Keeping Healthy While Working At Home

Sparkplugging is continuing our tradition called ‘Spark an Idea Thursday’. Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers. We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition through to your own blog! If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!

This week we’re Sparking an Idea About Homepreneur Health

A few months ago I wrote a post about Avoiding Work-At-Home Weight Gain which gave some tips on how to keep from gaining weight with the fridge nearby all day.While working at home gives busy moms more flexibility in their schedule to exercise and meal plan, it also uses less calories than working outside the home. The results often mean extra weight and less energy.

I have to confess here that I am an AFAA certified fitness instructor which only means that I know a lot of information about health and fitness, not that I’m tiny and tight.  I’m not your typical instructor. I’m not a fitness enthusiast. I exercise because its important to good health, like brushing my teeth. Plus I get paid to exercise which is likely the only way I’ll stick to it.  I’m not perky which I think used to be a requirement to be an aerobics instructor. And I carry about 15 pounds extra than I should.

With that said, I do try to maintain a fitness and eating plan because I sit a lot during the day and I’m getting older. The older you get the more important fitness and good health becomes to maintaining an active lifestyle. So here’s what I do…or at least try to do to be a healthy homepreneur:

I try to exercise 4-5 times a week. I’m not a morning person so I don’t hop out of bed and go for a run. But neither can I muster the energy after lunch. So I try to exercise sometime between 10 am and noon. This is one of the advantages to working at home; the flexibility to exercise at the peak time for me.

I usually run for 30-40 minutes. I don’t like running much, but it gives me the most burn for the buck. In the winter I run on a treadmill which I HATE, but I can mix things up by choosing a hill option one day and intervals another day. Good music or videos on the iPod can help…a little.

I teach two classes a week; one on core strength and another on total body toning , so that gives me my strength classes. Weight bearing exercise is very important to preserve bone density. Further the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn in everything you do!

Stretching is important as well. Its crucial to injury prevention particularly as you get older. Taking 10-15 minutes after a cardio workout to stretch is the perfect time as muscles are warm. At the very least I stretch my ham strings (the most prone to being pulled), quads, back and chest (helps with posture).

If you don’t like lifting weights or stretching, try a yoga class. Many people mistakenly think yoga is all about meditation and relaxation. Yoga people are deceptively strong. They are flexible and have great endurance. Yoga moves build over all body strength and improve balance, another important skill people should have as the get older.

Eating is really where I struggle the most. I don’t like breakfast, but studies show that people who eat it struggle less with their weight (assuming they eat a healthy breakfast). The most difficult thing for me is snacking. At 4 pm and 8 pm I get the munchies. One trick that helps keep them at bay is to keep busy. The minute I start watching tv is when the munchies attack. Another thing I try to do is to eat something every 3-4 hours so I don’t get too hungry.

As far as what I eat; I try to stick to the healthy diet of lean proteins, vegies, fruits and whole grains. There are a ton of diets on the market, but if you pull out the basics of each, it comes down to eating the right foods in the right amount of calories.When I can’t stand it and need to spurge, I’ll try to have unbuttered popcorn (I use spray oil and sprinkle with popcorn toppings for taste) or fruit as they can be filling and are good for you.

I’m a chocoholic and don’t plan to quit anytime soon. When I can afford the splurge I buy gourmet 70% chocolate (I like Lindt). Dark chocolate is good for you in moderation. I limit to about 150 calories when I eat it.

I also try to have  a sleep schedule. Studies show that people who don’t sleep at least 8 hours a night are heavier than those that do. I don’t know why, but I like to sleep and I like to be thin so I’m willing to try it:)