Finding your motivation

The new year is less than a month away and people begin to make resolutions to change themselves. It takes motivation to help make a change. If you don't have motivation, it is really hard to make a lifestyle change. I want to lose some weight to maintain a healthy weight. However, I am not going to wait until New Year's to start making my change. To lose weight, I have to motivate myself to eat right and work out. What do I use for motivation? My wedding dress.

I have a 5 months to get to the weight where I want to be before I can start trying on dresses. That will give me enough time because I plan to get married in May 2015 years from now. I want to look stunning on my wedding day. Whenever I am exercising I always think about wedding dresses and how I want to look on my wedding day. I have several wedding dresses thought up in my head. I know that I want a dress that has lace at the top. I want to go shopping at Belle Vogue Bridal next year. It's honestly the best motivation for me.

Another idea of motivation is health. I want to be healthy. I want to change my eating habits now so I eat right and stay healthy. I don't want to have to struggle with my weight later on in life. I know that many health problems have a link to being overweight. The general idea of health is also another great motivator for me.

Once you find your motivation, if you want it bad enough you will be motivated to do anything. However, your motivation shouldn't drive you to the point where you put yourself in danger. Figure out a plan of how you want to achieve your goal and follow it!

"One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And, the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Cancer

Cancer is defined as a group of diseases characterized by uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells according to Washburn University KN 198 Lifetime Wellness textbook. Although everyone knows what cancer is, there are so many types and risks associated with cancer.

This is a table of the most frequently diagnosed cancers in the United States as of 2010 from the same textbook.

Photo courtesy of Washburn University KN 198 Lifetime Wellness textbook.

There are so many ways to get any type of cancer. Anyone can have cancer. There are some patterns of risks that are associated with cancer. There are two ways cancer is divided into two risk categories. The first is lifetime risk, which is the probability of developing or dying of cancer in one's lifetime. The other way is relative risk, which is the relationship between a risk factor and a specific kind of cancer. An example is how smoking tobacco can give you lung cancer.

Risks for cancer are higher if:

• you have someone in your family with cancer
• you are older (cancer increases with age)
• smoke or drink more than two drinks a day
• if you are overweight, inactive and have malnutrition
• exposed to radiation
• exposed to sunlight, tanning lamps and booths

Also a good thing to know is that half of all men are diagnosed with cancer. One third of women are diagnosed with cancer. The best way to avoid getting cancer is to avoid all the risk factors and live a healthy lifestyle.

Creating a personal fitness plan

Throughout this semester, I have been taking a Lifetime Wellness course. During this class, our instructor has talked about creating a personal fitness plan to help people be physically active. My professor taught our class about the FITT formula--frequency, intensity, time and type. This formula is used to remember and apply different training variables. The goal of FITT is too achieve your fitness goals in through easier planning.

Frequency: It simply means how often you work out. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends exercising a minimum of three days a week for vigorous activity. It is important to have a few days of rest to avoid injury. It is also to prevent burnout, which is the physical and emotional exhaustion from exercise.

Intensity: The amount of strength and power exerted when doing the workout. Intensity of exercise is based on an individual. One person may find it easy to do an activity at a certain level, but another may find it hard. There is low intensity, which is like doing everyday activities like walking. There is moderate and vigorous intensity levels too. Moderate intensity is when you can still talk during your exercise. Vigorous is when you are out of breath and you can't talk.

Time: How long each workout is. More than 20 minutes of vigorous intensity is recommended by the ACSM to lose weight. More than 30 minutes of moderate intensity will help keep weight consistent. The Department of Health and Human Services recommends that adults accumulate at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous activity each week.

Type: What kind of workout you chose. Weight lifting, walking/running, sports, cardio, aerobic, dancing, etc. There are so many ways to workout. Find something you like to do so that you will continue to do it.