Category: lifestyle change

Activity Tracker Comparison: Fitbit vs. BodyMedia

If you’ve been reading me for awhile, you know I’m a big fan of the BodyBugg/BodyMedia device. It was the original, invented by Astro Teller, grandson of physicist Edward Teller. The BodyMedia armband uses galvanic skin response to monitor skin temperature, skin moisture, and emitted gases. Calorie expenditure was tested to be within 10% accuracy of clinical …

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What Makes You Disciplined May Be What Makes You Fat

When you have to get something done, do you go “all out”? If you have a project to complete, are you highly focused until it’s finished? When you undertake to learn something new, do you soon become an expert? I believe that what can make you a disciplined person can also contribute to making your …

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Considering the Priority of Food in Your Life

I felt it was a personal breakthrough several years ago when I realized that a key to managing my weight was considering the priority of food in my life. I’d been hearing forever about how I should define my “relationship” with food, learn to “savor” food and eat “mindfully.” Any discussion of weight loss was always …

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A Critical Reason NOT to Read on the Treadmill

I saw a Facebook thread about what folks were reading on the treadmill. It’s pretty common that people will try to zone out while doing cardio. Their focus is just putting in the time. Maybe that works OK for them but for those of us who deal with serious weight, we need to realize other benefits …

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Downsides to Losing Weight No One Talks About

Your life will be PERFECT when you drop a ton of weight, right? It’s life changing! Yes, it does change your life in a lot of ways but there are downsides to losing weight that are rarely talked about. We’re more familiar with the warnings that your life WON’T necessarily be all “fixed” after a …

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What’s Your Fantasy of What Happens When You Lose Weight?

I happened upon a blog on Refinery29.com called the Anti-Diet Project. The author looks to be twenty-something, quite attractive, really photogenic, very smart, and yes, dealing with a bit of extra weight. She’s writing about learning to put the focus on health by exercising every day and changing her eating habits. She hopes to lose …

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Cardio Workout Showdown: Multiple Daily Bouts Were Higher Calorie Burn!

Sure exercise is about health benefits but a major aspect is gaining awareness of how your body functions and developing a sense of connectedness to your physical body. Sometimes, folks jump into exercise (literally) assuming they have to work themselves to exhaustion or kill themselves at the gym. If they’re not losing weight, they might …

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Building the Exercise Habit

I committed myself to doing a kind of exercise “experiment” so since May 1 I’ve been doing a cardio workout session every day. I admit I don’t normally do structured exercise every day of the week. But to manage my weight for the rest of my life, I have to accept the reality that I will have …

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Workout Showdown: Surprising Results from Changed Cardio Strategy

The first day of changing my cardio strategy to two 15-minute cardio sessions instead of one 30-minute session has proven surprising!! What’s interesting here is that for the first seven days I was amazingly consistent. My total daily calorie burn ranged from 2150 to 2190 for days I walked and climbed around 10,000 steps and the …

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Workout Showdown Halfway Point: What Burns More Calories?

I’m halfway through my simple experiment to see what burns more calories: One 30 minute session of intense cardio or two 15-minute sessions, one first thing in the morning and one in the late afternoon/early evening. I’ve kept it very straightforward and basic. I don’t even know if I will see much of a difference …

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