Healthy Eating and Sample Meal Plan

As a fitness expert and certified nutritionist, I get asked everyday “…how can I know that what I am eating is healthy and will support healthy natural weight loss?”  Instead of meal planning for my clients, I give them a list of great healthy foods to look for at the supermarket, and tips on learning portion control and meal timing.

One of the most important things you can do with regards to nutrition is eating small meals often.  To keep your body from getting hungry and then overeating, eat 4-6 small meals per day.  Most people turn off right away when they hear this.  This doesn’t mean that you need to “cook” yourself extraordinary meals several times per day, but simply that you need to starve off hungry so that you keep your metabolism up and active, and so that you don’t overeat later.

Each “meal” should have about 30-40% vegetables and fruits, 30-40% lean protein, 20% grains, 5-10% fats.  Think small portion sizes.  Never stuff yourself full.  Meat portions should be the size of a deck of cards, vegetables should be 1 cup’s worth, with a tablespoon of olive or canola oil, and a half cup of grains.

Here are some examples of good forms of carbohydrates, proteins and fats to look for at the supermarket. 

Proteins

fish, tuna, white fishes, salmon, crab,  

beans

lentils

chickpeas

eggs

dairy such as yoghurt, milk and low fat cheese

whey protein to mix into fruit smoothies

Carbohydrates/Grains

whole grain bread

brown long grain rice (the kind that takes time to cook)

fresh baked brown whole wheat bread (no packaged foods…no added glucose-fructose)

100% whole grain plain rice cakes…not the ones with MSG (great with hummus, peanut butter or plain)

a variety of dark, leafy green vegetables

red and orange vegetables

Fats

Nuts

Avocados

Olive, coconut and canola oils

Natural peanut butter

Low fat cheeses (1-2 tablespoons per day max if trying to lose weight)

Example of a day of healthy eating

Breakfast 

Full 8 oz glass of water before anything else (try this with a straw)

2 scrambled eggs (only 1 yolk) 

1 piece 100% rye toast

Half a piece of fruit

Mid-Morning snack

Small whey or soy protein smoothie (mixed with water, milk, soy or almond milk) and your favourite fruit.

Lunch

Spinach salad with other colourful veggies, with half a can of tuna or chicken breast no bigger than the size of a deck of cards

Late Afternoon Snack

Half cup of hummus on celery sticks, carrots or ricecake

Dinner

Baked or steamed cod filet (deck of cards)

1-cup green beans drizzled with olive oil and a splash of red wine vinegar

Half cup of brown rice spritzed with olive oil (Rice tastes great with hot dijon mustard)

If you must have a dessert or sweet, one small square of dark 70-80% chocolate.

Healthy eating does not have to be time consuming or expensive.  You just need a little preplanning and thought so that you’re not grabbing for anything when you get hungry.  The farther ahead you plan your meals and snacks, the better off you will be.

For more information on eating well, or to book a healthy eating grocery store tour with a nutritionist, contact us at Fitness Anywhere.  www-fit-anywhere.com

Water…Your Key to Health and Weight Loss!

Did you know that many people live day to day in a dehydrated state? Our bodies are made up of 75% water and 25% solid matter. The average male needs to 3.7 litres of water everyday and the average female 2.5 litres of water in order to properly lubricate  joints, prevent kidney stones, to maintain good healthy skin, to ward off colds, flu and other winter ailments, as well as to maintain proper organ function. Most importantly, it keeps us from poisoning ourselves from our own waste.

Water is also the key to weight loss. Without water, vital chemical reactions aren’t present in order for proper digestion to occur, so your body won’t metabolise fat properly without it.  Paradoxically, by not having enough water, your body retains fluids in an effort to keep a reserve, and can cause ankle swelling and other conditions that make you appear bloated, overweight and unhealthy.

Exercise, salty foods, caffeine, and alcohol dehydrate the body. Drinking a full, pure, 8 oz. glass of water first thing upon waking is an excellent way to rejuvenate the body and reactivates your sleeping digestive system. Carry a refillable bottle of water with you and sip it throughout the day. Drink 500 ml of water an hour before any physical activity, then another 200 ml 20 minutes before, and then again every 15 minutes during activity and enjoy another 500 ml post workout.  

If you find it difficult to put back so many glasses of water, try drinking with a straw.  This facilitates ingestion as the water goes down much more quickly and easily.  Always keep it on you, and never let yourself get thirsty.  At this point you’re already dehydrated.

Remember that the well-known 8 - 10 glasses per day is the bear minimum to avoid dehydration.   Add an extra glass for every 25 pounds you are over weight.  If you are physically active or live in a hot or a cold dry climate, you can nearly double this amount. If you’re not currently drinking close to the recommended amount of water, slowly and gradually add a glass of water per day so that you don’t over work your kidneys all at once.  Stay healthy by staying hydrated.

For more information on how to stay healthy and fit, go to www.fit-anywhere.com

Are You Starving Yourself Fat?

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When it comes to weight loss, eating habits and proper nutrition play an enormous role in your success.  You can train hard everyday, but if you’re not fueling yourself properly, it will be impossible to get the results that you’re looking for.  What is the number one mistake that the average working person makes with regard to their eating habits?  Nope, it’s not one too many happy meals, but rather skipping meals all together. 

When it comes to weight management, cutting back your calories is certainly a good remedy for trimming the waistline, but how you eliminate those excess calories is just as important as what you eliminate.  Counting calories has never been a practice that I’d condone as a personal trainer.  However, being mindful of your body’s daily caloric needs is very important when it comes to having a healthy weight.  Your body needs calories in small amounts regularly in order to keep your metabolism up and working to burn the calories that you consume.  However, skipping meals, especially breakfast, can greatly affect how your body uses the fuel that you provide it.    

Imagine that your body’s metabolism is like that of a campfire.  In order to keep the fire burning without going out, you must continuously maintain it with sticks and twigs and small fire logs, keeping the flame hot by regularly adding more good fuel to it.  Forgetting to add more wood to the fire would result in a weak flame, or could even put the fire out, leaving you merely with smouldering embers.  Once you realize that it’s time to add more fuel to the fire, it could be rather difficult to get a hot flame back.  Your tendency might even be to add a rather large log in a desperate attempt to get it going.  However, you needn’t be a scout to know that an oversized fire log will take days to burn over embers. 

The same principle applies to your metabolism.  If you skip a meal, or let yourself go hungry for too long, your “fire” will diminish as well, since it’ll have nothing to sustain it. Once you do decide to eat again, chances are that your body will have placed itself in a starvation mode, slowing the metabolism down, storing up energy in the form of fat.  This is the body’s means of survival since it doesn’t know when it will eat again, and therefore conserves whatever fuel it had last.  Unfortunately, it conserves it as fat on your body.

What also happens, is that when you skip a meal, you choose to overeat at the next meal, so not only does your body store extra energy as fat as a response to being starved, but overeating at one sitting stretches your stomach so that it will need all that much more to feel full the next time you decide to eat.  You stomach is the size of a fist, keep that in mind when you’ve heaped a mountain of food on your plate.

You can avoid such detrimental eating patterns by eating small meals and snacks every 2-3 hours 4-6 times per day, with a cessation 3 hours before bedtime.  After a good grocery shop, take a little time afterward to prepare snacks, cutting up vegetables and fruit, rationing portions of nuts and other snacks so that they are ready when you need them.  Never let yourself go hungry!  Keep your fire burning with regular, balanced meals and healthy snacks.

If you’d like more information on how to maintain a healthy weight by eating properly and regularly, contact me at www.fit-anywhere.com

Fit Pregnancy

Pregnancy is an exciting and exhaustive journey. Whether you are trying to conceive or you are already a proud mummy, motherhood is a ceaseless, selfless struggle toward one of the greatest gifts we can receive as a human being, becoming a parent. From the moment that you decide that you are “ready” and the time is right, until…well, perhaps their University graduation, your child’s health and wellbeing are at the forefront of your priorities. Making healthy choices, such as having proper nutrition, and starting or continuing an exercise program are essential when trying to conceive, during pregnancy, and post natal.

The old fashion notion that pregnant women are fragile beings, who shouldn’t exert themselves, is no longer. Gone with it is the idea that a pregnant woman “eats for two.” We all know the importance of exercising and having good healthy eating habits for all people, so that importance becomes even greater during pregnancy. With the help of a good fitness trainer who is certified and experienced in training this special population and who works closely with your doctor, your chance of conception, your pregnancy and labour, and your post childbirth recovery can all be greatly improved.

Here are a few of the benefits of exercise during pregnancy:
Increased maternal aerobic fitness
Promotes appropriate body fat/weight gain
Facilitates labour (think endurance here)
Prevents the onset of gestational diabetes
Improves circulation and reduces the incidence of varicose veins
Improves posture and muscular balance (essential to counter the shift in your centre of gravity)
Improves core strength
Increases postpartum recovery
Increases self-esteem, self-confidence and helps you cope with the physical changes

Every pregnancy is unique and a personalized program should be developed with both a trainer and a doctor. However, in general and depending on which week of pregnancy you are in, exercise can be adapted to include 3-5 sessions per week, at a moderate intensity, for a maximum of 30 minutes per session, doing non-weight bearing, low-impact movements. Activity that imposes the risk of abdominal trauma, exposure to hot, humid or high altitude conditions should be avoided.
Fitness Anywhere trainers are educated and certified in Pre/Post Natal Fitness and follow the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, as well as the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology’s guidelines very closely. If you have any questions, talk to your doctor. To learn more about the importance of exercise for pre and post natal women, call us today.

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Strength Training: Why Running Alone Just Won’t Cut It

So you’ve decided to take up running to get yourself moving and feeling healthy and fit again. That’s great! You certainly have made the right initial step toward improved health and fitness, but is it the only step? Certainly not! In fact, cardiovascular exercises alone are not enough when it comes to having complete fitness and health. Exercises such as running, swimming, aerobics and cycling are essential for keeping blood pressure normal, lowering bad cholesterol and increasing good cholesterol, and for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death. However, including resistance training (weight lifting) is a must and the ultimate compliment to cardio when it comes to weight loss and overall health and fitness.

Here are some of the benefits of including resistance training into your fitness routine:
- Decreases body fat
- Promotes joint stability
- Increases muscular strength
- Increases muscle mass and decreases body fat
- Increases resting metabolism
- Improves balance, coordination, and agility
- Improves strength in your core (back, pelvis, abdominals)
- Improves posture
- Increases self-esteem and body image
Resistance training can include training using your body weight, using machines or lifting free weights.

Unfortunately, although less and less, women tend to shy away from weight training for fear of increasing their size, getting bulky, or developing overly large, masculine muscles. To the contrary, weight training increases your resting metabolism far more than cardio exercises alone, so that your body burns more calories while you are not exercising. In order to maintain your developing muscle mass, your body needs to use more calories for fuel, so instead of storing calories, your muscles essentially eat up excess calories. Women do not have the testosterone levels that men have and therefore will develop small but strong muscles that help give great shape to the body. Hours and hours of weight training and high levels of testosterone are what yield large muscles. Including a 1-3 sets of resistance training exercises for each of your major muscles 2-4 per week, will not make you big, but will make you lean and firm and will help you on your road to weight loss and overall health and wellness.

Finding Strength in New Places

Fitness Anywhere Trivia: Name the discreet, yet essential exercise, important for both men and women, that can be done absolutely anywhere, at anytime, without anyone knowing that you’re even doing anything at all.

You are absolutely right, Kegel exercises! These inconspicuous movements are no longer considered important merely for pre and postnatal women, but are actually recommended to everyone as preventative care for your aging pelvic muscles.

So what are these exercises exactly? Kegels, appropriately named after the doctor who invented them, involve contracting and releasing the muscles of the pelvis, which are responsible for holding the uterus, bladder and bowel in place for women, and are responsible for controlling the flow of semen and urine, as well as maintaining an erection for men.

For women, regularly doing your Kegels will prevent or improve incontinence related issues that often develop with age, during pregnancy or post childbirth. They have even been reported to enhance and increase the frequency and intensity of orgasm in many Kegel-fit women, as there is greater blood flow and circulation to the pelvis.

For men, strengthening your pelvic floor muscles will enable you to have better control of your ejaculations, ultimately lasting longer during sex, not to mention maintaining a firmer erection for longer. It also improves your projection, which could help men who are trying to conceive.

So how does one correctly do Kegels, for how long, and at what intervals? First of all, be sure you’ve correctly identified these muscles. For both men and women, the muscles you use to stop the flow of urine are the best way to describe it. Be sure that your buttocks, abs and thighs are relaxed throughout.
Once you’ve got it, practice contracting the pelvic floor muscles by holding for 3 seconds and relaxing for 3 seconds and repeat this pattern 10 times. As you get stronger, increase this to 4 seconds, then 5, etc. Work your way up to holding for 10 seconds at a time. Including a minimum of 3 sets per day, while you’re in an elevator, waiting in line for your daily coffee, or stopped at a red light, will greatly improve the health and strength of your sex organs and will prevent or alleviate incontinence. When planning your full body workouts, don’t forget your Kegels!

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Turning Back the Clock with Exercise

Turning Back the Clock with Exercise

It’s inevitable, whether we like it or not, every single one of us will age. Our bodies will wear out, our skin will sag and our minds will become less and less sharp over time.   However, have you ever noticed that some people age much better than others?  And although some of this has to do with our genes, much more of it can be attributed to lifestyle habits.  In general, most people notice an increase in the signs of aging around 30.  Increased fatigue, gradual loss of mental acuteness, increased stiffness in the joints, sagging skin, loss of bone density, loss of muscle mass and a slowed metabolism are just to name a few. 

However, again and again regular exercise has been proven to slow the aging process, and in many instances, actually reverses signs of aging, even after years of being sedentary. 

Here’s how just a few of the signs of aging are directly affected by exercise:

Increased fatigue  - Time and time again, research suggests that exercise, although it would seem counterintuitive, actually gives the body and brain more energy in the long run. Regular activity increases the level of endorphins that your body releases, and provides euphoric feelings that last long after the exercise is over. 

Loss of mental acuteness – Exercise improves circulation throughout the body. Recent research demonstrates that cognitive function is greatly improved after only 10 minutes of aerobic exercise. 

Increased stiffness in joints – Arthritis and Osteoarthritis are the most common reasons for joint pain and stiffness in middle-aged to elderly adults.  One of the best treatments in relieving the symptoms of these diseases is physical activity, as improving flexibility, joint strength and range of motion will help manage recurring pain and will promote mobility.

Sagging skin – Exercise increases blood circulation and invigorates the skin by supplying more oxygen to the skin cells, giving you a youthful glow.

Loss of bone density – At 35, boss mass density peaks.  Every year after that, our bones weaken and become less dense with age, and we become more and more susceptible osteoporosis.  Load-bearing exercises, such as weight lifting, help stimulate the cells to produce more bone, directly reversing the aging process of your skeletal structure.

Loss of muscle mass – After the age of 30, we lose nearly 1% of our muscle mass every year.  Without strength training, everyday activities such as climbing stairs, shovelling snow and even taking out the garbage would require assistance and could leave us dependant on others for help.  By adding resistance training to your weekly routine, you can easily increase your strength and improve your muscle mass, reversing the aging of your muscles.

Slowed metabolism – It’s a hard fact to swallow, but as we age, it becomes harder and harder to keep the weight off without a lot of extra effort.  However, by keeping variety in your workouts, confusing your muscles, and making resistance training a large part of your exercise routine, you can keep your metabolism revved and youthful.

We are all human, and whether we like it or not, every single one of us will age.  However, the rate at which we age can be greatly manipulated and controlled with exercise.  Do not go gentle into that goodnight! Fight the aging process with exercise.

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Body Acceptance

No body is perfect. Accept your body and weight for what it is, and instead, aim for a healthy goal, such as having better fitness, to become a faster runner, or to be able to touch your toes. Avoid obsessing about imperfections by target training only problem areas. Work at your overall health and fitness and the rest will fall into place. Don’t expect perfection but strive to be you at your very best; healthy and fit.


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The Importance of Stretching

One could say that stretching can be likened to flossing; it’s something we should do everyday for our overall health, yet it’s often neglected and overlooked in an attempt to make the best use of our time. However, maintaining good flexibility is essential for injury prevention, having good posture, improving range of motion and avoiding premature aging of your overall body.

Stretching can be done anywhere at anytime, doesn’t require fancy equipment or even athletic clothing. Just taking ten minutes a day can make you feel taller, look slimmer, and keep you light-years away from arthritis, osteoporosis and can prevent other joint injuries related to sports. Although it’s been debated for decades, the current research suggests that stretching should be completed at the end of your training or physical activity as part of your cool down and not necessarily before. However, a gradual warm up is equally important before activity in order to prevent injury.

Even on your “off days” one should stretch each major muscle group at least once, holding between 20-30 seconds. Stretching should provide a light tension in the muscle, which should feel good, and never painful.

Although it may be easy to place stretching at the bottom of your list of exercise priorities, especially when time is of the essence, it is an essential component to your health and well-being, and perhaps the key to maintaining a youthful, mobile body throughout the years.

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Beware of overtraining

Although it can be hard to break a good pattern when you’re feeling motivated, be sure that you’re leaving yourself a good full day of rest during the week. Not only is your body more susceptible to injury and illness from training too much, but it can also bring you to a training plateau much more quickly. This is where your fitness begins to inevitably level off no matter how much harder you push yourself.

To prevent this and to continue onwards and upwards in your journey to a healthier, more fit you, be sure that you give your muscles at least 24 hours to recuperate between resistance training sessions. Similarly, it is wise to alternate between resistance training sessions and cardiovascular sessions. In some cases, resistances training can be broken down into specific muscle groups or upper and lower body sessions, which thereby allows for daily weight training in alternation. Between sessions, choose to do some light cardio training, treat yourself to a good yoga or stretching session, or take the day off completely, so that your body can get the rest that it needs in order to respond to the demands that exercise is putting on it.

Regular exercise is essential for optimal health, just be sure you’re not overdoing it. Listen to your body when it’s tired and don’t be afraid to take a break, it will actually enhance your overall performance.
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Fitness: Simply and Naturally

When it comes to Health and Fitness, Get Back to What’s Simple and Natural!

For many, getting fit and healthy evokes intimidating ideas of lifting weights amongst bulging bodies in a health club, or even radically changing one’s regime to conform to the latest bestselling diet book that’s hitting the stands. However, maintaining your fitness and being ‘in good shape’ really doesn’t have to be so complicated. Despite the booming production of high-tech “fat-burning” equipment, and the massive growth of the dietary supplement industry, your health and wellbeing are still best fostered the old-fashioned way, through an active and balanced lifestyle. When it comes to your health, ignore the hype and stick to common sense practices that you can live by throughout the years to come. Here are a few simple lifestyle staples, easily underestimated and often overlooked, but nevertheless fundamental in the battle to stay fit and healthy.

Eat Fresh and from the Earth
More and more processed and packaged foods such as microwave dinners, chips, cookies, pastas, and desserts are filling the isles at the supermarket. They are even finding their way into the stalls of farmer’s markets. Although tasty, packaged foods can have high amounts of preservatives, sugar and sodium. Unfortunately, they can also have harmful chemicals that seep from the plastic into the food itself during storage. Similarly, certain packaged foods labeled BIO or Organic, aren’t necessarily good for you. Despite their conformity to the bien-etre movement, many of them can be high in sugars, salt, and saturated fat.
Think Simple: Foods that come from the earth are always better than from the factory. Forget counting calories, and enjoy healthy-sized portions of a variety of food that is grown locally and is in season. Choose colourful fruits and vegetables from local farmer’s markets, and avoid the inside aisles of the grocery store. If you must do your shopping at the supermarket, remain near the outside aisles, where the fresh food can be found. Prepare lunches and snacks that travel with you in order to avoid an impulsive unhealthy food purchase, and be wary of food that has a long shelf life.

Get your H2O
Our bodies are made up of over 60% water. The average male needs to 3.7 liters of water everyday and the average female 2.5 liters. Exercise, salty foods, caffeine, and alcohol dehydrate the body. Drinking enough water is essential for maintaining good healthy skin, warding off colds, flu and other winter ailments, as well as maintaining proper organ function.
Think Simple: Try drinking a full 8 oz. glass of water first thing upon waking. It is an excellent way to rejuvenate the body and reactivates your sleeping digestive system. Carry a refillable bottle of water with you and sip it throughout the day at work. Drink 500 ml of water an hour before any physical activity, then another 200 ml 20 minutes before, and then again every 15 minutes during activity.

Get out there and Play.
Our bodies are designed to be mobile. However, the average person does not get enough exercise and spends the majority of their time on this earth in a chair or in their vehicles. Most doctors agree that in order to maintain an appropriate weight and a healthy heart, we need to do a minimum of 20 minutes of exercise 3-5 days per week. But what defines exercise, and how do you know if what you’re doing is effective for your particular body? For some, a 10 km run is child’s play, while for others, vacuuming the living room carpet can be strenuous. So how can you know if you’re fulfilling your body’s exercise needs?
Think Simple: Play a sport, walk with friends, or bike to work, but be sure that you are working at the appropriate intensity for you. To determine if you’re working too hard or not enough, perform a few self-monitoring tests. For starters, monitor your perspiration. The body will sweat at room temperature if it is working. Similarly, you can monitor your breathing. Can you carry on a conversation with someone during activity? With the appropriate intensity, you should be able to chat without gasping for breath. Finally, second to none for assuring that you’re working at the intensity that is best for you, know your Target Heart Rate (THR), there are a few ways to perform this calculation, the simplest one that has been used in the fitness industry for decades is as followed. To find your THR subtract your age from 220 and then multiply your answer by .6 to find the lower end of the range. Then do the calculation again, but multiply by .85 to find the upper end of your TRH.

For example, for a 45 year old male:
220-45=175
175 x .6= 105
175 x .85 = 149
Target Heart Rate: between105 beats per minute to 149 beats per minute

Generally speaking, a 45-year-old male should aim to have his heart beating between 105 and 149 beats per minute during physical activity. A novice exerciser should stick to the lower end of the range, while those more experienced at the upper end. To monitor your HR during exercise, place two fingers on your wrist or neck and count your heartbeats for 15 seconds. Then multiply that number by four. If the number falls within your THR, you are working at an intensity level that is appropriate for you. If it falls below, turn up the intensity and vice versa.

Achieving your optimal health can be simple. Eating fresh and healthy, exercising your heart, as well as strengthening and stretching your muscles regularly are the simple gests that count. You needn’t be a member of an expensive fitness club, restrict your diet, or buy the latest exercise equipment. Sticking to simple and natural exercises that you enjoy, eating fresh, locally grown food, with treats in moderation, and consciously making an effort to commit to a healthy lifestyle over the long term, is your best bet in achieving success that lasts a lifetime.

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A Healthier Sex Life…Literally!

For some, having a healthy and active lifestyle aren’t reason enough to exercise, but what about fitness to increase your libido and improve your sex life?
Regular exercise, for obvious reasons, can give you a firmer body, which will naturally boost your confidence when you’re naked in front of your partner. Also, exercise is a natural mood enhancer and stress reducer as levels of serotonin (chemicals in your brain responsible for feelings of joy and happiness) increase during physical activity. But there’s much more to it than simply confidence and stress reduction.
Exercise can build your stamina in the bedroom. Good energetic sex needs good cardiovascular endurance to sustain it. You don’t want to damper a good thing simply because you’re winded. You can improve your cardio fitness by getting your heart rate elevated 2-3 times per week by walking, jogging or cycling. If you’re really adventurous, add climbing stairs to your routine.
Also, performing unusual sexual positions for a worthwhile amount of time can demand that you have strong muscles. Improve your muscular endurance by performing high repetitions of squats, pelvic tilts, planks and pushups. It’s better to have your muscles burn beforehand in the gym than later when you need them in the bedroom.
Finally, being flexible can give you a more limber body overall and a better range of motion to help you get in and out of positions easily without awkward pauses. Toe touches, hip/glute stretches and inner thigh stretches daily will have you limber for your bedroom endeavours.
Enjoy ALL the benefits of exercise, not just the ones your doctor will tell you about.

Feeling …bla? How to get something out of those low motivation days.

It’s inevitable and it happens to the best of us. We all experience those low days when we know we need to get up and get active, but we just don’t have the drive to do it. We put off training, making excuses for doing it later, or even the next day, saying to yourself… “I’ll wait til it stops raining, til the traffic dies down, or I’ll go after work instead of going before.”
Sometimes it has nothing to do with energy levels or fatigue, but the continuous argument between your body, your brain and your schedule that keeps you from getting it done. My advice…get up and do something….anything. If’ you’re having this argument with yourself, and you really don’t feel like training, give in with a compromise: Tell yourself that you’ll do something for 15 minutes and if you still feel the same, then you can quit and call it a day.
Chances are, that when you start to exercise the increases in blood circulation and oxygen to your brain will change your mood. In other words, once you feel the effects, you probably won’t want to stop. And if it turns out that you still do, well at least you performed 15 minutes of exercise. Something is better than nothing!