FitSugar

The Best Time to Exercise, Eat Your Meals, and More

Heather Dale — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 03:06:39 PDT

Between work, friends, family, and social commitments, we're lucky if we can manage to get enough sleep, eat balanced meals, and squeeze in enough time for exercise. But did you know that there's a right time to do some of these things? And by right, I mean that there's actually an optimal time to eat, exercise, go grocery shopping, and more to benefit our overall well-being? Get your pencils and pads of paper ready because you may be shocked at some of these results!

The best time to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner: You should always eat breakfast within an hour of waking up. About 4.5 hours after that, you should have lunch, and a couple hours after that, dinner. If you delay these times, you're going to be hungry, and the hungrier you are, the more likely you are going to cheat and eat fatty junk food. According to Dr. Oz, the big rule of thumb is that you need to have dinner more than three hours before you go to bed, so that you aren't going to bed with a full stomach.

To find out best times for other daily duties, keep reading

The Pros and Cons of Exercising Mornings, Afternoons, or Evenings

Leta Shy — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 01:03:13 PDT

When's the best time to exercise? Of course, it depends on your individual energy levels and habits, but as long as you get in a good work out when you need to, when it happens is not important. But there are some pros and cons for working out in the morning or at night.

Morning
Pros: Often touted as the best time to work out, a dawn exercise session is great for so many reasons. By exercising early you leave your schedule open for other plans, feel energized the rest of the day, and are more likely to keep an exercise habit.
Cons: If you're not a morning person, staying motivated to wake up in time to work out can be hard (and lead to slacking off).

Afternoon
Pros: It can combat an afternoon slump, and not only that, exercising in the afternoon may be the best time to do so, energy level wise: your body will have a faster reaction time, muscle strength, and cardio efficiency around late afternoon.
Cons: If you work all day, getting in a midday workout can be a little harder to do, and you may have to cut your workouts short to factor in changing and shower time into your lunch break.

Evening
Pros: You can spend longer on your actual exercise time since you won't have work hanging over your head. You can also fuel up and hydrate well before your workout (which may be harder to do if you exercise early in the morning).
Cons: No spontaneous social plans for you if you want to stick to your gym routine, and you also may be finding yourself combating the feeling of wanting to skip a workout in favor of an evening on the couch.

What's your favorite time to work out?

Your Natural Body Clock and Your Exercise Routine

Leta Shy — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 08:00:54 PST

If you're having trouble sticking to an exercise routine, it may be time to pay attention to your circadian rhythm. Everyone's clock differs, and although getting in a run in the morning can improve your body's performance and fat-burning capabilities, if you can't get yourself to get out of bed in time, then all that benefit, of course, is lost.

Determining your internal body clock will help you be more aware of when you are most productive, which you can use to your advantage for exercising as well as in other areas of your life. If your energy levels peak in the afternoon, try going for a brisk walk or hit the gym on your lunch break. If you are an evening person, change into your gym clothes at work, so you can be sure to take advantage of your unspent energy.

Sticking to a set time to exercise every day is beneficial; it'll help you to start making exercise a habit. This questionnaire can help you be aware of your natural circadian rhythm, although when I took it I was not surprised to find that I am a borderline evening person! With the end of Daylight Saving Time already making us more tired than usual, figuring out when you'll be most motivated for fitness can help you maintain a fitness habit.

When is your best time to exercise?

Source: Flickr User lululemon athletica

You Asked: When Is the Best Time to Exercise?

FitSugar — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 03:00:00 PDT

You're asking and I'm answering . . .

"Fit, I usually work out in the afternoon, but recently I worked out in the morning and it was tough but my boyfriend says it's better to work out in the morning. I am thinking about changing it up, but do you know when the best time is to exercise?"
- Morning Molly

People always seem to want to know when the best time is to exercise, so to see my answer just

My first inclination is to always say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." If you're happy with your current routine, and you're doing it, then there is no reason why you shouldn't keep working out in the afternoon. Now here's the good news: For optimal performance, you want your body temperature to be warm when you exercise (hence why I always stress "warming up") and body temperature is actually at its lowest in the morning, in contrast to late afternoon when body temperature reaches its peak. In fact it's been shown that exercise during these late-in-the-day hours produces better performance and more power - your boyfriend may want to check his facts.

That is not to say that if you currently work out in the morning that you should switch it up; you may just want to be sure to have an adequate warmup. Plus morning exercisers have been found to be more consistent in the long run.

So unless you're training for an event that is going to take place at a certain time of the day, the best time to work out, in my opinion, is the time that you'll actually do it.

Source

Fit Tip: Keep It Up Long After Summer Ends

Leta Shy — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:59:20 PDT

Last-minute Summer shape-up plans may help you shed pounds and tone fast, but they do involve a lot of hard work and dedication as you race against the warm-weather countdown. So as you ramp up your healthy routine in time to don that bikini, make an even better resolution: stick to your new healthy resolutions, even after the Summer season fades.

Whether you're detoxing with a debloating meal plan or kicking your workouts up a notch, Summer prep can be the best time to jump-start a commitment to a healthier lifestyle, not only because you're making healthy eating and exercise a habit, but also because waiting until the last minute to prep for a beach vacay can be stressful! Insanity's Shaun T says it best: "Make it a lifestyle change so next Spring you're not cramming for the test," he recently told us. (In the meantime, you can read his tips for last-minute Summer prep here).

Does this season's frantic shape-up routine have you vowing to make a healthy diet and exercise routine part of your regular life? Luckily, you don't have to do it alone; follow our tips on how to stick to an exercise routine, and this time next year you can rest easy knowing you don't have to beat the clock!

4 Reasons to Add an Exercise Ball to Your Home Gym

Leta Shy — Tue, 22 May 2012 13:58:44 PDT

The exercise ball may occupy a lot of room in your home gym, but it's one versatile piece of equipment. Find out how to get the most out of your exercise ball below.

A healthier seat: Ditch your normal seat on the couch and sit on an exercise ball instead. Using a ball to sit helps correct your posture, tones your abs, and encourages you to stretch, all of which sounds a lot better than the lower back pain that too much sitting on the couch can cause.

Routine shakeup: Adding an exercise ball to your normal mat routines can shake things up and challenge you. For example, you can plank using an exercise ball at your feet to make holding your pose that much harder, or sit or lay on your exercise ball while you execute arm exercises. Even just practicing your balance by kneeling on the exercise ball can help you tone and whittle. Need some ideas? Try these amazingly effective ab and butt workouts using the exercise ball:

Find out how to do the plank pike and the hamstring curl using an exercise ball with this advanced exercise ball workout video.
Skip boring crunches and do this ball pass ab exercise instead.
Challenge your core and balance with this single-leg squat, done against a wall using an exercise ball.
Lie on the ball and work your arms with this chest press move.

Read on for more reasons to use an exercise ball.

How Not to Destroy Your Marriage

The Good Men Project — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:30:42 PDT

We're happy to present this story from one of our favorite sites, The Good Men Project. Today, Mark Tyrrell offers eight relationship tools to make your marriage work.

"All marriages are happy. It's the living together afterward that causes all the trouble." - Raymond Hull

So how do you make your marriage work? Or do you just blindly hope it'll take care of itself?

Think of a hot, successful date with someone you’re attracted to. You have fun, great conversation and more sexual chemistry than a warehouse full of pheromones. You don’t have to “work at” the date because it’s self sustaining. It runs as smoothly as the gliding hand of a classical guitar maestro and you can’t wait for another rendition.

Teenage Dating in a Twilight-Hunger Games World

But marriage, or any long term relationship; well that’s a whole other caboodle.

If we’re not careful, marriage can deteriorate into little more than a torturous assault course; littered with routine boredoms, frustrations and resentments. Couple all that with external pressures and sometimes marriage feels not worth the effort. But there are major benefits to being hitched or committed, other than just a beneficial tax regime.

Healthy marriage; healthy people.

Being happily married bestows heaps of health benefits. You might be forgiven for thinking that if you’re married you don’t live longer it just seems like it but, no, a good marriage really can help you clock up more years (1) and married people are happier (2) even though they don’t always look it from the outside.

But when marriage doesn’t work it can feel being manacled to a maniac, marooned with a misogynist or nailed to a nag. And I don’t care what the studies say, that’s not healthy. You may hear couples say stuff like: “We are making our marriage work!” but how do we do this?

Making it work.

We pay lip service to “working on the marriage” but what is the work we need to do? Marriage vows such as “to love and to cherish” and “forsaking all others, for better or for worse” don’t really tell us how to make it work, although they give us a clue.

Fortunately a ton of research has been done on what to do and not do to make your marriage, or any intimate relationship work. Follow the guidelines here to become “good at marriage."

Tip one: Be romantic but keep it real.

We are all (force?) fed romance in movies and novels. The handsome man gets the beautiful woman. But what I wonder is what happens after our romantic couple ride off into the sunset together? What do they do exactly? Bicker? Moan at one another? Start to ignore each other?

After all that romance, our beautiful couple is bound to have massive expectations of their life together. But when rose tinted expectations clash with day to reality, watch out!

Romance is vital in any relationship. Always seeing the best in your partner helps to keep things intimate and love should be expressed. But if you have been raised on Mills and Boon Romance novels or feel-good movies, then your own romantic expectations can work against the sustainability of your long term relationship.

When day to day life fails to live up to the giddy, heady lust-filled days of the pre-settled down romance people can become angry, even blame one another: “This wasn’t what I signed up for." They find it hard to take the rough with the smooth because they never really figured there would be any rough.

Expectations not diluted with at least a dash of realism can be a royal road to relationship ruin. Your partner may be an angel, but they have feet of clay. You must learn to love those feet or at least accept them a bit!

Get the rest after the jump!

Countdown to the Big Day: How to Hire a Personal Trainer

Leta Shy — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:50:46 PDT

You're hiring a caterer, florist, and wedding planner, so why not also enlist the expertise of a personal trainer? If you're trying to lose weight for your wedding, having a trainer can be one of the best ways to help you reach your goals. But since you're on a timeline, it's important to ensure you're getting what you need from your training sessions. Here's how to hire the right personal trainer before you walk down the aisle.

Start early: Personal trainers can help you get results fast, but they're not miracle workers. Waiting too late to lose the weight can add unwanted pressure, which can make workouts stressful and ineffective. To ensure you have enough time to lose weight the healthy way, celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson recommends that future brides start shopping for a trainer at the beginning stages of their wedding planning (like when you start looking for the venue).
Know your goals: Your personal-training package will start with an initial assessment of your fitness level, but you should have an idea before you begin your trainer search of what you want to get out of your sessions. Are you already a pro on the elliptical but want to know how to get your arms in strapless-wedding-gown shape? Do you need your trainer to recommend a healthy eating plan to complement your time in the gym? Knowing what you want in a trainer helps you both ask the right questions before designing your fitness regimen.

Read on for three more tips for picking a personal trainer.

What Healthy Living Advice Did You Learn From Your Mom?

Leta Shy — Sun, 13 May 2012 04:12:07 PDT

Mother's Day is a time to celebrate and appreciate your mom, and what better way than to reflect on all the good advice she's given you over the years? That's especially true when it comes to healthy living advice. Many times, it's our moms who we turn to when it comes to diet and exercise, whether that means following in your mom's sports-playing footsteps, or heeding her advice about eating all your vegetables.

My mom always encouraged me to be active, whether it was disappearing for hours with my friends on our bikes or joining the track team later on at school. She also always made sure I had healthy meals to eat, all while whipping up the best chocolate chip cookies and cakes for later. I loved the balance she taught me about food - that it should be kept healthy, in general, but in the end should be enjoyed.

What healthy living advice did you learn from your mom? Celebrate your mom by telling us in the comments below (or tell us how you are teaching your kids to be healthy)!

Why Running Isn't Helping You Lose Weight

Jenny Sugar — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:30:56 PDT

You started running months ago, yet every time you hop on the scale, you're let down by the results. What gives? While running does burn mega calories, here are some reasons you may not be seeing the weight-loss results you're after.

Postrun Pig-Outs
Burning tons of calories can cause a famished feeling afterward, but it's important to fuel wisely. Choose junk food as your recovery food and not only are you overdoing it on the calorie front, you'll be hungry again in the next hour. Although a postrun snack is essential, make sure it's packed with protein and filling carbs, and do not exceed 150 calories. If you exercised before a meal, enjoy a sensibly portioned plate, and don't go overboard as a way to reward your efforts. If you still find you're utterly famished after a workout, it probably means you need to fuel up before you exercise, so enjoy one of these pre-workout snacks before heading out for a run.

You Don't Run Enough
If you're running and not seeing results, take a look at your calendar. Doing one 45-minute run once a week, or a couple 20-minute runs won't burn enough calories to lose weight. In order to lose a pound a week, you'll need to ditch 500 calories each day, through a combination of diet and exercise. If losing weight is your goal, run three to four times per week and incorporate other forms of calorie-burning cardio on the other days.

Keep reading to find out why running isn't helping you lose weight.