These are the estimated amounts of calories needed per day to maintain calorie balance for various age groups and gender at three different levels of physical activity – sedentary, moderately active, and active. read more »
You may already be eating a balanced diet and don’t even know it. The sample menu below provides the “minimum amount recommended” for each of the food groups from the USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans. You might even have room to add more grains or fruits and vegetables.
A Sample Menu read more »
Usually, the more vigorous activities a person engages in, and the more time they spend doing it, the more health benefits they will get. When a person cannot do vigorous intensity activities, moderate intensity activities can be an excellent fitness choice for them.
Vigorous Intensity Activities
Vigorous activities are especially helpful for conditioning a persons heart and lungs. A person will also burn more calories doing vigorous activities than those that are less vigorous. read more »
Swimming and exercising in water is a great way to get regular aerobic activity. Two and a half hours of aerobic activity per week, like swimming, can decrease your risk of chronic illnesses.
Water-based exercise is a non-weightbearing exercise. Non-weight-bearing activities, like swimming and water workouts, put less stress on your joints because you don’t have to lift or push your own weight. read more »
A Sample Weekly Schedule
Sunday - Stretch – Aerobic activity
Monday - Stretch – Aerobic activity – Strength Training
Tuesday - Stretch – Aerobic activity
Wednesday - Stretch – Aerobic activity – Strength Training
Thursday - Stretch – Aerobic activity
Friday - Stretch – Aerobic activity – Strength Training
Saturday - Stretch – Aerobic activity read more »
Your heart rate is a good method for judging how hard you should exercise during endurance activities like running, cycling, swimming, and other aerobic activities you do.
Your maximum heart rate is the fastest your heart can beat, based on your age. Your target heart rate is a percentage of your maximum heart rate.
Estimated Maximum Heart Rate
The heart rate you should maintain is called your target heart rate. There are several ways of arriving at this figure. One of the simplest is: read more »