Health & Fitness: Finding a Routine

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I used to be a workout fiend before I got pregnant. I was going to my gym almost every day doing cardio and weight training classes. I loved the feeling of sweating out fat and toxins and I had a decent figure to show for it.

Then came first trimester morning sickness to knock me off my feet and keep me planted horizontally on my couch. Next was second semester exhaustion that made it barely doable to get through the work day. I rarely made it to my gym and when I did, I was not able to do all the exercises I once enjoyed. Instead of walking on the treadmill or making some other kind of reasonable adjustment, I just stopped altogether. I tried to walk around my neighborhood but once it got cold outside and darkness came earlier in the evening, I gave that up too.

So, that left me with a whopping 60 pound weight gain (eek!) during this pregnancy. Now, I am dying for my 6 week post-partum check up so I can begin working out again. Not only do I feel like a foreigner in this much bigger body, I miss the interaction of the classes and the elevated mood I would always feel after. I just want that "healthy" feeling again!

There are so many benefits to working out regularly and one article talks about how starting a good routine in your 20's will have you reaping the benefits of good health and less weight gain for decades to come.

Here's a snippet:

If you think you don't need to work out just because you're slim and trim at 25, think again. A new study shows that people who start a regular fitness regimen in their 20s and stick with it into their 30s and 40s experience less middle age spread.

The study, published in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that starting exercise early in life is especially good for women. Women who maintain a high intensity, regular fitness routine from their 20s onward gain 13 fewer pounds than women who are inactive or who are inconsistent in their exercise routines. (excerpt from aolhealth.com)

Click here to keep reading.

Cool huh? So. My question to all of you is, what types of exercises to you regularly engage in? Do you have a regimen that you see yourself sticking to for the next decades of your life?

Want to know another health benefit of working out? Just click here.