Anna's Fitness Blog

Anna's Healthy Breaky Tips!

2007-06-04T13:42:00Z

Your momma was right! Breakfast is the MOST important meal of the day . Eating after 6 or more hours of fasting (which is what is happening when you sleep) is absolutely key to maintaining a healthy body weight. Making breakfast a daily ritual will help set your metabolism (your fat-burning furnace) for the entire day, and help you refrain from those mid-morning junk food binges, or pulling into the first fast food drive in on your way to work in the morning. Here are my top foods for a healthy breakfast...(read more)

Hit the hills: Anna's walking tips

2007-05-30T10:00:00Z

It's a gorgeous day here in Guleph! And one of the best things about this weather is that it inspires us to get outside and to get moving. Even if you were sluggish, and a bit more lethargic than you should have been over the winter months, this weather will beckon the worst couch potatoes outside to the sun - even if it's just for a walk. Speaking of walking, it's important that you keep good posture in mind when you hit the pavement, beach or hiking trail. You can injure yourself if you don't practice...(read more)

Stroke your metabolism fires

2007-05-29T10:00:00Z

We all know that the key to losing and maintaining a healthy body weight is your metabolism. The speed of your metabolism will determine how fast your body is able to burn calories. So obviously a faster metabolism has its benefits. The body is like a furnace, and you can think of your metabolism as the fire that fuels that furnace - a hotter fire will burn calories faster. So how do you stoke the metabolism fire? Try 'Anna's 4 Metabolism Stoking Tips' on for size: Weight train - if you don't figure...(read more)

Tone those glutes!

2007-05-28T12:54:00Z

Good Monday morning Fitness Gear 101 readers. I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful weekend, I know I did. Even though it was a gloomy one I still got in a day of shopping in with my favorite girls Michelle and Marlo, which meant a few hours of walking, that's roughly 150 calories burned (hey, hey)! And I got in a night of dancing as well, which means I shook nearly 550 calories off! Speaking of burning calories, my female clients are always asking what the best activities are for toning the butt (or...(read more)

The origin of the word DIET!

2007-05-25T10:00:00Z

And it's already Friday again folks! It's been a fun and rather quick week. For me, it's been a week of learning, making some amends and a healthy re-evaluation of my lifestyle...am I really doing my best? On that note, I wanted to see the readers of FitnessGear101.com make amends with a word! Yes, a word that has stricken horror and deep loathing in many, and left many kitchen cupboards vast and tasteless - that word is DIET !!! Before you run screaming to hide your last bad of Doritos - don't worry...(read more)

Is there a difference between willpower and self-control?

2007-05-24T10:00:00Z

Every once in a while we all need a bit of a self-evaluation - even good ol' Anna! As soon as summer hits I make it a point to get outside more, eat more fresh produce and clean up any sluggish winter habits. Over the weekend a friend and I had a discussion about my so-called willpower - to workout regularly and stick by a fairly clean diet. Then this morning I uncovered a study by the Mayo Clinic in my latest edition of Oxygen magazine . According to Mayo researchers self-control is much more effective...(read more)

Anna's Summer Skin Protection Tips

2007-05-23T13:21:00Z

Welcome back from the long weekend Fitness folks! It goes to figure that it was so cold on the weekend and today is so gone dang beautiful! If you’re going to hit a patio tonight for a well-deserved shot of vitamin D, then please go protected. Everyone wants to enjoy the warm sun, but no one wants to be left with wrinkles, dull, blotchy skin, or worse – skin cancer. So wear a sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30 if you’re going outside, and if you’ll be outside for any length of time bring it with...(read more)

Congrats to my friend Jim!

2007-05-18T13:54:00Z

Good golly it’s Friday – and a long weekend to boot! So I wanted to end this glorious week on a positive note. I have a friend named Jim that I’ve known since I was 6-years-old. Now just to give you an image of our history…this is the boy, who when I was given the job of crossing guard in Grade 5, used to run out in front of traffic to scare the crap out of me…as you can tell we have a long history of him tormenting the heck out of me. Well it’s been well over 25 years of friendship for us, and during...(read more)

What are the sodium-rich culprits in your diet?

2007-05-17T10:00:00Z

Your doctor has given you a stern warning – cut down the sodium in your diet! So you start adding just a pinch of salt to your vegetables at dinner time. You think you’ve cut the sodium in your diet in ½ right? Wrong! Unbeknownst to you, the processed foods in your diet contribute a whopping 77 percent more sodium to your daily diet – and that’s even before you added that pinch of salt! True, your body does require a certain amount of sodium to function properly. Essential sodium maintains the fluid...(read more)

Exercise Makes People Smarter!

2007-05-16T13:25:00Z

This should be a no-brainer By Fitness Mike A study reveals that exercise can make people smarter . New nerve cells developed in the brains of subjects after a 3 month aerobic workout plan. Growing new nerve cells in the brain was thought to be impossible and all it took was a simple 3 month aerobic plan. Gee, who would have thought? I always thought it stood to reason that with all the health benefits exercising provides that an increase in mental abilities would also be a benefit. Increasing the...(read more)

Jessica Alba supports teen girls' self-esteem

2007-05-15T14:33:00Z

Good Tuesday morning FitnessGear101 friends! I'm back today - after a day's absence spent fighting the evil flu bug. You'll be happy to know that this morning I'm 40% snotty mess and 60% fitness diva! Must get blog up...sniffle...ok back to business... I know that I spend a lot of time criticizing the media and celebrity stereotypes in this blog, but sometimes...just sometimes...a Hollywood star does some good in the world. Who, you might ask? Well In Style Magazine reported that Fantastic Four star...(read more)

Anna's Top 5 Problogger Picks!

2007-05-11T19:38:00Z

Ok fitness folks…as promised here are my Top 5 faves from the Problogger contest! For those of you who are just hearing about this for the first time, these posts came from a writing project sponsored by Darren Rowse at Problogger . Participants were invited to submit a Top 5 on any subject. I wrote and posted an article on the Top 5 ways exercise can improve your sex life . I’d just like to mention that this was a hard decision to make. There were a ton of creative, useful and hilarious posts submitted,...(read more)

Rock your socks!

2007-05-11T13:52:00Z

My friend and co-worker Mark runs a fantastic finance site called Rock Your Stock . This site is great because it offers readers a daily dose of investment news, tips and, the best, a Rock Your Stock 'Pick of the Day'! The other day he asked if I had any swag to donate to his reader give-aways, so I donated some FitnessGear101.com socks...I figured that even money types get sweaty feet - right? I also figure that because FitnessGear101.com readers are the best-looking and smartest Internet audience...(read more)

Check out these great Problogger posts - Day 3

2007-05-10T14:24:00Z

Happy Thursday fitness freaks! I have some great health and fitness-related posts from the Problogger writing project to share with you today. I will be sharing Problogger submissions with you until tomorrow (Friday), when I will choose my own Top 5 faves. Top 5 Special Health Tips -Part 1 by Doris Chua Top 5 Reasons Why I Will Never Be Able To Get Rid Of My Beer Belly. by Ah Pek Top 5 Ways To Stop Being a Perfectionist by Krista Top Five to Do While You Live by Mark Five ways Shiatsu has changed...(read more)

Get fit while blogging

2007-05-09T14:05:00Z

In yesterday's post I mentioned that I submitted it to the Problogger Top 5 project. In it I promised that I would be keeping my eye out for great posts submitted by the other bloggers. So today I'd like to share a link with you to a great post called Get Fit & Sexy While You Blog - The Top 5 Unusual Things to do at your Computer . It was submitted by RT over at RealMuscle.com, and it has some excellent suggestions for how to mix a little physical activity into your cubicle-ridden day. I particularly...(read more)