Fitness tip of the week

I thought I would try and post a fitness tip of the week for a while.  This not only is for the benefit of those that would like to lose weight and get fit, but for my own benefit as it reminds me of the basics.  I am no means an expert, but I have come a long way down this road and these are my experiences and things that worked for me.  I am going to try and do two categories with each post - Diet/WeightWatchers and Exercise.

Week of January 27th, 2013

Diet/WeightWatchers:  
For those who are new to WeightWatchers online, be especially aware of your starting daily points.  When I first joined, I got 63 daily points.   I read all the wonderful things you could eat and off I went.  Seemed like I was eating a lot and I was.  Second week I gained 4 lbs!  Opps.  This is where tracking, experimenting, and learning what your body is sensitive to really comes into play.  I quickly learned that 63 was way too high for me (even though some well meaning women on WW online said I "needed" to eat all my points).  I lost weight consistently with a max of daily 50pts at first.

As you lose your daily points go down.  I am now at 36 daily.  If I want to lose more I need to be under that, by a few points everyday.  Another thing about points is always convert Activity Points first.  I never eat any of the additional weekly points.  Just added calories to sabotage your diet.  I had to remind myself of this recently.

Exercise:  Support in exercise is as important as much as with your diet.  Being able to have others to challenge you and cheer you on is a great motivator to go beyond what you will accomplish on your own.  Our daughter, Becky, introduced me last fall to a social network based on exercise, fitness and working out called https://www.fitocracy.com   Think of facebook + a method for tracking your workouts + points awarded for your workouts + fitness challenges.  They even have iPhone and Andriod apps. You can join for free, and get tons of support for all around the world. Cool site.   I track my gym workouts with my phone right while I am doing them.  Even interfaces with MapMyRun if you run.

Another cool app I use on my phone is Endomondo (endomondo.com) I use it mainly to track my rides and walking, it creates a map using the GPS on your phone, gives you times and splits.  Lots of cool features.  Ok, those are my fitness tech tips, next week no tech stuff ;-)

More next week, stay fit!