Published on: 03 May 2018
Last Updated on: 25 July 2024
When it comes to fitness, you might be your own worst enemy. If it feels like you’re doing everything right, but still not getting the results you want, why are you still sticking to the same routine? There are many ways you might be getting in your own way and getting to the bottom of it starts with honesty. Are you really being honest with yourself when it comes to diet and exercise? Are you diligently tracking these figures—or are you over-obsessing? Too much in either direction can be dangerous.
Here are five ways you might be inhibiting your own fitness and what to do about it:
Not counting every bite if you’re looking to reduce fat. It’s not as simple as calories in, calories out, but sometimes it is. If you’re sticking to a certain caloric intake every day, make sure you count every single bite—and beverage. Alcohol is packed with calories and lowers our inhibitions, which is all part of alcohol’s lethality when it comes to diet goals. Count those calories, but keep in mind that there is an emerging eating disorder in which people “save” calories for alcoholic beverages. It’s been dubbed “drunkorexia”, and can lead to even more dangerous eating disorders.
Getting too obsessed with the scale. Unfortunately, the scale can lie. Like a watched pot, it’s not going to give you what you want if you’re checking it daily—or multiple times per day. Doing so is a slippery slope and can lead to dangerous habits. The scale can only tell you weight, which doesn’t account for muscle or water retention. If you really want some numbers to help guide you on your fitness journey, use a tape measure. Measure the biggest part of your upper arms, the largest part of your chest, the smallest part of your waist, widest part of your hips, and largest part of your thighs and calves. All of these areas, especially the belly, can also fluctuate throughout the day. However, it’s a much safer (and saner) number system than the scale.
You don’t push yourself at your workouts. Many people aren’t honest with themselves when it comes to their workouts. Could you be doing a harder level on the cross ramp? When the spin instructor tells you to empty the engine on a power interval, are you? If you’re working on muscle mass, do you really tap out between eight and twelve reps or could you do more (and increase the weight)? Working with a personal trainer can help you avoid cheats, as can working out in a group setting. It can be too easy to compromise when you always workout solo. Plus, group settings or a personal trainer can bring out your competitive spirit.
Not getting enough sleep. Lack of sleep has been linked to weight gain. Since most Americans are chronically fatigued (and overweight) there’s a clear correlation here. One of the best things you can do is get enough rest. This will depend on you and your body, but ideally, you’ll be able to wake up without an alarm. If that isn’t doable, see about squeezing in a power nap mid-day. It’s seemingly one of the easiest ways to keep your weight in check. It also helps you get the most out of your workouts. You can’t give your all when you’re exhausted.
Be realistic with rest days and cheat days. These days don’t mean you can go all-out on a binge. Some people find a cheat meal is safer. Others re-learn how to gauge their fullness. Cheat days can be helpful because they give your body what it’s craving, but it still needs to be in moderation. A rest day doesn’t need to be a complete rest, either. You can go on a walk or take a gentle yoga class. Again, honesty with yourself is key.
If you’re getting in your own way, you’re also the one who can stop it. Pinpoint your biggest struggles and see what you can do to put yourself first.
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Back pain can be very excruciating. This leaves sufferers with no option than to find solutions to the problem. The pain that shoots across the back whenever you bend or try to stand up is not something you should leave for long. It is true that drugs can be a relief. Yet, there are other ways to put it off without taking daily dosages. The answer lies in exercises. These simple exercises can help you to get back on track after moments of excruciating pains.
1. Engage in Side Plank to Relieve Back Pain:
This exercise helps you to strengthen the lower back and the waist. Also, it builds up the strength of the stabilizing muscles. For sure, you can do away with back pain after some weeks of the side plank exercise. So, let’s see how you can pull it off.
Procedure:
Lay on your right side. It will better to lie on the floor with the right side of the body. Attempt lifting up the body while supporting the frame with the right hand rooted to the floor.
While lifting up, clench the stomach muscles. This helps you to maintain stability.
Make sure to stay in the position for 40-60 seconds. Gently lower the body to the floor, and repeat the process over again.
2. Wall Sits can Relieve Back Pain:
Break away from the boredom of sitting for long hours. Kick-start your back pain relief with the wall sit exercise. These tips will help you pull it off.
Stand with your back against the wall at a distance of 10-12 inches.
Lean back into the wall until your back flattens against it.
Slowly slide down the wall until your knees get a slight bend.
Hold on to the position for a count of 10.
Slide back up the wall, and repeat for 12 more times.
3. Bird Dog is a Relief for Back Pain:
This is a nice way to mobile the back. To get started, get on all fours. Make sure your head is in line with the neutrally-positioned spine.
Procedure:
Get on all fours. Let the knees, hands, and the tip of the feet are touching the ground.
Raise the opposite hand and leg in a horizontal position, and hold the position for a count of 3.
Increase the time-frame from 3 to 10. While at it, try to raise the opposite legs and hands. Remember to keep the elbows locked, and the stomach tightened.
4. Hip Bridge Relieves Back Pain:
This exercise helps to keep pressure off the back and strengthen the lower back muscles. Here are tips to get it right.
Lie on your back and keep the legs slightly apart.
Prop up the buttocks to lift up the body. Maintain this until it gets to the shoulder length.
At the count of 5, lift the body down to the floor.
You can try up to 12 times per session to get the best result.
5. Hamstring Stretches reduce Back Pain:
The hamstring muscles located at the back of the legs, tend to be stiff during back pain. It is important to stretch it out, and in extension, relieve the pain at the back. This is how to do it:
Lie on your back and bend one knee.
Loop a towel under the ball of the raised foot.
Straighten the knee and pull back on the towel.
Try not to exert more force when you feel a gentle stretch down the back of the leg.
Try to maintain the position for 30 seconds.
Repeat the process four times on each leg.
6. Hip Stretch puts off Back Pain:
There is no doubt that this exercise gets to the core point in the body. Also, it is a nice way to get relief from back pain. These practical steps will put you through:
Kneel with one knee on the floor.
Tilt the other foot forward.
Push the hips forward while keeping the back in an upright posture.
Hold the position for 30 seconds.
Change positions and repeat with the other knee.
Repeat the process twice for each knee.
7. Lower Back Stretch can Relieve Back Pain:
Have you always wanted to get rid of back pain? A simple stretch at the lower back can do a lot of good. Try your hands at the lower back stretch exercise by putting these steps to work:
Kneel with your knees directly under the hips, and the hands directly under the shoulders.
Keep the spine in a neutral position.
Do not lock the elbows. Now, keep the head in line with the back of the shoulders and the spine.
Take the bottom back towards the heels.
Maintain the position for 30 seconds.
Get back to the first formation and start all over again.
Repeat the process for 8 times per session.
Get Relief for Back Pain:
There is no one who wants to experience pain. It gets worse when it has to do with the excruciating shot that passes across the back. Without taking any drugs, the above exercises will help you get rid of back pain. Get on all fours, and stretch the body as you can to get relief from back pain.
If you want to learn more about back pain relief, expert tips and helpful information about chronic pain, just visit Freeyourspine.info.
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Random blood sugar test is the glucose test taken of the non-fasting person. Also termed as a capillary-blood glucose test, it assumes the recent meal taken which has more of the reference value when compared to a fasting glucose blood test. The random sugar level of the person ranges between 70mg/dl-150mg/dl. The variation of the sugar level of blood is dependent on the food consumed, the quantity of food consumed and the time passed by when the person took the last meal. The test to check glucose level randomly is important for various reasons. Here the patient’s finger is pricked to draw the small bit of blood. This test is a powerful test to find out how well diabetes is managed. Indeed, it is mostly performed on those suffering from diabetes. High blood sugar is the result of consuming food high in carbs, glucagon which results in elevated blood sugar level. If the pancreas fails to secrete sufficient insulin then the condition will be high blood sugar, resulting in diabetes. Hyperglycemia or high blood sugar if not checked timely can result in heart diseases, kidney damage, nerve damage or loss of vision.
The importance of glucose testing :
Diabetes is the health condition which results when the pancreas fails to perform or fails to release sufficient insulin into the bloodstream. Only with insulin, glucose can enter the blood and get converted into energy. This mechanism does not take place efficiently when there is diabetes. Some of the symptoms of diabetes are excessive thirst and frequent urination. Sugar builds up in the bloodstream while it fails to get absorbed by the body. When more water is flushed out from the body in the form of urine, there will be dehydration. Some of the symptoms of diabetes are blurred vision, weight loss, slower healing of injuries, cuts, and wounds, feeling of tiredness every time. The glucose test is a very valuable test which helps in the detection of diabetes and helps to manage it. Along with the glucose test, the doctor may prescribe a urine test. If the test is conducted on an empty stomach, sugar level must be below 100mg/dl. If it is between 100-125 level, it implies the pre-diabetes stage. There may be Type II diabetes resulting from prediabetes. If diabetes is found out through the report, the doctor prescribes you another test. It may be that the reading was inaccurate and so a high level of sugar is suggested. Along with the glucose test, you may be asked to do a urine test as well.
Random glucose testing helps to manage the condition :
Random glucose testing is the way of detecting an elevated level of glucose in the blood. The ones who don’t have diabetes, their random glucose test results will suggest similar readings no matter whether the meal is taken or not. There won’t be much difference in the glucose levels even if the test is taken normally twice or thrice the day.
For those who have prediabetes, their test reports would show varied results. The random test is carried out much outside the usual schedule. Just like blood urea nitrogen test detects nitrogen in the bloodstream, glucose test suggests the level of glucose in the blood.
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Eating is not just about dumping fuel into the tank so we can drive another twenty blocks. Multiple psychological and sociocultural factors also dictate how, why, when, and what we eat.
Varying eating habits around the world can have a significant effect on our well-being. This post aims to shine a light on some of these habits to examine them more closely.
Habit One: Is Breakfast The Most Important Meal Of The Day?
Cereal manufacturers are keen on the idea that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Is it true?
According to researchers Tanya Zilberter and Eugene Yuri Zilberter, recommendations for breakfast eating behavior remain categorical but at the same time scientifically unsound health guidelines.
If we look at the science and ignore cereal marketing, there are many benefits to eating at the start of your day. The following scientific information is extracted from the materials provided by the National Library of Medicine:
Breakfast eaters tend to get more nutrients over the course of the day. They are also more likely to intake a wider range of nutrients.
Breakfast has been associated with improved weight control and health indicators of cardiometabolic risk. This applies to adults and children.
Studies have related breakfast eating to improvements in attention and better cognitive function, regardless of age.
Remember that breakfast means different things around the world. Eating a pain au raisin in Paris is not the same as eating bratwurst in Berlin. The nutritional value of a full English breakfast is not the same as a continental.
Attempting to run the first few hours on an empty tank is generally not as healthy as providing your body with some fuel. What’s important, however, is to start the day with food and supplement your nutritional intake during the day.
According to the researchers whose statement has opened this section, skipping breakfast is not necessarily a big deal. People need to consider the below points:
how long they’ve been without food (if two people eat at midnight and one eats breakfast at 5 am and the other at 10 am, the different fast lengths will impact their bodies differently), and
whether they make up the “lost” nutrients with their eating habits during the day.
However you do breakfast, take a holistic approach to diet. Consider what you eat over 24 hours.
Habit Two: What Are The Consequences Of Eating Before Bed?
Just as skipping breakfast is seriously frowned upon, eating late at night is typically considered a bad habit. Science suggests that eating late at night correlates with higher incidences of medical claims.
While Tanya Zilberter and Eugene Yuri Zilberter found that research on skipping breakfast and studies on eating late often fail to consider how long the participants fasted, they did find solid evidence regarding the potential risks of eating late, including the following eating behavior pathologies:
Elevated insulin and glucose levels, characteristic of metabolic syndrome;
Distortions of body image and mood disorders;
Implications on circadian rhythm.
Harvard agrees. Late-night eating is bad for health. A recent Harvard study found evidence that eating late may increase hunger, which can increase the risk of obesity.
If you suspect you’re about to see yourself in a statistic, you might be right. About forty percent of the US adult population is obese.
More study is required on the role late eating plays in calorie intake, calories burned, and molecular changes in fat tissue. Until that verdict comes in, it looks like avoiding late-night meals may reduce incidents of cancer, diabetes, and other conditions.
Habit Three: Is It Okay To Let Kids Eat In Front Of The TV?
Eating in front of the television can lead to a lack of attention, which in turn can lead to missing cues regarding fullness. This habitual overeating could then cause obesity.
And there’s another interesting angle to consider regarding television, what we eat, and how we feed our children.
A fact-filled study into television viewing and unhealthy eating made the research-backed observation that television and food advertising influence children’s food preferences. Studies have demonstrated that child TV watchers are more likely to prefer unhealthy food in early adulthood than kids that didn’t watch television.
To help kids stay healthy and become adults who make healthy choices, monitor kids’ TV intake and defend them from unhealthy, unsolicited dietary influences on screen.
These tips may help you form your kid’s eating habits:
Kids’ food preferences develop by age three and tend to remain stable throughout childhood.
Repeated exposure increases the chance that your kids will start liking a new food.
Information that a new food tastes good will increase their willingness to try it.
Kids are less interested in hearing how nutritious things are.
The availability of food in the home will affect food consumption.
Your food access controls will influence consumption and food preferences.
If your diet is healthy, your kids will be more likely to eat healthily.
As kids reach middle school age and adolescence, external influences – including peers and the media – are likely to have a detrimental effect on their food choices.
Conclusion
We are what we eat. You knew that. Still, it’s worth delving into research to back it up. It’s easy to forget. Many of us have busy lives and take eating for granted, treating our bodies as if they weren’t some of the most sophisticated machinery on the planet.
While this post provides helpful information that may confirm your healthy eating habits or inspire you to eat differently, a health professional can help you put the best into your body to get the best out of your life.
Put your health in safe hands by visiting The American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics or Leadar websites to find a professional nutritionist who can help you, your loved one, or your team improve your health and performance.
Your eating habits have a massive effect on your well-being. Change how you eat to change your energy levels, your mood, your potential for health risks, and your life.
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