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Five ways to keep fit at home without going to the gym

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working out at home

Keeping your body in shape can sometimes come at a price, especially with the current exorbitant gym membership fees.

Hitting the gym may be motivating as you are joined by other people working out and you also have a trainer/instructor. Nonetheless, going to the gym can eat into your free time and money.

Going to the gym can sometimes be cumbersome, especially when you have to go during rush hours several times a week.

If you enjoy working out but want to save time and money at the same time, you can actually easily work out at the convenience of your home.

Here are some tips to help you get fit without a gym:

1. Dance to online workout videos

Thanks to the internet, getting videos of literally anything you want is now possible.

Instead of pushing yourself to adhere to strict gym timelines, you can set up your own workout timetable in the house.

You can consider having online dance videos that can make your workout sessions easier and more convenient for you.

Some of these routines provide flexibility because you can do them virtually anywhere, without any equipment. You can do push-ups and step-ups as easy ways of getting started on your working out at home.

2. Use a skipping rope

Some of the equipment you use at the gym like skipping ropes are quite affordable. You can get your own skipping rope and have your own daily skipping.

This is also the fastest and easiest way to ensure you literally break a sweat without spending any money or leaving the house.

Tip: You can put on some workout music to entertain you while you are skipping. A timer is also useful in helping you manage the amount of time you spend exercising.

3. Do house chores as a routine

Doing house chores may seem like an inward battle for most people but when you make the process fun, it can actually act as a workout routine.

You can put on some music and dance while you get the dishes done or as you launder the house. Once done with the cleaning process, you’ll have actually sweated and you’ll feel much lighter.

Try not to clean the house only because it is dirty, make it a habit of cleaning your house daily so it can act as part of your workout routine.

4. Go for walks

You can go for long evening walks on less crowded roads and exercise your legs after a long day of work.

After sitting all day and probably doing paperwork, it can be exhausting and you will need a channel to get off some steam. A walk will not only help you stretch but it will also let you relieve stress.

When you breathe in the fresh air and have a change of environment, you calm your nerves and feel more relaxed.

5. Work on a proper diet

Your body is what you feed it. In the journey of keeping fit, you need to plan your meals and ensure they are well-balanced.

Your body needs enough calories and nutrients to fuel your daily activities. Slow down on junk foods that do not add any nutritional value to your body.

Also, hydrate as often as you can. Ensure you always take the recommended eight glasses of water a day.

Water regulates your body temperature and lubricates your joints. It also helps transport nutrients around the body giving you energy and keeping you healthy.

Fitness and Training

A Complete Low-Carb Diet Guide for Beginners

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Low-Carb Diet

From Atkins to the ketogenic diet, low-carb eating has some serious staying power in the diet world. Check out this guide if you’re curious about how this eating approach may aid diabetes management, weight loss, and other purported health benefits. For starters, know that what’s low carbohydrate for one person isn’t for another. “There’s no medical definition of what low-carb is,” says Columbus, Ohio–based Kelly Schmidt, RD.

Basically, it’s reducing the number of carbs you eat from your norm. In general, however, a low-carb diet may include 50 to 100 grams (g) of carbohydrates per day, she says. Below that is considered very-low-carb, such as the ketogenic diet, while 100 to 200 g of carbohydrates per day is a moderate-carb diet.

You probably hear the most about low-carb eating for weight loss, but for some people, the approach could also help optimize their health, says Schmidt. “Research shows that women who are obese or have metabolic problems [may] do better hormonally on lower carbs,” says Schmidt, pointing out that other outcomes of the diet can include better sleep, mental clarity, and increased satiety.
As low-carb dietitian Franziska Spritzler, RD, who’s based in Orange County, California, points out, when you cut back on carbs, blood sugar and insulin levels generally go down, which can be a good thing for A1C, or the two- to three-month average of blood sugar levels. This may also help with weight loss, another common goal for people with type 2 diabetes.

These types of benefits may be reaped almost immediately. Past research shows that people who ate three lower-carb meals (of less than 30 percent carbs each) reduced their insulin resistance by more than 30 percent compared with people who consumed higher-carb meals (60 percent carbs).right up arrow Further research indicates that insulin resistance can be improved with a low-carb diet in just one month.right up arrow
You can see the results, too. One small randomized clinical trial on older adults with obesity found that, compared with a low-fat diet, a very low carb diet shaved off 3 times more visceral fat, a type of belly fat that hugs organs and is linked to disease. The low-carb group also lost 9.7 percent of total fat compared with just 2 percent in the low-fat followers.right up arrow A meta-analysis also concluded that in obese people, a low-carb diet reduced fat over the course of a year (but not body weight), with the greatest benefits seen in a very-low-carb diet.

That said, there isn’t an agreement that a low-carb diet is superior to any other kind of diet or that it’s healthier long term. A review that looked at the diet among those with diabetes noted that when it comes to weight loss, a low-carb diet performs no better than other higher-carb diets; and that it doesn’t produce better glycemic control, either.right up arrow Another report also found that over one year, those on a low-carb diet lost weight faster than those on a low-fat one, but after a year, weight loss and A1C levels (an average of blood glucose over about three months) were remarkably similar Separate from pregnancy, consider your lifestyle. If you’re someone who does intense CrossFit-style workouts, a low-carb diet may not fuel you properly, says Schmidt.

And the things weighing on you matter, too. “Anyone in a stressful state, like a divorce or dealing with a death in the family, needs carbs to support their adrenal system,” she notes.

As for if you’re dealing with health issues, defer to your doctor. For instance, if you have kidney disease, you also want to talk to your doctor about appropriate protein intake. If you have heart disease, you can still go low carb, but you’re best off opting for monounsaturated fats (avocados, nuts, and olive oil) over saturated fats (butter and red meat). Indeed, this holds true for everyone, regardless of heart disease status.

Although there is some data that suggests a low-carb diet that contains more saturated fat than current recommendations did not increase “bad” LDL cholesterol (a risk factor for heart disease), you should still pay attention to the quality of foods in your low-carb diet.right up arrow Everyone’s cholesterol levels respond differently on a low-carb diet, so if yours are going up, switch to unsaturated sources of fats, Spritzler recommends. “In general, this is a diet most people can do. If you have a chronic condition, work with a doctor who understands low-carbohydrate diets to monitor you,” she adds.
Last, if you have a history of eating disorders, a low-carb diet (or any eating plan that is restrictive) can be risky, nutrition and mental health experts agree.

Source: everydayhealth

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Fitness and Training

How Much Exercise Do I Need?

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Exercise

How much exercise is enough? It depends on your health and goals. How much exercise is enough for what?” asks David Bassett Jr., PhD, a professor and the department head of exercise physiology at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He explains that, before you make a decision on how much you need, you should have a good idea of your exercise goals: Are you exercising for physical fitness, weight control, or as a way of keeping your stress levels low?

For general health benefits, a routine of daily walking may be sufficient, says Susan Joy, MD, codirector of the Kaiser Permanente Sports Medicine Center in Sacramento and a team physician for the NBA’s Sacramento Kings.

If your goal is more specific — say, to lower your blood pressure, improve your cardiovascular fitness, or lose weight — you’ll need either more frequent exercise or a higher intensity of exercise.

“The medical literature continues to support the idea that exercise is medicine,” says Jeffrey E. Oken, MD, acting chief of staff at the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital in Hines, Illinois. “Regular exercise can help lower risk of premature death, help control your blood pressure, reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, combat obesity, improve your lung function, and help treat depression.”

Here, experts break down exactly how much exercise is enough, on the basis of your personal health and fitness goals.
According to 2019 guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), for general health adults should aim for 150 to 300 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity each week. (1) When repeated regularly, aerobic activity improves cardiorespiratory fitness. Running, brisk walking, swimming, and cycling are all forms of aerobic activity.

Source: everydayhealth

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