S.O.S: Save Our Sisters Fitness Challenge

What are you doing to save your sister, friend, co-worker, or any other black woman struggling with health issues? When was the last time you encouraged a friend to join you in the gym?
What are you doing to save yourself?

We are in a state of emergency and something has to be done A.S.A.P. You can no longer sit back and watch your Sister or yourself increase their risk for disease because of lack of exercise and healthy eating . We have to take responsibility for each other and fight obesity together!

Nubian Fitness Goddess and Sweet Potato Pie have joined forces to bring you the S.O.S. Fitness Challenge. Our sites have combined to bring the you best motivation, tips, and support for the S.O.S.

To join the S.O.S. Challenge you must agree to encourage at least of one your friends or family members to join you in the gym or wherever you workout. If you don't have access to the gym get together and do a workout DVD together or go for a walk. The goal is to build a support network around you so invite as many women as you can. This will support you in your efforts to stay healthy and it will also benefit the people you are encouraging.

Ladies that are new to exercise this challenge is perfect for you as well. If it's your first time going to the gym you can still take a friend with you, get FIT together!

The S.O.S challenge will last 3 months. For the next 3 months we will be providing tips, encouragement, posting success stories and struggles that women have encountered. We hope that this fitness challenge will strengthen your own commitment to your heath as well strengthen your friends/family's members commitment.

Sweet Potato Pie and Nubian Fitness Goddess are excited about this challenge. Check back regularly for updates about S.O.S! We will constantly be adding tips and more details about the Challenge.


Tell us if you're joining S.O.S. What are your thoughts about the Challenge? Do you believe you can convince your friends and family to commit to exercise with you?

Spread the Word, tell your friends and family about S.O.S.

Don't forget to check out Nubian Fitness Goddess

Why You Just Can't Lose Weight

You step on the scale and groan at the number peeking between your toes. "I'll go on a diet today!" you think. Not so fast. Unless you are mentally ready to lose weight, any diet you try is likely doomed to failure.

In a widely accepted model of behavioral change, there are five stages of motivational readiness. If you're stuck in an early stage, your diet won't work, says registered dietician Karen Collins. Studies suggest that people may feel ready to lose weight, but if they are unprepared to alter their behavior, they'll fail, reports the American Institute for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C. in a column titled "Nutrition Notes."

The five stages of motivational readiness that can be applied to dieting, exercise, or just about anything in your life:

Stage One: Precontemplation

A person has no intention of changing.

Stage Two: Contemplation

A person intends to change--later.

Read the rest of the stages here.

Vivrant Thang blogs about live, love and music over at Songs In The Key Of Life.

Use Yoga to Stop the Clock

We already know, "Black don't crack," but if you'd like to enhance the natural youthful beauty Black women retain well into their older years, you may want to consider taking up yoga. From Prevention.com:

Minimizes wrinkles Yoga can reduce stress by nearly a third, reports a German study of 24 women. As a result, clenched jaws and furrowed brows relax, helping to smooth away wrinkles. Yoga may also rejuvenate skin's glow by reducing oxidative stress, which breaks down skin's elasticity. In an Indian study of 104 people, oxidative stress levels dropped by 9% after just 10 days of yoga.

Slows weight gain During a 10-year University of Washington study of 15,500 men and women over age 45, those who didn't do yoga gained up to 13.5 pounds. Those who practiced regularly lost up to 5 pounds.

Eases pain Yoga is twice as effective as stretching at relieving back pain, according to another University of Washington study that had 101 people with lower-back pain do either yoga or stretching once a week for 3 months.

We all have those older relatives who are in their 60's and easily look like they are in their 40's, yoga just seems like it woul add a little "umph" to Black women's ability to age gracefully. Nesides, being healthier, slimmer and more relaxed is something we all can benefit from, regardless of age.

Daily Weight Loss Tip

Stay focused on being healthy not on becoming thin. Many people become more successful at long term weight loss when their motivation changes from wanting to be thinner to wanting to be healthier. Change your mindset to think about selecting foods that will help your body's health rather than worrying about foods that will affect your body's weight.

Source

Yoga and Pilates Do a Body Good

Well, it’s not just the holistic hippie types that recognize the benefits of Pilates and yoga (and a good home cooked meal); apparently big brawny football players can appreciate the disciplines as well. Linebacker Calvin Pace, formerly of the Arizona Cardinals and now of the New York Jets, said it was these, “little things," that convinced him to sign with the Jets. Really?

So, it wasn’t the helicopter ride to the training facility or the 42 million dollar contract that they offered and he signed? Well, whatever the reason, we’re happy for Pace. Maybe he read recent studies showing how yoga prevents wrinkles and acts as a fountain of youth; or perhaps he recognizes a good Pilates workout can stretch out his overworked and abused body after a tough game. Perhaps, but I’ll put my money on the 42 million, with the yoga and Pilates being the icing on top.

Links
Yoga, Pilates and free food set Jets apart
Use Yoga to Stop the Clock

Born With Fat Cells You Have

The damn things just won't die:

Every year, whether you are fat or thin, whether you lose weight or gain, 10 percent of your fat cells die. And every year, those cells that die are replaced with new fat cells, researchers in Sweden reported Sunday.

The result is that the total number of fat cells in the body remains the same, year after year throughout adulthood. Losing or gaining weight affects only the amount of fat stored in the cells, not the number of cells.