I got in a groove with the “7 Interesting Things I Read This Week” Sunday series (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) … and then Brazil happened (the recap is here!) … and I already know I won’t do another one this upcoming Sunday. Well, sometimes you just have to go with the flow, and that means that this week’s 7 Tips Series is coming on Workout Wednesday! Enjoy! 
(picture source)
**Before I get started, I want to thank you for your patience if you tried to visit my site yesterday morning and got an “Under Construction” message. As I’ve mentioned, my sweet friend Bobbi is working on a blog redesign for me. Depending on when you open the page, it may still be a work in progress, but click through anyway and let us know what you think!**
7 Interesting (Exercise) Things I Read This Week
- 7 Ways Your Healthy Lifestyle Needs to Change: shameless plug here, but I was honored to be interviewed for an article on the front page of the Dallas Morning News’ Arts & Life section yesterday! Check out my tips on some seemingly-healthy things you may need to stop doing! (And no, I didn’t even bribe the reporter to use my favorite number 7!)
- Exercise Can Help Convert “Bad” Fat Into “Good” Fat: I’ve been learning more about brown and white fats, and the different roles they play in our bodies, and this article explains it well. Our bodies need brown fat to cushion our organs, give us energy, and ensure that our hormones are working properly. And this new study shows that exercise may be able to convert your white fat (which is correlated with disease if present in high levels) into the beneficial brown fat! Add that to our ever-growing list of reasons to exercise!
- Strange Things that Happen to Your Body When You Exercise: This one made me laugh, because I relate to a lot of them. I honestly thought my itchy legs were due to dry skin when running. I guess you learn something new every day!
- 3 Quick and Dirty Tips to Prevent Running Injuries for Good: I’ve talked about mixing up your workouts, compression, and many more of these topics. One thing I’ve never personally done is focus on my form to the point of counting my steps. I’m sure it would be helpful, but I also think it would be so boring! I’m lucky that my natural running form is not terrible, although I have to consistently work on keeping my shoulders from scrunching up. I try to do frequent mental “body checks” to make sure I’m using good form during the run!
- 10 Things Healthy People Do Before Work Each Day: This one is sneaking into today’s list because it does include exercise, but I also love some of the other tips on here. I’m still keeping up my gratitude journal and loving the benefits … are you?
- 7 Ways to Balance Cardio and Strength Training: we know we need to do both, but it’s hard for everyone to fit them both in. For me, quick 10-20 minute workouts (like the ones I pin on Pinterest) are a great solution to tack on some strength training to my running days. However, the author gives a few of her tips for making time for both.
- The War on Women’s Bodies: It is National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to highlight this scary and eye-opening infographic. Did you know that 50% of girls use unhealthy weight control behaviors, 70% of women aged 18-30 years old don’t like their body, and nearly 20 million women will suffer from an eating disorder at some point in their life? Unfortunately, eating disorders are far more prevalent than we realize – and they’re not just for teenage girls, either, but for women and men of all ages. It would be impossible for me to summarize all of my thoughts and emotions around eating disorders here, but please take a moment to do two things:
- First, if you know of someone who needs help, please start to get them the help they deserve. Having a frank, non-judgmental conversation to let someone know that you are concerned can be the catalyst to saving someone’s life. It takes confidence, but it is worth it. This website will get you started with resources, and if you need further information to get someone help, please feel free to contact me, and I’ll do whatever I can.
- Second, spread the word in some way. Educate yourself so you can be more informed, tweet your support, Pin an infographic like the one below, or share the message on your blog. Just like mental illness, I believe that every time we talk about eating disorders, some of the stigma is reduced and we can help people seek the treatment and recovery that they need.
- (BONUS!) The Today Show’s “Love Your Selfie” campaign: I’m not entirely sure it’s related to NEDA Week, but it seems similar. They have some good reads on here, including how parents influence their children’s body image, the Today Show anchors’ body insecurities, and a “Muffin Top Rap” (OK, I’m not actually sure how I feel about that one, but the message of embracing your body at the end is great!). Little known fact about me – I interned in the News Executive Offices of the Today Show in New York City after my sophomore year in college. It was an awesome experience and I’ll forever be a loyal Today Show fan :).
- (ANOTHER BONUS!) The Hottest New Fitness Machine: I’m dying to hear from someone who has tried this. I’m torn between being completely intrigued and completely bored – I’m not sure I could stare at a moving ladder for 40 minutes. Cool or not cool?
Note that picture sources are from each individual article, linked in the titles.
So tell me in the comments … Which article was your favorite? Have you done any great workouts this week? Do you have any thoughts to share about NEDA Week? Please tell me someone out there has tried the Fitwall!
Megan this looks awesome- Love the colour contrast! i’m in the design process at the moment and can understand how nervous/excited/all that jazz the process is!
Going to check out the 10 things healthy people do before work- hopefully I already do some of them 😉
Thank you, Arman! I know your redesign will be amazing, too! I’m guessing you do a lot of those 10 things in the article!
Great articles! I liked the one about weird things that happen while you exercise….sometimes my toes go numb when I start working out, but it usually only happens when I use the elliptical for some reason.
Also, there are apps you can download to help count your steps while running, if you’re interested in testing out your cadence. Might be easier than trying to count steps:)
Your new blog design looks great! And congrats on the article in the Dallas News!
My toes used to go numb when I used the elliptical, and I think it was because I was pressing down kind of hard and not moving my foot. If I shift my foot every few minutes it seems to be fine! Good idea on the running cadence apps – I can’t imagine ever running with one of those permanently, but I’d like to check it out just to see where I stand!
The new website design is beautiful! I love green! I enjoyed the article on weird things that happen when you run. I definitely have itchy thighs and exercise-induced rhinitis!!
Thank you, Michelle! You’re the best!
The site looks great, girl! Redesigns are always such a hassle, but the end result is always worth it. And thanks for sharing some info on NEDA Week. It’s an issue that hits particularly close to home, so I always love seeing more awareness raised.
Thank you so much for checking it out, Amanda! Glad you like it! I have been loving your NEDA Week posts … so inspiring and real. You are amazing!
OK … another design note: so on the iPad the ‘notify me’ checkboxes are non-functional, or at least you can’t see what they are doing. And since I didn’t get a subscription email I assume I failed to tick the box.
These tips are SO incredibly helpful, thank you! Please share any more feedback like this that you have! Working on it :). Question – I know from our previous discussions that you often subscribe to see all the comments, but do you still get a separate email saying “Your Comment has a reply” or something like that?
Yes – so for your reply to me just now I saw two emails: one from WordPress specific to you replying to me, and another from the comment system that there was a new comment to the post.
OK, a bunch of things:
– Congrats on the DallAS Morning News post! Yay!
– LOVE the new design! So clean and fresh!
– Love that all of my info is in the Name/email/website fields. Because, seriously it was a bit of a hassle typing it in EVERY. Single. Time. I guess that shows how much I like your site! haha
– The comment entry box is showing all-caps on my iPad … hopefully I won’t be shouting in my reply 😉
On the articles, I definitely love the ’10 things … ‘ article, saw that on my LinkedIn pulse yesterday but it wouldn’t format right on my wiork computer and I forgot about it – so glad to see it in full!
And I remember seeing a year or so ago research from Europe about transconversion of brown and white fat cells. That is cool -when I first heard I didn’t believe, assuming it was like one of those ‘convert fat to muscle’ things … but it is real!
Great post and love the new look of the site!
I had no idea that your info wasn’t auto-populating. Sorry!! 🙂
Meggggggg it looks amazing!!!! I can only imagine how stressed you must of have been through the redesign (the worst!) but it really does look fab. Tell Bobby he did a great job!
Confession, I’m a huge Today show fan and loved their selfie campaign though truth-be-told I don’t know if I could ever post a close-up of myself on national Tv. Kudos to them!
Thank you so much, Davida! It actually wasn’t too painful … my designer was my good friend and I completely trusted her, so that helped. (Plus I have zero artistic bone in my body so it was better off to just let her run with things). It was stressful just going through the process, though! I’m so happy you’re a Today Show fan too 🙂
LOVEEEEE the new redesign!! Looks amazing.
Thank you SOO much, Amy!! I appreciate it :).
First off – LOVE the new design! I have to say the FIT WALL thing INTRIGUES me but I don’t quite understand it…Always willing to try SOMETHING new!!
Thanks so much, Sara! The Fitwall thing intrigued me at first, too, but the more and more I think about it … it seems like just staring at a wall would get pretty boring pretty quickly!
Love random like this. I’m having a hard time grasping the fitwall concept. Maybe someone that has tried it will comment.
Bummer, didn’t run across anyone that had tried Fitwall. I’m thinking it’s not for me :).