The benefits of exercise on your ticker!

As a CCU nurse, I see many, many obese, out of shape individuals roll through our doors. Some have just had a heart attack, some have just discovered they need to have a quadruple bypass and some are barely hanging on by a thread after their heart stopped and they were revived with CPR. A trend that has become apparent is that the age of patients who are requiring these interventions is becoming younger and younger. Heart disease is now the number one killer of both men and women in America and inactivity is the number one risk factor.

Some of my patient will come in from cath lab after getting their stent, drinking a coke and eating a candy bar. People who just had open heart surgery will be eating cheeseburgers the very next day. It makes me cringe! How on earth can someone do this to their body?? Don't they understand they only have one heart?!

I think people fall into two categories: people really don't understand and people who really don't care. There isn't much we can do for the people who don't care, people need to be motivated to change, you can't make them. But there is a lot we can do for the people who just don't understand. The CDC has found that people with heart disease can decrease their risk of heart attack, the need for open heart surgery and their risk of death from heart disease all with exercise.

Here's three HUGE reasons you should exercise to improve your heart health: 

• Get you off your blood pressure meds
• One study showed that of people who began moderate-intensity exercise program, 50% of them had decreased their blood pressure so much, they were able to stop taking meds!
• Get you off your cholesterol meds
• Exercise reduces your LDL (bad cholesterol) and raises your HDL (good cholesterol). Again, this can mean the difference between taking meds or not. Popular cholesterol medication such as Lipitor have a lot of nasty side effects, including muscle weakness. Getting off these meds can make a huge difference in your quality of life 
• Getting rid of weight related diabetes 
• You might think diabetes doesn't have much to do with your heart, but you're wrong! People with diabetes are 2-4x more likely to have heart disease. Controlling your weight with exercise lowers your blood sugar and can even eliminate your type 2 diabetes! No more meds, finger pokes or insulin shots. Doesn't that sound great?

There is so many more reasons exercise is good for your health, I could go on and on. Overall, you should shoot for 30 minutes a day (or at least most days) of moderate intensity exercise. A beach body program like 21 Day Fix is the perfect way to incorporate this into your life. The 30 minute videos are easy to fit into your daily schedule. Think about it, 30 minutes is only 2% of your whole day. Just 2% of your day can provide all the heath benefits I listed above and many, many more. If you are ready to make a change and take a step towards heart health, let's chat! I can help you come up with a plan to improve your life. Email Me!

Sources:

http://www.healthline.com/health/heart-disease/exercise-statistics#2

http://www.nytimes.com/health/guides/specialtopic/physical-activity/exercise's-effects-on-the-heart.html

http://www.heart.org

First round of 21 Day Fix & Erin Condren Life Planner

Last week I finished off my first round of 21 Day Fix. While I didn't get the amazing transformation that I was hoping for, the results were definitely there. I lost about 3 lbs, 2 inches off my belly, 1/2 an inch of each leg and 1/4 inch of each arm. Nothing earth shattering but I know that one pound of weight loss a week is a normal, healthy amount. Possibly more importantly, my scrubs are fitting better, I'm able to squeeze into some jeans that I wasn't previously able to wear, and I look and feel less bloated and uncomfortable. I started up my second round on Monday after taking 3 days off. I weighed myself today and I've already lost 1.6 lbs! I have a feeling this round will be more successful for me. I know that when you start a workout program that your body isn't used to, your body released a stress hormone called cortisol. This can cause your body to hold onto your weight and excess water to fuel your muscles. Eventually, your body will hit it's stride and the weight will start coming off. I know it will come so I'm just going to keep pressing play, eating right and I'm confident the results will follow!

I'd like to share a tool that I use to track my food with 21 Day Fix, my beloved Erin Condren planner! A friend of mine introduced me to Erin Condren in November of last year. Erin makes personalized organizational items such as planners and address books, as well as stationary and much more! The planner features weekly and monthly spreads and  a "keep it together" pocket in the back that holds various loose papers, cards and such. It also comes with a ziploc bag type case for pens and other items that don't fit in the pocket, as well as a loose perpetual calender that you can use to record yearly events such as birthdays which you can then move to next years planner when the time comes. There are tons of blog posts and youtube videos about the planner so I won't get too indepth on its features. Instead I want to showcase how I use it for the 21 day fix!

This is the weekly spread in the planner. I purchased stickers from this etsy shop. She makes them for all different calorie ranges and also for T25. The stickers feature the workout of the day and fit perfectly into one of the squares on the planner. I also recorded when I started my challenge group! This is a really great tool to keep track of your meals. It displays it in a cute way, the adorable design of the planner makes me want to write in it! I use colorful pens to make it even more fun. Before I got my stickers, I just took my pens in colors that coordinated with the containers and drew little boxes that I checked off. The bottom picture shows my personalized cover, as well as my personalized carry all clutch which holds the planner. She also sends everything in adorable packaging which is a nice touch!

In short, I highly recommend this planner! If you are interested, these planners are currently marked down 40% off to $30! You also get $10 off your first order with this link., bringing your final cost to $20. Also, the covers are removable and interchangeable so you can reuse it next year when the 2016 planner comes out. This really is a great deal since you can still get good use out the planner for the rest of the year.

Click Here To Get $10 Off Your First Order!

Nurse Struggles & Fabletics Review

I haven't written a blog post in about a week and there's a decent reason why. As a nurse, I work 12 hour shifts in the CCU and I like to group my days together to have more off in a row, but usually 5 consecutive days is usually my limit. Somehow this week I managed to sign myself up for 6 in a row and let me tell you, it was a challenge. When I work long stretches, usually all I do is work and sleep. This time I had to fit in working out! I'm proud to say I worked out every day! The fact that the workouts are only 30 minutes made it pretty doable. On day 5, I did have to switch out the pilates fix that I was supposed to do for the 10 minute abs video since I woke up too late. It was challenging, on day 6 not a single cell in my body wanted to workout but I did it!

The other challenge I ran into working was food prep. I really only woke up about 45 mins earlier than usual- just enough time to workout and make my shakeology.  Not really any extra time for cooking. The food I had prepped on my days off only lasted me until about day 3. I managed to find some salads to eat in our crapeteria and I got jimmy johns one day. Overall, I didn't do too bad, I avoided cake, cookies and candy that were all at work. I was going to split a Coke Life (sweetened with cane sugar and stevia) with a friend but I honestly took a few sips and threw it away! It just didn't taste good anymore, which is strange since I used to be a huge pop fan! Two thumbs up for Shakeology and its craving crushing abilities!

As a reward for working out while working, I ordered an outfit from Fabletics! I've seen this company advertized, they offer a complete workout outfit for $25 (kind of). When you sign up for the VIP club, which is a monthly subscription just like Just Fab, your first outfit is 50% off of the normal VIP prices, which start at $49.95. I didn't really love any of the cheaper ones, so I picked a 2-peice outfit that had a VIP price of $69.95, bringing my cost to about $35. My order arrived just a few days later (fast shipping!) I was nervous about the sizing, but everything was pretty true to size. I ordered a large and both piece fit well. The jacket is a very cute stretchy black zip-up. The zipper is on an angle, creating a unique asymmetrical style. It has zipper pockets on the sides and holes in the sleeves for your thumbs. It's very comfortable and flattering! The yoga capris are also very comfy! The material is very soft and stretchy. They feel nice and thick- no see-through problems here! The back of the pants have a zipper pocket that would be great for a house key while going on runs. 

 My Fabletics Outfit (Don't mind the dog toys in the background!)

I've hear the quality of the pants are comparable to lululemon which I've never owned because of the outrageous price. They do feel like much better quality than the Victoria Secret Pink yoga pants I usually buy. Overall, I love the outfit I got! I've worn the jacket to work twice now and its very comfy. The value was great, especially with the 50% discount. A pair of VS yoga pants alone usually cost around $40-$50 and these are nicer quality. I'm not sure that I will order something every month. They allow you to skip any month for no charge. As cute as the outfits are, I don't really need to spend $50 on workout clothes every month. I do think its a great way non-food reward for sticking to 21 Day Fix and I will order again.

If you wanna check Fabletics out, here's a link!