Enough minutes of exercise to count

[enviroTodd]

I just wanted to point out that the official number of minutes that is recommended for maintaining weight and for losing weight has now increased. It has been discovered that the old recommendations were not big enough and they were not having the desired impact. It’s now believed that if you’re obese or overweight and you want to lose weight, you’re going to need to put in a minimum of 250 minutes per week to make a measurable difference. I think that everybody should be doing that amount, anyway, but it’s especially important if your weight isn’t yet within the healthy zone.

[JokerzWild]

That's good to know. Thanks for posting that enviroTodd.

[TracyK]

I had no idea that there was a certain number of exercise minutes recommended. However, I have to agree with your enviroTodd. Considering there are 10080 minutes in a week and the recommended minimum is 250 minutes of exercise, that's not very much at all. I hope people who are serious about losing weight make a bigger effort than that.

[BabyButtons]

on average i put in at least 300 minutes a week. I usually try 2 aim 4 more but thats about my average. 250 isnt really very much at all!

[enviroTodd]

300 minutes per week is a perfectly respectable amount of time. After all, as much as it is very important to exercise most days, it is also very important to rest at least one, if not two days every week. This means that you will need to exercise as well as you can for five or six days a week but give your muscles the opportunity to rest and heal up. Believe it or not, rest is just as important as the actual workout itself. The key is not to work out too much or rest too much. Everything in moderation. I personally find that the two days that I’m not doing cardio are a perfect opportunity to be able to do yoga and fitness training instead. I do a short 15 minute yoga routine every morning but on the days that I’m not doing cardio I make sure that I do a full session of yoga. It’s good for resetting the energies and encouraging better focus and flexibility in my body.

[BabyButtons]

Do u go 2 a class 4 ur yoga? If not where did u learn it? I still havent found a routine that i really like. Ive tried some dvd video ones but i find that some of them r 2 hard 4 me. I would like 2 find a good workout because i have heard that yoga is very good 4 u. I could always be a little more flexible haha.

[enviroTodd]

I first tried yoga when I was at a health resort. I didn’t think that I would like it very much because I was overweight and my flexibility wasn’t very good, but my travel companion wanted to go and didn’t want to go alone so I went. It was at 6am, which I also didn’t think was a good time to be up and exercising. Honestly, though, it changed my life. Now I often do yoga as soon as I get up in the morning. Immediately after getting out of bed I’ll do it, sometimes, if I’m tired enough. I just do 15 minutes every morning and once or twice per week I do a longer complete session. It helps the blood and energy flow through the body. I feel much more awake and more positive after I have done it. I feel like I am calm and clear thinking and ready to take on my day with a positive energy and attitude. I got a morning video when I got home from my vacation and followed that for a while until I learned to just do it on my own. I recommend it to you, BabyButtons. You’re already bright and positive, to me, but I hope it will help you feel that way inside, too.

[BabyButtons]

Thanks envirotodd! I can c why @ first u would not have wanted 2 get up @ 6 & do yoga on ur vacation lol. Ill give it a try. I found a basic yoga 4 beginners video online that i just purchased. Ill let u know how well it works 4 me.

[enviroTodd]

I look forward to hearing it, BabyButtons. I hope that you have a lot of luck with it. There are a few good yoga for beginner videos that you can buy at the moment and a lot of them are on sale because of the holidays. I have seen one by Rodney Yee that is good. I like the basic learning one by him as well as the 15 minute early morning video that I had to wait to use until I was better at it than I was from the start.

I think that it is a matter of how you learn and what type of experience you prefer. So far, I have found all of my experiences with yoga to be extremely positive and refreshing. The only one that I didn’t happen to like as much but that I know many other people enjoy is hot yoga. I simply found that the heat of the place was overwhelming. Even in the winter, I didn’t find that it was relaxing or that I felt purified after the experience. I felt somewhat claustrophobic and that the air was not properly filling my lungs. That was only my own personal experience, though. I looked around the class at the end and I felt like I was the only one who didn’t recharge positive energy flow through the experience.

For that reason, even if you find that one experience doesn’t work for you, I would still recommend trying others as there are many forms and it is simply a matter of discovering the one that causes you to become the most positive and recharged as a result.

[BabyButtons]

This is really good 2 know envirotodd. Thank u for sharing. I love positive exercise experiencies. Lots of people Ive talked 2 who do yoga like it. But i know its got 2 be good if u like it so much. I dont know if id like hot yoga either. I get overheated really easy & when i get 2 hot i feel sick. I think it would be nice 2 do yoga on a beach tho lol. Do u like beaches? Maybe we should plan a vacation. Ive always wanted 2 go 2 hawaii! R u free new year

[enviroTodd]

If you find that you get overheated easily and that you have unpleasant reactions to that state, then it really isn’t a good idea for you to do hot yoga. I think you’ve made the right choice in avoiding that. I think that it would be fun to do yoga on a beach, too, but only where the sand is slightly wet from the waves, or if you could get some kind of platform. The shifting sand would actually make it a lot more challenging – especially if the sun has been on it for a long time!

I would love to go to Hawaii with you for New Year Sadly, I have plans. Equally, though, I am looking forward to them. I am hoping to start off the year with a good celebration so that I will be able to carry all of my positive energies over into the start of something fresh. My goal is to ensure that this will inspire the healthy flow of positive energies throughout the first month of the year, and then I will be able to keep carrying it forward.

[BabyButtons]

Darn! Lol. Well it was worth a try Im having a party myself and im looking forward 2 it! I always love an excuse to celebrate.

[enviroTodd]

Next year I'll know better than to spend time with friends and family during the holiday season so that I can go to Hawaii with you, Babybuttons LOL That said, your attitude of always liking an excuse to celebrate is a very positive one. Assuming that you don’t go overboard when you do celebrate, you are actually giving your body a real break by doing it.

You encourage the flow of positive energies throughout your body and the result of that is that you will lower the production of a stress hormone called cortisol. Cortisol has been linked to issues like weight gain, more difficult weight loss, decreased immune performance so that there is a higher risk of catching things such as colds and the flu. There are even studies that suggest that high cortisol levels can increase the risk of some times of cancer.

By being positive and by celebrating when you can, you lower your cortisol and improve your overall health and your ability to lose weight. As you’ve also proved, you also spread the positive energy to other people – like me – and help them to achieve what you have done for your health, too!

[BabyButtons]

I didnt know that about cortisol. Well im feeling a little better about myself lol. Ya next year youll definitely have to go to hawaii with me & if u dont want 2 go there im sure we can find another place that well like! I said it already but im in a festive mood so ill say it again. Merry xmas envirotodd. Hope u have an awesome holiday and good times with ur family & friends. They sure r lucky 2 have a great guy like u around! xo