Fabletics Athletic Apparel

A few months ago, I saw a Facebook ad for Fabletics, an athletic apparel company cofounded by the actress Kate Hudson. I looked around and bought this fabulous outfit:

I absolutely love it! The shirt is airy, long, and comfortable, and I love the style. The shorts are modest and not too tight like other Spandex shorts. A sports bra was also included, but the only size they had left was too small, so I sold it on eBay for half of what I paid for the whole outfit! New members can get outfits for as low as $25 with free shipping. And signing up does not mean you have to continue buying. Fabletics will send you an email on the first of each month with personalized outfits, which you can opt out of buying. If you forget, they give you one free pass. After that, the fee is credited to your account, so it's not lost money but available for once you do decide to buy something again. They also accept returns and exchanges.

The best part is the reviews, which include a fitting rating to help you decide which size to buy. It was very useful for me since I usually don't buy clothes online for sizing reasons. Thanks to the advice others left, the size I chose fit perfectly!

If you are looking for stylish, bright, fun workout clothes, accessories, and equipment, then I highly recommend trying Fabletics! This is the next outfit I want to get:

5 Exercises You Can Do While Sitting in a Chair

photo by deafstar

If you're like me and spend a lot of time sitting in a chair, here are some exercises for you to try:

1. March in place.
2. Bounce your baby in your lap (or bounce a heavy object if you don't have a baby) and feel the burn in your thighs!
3. Hit your knees together.
4. Using your abs, don't let your feet touch the floor. If you're short like me and your feet don't touch the floor anyway, lift them up higher or straighten them out and raise them to chair level.
5. Straddle the chair (a leg on each side instead of to the front) and do calf raises. This will also stretch out your inner thighs.

Ten Easy Exercises You Can Do at Home

photo by Jahanta Behera

How many of you have some sort of health goal this year? We all know it usually doesn't last long, but it can as long as you have the right tools, one of them being easy exercises you can do at home. Try these out for quick ways to keep moving throughout your day!

1. Skip.
2. Walk around on your tippy toes.
3. Do various styles of pushups against the wall.
4. Stand on one leg and do squats.
5. Give your kids piggy back or horsey rides.
6. Hold the wall for support and do side leg lifts and back leg lifts.
7. March in place while washing dishes, folding laundry, talking on the phone, etc.
8. Roll your hands, high, low, fast, slow. It tires you out faster than you think! 
9. Stand against the wall and then slide down into a sitting position, as if in an imaginary chair. Try to last through one magazine article or TV commercial break.
10. Sit on the floor instead of the couch while reading or watching TV, extend your legs, and stretch them out. You lose flexibility and gain stiffness from sitting too much (and sleeping in the fetal position).

What exercises do you like to do at home?

5 Sources for New Exercises

If you are tired of your exercise routine and looking for some new moves to get you motivated again, check out the following:

1. YouTube videos
2. The Biggest Loser TV show
3. Health books at your local library
4. Health magazines and their Web sites
5. Other people at the gym (discreetly, please!)

How to Save Money on Workout Clothes

You are finally motivated to work out—and then realize you have nothing to wear. Buying new workout clothes can be expensive. Here are some ways  to save money on workout clothes.

1. Save old clothes you never wear but that still fit you. Wear old shorts and pants for outdoor activities like hiking. Wear old cotton shirts, like those you get at events, for running and other exercise.
2. Check out thrift stores for workout clothes. You may find some name brands or nearly new workout clothes.
3. Buy workout clothes at inexpensive places like Walmart or K-mart. Unless you are a hardcore athlete, you don’t need expensive clothes for working out. If you like to shop name brands, then always check the clearance racks and outlet malls first.
4. Use workout clothes for multiple sports and exercises instead of buying specific clothes for every type. For example, you can wear basketball shorts not only for basketball, but also for running, football, and weightlifting. You can use yoga clothes also for Pilates, step aerobics, and dance.

Turn Everyday Activities into Exercise

The motto of this season's The Biggest Loser is "The Season of No Excuses." So no matter if you don't have time, money, or other resources. Just turn everyday activities into exercise!

• Squat every time you pick something up. It's better for your back too.
• Do lunges while vacuuming.
• Scrub the floors and tub by hand.
• Speed walk while grocery shopping. The fast pace will also make it harder to browse and thus be tempted to put junk food in your cart.
• Stretch while taking a hot shower.
• Bounce your baby to sleep on the birth/exercise ball. You'll feel it in your thighs!

15 Ways to Exercise with Your Kids

photo by Neil Gould

It’s important to instill healthy habits in children when they are young. However, finding time to exercise is difficult when you are a full-time parent with young children. Instead of worrying about finding time to exercise, play actively with your little ones. Both you and your children will have fun and get exercise—and they won’t even know it! Get playing with these activities:

1. Play tag outside. Children love to run around. You can also play Duck Duck Goose, Hide and Seek, or Kick the Bucket if your kids enjoy those games.
2. Play catch. For more exercise, have your children throw the ball and you chase after it and vice versa.
3. Jump on the trampoline, play jump rope, or play hopscotch with your children. All the bouncing is good exercise.
4. Race your children in the yard or at the park. Children are very competitive and will give you a run for your money. Have different types of races or relay races for a good and fun workout.
5. Make an obstacle course in your yard with things you need to climb over, jump over, run around, and crawl through.
6. Blow bubbles and try to pop them all before they float away.
7. Ride bikes together. If your children are too young, buy a bike seat for your child or a trailer to attach to your bike if you have more children. You can also roller-skate together.
8. Take a walk together. If you have a dog, bring the dog along. Everyone can walk or your children can ride their bikes or roller-skate while you walk the dog. If there is a park within walking distance from your home, walk instead of taking the car. If your kids don’t like walks, disguise it as a scavenger hunt.
9. Play with your children at the playground. Lift them up to go across the monkey bars; push them in the swing; play soccer or Frisbee. Be active with them instead of watching them from the bench. They will love the quality time you spend playing with them, too.
10. Go swimming together. If your children can’t swim, carry them on your back for extra weight while you swim. If you don’t have a pool, run around in the sprinklers or have a water-gun fight. If you live near a beach, do some of these activities there.
11. Have a dance party. Sing activity songs like “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” or play their favorite music and dance free style. If they take dance lessons, let them teach you some steps.
12. To increase balance and flexibility, play Twister or teach them yoga.
13. Teach your kids how to hula hoop with various parts of your body. Or use it as a jump rope, roll it and chase after it, or include it in the obstacle course (see step 6).
14. If your kids are involved in sports, practice the sport with them at home and let them teach you. If they aren’t, teach them a sport in the backyard or play a simple game like croquet or ping pong.
15. Play energetic games on the Wii or Kinect.

How to Exercise at Home

Don't have money for a gym membership? Don't have a ride? Don't have a sitter? Exercise at home!

• Use a one-step stool for step aerobics. (Make sure it is sturdy, not slippery, and not too high.) Even if you don't have a step stool, you can do the same workout routine on level ground or a sidewalk curb.
• Do tricep dips on the stool, a chair, or the couch.
• Instead of using free weights, lift tote bags filled with canned goods or heavy textbooks, water jugs, or containers of liquid laundry detergent. The best exercise using bags is bicep curls. For water or detergent, the best are tricep and shoulder extensions.
• Get in the habit of always doing something physical while watching TV: stretch and do squats, calf raises, sit-ups, leg lifts, or push-ups. TV will make time go faster and distract you from discomfort.
• Listen to upbeat music you can dance to while cleaning. Music makes things fun and makes time fly by. You’ll end up cleaning more, which—along with the dancing—will make you burn more calories.
• Install a pull-up bar in a doorway for a quick, convenient workout every time you pass by that door.
• Buy a jump rope or do jumping jacks when you have little breaks throughout the day, such as during commercials, while the pasta is boiling, or while waiting for something to load on the computer. Those few minutes of exercise several times a day add up to big results!
• Take advantage of everyday opportunities to move: walk to your mailbox, give your kids piggy-back rides, offer to get drinks for everyone. Do anything but sit. A study found that even people who constantly shake their legs or tap their feet burn up to 300 more calories a day!

How to Make Exercise Go By Faster

You know you need to exercise, but when you do, it seems to last forever! You might make it through resentfully or you might even give up. Don’t be discouraged! Here are some tips to make the time go by quickly when you exercise, and hopefully make you exercise even longer and thus lose more weight.

IF YOU RUN, WALK, OR BIKE OUTSIDE

• Change direction often. Make your route go various directions instead of down a long road or around a large perimeter. Changing direction frequently makes you feel like you are making more progress. Different scenery is a nice distraction as well.
• Choose a route you know. An unfamiliar route may make it seem longer before you get back to your starting point. By knowing your route, you can track your progress accurately.
• Measure your remaining distance in small increments based on landmarks. Don’t think, Eight blocks to go. Think, Two blocks to the gas station before I turn right. Then at the gas station, Only three more blocks to my neighborhood, and once in your neighborhood, Three blocks to the house!

IF YOU RUN ON A TRACK OR SWIM LAPS

• Change your pace or stroke every few laps. For example, run two laps for a warm-up, then alternate between sprinting and jogging a lap, and cool down with two laps.

IF YOU EXERCISE AT HOME

• Watch your favorite TV shows. Next thing you know, thirty to sixty minutes have gone by!

IF YOU EXERCISE AT A GYM

• Change machines every ten minutes: ten minutes each on the treadmill, elliptical, stationary bicycle, and stair stepper becomes a forty-minute workout. Add ten minutes each of weight lifting and stretching and you have a full hour of exercise!
• If you like to stay on just one machine, change the settings or your pace every ten minutes.
• Read a book or magazine while on a machine. Nothing makes time go by faster than being absorbed in an intriguing book or article.
• Watch the gym's TV or the personal one on the fitness equipment.

NO MATTER WHERE YOU EXERCISE

• Listen to a pumping playlist on your iPod (or stereo at home). It will not only make a workout go by faster, but will also make it more fun. Make a playlist for each type of exercise you do to create variety and the right mood.
• Work out with a friend. You will have someone to talk to, keep you company, and encourage you.
• Alternate exercise methods. If you run the same route every day, you may easily become bored. But if you only run it twice a week and do other forms of exercise the other days, your route won’t seem so tedious.

How to Save Money and Lose Weight by Going Green

photo by Michael Lorenzo

There are ways you can save money. There are ways you can lose weight. There are ways you can go green. But all three at once? Yes, you can kill three birds with one stone: go green and in the process also save money and lose weight!

1. When circumstances allow, walk or ride a bike to places that are within a couple miles, such as the library, post office, or elementary school. You will lose weight from walking or biking, save money on gas, and lessen bad chemicals in the air. You will also get to enjoy the outdoors: the sights and sounds of nature, the beautiful sun and clouds—even in the city!
2. Once a week, with family or friends, pick up trash along a busy road or highway. You will not only make the road cleaner and the soil healthier, but you will probably get a mini workout as well from all the walking, bending, and hauling. And you may be able to make some pocket change by taking cans and bottles to a recycling center.
3. Plant an organic garden. Eating fresh, clean produce will encourage you to eat healthier and thus lose more weight. Also, gardening is a great way to burn calories and include the whole family in hard labor. Plus you’ll save money by growing your own organic fruits and vegetables instead of buying highly priced ones at the store.
4. Use eco-friendly cleaning products when you clean your house. To save money, make your own eco-friendly cleaning products or use simple products like vinegar. Clean to some upbeat music for a fun and productive exercise.
5. Get your family involved in free or inexpensive outdoor activities—such as hiking, bird watching, or picnicking at a park—instead of going to the movies and consuming buttery popcorn and sugary soda. Being outdoors promotes exercise and play, saves money, and helps you appreciate nature more.

The Biggest Loser Family Night

My husband and I love to watch "The Biggest Loser" together. However, we have been naughty sometimes and watched it while eating Double-Stuf Oreos. Then one commercial break, Bob made me feel guilty. He said, "People admit to me that they watch the show while eating a bowl of ice cream," and then called us sinners off the couch. He showed us three different exercises to do during commercials. From then on, I decided at least not to eat junk food. Only once have we exercised while watching the show.

How about making it a family event and motivating each other to do something healthy while watching the inspiring people on "The Biggest Loser." Here are some ideas to get you (and me) started:

Snacks: If you are addicted to eating while watching TV, then eat right. Prepare beforehand a tray of cut fresh fruits and vegetables, raw nuts, and whole grain crackers with real cheese.

Commercials: During the breaks do a short exercise like situps, jumping jacks, or pushups. See how many you can do in one commercial break and try to do more the next one.

Episode: Copycat what the contestants are doing if possible. Many exercises and challenges are harder than they look!

Recording: Write down health and exercise tips to help you in your own weight loss goal and try them out that week.

Guessing Game: Play along when they have to guess how many calories a meal has and see who is the closest to the correct answer.

Goals: Make your own weekly health and exercise goals.

Family Competition: Involve the whole family in your own Biggest Loser competition. At the end of the season, the person who accomplished all their goals wins and gets a prize. You can decide the prize beforehand or let the winner choose.