Official Online Newspaper of Fort Hays State University

Diary of a plus sized girl



WEEK SEVEN:
Twenty pounds and counting. Yep, that’s how many pounds I’ve shed since I started my endeavor, and it feels amazing.
I believe I have accomplished a great deal on my journey to becoming healthier. Although weight loss isn’t everything, it does come with the territory when you adjust your lifestyle. I still have a long way to go, and I’m going to keep at it.
One way I plan on doing that is by taking part in this year’s Walk Kansas event. This is something I’ve known about since I was in high school, but because of my anxiety, I was always too afraid to try it. But this year, I’m gathering a team, and we are going to do our best.
What’s the point of Walk Kansas? Well, it’s pretty much what the title says it is: you walk. The goal for each team is to walk at least two and half hours a week, which is about ten miles. It’s pretty doable, especially since the average time it takes for me to walk to class is 12 minutes. I walk around 120 minutes a week already. It’s pretty easy to find the time, because if you try to walk 20 minutes a day, you should be able to make your goal.
That’s pretty cool, right? Sometimes it’s really easy to overlook how much you can do.There is also more to this program than just walking. It involves eating right, which is what I’ve been talking about since Week One of this column.
Something interesting I discovered out whie researching exercise for this event is its definitions of moderate and vigorous activities. I had no idea that you could test yourself and how hard you are working just by trying to talk or sing.
During moderate workouts, you should be able to talk and carry on a conversation, but you shouldn’t be able to sing. Some moderate workouts include ballroom and line dancing, biking on level ground or hills, catch-and-throw sports, tennis, using a manual wheelchair, walking briskly and water aerobics.
For those who can take it to the next level, carrying on a conversation shouldn’t be easy while performing a vigorous work out because your entire lung capacity is dedicated to breathing. If you want to step up your workout, you can take part in aerobic dance, biking faster than ten miles per hour, hiking uphill, martial arts, race walking, jogging or running, swimming laps and sports involving a great deal of running such as basketball, hockey and soccer.
It is important to remember that you can’t just jump into a workout cold. You have to warm up to get your heart going, or you could tire out more easily. An example of warming up is stretching along with doing an activity at a slower pace, such as riding a bike slowly at first and speeding up later.
The same should be repeated when you are finished with the majority of your work out. Doing too much at once can make you feel dizzy, nauseous or even cause you to pass out. It’s important to cool down. There are physical warning signs that you should watch out for while exercising. Be aware of pain or pressure in the chest, abdomen, neck, jaw or arms as well as nausea, dizziness, shortness of breath, extreme fatigue and slow recovery from exercise.
All this information can be found on the Walk Kansas organization’s Web site. I found a bunch of useful information there. I was even able to find some recipes for healthier meals.When you are done reading this column, and if you are interested in participating in this event, which takes place March 7 through May 1, check out walkkansas.org for some awesome health tips.

WEEK SEVEN:

Twenty pounds and counting. Yep, that’s how many pounds I’ve shed since I started my endeavor, and it feels amazing.

I believe I have accomplished a great deal on my journey to becoming healthier. Although weight loss isn’t everything, it does come with the territory when you adjust your lifestyle. I still have a long way to go, and I’m going to keep at it.

One way I plan on doing that is by taking part in this year’s Walk Kansas event. This is something I’ve known about since I was in high school, but because of my anxiety, I was always too afraid to try it. But this year, I’m gathering a team, and we are going to do our best.

What’s the point of Walk Kansas? Well, it’s pretty much what the title says it is: you walk. The goal for each team is to walk at least two and half hours a week, which is about ten miles. It’s pretty doable, especially since the average time it takes for me to walk to class is 12 minutes. I walk around 120 minutes a week already. It’s pretty easy to find the time, because if you try to walk 20 minutes a day, you should be able to make your goal.

That’s pretty cool, right? Sometimes it’s really easy to overlook how much you can do.There is also more to this program than just walking. It involves eating right, which is what I’ve been talking about since Week One of this column.

Something interesting I discovered out whie researching exercise for this event is its definitions of moderate and vigorous activities. I had no idea that you could test yourself and how hard you are working just by trying to talk or sing.

During moderate workouts, you should be able to talk and carry on a conversation, but you shouldn’t be able to sing. Some moderate workouts include ballroom and line dancing, biking on level ground or hills, catch-and-throw sports, tennis, using a manual wheelchair, walking briskly and water aerobics.

For those who can take it to the next level, carrying on a conversation shouldn’t be easy while performing a vigorous work out because your entire lung capacity is dedicated to breathing. If you want to step up your workout, you can take part in aerobic dance, biking faster than ten miles per hour, hiking uphill, martial arts, race walking, jogging or running, swimming laps and sports involving a great deal of running such as basketball, hockey and soccer.

It is important to remember that you can’t just jump into a workout cold. You have to warm up to get your heart going, or you could tire out more easily. An example of warming up is stretching along with doing an activity at a slower pace, such as riding a bike slowly at first and speeding up later.

The same should be repeated when you are finished with the majority of your work out. Doing too much at once can make you feel dizzy, nauseous or even cause you to pass out. It’s important to cool down. There are physical warning signs that you should watch out for while exercising. Be aware of pain or pressure in the chest, abdomen, neck, jaw or arms as well as nausea, dizziness, shortness of breath, extreme fatigue and slow recovery from exercise.

All this information can be found on the Walk Kansas organization’s Web site. I found a bunch of useful information there. I was even able to find some recipes for healthier meals.When you are done reading this column, and if you are interested in participating in this event, which takes place March 7 through May 1, check out walkkansas.org for some awesome health tips.

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