaffeinated version of your favorite beverage, a mug of warm low fat or fat free milk, or sparkling mineral water.
• Anything that is not food. Some pregnant women may crave something that is not food, such as laundry starch or clay. Talk to your doctor if you crave something that is not food.

Ask your doctor for a complete list of foods and beverages that you should avoid while you are pregnant.

Source: www.win.niddk.nih.gov

Some informal guidelines you can use to estimate how much effort you are putting into your endurance activities are listed below:

• Talking
  Talking does not take much effort during moderate activity. During vigorous activity, talking is difficult.
• Perspire
  If you tend to perspire, you probably will not sweat during light activity, except on hot days. You will sweat during vigorous or sustained moderate activity.
• Muscles
  Your muscles may get a rubbery feeling after vigorous activity, but they won’t after moderate activity.

Endurance exercises are any activity that increases your heart rate and breathing for an extended period of time. Some examples are walking, jogging, raking, and swimming.

A doctor who specializes in exercise for older adults tells her patients this about how hard they should work during endurance activities: “If you can’t talk while you’re exercising, it’s too difficult. If you can sing a song from an opera, it’s too easy!”

Moderate Activities:
These activities are also good for the average older adult. Some older adults, especially those who have been inactive for a long time, will need to work up to these activities gradually.

• Bicycling
• Cycling on a stationary bicycle
• Dancing
• Gardening – mowing, raking
• Golf, without a cart
• Mopping or scrubbing floor
• Rowing
• Swimming
• Tennis – doubles
• Volleyball
• Walking briskly on a level surface

Vigorous Activities:
People who have been inactive for a long time or who have some of the health risks should not start out with these activities.

• Brisk bicycling up hills
• Climbing stairs or hills
• Cross-country skiing
• Digging holes
• Downhill skiing
• Hiking
• Jogging
• Shoveling snow
• Swimming laps
• Tennis – singles

Levels of Physical Activity

Inactive

• Being inactive is unhealthy
• Summary of overall health benefits – None!!

Low

• Fewer than 150 minutes a week
• Summary of overall health benefits – Some.
• Note that low levels of activity are clearly preferable to an inactive lifestyle.

Medium

• 150 minutes to 300 minutes a week
• Summary of overall health benefits – Substantial!!
• Activity at the high end of this range has additional and more extensive health benefits than activity at the low end.

High

• More than 300 minutes a week
• Summary of overall health benefits – Additional.
• Current science does not allow researchers to identify an upper limit of activity above which there are no additional health benefits.

If you are a healthy woman who is pregnant and you are not already highly active or doing vigorous intensity activity, you should get at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity a week during your pregnancy and the postpartum period. It is best to spread this activity throughout the week.

If you are pregnant and you engage in vigorous intensity aerobic activity or if you are highly active, you can continue physical activity during your pregnancy and the postpartum period, provided that you remain healthy and discuss with your doctor how and when activity should be adjusted over time.

Almost all women can and should be physically active during pregnancy, but talk to your doctor first, particularly if you have high blood pressure, diabetes, anemia, bleeding, or other disorders, or if you are obese or underweight.

Regular, moderate intensity physical activity during pregnancy may:

• Help you and your baby to gain the proper amounts of weight.
• Reduce the discomforts of pregnancy, such as backaches, leg cramps, constipation, bloating, and swelling.
• Reduce your risk for gestational diabetes – diabetes found for the first time when a woman is pregnant.
• Improve your mood and energy level.
• Improve your sleep.
• Help you have an easier, shorter labor.
• Help you to recover from delivery and return to a healthy weight faster.

This arm raise exercise strengthens your shoulder muscles.

• For older people, you can sit in an armless chair with your back supported by the back of the chair.
• Keep your feet flat on the floor even with your shoulders.
• Hold hand weights straight down at your sides, with palms facing inward.
• Raise both your arms up to the side, shoulder height.
• Hold the position for 1 second.
• Slowly lower your arms to your sides. Pause.
• Repeat 8 to 15 times.
• Rest, then do another set of 8 to 15 repetitions.

Have you ever wondered what makes your muscles look bigger when you flex them – when you “make a muscle” with your biceps, for example?

Muscle cells contain long strands of protein lying next to each other. When you want your muscles to move, your brain signals your nerves to stimulate them. A chemical reaction in your muscles follows, causing the long strands of protein to slide toward and over each other, shortening the length of your muscle cells. When you “make a muscle” and you see your muscle bunch up and bulge, you are actually watching it shorten as the protein strands slide over each other.

When you do challenging muscle-building exercises on a regular basis, the bundles of protein strands inside your muscle cells grow bigger.

Eating a variety of food everyday will give you all the vitamins and minerals you need for good health and peak performance.

Exceptions include:

• Active people who follow strict vegetarian diets.
• People who avoid an entire group of foods.
• People who eat less than 1800 calories a day.

If you fall into any of these categories, you may want to take a multivitamin and mineral supplement (pill), which may provide the vitamins and minerals you are missing in your diet.

Taking large doses of vitamins and minerals will not help your performance and may be bad for your health. Vitamins and minerals do not supply the body with energy and, therefore are not a substitute for carbohydrates.

This side leg raise strengthens your muscles at the sides of your hips and thighs. Use ankle weights, if you are ready.

• Stand straight, directly behind a table or a chair, with your feet slightly apart.
• Hold the table or chair with one hand for balance if you need to.
• Take 3 seconds to slowly lift one leg 6 to 12 inches out to the side, keeping your back and both legs straight. Don’t point your toes outward – keep them facing forward.
• Hold position for 1 second.
• Take 3 seconds to slowly lower your leg all the way down to the starting position, then pause.
• Repeat with your other leg.
• Alternate your legs until you have done 8 to 15 repetitions with each leg.
• Rest, then do another set of 8 to 15 alternating repetitions.