fit five: jessica lee

Thanks to the adorable Jessica Lee of Living in the Kitchen, Gym, & Mall!

Fit Five: My Five Essentials to Eating and Exercising

1) Plan out your workout: I notice that if I have a weekly plan of what I am supposed to do everyday, my workouts are much more efficient. I keep an exercise journal and write out all my moves for the entire workout and bring it to the gym with me. Then, I don't have to "think" about what to do next, I can just look at my plan and do the next move right away.This keeps my heart rate up because I can simply move from one exercise to another - *hint* keeping your heart rate up burns more calories!

2) Do strength training: Eight months ago, before I started lifting weights, all I did was cardio, cardio, carido. All the results I saw were...NONE. Strength training helped me build lean muscle mass which gave me a heck of a lot more tone. Also, by increasing my muscle mass, I was able to increase my metabolism as well because muscles burn more calories than fat.

3) Lose the junk: To lose the junk in the trunk, you need to eat clean and keep the junk out of the house. I have a sweet tooth so I know it's better for me to simply not to keep any trigger foods around. I know myself and I think that's what is important. I'm the kind of person that likes snacky/junk foods of course, but if they're not there, I don't miss them nor do I crave them.

4) Eat your fruits and veggies: Fruits and vegetables are both delicious and nutritious. They are also very low in calories so you can eat a lot by volume which makes you full, but not consume a lot of calories. I'm always thinking of new ways to make my veggies. My favorite fruits are definitely exotic fruits: mangoes, papaya, starfruit, etc.

5) This is my personal essential but I can not live without yogurt!: Yogurt contains live bacterial cultures may help you to live longer, and may fortify your immune system. This creamy stuff is also full of vitamins and minerals calcium, phosphorus, riboflavin-vitamin B2 and iodine. Eat it plain or mix it up with some fruit.