Sunday, January 30, 2011

Improvised Circuit Training: Diversifying Your Workout


So I decided it was time for us to switch up our workout programs again just to keep it fresh. I mean, the benefit of interviewing all those fine blokes and lasses is that they do give you some advice. One suggestion I definitely think we should take? Do circuit training.

What is circuit training? It is basically a mix of aerobic and strength training. Not in the regular way we usually do our cardio first and then do our strength training, but in a “mix-it-all-up” sort of way. Do a bit of cardio, a bit of weights, then some more cardio, then more weights, all in a circuit sort of way. For circuit training to be great, it must work on several parts of your body at once. Circuit training really works on muscle definition though rather than muscle bulk, so if you are also trying to get big, make sure you include some days of intense weight training where you lift really heavy weights. We’ll talk about that another day.

In the spirit of making you work extra hard, I created a little improvised lower body circuit training program, which kept me sore all of last week. But my body is all the better for it, so I have my devoted readers to thank. It’s not your usual circuit training program, but it does help you burn more calories and tones up your hind parts and legs. This training program consists of a total of one hour broken down into ten minute segments. But don’t forget to insert a couple of minutes of stretching here and there. Here goes!

Segment 1: This segment is cardio-focused. We’ll be warming up a little since it’s really the beginning of our workout for the day. As usual, I like to always start workouts on the treadmill so we can get some serious sweat in before we move on to anything else. And yes, I do believe running makes you sweat more than most cardio workouts. It may not always burn the most calories, but because it engages your entire body and makes you sweat, so it’s my favorite.

Warm up for 2 minutes on the treadmill walking at a very comfortable pace. I usually do this at about 3-4 miles per hour.

After you’re done warming up, run for about 8 minutes doing intervals for a minute each. That is, run at a comfortable speed for a minute (about 6 miles per hour) and then speed up for another minute (at about 8 miles per hour). Switch between the slow and fast run till you’re done with your 8-minute run.

Segment 2: This segment is weights-focused. We’ll be alternating between cardio and weights for consecutive segments.

You’ll need a 5 pound dumbbell. Alternatively, you can clench your fists, tense your arm muscles, and use your own body weight.

Do 1 minute of lunges with your arms by your side with dumbbells or clenched fists. Move from a lunge on your right foot to a lunge on your left foot continuously. To intensify the exercise, jump when switching from a lunge on your right foot to a lunge on your left foot. See the image below for how to do a proper lunge.

Photo credit: RealTruthHurts.com

Do 1 minute of squats with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, and your arms in front of you. See the image below for how a perfect butt-blasting squat should look like. If it burns, don’t worry, just go to your happy place in your mind.

Photo credit: WomensHealthSA.co.za

Alternate between squats and lunges for one minute each until you’ve reached 10 minutes.

Segment 3: Time to get back to cardio, but this time, we’re going for the elliptical (or cross trainer) rather than the treadmill. And there’s no need to warm up this time. This segment, we’ll do a hill challenge. If your elliptical machine has a ‘Random’ program, just use that. If not, try to manually set it on your own using the following:

Minute 1 – Speed of 600mph. Intensity of 1.
Minute 2 – Speed of about 900mph. Intensity of 5.

Alternate between these intervals for 10 minutes.

Segment 4: Back to the weights. This segment focuses on strength training for the legs. Start in a downward facing dog pose. Lift one of your legs up in a straight line, envisioning that the lift is coming from your inner thigh. So the goal here is not to try to get your leg as high as possible, but to get your inner thigh as high as possible. Feel the pain in your thighs yet? That’s what we’re going for. Now bring the knee of the lifted leg forward to your chest and then lift the thigh high again. See the images below for proper form.


Photo credit: WomensHealthMag.com

Do 1 minute on your left leg and then one minute on your right leg.

Next, bend your knees slightly. Hold on to something in front of you (like the back of a chair). Lift your left leg to the left side until you feel it in your outer thigh. Make sure your torso remains straight, both knees remain slightly bent, and your right foot remains grounded. Move your left leg to meet your right, but don’t put the left foot on the floor. Repeat the lift for one minute and then switch sides. See the image below for a perfect leg lift.

Photo credit: Health24.com

Do 1 minute of the lunge that we did in segment 2.

Repeat the 2 minutes of the downward facing dog leg lift, and 2 minutes of the standing leg lift above, and then do 1 minute of the squats.

That’s a total of ten minutes in this segment. Your butt and thighs must be burning now so let’s go back to a cardio segment.

Segment 5: Almost done! Out comes the skipping rope! Skip for 10 minutes alternating between different skipping styles. If you skip without breaks, you could actually burn more calories than the other cardio exercises.

Segment 6: Final segment! Since we’ve worked on our butts and legs, we’ll do a little abs workout, and then stretch.

Do 2 minutes of the bicycle. See below for the image. Alternate between your left and right legs, but make sure you’re not compressing your neck. The mistake a lot of people make with abs workouts is to put their elbows forward and put strain on their necks. Keep your elbows back, and move your shoulders instead of your elbows.

Photo credit: GainMuscleandLoseWeight.com

Do the plank for 1 minute. Keep your elbows on the floor, look down and try to keep your body in a straight line.

Photo credit: FitWatch.com

Move to the side plank. Do this for 1 minute on either side. Contrary to what you might think, this works out your abs better than most exercises because you need core strength to stay in this position.

Photo credit: MadisPlace.com

Repeat the bicycle and the plank.

Stretch out your thighs, butt, and abs for 2 minutes.

And that’s the improvised circuit workout. I say “improvised” because most circuit workouts require machines and little bursts of intensity. Please try it out and let me know how you feel!

Also, spread the word. If you think we’re doing a good job, tell your friends about us. We’d love some more readers :)

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

The Healthiest Breakfast Cereals


We all eat cereal. Well, most of us do. But interpreting the information on the box is usually pretty difficult when every cereal company sells their cereals as the highest in fiber content. I know, it’s like is fiber THAT important that it trumps everything else?! Since this is something most of us eat every day, I thought it would be great for us to know what our options are. We’ll talk about the nutritional content of each, but we’ll leave out the fiber because all the cereals named here will be high in fiber content.

Quaker Oatmeal Squares: Really, basically anything Quaker Oats. As far as I know, this cereal is available in three flavors: Brown Sugar, Cinnamon and Golden Maple. One cup of this cereal with skimmed or soy milk contains about 250 calories and 6 grams of protein. It has no cholesterol too. Because the flavors are mostly sugar-based, it is a little high in sugar content. But realize that the calories and sugar come from natural ingredients like oats, whole grain, and brown sugar.

Shredded wheat: Yea, you guessed it. There are several brands of shredded wheat cereals, but make sure you stay away from the frosted kind. Frosted shredded wheat is almost like Frosties. It contains a huge amount of refined sugar, which defeats the purpose of eating a healthy cereal. Plus, shredded wheat cereals are not the tastiest so if you’re going to fill your bowl with sugar, why not go for something tastier? So the summary is: stay away from anything ‘frosted’. What is the nutritional information in two biscuits of shredded wheat? About 160 calories, and 5g of protein. It contains no sugar and no cholesterol, and the only ingredient is whole grain wheat. The only ingredient! Obviously, this seems like the healthiest cereal ever.

Weetabix: But then we encounter Weetabix. Those who know me know I have a bond with this cereal. It’s like it understands me. Anyway (before I start talking of cereal like an actual human being), Weetabix is another brand where I’d say almost everything they make is tasty but healthy. There are about 127 calories in two biscuits and 4g of protein. Whole grain wheat is also the major ingredient (95%), and it does contain sugar and salt, but in very little amounts. It’s suitable for vegans as well :)

Golden Morn: Yes, your mama had it right. Some people argue that Golden Morn is for babies, but I think otherwise. It’s a great cereal full of whole grain and milk. Half a cup contains about 70 calories and 2g of protein. Since it is very similar to Cerelac, I will admit that it’s a little toddlerish, but it works for me!

Special K: Special K is amazing because there are so many flavors. You’d definitely find something you liked if you looked. There’s the Original flavor, the Multigrain Oats & Honey flavor, Red Berries, Cinnamon Pecan, Fruit & Yogurt, and lots more. See, I told you there were many flavors. The only drawback to Special K is that it is a pretty light cereal and does not keep you full for too long. One cup of the Multigrain Oats & Honey flavor contains about 150 calories and 2g of protein.

Kashi Go Lean Crunch: This also contains a lot of whole grain. And if you like really crunchy cereal, this is your thing. Hence the name ‘Go Lean Crunch’. But what you may not know is that although it contains a little more calories than some of the other cereals here – 190 calories per cup – it also packs on a whole lot of protein – about 9g per cup. So for the gents, or the ladies trying to tone up, this is a great way to add some protein to your diet.

Post Grape-Nuts Trail Mix Crunch: Well, the box says 100% natural so it must be good right? But what’s good about this cereal? It’s that it contains 200 calories and 6g of protein in a half cup. I know, I know, a half cup sounds small compared to the others, but this is a much heavier cereal so the amount you get in a half cup is about the amount you get in a cup of the others. Oh, and as for the ingredients, it’s all about the whole grain too.

Raisin Bran: So several companies have made their own version of this cereal, but it’s mostly the same story. I’ll give the info here based on the Kelloggs brand. The box says that one cup of Raisin Bran contains about 190 calories and 5 grams of protein. However, there are a few ingredients in this cereal that may worry you if you’re trying to go all natural. For example, does anyone know what ‘invert sugar’ is?

All-Bran: Another Kelloggs product, All-Bran has been around for as long as I can remember. It is very high in protein with about 8g in a 1-cup serving, and has about 160 calories in a cup. Over the years, Kelloggs has introduced a couple of flavors, but ‘Bran Buds’ and ‘Complete Wheat Flakes’ doesn’t sound too different from the original to me.

Cheerios: If you have ever turned on a television in the US, you'd probably be expecting to see this one first, right? With Cheerios, it’s very easy to stay on the right track, but also very easy to go the other way. It is a very light cereal too so you get tempted to just keep eating, which destroys the purpose of eating a healthy cereal. So make sure you watch how much you eat. Also, there are many flavors, but I suggest sticking to the Original or Multigrain flavors because they contain mostly whole grain with fewer calories. One cup contains only about 110 calories. However, this cereal does not contain a lot of protein – one cup contains only about 2g of protein.

There you have it, some healthy cereal options. I try them all only for you :) Here is a summary to help you make an informed decision when next you go grocery shopping.


If you have more cereals you’d like to add to the list, let us know.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Stylish & Versatile Blogger Award


Ego Du Jour recently nominated me as a Stylish and Versatile blogger. First off, let me say thank you. My head has swollen and my face has grown very very red knowing that you love my writing. So here's how this goes. When someone names you a Stylish and Versatile blogger, you are to share 7 things about yourself and then name your own 15 Stylish and Versatile bloggers.

Seven things about me
  1. I love Jesus. Yes, I said it. Get used to it. I ain't hiding :)
  2. If I skip a work out, I feel guilty as hell. So I'd rather just take the pain to work out even if I don't feel like it. It's not worth the dealing with the feeling if I don't.
  3. I don't like ice cream. Yes, you can go ahead and pray for me now.
  4. You know that irritating feeling you get when someone scratches a blackboard? That's the feeling I get when someone murders the English language. Blame my parents.
  5. No matter how good makeup looks, if I can't take it off in under a minute, I'm not interested in wearing it. Yea, so I'm not the biggest fan of makeup. I loooove my natural skin.
  6. I love big hugs. In fact, I love when people touch me. And no, I don't mean that in a dirty way.
  7. I love flowers. Not much for the candy or chocolates, but I just love flowers. What can I say? It's the nurturer in me.

Stylish and Versatile Bloggers
Now, my 11 Stylish and Versatile bloggers (I know it was supposed to be 15, but I was in a hurry. Sorry!).
  1. Ego Du Jour! The blog I consistently follow :) 
  2. Verastic. She won't kill me with laughter. 
  3. Light Her Lamp. She inspires me constantly. I'm waiting for her book to be published. 
  4. Gistdotcom. It may take you a while to get the jokes if you are like me and don't speak pidgin fluently, but when you get them, they are hilarious! 
  5. I Bake Therefore I am. My girl that always makes me want food. Always. 
  6. Adura Odesanya. A Nigerian as passionate about staying healthy as I am? Sign me up! 
  7. Good Naija Girl. There are some people you bond with through their writing even though you've never met. She is one of them. 
  8. FollyKay. I probably don't say it enough, but you know I love you :) 
  9. Grown & Sexy. She's one of those people who is just optimistic about life. It's infectious. 
  10. Points off Turnovers. Okay, I know I don't really follow American sports, but I'm all about humor and I think he's hella funny. 
  11. Razz is the new cool. Can I be razz so I can be cool too?
  12. Becoming a Doctor: You meet some people later in life, and just realize that you went to the same places and did the same things. And so you just connect with what they write? She's one of those to me :)
Who are your stylish and versatile bloggers?

Sunday, January 16, 2011

E&W Healthy Recipes: Baked Jerk Chicken Breast and Potatoes


If you love spice, and love to marinade your meat and vegetables before you cook them, you may want to look into cooking with jerk seasoning. Unlike a lot of other sauces and seasonings, it contains very few calories (about 5 calories for two full teaspoons), and you really don’t need too much of it to give your food some flavor. Other sauces like teriyaki can contain up to 200 calories to spice up the same amount of meat that a couple of teaspoons of jerk sauce would.


Ingredients – Serves 2
0.5 pounds of lean chicken breast (you can substitute the chicken breast for any other sort of lean meat, but realize that it may that a little longer to marinade)
2 teaspoons of jerk seasoning
½ teaspoon of dry hot pepper (I personally like to use yaji, which is the pepper used for suya)
½ Knorr or Maggi seasoning cube
6 Irish potatoes
1 bunch of broccoli
½ pound of Brussels sprouts
½ a medium-sized onion
Cooking spray
½ cup of water
1 ½ cups chicken stock
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of salt

Directions
Chicken
  1. Mix the jerk seasoning, pepper, seasoning cube, a dash of salt, and ¼ cup of water in a bowl until the mixture is even
  2. Slice up the chicken breast into strips, and marinade the chicken breast in the mixture, making sure the chicken strips are completely covered. Leave for about 30 minutes.
  3. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. 
  4. Spray a baking pan with the cooking spray to prevent the chicken from sticking
  5. Lay out the chicken strips on the baking pan, and pour whatever is left of the jerk mixture on top of the chicken strips
  6. Chop the onion and lay it on top of the chicken
  7. Put in the chicken breast strips for about 15 minutes and then turn them over
  8. Leave them for another 15 minutes
  9. Done!
Potatoes:
  1. Start the potatoes after the chicken is grilled so you can also give them a little of that jerk flavor
  2. Take the chicken out of the baking pan when it is grilled to perfection but leave the oven on at 400 degrees
  3. Peel and cut the potatoes into cubes
  4. Put the diced potatoes in a bowl, throw on a dash of salt, and shake the bowl around to make sure it reaches all the potatoes
  5. Pour in ½ cup of the chicken stock into the baking pan and mix up the remnants of the jerk mixture with the chicken stock
  6. Put the potatoes in the new mixture and put the baking pan back into the oven for about 20 minutes
  7. Turn the potatoes around and leave for another 25 minutes or until cooked
  8. Voila!
Vegetables:
  1. Put the broccoli and Brussels sprouts in a saucepan, and cook for about 5-10 minutes
  2. Sieve out the water left over
  3. Alternatively, you can steam the vegetables
  4. Easy peasy!
Gravy:
  1. Bring the rest of the chicken stock to a boil in a sauce pan and add a dash of salt
  2. In a separate dish, dissolve the flour in the rest of the water
  3. Gradually pour the dissolved flour into the boiling chicken stock, and make sure you keep stirring for consistency as it boils
  4. If it is not thick enough, dissolve more flour and add until you reach the desired level of thickness
  5. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 10 minutes
  6. It’s gravy, baby!
Serve your chicken, potatoes and gravy, and your veggies. Healthy, lovely, colorful, and delicious! Try it, and let me know how it works out.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

PS.
If you'd like to share your healthy recipes, please email us at editor@eightsandweights.com.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Home: It Really Is Where the Heart Is



As a continent, we have always had a lot of organizations coming in and going out trying to make a healthier, richer, better Africa. Since this website is dedicated to people from the continent, I really wanted to start the year off by taking a week to just focus on three organizations started by our own people doing things on the continent to try to make a change. These organizations were started by ordinary people who got up one day and thought “I can do something too!” so if you were thinking of a way to make a difference in your homeland, well, here is some inspiration. Eights and Weights got the chance to interview leaders from these three charities:

Donald Ogisi, Communications Director of Poverty Stops Here (PSH)
Saran Kaba Jones, Founder and Executive Director of Face Africa
Dr. Kingsley Kolapo Akinroye, Executive Director Research & Scientific Affairs of the Nigerian Heart Foundation (NHF)

Eights & Weights: Tell us a little about your organization and its cause.
PSH: The mission of Poverty Stops Here is to combat extreme poverty in our world. We believe in transformative community development. Poverty Stops Here focuses on building partnerships with local organizations in Nigeria to help implement sustainable and community owned projects in three specific areas – Economic Development, Basic Health, and Education. These three areas are pivotal to the health of a community.

Face Africa: Face Africa is a non-profit based in Massachusetts, and our aim is to provide clean and safe drinking water in communities in Liberia. There are lots of other issues in Africa, but clean water and sanitation are issues that affect the health of so many large communities.

NHF: The Nigerian Heart Foundation is an affiliate of the World Heart Federation, Geneva and a founding member of the African Heart Network. Its major objective is Heart-health and promotion of medical & scientific research in heart disease and related issues. Our mission is to build core awareness of the burden of cardiovascular disease and its risk factors among the general public, healthcare professionals, and policy makers, advocating measures to address the rising burden of cardiovascular disease particularly in Nigeria.

Eights & Weights: How was your charity started?
PSH: PSH began, and is sustained, by the simple idea that each of us can do something to combat extreme poverty in the world. We don’t have to leave it to big organizations or Celebrities. We might not be able to save the world today, but we can change one life; then another, and another. It is this simple idea that led Efosa Ojomo to initiate what became our first project - a hand pump well for the Village of Balogun in Osun State in Nigeria. He got together with some friends and they were able to successfully implement this project, bringing clean water to people who typically had to walk miles to find it. That was the start.

Since then, PSH has worked on a variety of projects, all with the same goal in mind…to bring sustainable change to the lives of people. Sustainability is the key.  As anyone who’s been involved in these sort of projects knows, it usually needs to be ongoing, rather than a one-off. That is why we partner with communities; to make sure that the change we bring is lasting.

Face Africa: I went back to visit Liberia in 2008 after almost 20 years, and I was taken aback by the level of devastation and damage that was all around me because of the war. My family had moved to the US when I was about 8 right before the war started so before my 2008 trip I hadn’t seen any of the effects of the war. I decided that I wanted to do something to help with the rebuilding efforts. Prior to that, I had done things on a smaller scale like sponsoring a young man’s education, but after that visit, I decided to do something on a much larger scale. And while education was important, there were other more pressing issues that needed to be addressed. One of these issues is the clean water and sanitation issue which is a major issue in the country. There were people dying from so many water borne illnesses that it seemed pointless sending them to school if they may not be healthy enough to wake up the next morning. So when I started Face Africa, I decided that that would be our area of focus for now. We do want to expand to education and health eventually.

NHF: NHF was inaugurated in July 1992 by a group of eminent Nigerian professionals from diverse backgrounds including medical practitioners and mass media experts. All NHF activities and programmes are geared towards achieving 3 goals: the promotion  of heart-health, the promotion and support of research on cardio vascular diseases, and public enlightenment on prevention of heart diseases.

Eights & Weights: What has the positive impact been so far in Africa? What countries in particular?
PSH: We are currently working with four different villages in Nigeria, one in Osun State and the others near Abuja, which is the Nigerian Capital. We have built wells in these villages, distributed mosquito nets, bought school supplies and provided over $8,000 for Small Business Investments and other Income Generation schemes. We have also helped to provide steady income for individuals, while providing easier access to water, and better health for the communities.

Face Africa: So far, our impact has just been on Liberia, but we are working towards getting involved in other post-conflict countries like Sierra Leone. It is a fairly young organization and we have only recently started implementing projects. We completed our first project in October 2009. The project was around building a water purification system in a little community in Liberia. The system now provides clean drinking water to about 600 people every day. Just last week, we completed our second water purification project in a village of about 300 people. The wells we build last a lifetime so the impacted people would definitely have access to clean water for the rest of their lives. That’s major. Also, because most of the homes in these villages don’t have bathrooms, sanitation is also a big issue. People may use the bushes as toilets and then the rain washes all the dirt, grime, and faeces into the same rivers where they get their water.  Therefore, in addition to water purification, we also focus on educating the villagers on hygiene and sanitation.

NHF: NHF was a founding member of African Heart Network (AHN) in collaboration with Heart and Stroke Foundation of South Africa and AHN has presence in 13 African Countries now namely Kenya, Ghana, Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Mozambique, Sudan, Tunisia etc.

NHF has initiated a Heart Check Labelling Programme which is a systematic endorsement of food items certifying them heart-friendly and healthy. Through this programme, NHF has collaborated with Grand Cereals, a subsidiary of UAC, to endorse a product called Grand Pure Soya Oil, after completion of rigorous laboratory analysis. Today, Grand Pure Soya Oil is available in most West African Countries, carrying the Heart Check logo on its product pack. And plans are on the way to collaborate with other Manufacturers on their products through a similar process.

NHF has strong Tobacco reduction projects in Africa and is an active member of ATCA.  

NHF launched the 'Go Red for Women' in Nigeria in 2009. The event themed ‘It’s a Red Alert’ was to raise awareness that women are at the risk of cardiovascular disease and encourage them to care for themselves and their family through healthy eating, regular exercise, quitting smoking and regular health checkups.

NHF collaborates on Research projects with Federal Ministry of Health, World Health Organization , International Research Centre, Canada and other similar institutions to exchange experiences and to bench on best practises.

Eights & Weights: What’s your charity’s next big step? Anything in the works right now?
PSH: We have recently partnered with two local organizations (Hands at Work and Oria International) to help us execute our sustainable projects. These organizations are quite experienced with local projects. They have a good understanding of the nature of the challenges. As they say, two heads are better than one. Working with them means we can hopefully impact more lives in a positive way.

Our first project with Hands at Work will involve sponsoring 150 children in Ilaje Community in Lagos. We will also be partnering with a new village - Paikon Kore, Abuja. Here, we hope to invest $30,000 in Small Business Enterprises.

Face Africa: We’ve implemented two projects thus far, but this year, we are hoping to complete about six more well and sanitation projects in villages in Liberia. These villages would contain between 200 and 600 people. We will also be doing a much larger county-wide project in partnership with Unicef and Irish Aid, which should benefit about 20,000 people. So the impact next year will be much larger than what we’ve done so far.

NHF: We are working hard:
•    To see more African National Heart Foundations introduce the Nutrition Programme in various countries.
•    Towards the establishment of more National Heart Foundations in Africa
•    To strengthen the Advocacy & fundraising activities
•    To strengthen and promote Heart-health in Africa
•    To implement the proposal for a National Institute in Abuja, Nigeria

Eights & Weights: How can people find out more about your charity and how can the readers get involved?
PSH: There are 3 big ways you can help us. You can help us by raising awareness of our cause. Start a Local University Chapter or organize events. You can also purchase a T-Shirt (Take a picture and email it to us so we can upload it to our Facebook album). All the information you need is at http://www.povertystopshere.org/act.php. Or please visit our website at www.povertystopshere.org  or email info@povertystopshere.org with any questions.

Face Africa: To find out more, readers can go on our website www.faceafrica.org. It has some general information about the projects we are working on, and how people can help. Also, you can find some information on our Facebook fan page www.facebook.com/faceafrica or follow us on Twitter @faceafrica. We also have a blog we just started recently, which Andrea Cuttler updates and maintains to inform people who are interested about learning more about the organization. We would love people to donate because we always need extra money. But we are also always looking for volunteers who bring skills to the table.

NHF: If you are interested in becoming a member of this National Heart Foundation, please fill our Membership Form online at www.nigerianheart.org or visit us at our Corporate office at 4, Akanbi Danmola Street, Off Ribadu Street, Ikoyi, Lagos. If you have any questions, please email us at info@nigerianheart.org or give us a ring at +234 1 8923618 or +234 1 4715212.

These charities are all making a lot of difference in the place we all call home. Please get involved today. 

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

New Year, New Challenge


Happy New Year readers! I hope you celebrated enough for the whole year. Now, it's time to get back to reality.

So I'm usually totally against New Year resolutions. It just sets us up for failure. I'd rather we see a problem, and go ahead and fix it. Don't wait till the New Year to make a resolution. That said, because the New Year signifies the end of the holidays, it is a good time for some reflection. It's time to think about what we want our goals to be over the next few months.

If you're trying to lose weight, think about what weight you'd like to be in March maybe and start working on a plan to get you there. If you're trying to build some muscle, think about what exercises you'd need to do, how much money you may need to spend, and how it all fits into your work and social life. If you're trying to put on weight the healthy way, also think about what food you should be eating so you can remain in good shape.

As you make your plans for the next few months, please share them with me. Email me at editor@eightsandweights.com!

Cheers Eights & Weights! Have a lovely week!
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