Hey guys! Hope you are still sticking to your fitness resolutions which you promised to follow this year. In case, you are struggling to make your fitness train move, don’t worry at all. This struggle is a good thing, it shows that you are serious about your health and weight loss. The problem arises when you stop taking your fitness or for that matter your fitness resolution seriously. Today, I want to talk about some of the best cardio exercises for beginners. I’m saying best since these have worked great for me.

There are only a handful of people who actually achieve their health & fitness goals. This post is for all you people who are beginning their fitness journey and need some motivation. I know how you feel because I am also standing at this juncture.

I lost 3 Kg in 3 weeks with only simple cardio exercises and easy lifestyle changes.

And, I hope it will help you to move a step forward in your fitness journey. And, of course, you will see that stubborn fat melting & those muscles getting toned. Let’s get started!

How to Begin the Cardio Exercises?

For beginners, looking to start their fitness journey, it’s important to get into a routine first. And, to easily slip into a fitness routine, one should have a perfect fitness plan. So, before you hit the gym or start running, have a plan in hand.  Design your plan keeping in mind your body’s endurance capacity. Exerting yourself by doing an hour of aerobics on Day 1 doesn’t make any sense.

Start slow, divide your time effectively and if possible, maintain a journal. By keeping a record, you will observe a pattern which will help you in the long run with your fitness goal.

Let’s see 5 Cardio Exercises which are best suited for Beginners

In simple words, a cardio workout includes low-intensity, long duration exercises which raise your heart rate. Cardio exercise is also known as aerobic exercise since these are aimed to convert body fat into energy.

1- Walking

If you have just started your cardio, walking will be your best buddy to build your stamina. Yes, for starters, gaining stamina should be the focus for the first few days. You will need it later in your long duration cardio workout.

Source – Photo by Andres Siimon on Unsplash

Start with walking 15 mins daily for a week. It is safe and easy and within a week you will feel your stamina shoot up. Later, you can easily replace walking with jogging or running as per your capacity.

2- Swimming as a cardio exercise

Do you know swimming as a cardio workout works better than running for losing calories? That too, without putting any pressure on your joints. Also, with swimming, you get a full body workout since your upper body works in sync with your lower body.

Source – Photo by Guadalupe Garcia on Unsplash

So, beginners what are you waiting for? Now is the time to renew your pool membership & shop for those cool swimming costumes. Try including both walking & swimming in your workout and see your body getting toned swiftly.

3- Cycling

Another great option for beginners is cycling as a cardio exercise. It is a fun way to lose calories, you can keep it for the weekends though. Or, if you can manage cycling daily for an hour, then nothing can beat it. Just grab a bike, put on your gears, plug in those earphones and go on a beautiful ride.

Source – Photo by Marc Kleen on Unsplash

You can even consider riding to your college or work on your bicycle. Moreover, you can make a cool statement with that. If you don’t have a cycle, you can even do stair climbing, start with climbing 50 stairs at a time.

4- Dancing as cardio exercise

One of the best aerobic exercises and most famous amongst fitness lovers, is dancing. It not only has physical benefits but mental benefits as well.

Source – Photo by Leon Liu on Unsplash

Dancing is known to instantly uplift mood if you are grooving on your favorite number. The best part is, you can do it at home, alone or in a group, in any way, dancing will benefit you. And, you can choose your favorite dancing style too.

5- A complete cardio workout session

Now, another great way to start with your cardio workout is by designing your own workout session. Or, following a low-intensity cardio workout session available online. If you know how your body reacts to certain exercises, it’s better to design a session for yourself. You can group 5 or more low impact cardio exercises and do the repetitions as per your strength & stamina.

Low Impact Cardio Workout by Joanna Soh

It’s better to start with 5 exercises, do each for 45 sec, rest for 15 sec before moving onto the next. Do at least 2 repetitions and it will become your 10-minute low-intensity cardio workout. With time, you can add more exercises & increase the intensity. I like to follow Joanna Soh’s  20 min low impact cardio workout.

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So, these are the 5 easy cardio exercises which can help beginners in their fitness and weight loss journey. I hope you liked this post and found it helpful. What is your fitness goal for this year? Do share with me in the comments below.

Also, don’t forget to share this post with your friends and family. Sharing is Caring!

The post 5 Simple Cardio Exercises Best Suited for Beginners appeared first on Growing With Nemit.

A few days ago, I had shared in my Insta stories that I lost 3 Kg weight in 3 Weeks last month with my Self-designed Fitness Plan. I know it’s not a big deal for someone who religiously follows a fitness routine. But it was a miracle for someone like me who has only seen her weight graph go up over the years.

And the exciting part is, my fitness plan doesn’t even include any dieting or gymming or any harsh restrictions on myself. I designed this plan keeping in mind how my body reacts to certain exercises, which I learned over the years. And also knowing my body’s endurance capacity.

Check out this post on Instagram to know what daily schedule I am following-

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Neha Sharma (@growing_with_nemit) on Jan 24, 2019 at 11:24pm PST

Today, I am going to share my secrets with you guys. But let me tell you, I have started this fitness routine this year only, it’s been just a month. I am not claiming that anyone can lose weight by following the fitness plan I have made. I just want to record my progress & hope that it works for you as well.

This year, I have pledged to adopt a healthy lifestyle and follow a well planned fitness routine

Check out this post on Facebook to know how I keep myself motivated –

I feel the most important step before embarking on any fitness journey is to acknowledge the fact that there is something wrong with our body & our way of living. Only then we can work towards improving it.

STEP – 1

I know my problem areas and the first step in designing my fitness plan was to write them down.

1. Most critical of all, I fall under the overweight category.
2. I have PCOD & Hypothyroidism.
3. Every now & then, I crave for junk foods especially burger & pizza.
4. I spend 90% of my time in front of a screen be it a laptop or a mobile phone.
5. I wake up very late in the morning & sleep quite late at night.
6. There is almost zero physical activity in my daily routine.

STEP – 2

Now, that I know what are my problems areas, I need to find out a way to curb these issues. After thinking over, I decided to include 4 major lifestyle changes in my fitness plan.

• A- To start a workout routine
• B- To limit my screen time
• C- To change my sleeping pattern
• D- To bring a change in my eating habits.

Lifestyle changes may differ for each one of us depending on our problem areas.

STEP – 3

The job until here was quite simple. Now, the next step was to implement these changes in my lifestyle.

In my upcoming posts, I will take up each point one by one and explain how I am implementing the changes. Also, I’ll share the roadblocks which I am facing.

Before ending this post, I want to include one very important point here. The one which is often neglected, like the way I didn’t even mention it in my list. And that is the benefits of liquid intake in weight loss.

I am saying liquid and not water because for me drinking plain water is so very boring. This doesn’t mean that I drink sugar-laden packaged fruit juices or preservatives-filled soft drinks. Instead, I try to make my plain water delicious, healthy and interesting. I drink flavored green tea, fruit infused water, detox water, detox fruit juices all prepared in minutes at home. Will talk about this as well in my next posts.

Meanwhile, you can check out Instacuppa‘s range of products which help anyone drink healthy natural beverages anywhere!

I hope you liked reading this post & now you know what are the 3 simple steps to design a fitness plan. Do share this post with your friends and family. And let me know in the comments below if you have ever designed your fitness plan & followed it?

“Note: This article is written as a part of SuperBloggerChallenge2019 conducted by Healthwealthbridge.com, Allaboutthewoman.com and should not be repurposed, republished or used otherwise. The content herein is owned by the blogger. SuperBloggerChallenge2019 is not responsible for any kind of infringement caused.”

The post 3 Simple Steps to self-design an Effective Fitness Plan appeared first on Growing With Nemit.

Hi everyone, hope you guys had a great start to the year. Here’s my 1st post of 2019 and I am starting with my New Year Resolution – My Fitness Journey. Ok, it’s not something new and I have made this resolution every year in the last decade. And I am sure you too must have done the same over the years. But there’s a problem with this resolution. Most people can’t keep up with it! After a few months or a few days, our fitness journey takes a back seat. I can see you nodding your heads, yes we all are sailing in the same boat (group hug). Sharing my story here-

There were 2 times (that I can remember clearly) when I actually put real efforts in getting fit and healthy.

One was in 2014 when I was quite unhappy with my job, I was under so much stress that I gained around 10 kgs in a span of 3 months. I left the job for my mental peace and dedicated 3 months to my fitness and weight loss. After 3 months of rigorous workout (including swimming, aerobics, and yoga), I was able to lose 8 kilos.

And the other one was in 2017 when I was again depressed, stressed and confused with my life being a stay at home mom. I wanted to do something for myself, to be independent and have a purpose in life. Alongside, I was finding it quite difficult to shed my postpartum weight and get back into shape.

In July 2017, I started blogging and spending more time sitting and writing, which further triggered the weight gain. In September, I decided to take a weight loss challenge for a month but could manage to lose only 2 Kilos in 20 days.

During both the times, I was able to reduce some weight but after a while, I stopped my routine abruptly. My mistake was to think that I could maintain the same lifestyle without following a routine.

My health took a complete dip in 2018 when I lost my furry baby Caesar in March. It was a shocking incident which led to another episode of depression. I started eating more junk as comfort food. And in no time I gained almost 10 Kgs. Even after coming out of that phase, I couldn’t go back to my old self.

At present, I am +20 Kg than my pre-pregnancy weight along with numerous health problems. This is too much! All this weight gain and health problems are not doing any good to me. In fact, these are snatching away my life from my hands. But I won’t let my bad health rule over my body and mind anymore.

This year is going to be different, I am not going to repeat the mistakes I’ve done in past.

I am going to follow a self-designed fitness plan, the one which I can happily follow. Perhaps, this journey is going to be my year-long health and fitness journey.

“Self care is giving the world the best of you, instead of what’s left of you”

I am ending this post here and I want you guys to take a minute and reflect on your life. Take time to recognize your needs. Mommies we are the nurturers, we need to take care of ourselves because there is no way to pour from an empty cup. Join me on this journey and let’s motivate each other because together we achieve more!

In my next post, read about how I am planning my fitness routine-

I spend a lot of time planning my daily routine. But have never given a thought on planning & tracking my fitness routine. This year my journey is not only a weight loss journey instead it will be an overall fitness journey including adopting a healthy lifestyle. The only thing I remember tracking was my weight. This time I’m damn serious about my well being & quite clear about my goals. Stay tuned to read more in my next post.

You can catch me on Instagram @growing_with_nemit to follow my daily fitness stories. Or you can simply stop by to say Hello. I have also joined Blogchatter’s health campaign #BlogchatterHealthWatch to keep me motivated.

The post A Mom’s Health and Fitness Journey – The Beginning appeared first on Growing With Nemit.

Hey guys, it’s Monday and I am back with another set of power packed stories written by two strong mommies for our MAA – The Mom Series. Well, we all mothers know how pregnancy and delivery takes a toll on our health if not taken care of properly. We go through a lot many dilemmas when our life takes a totally new path and sometimes we are left with choices which are in fact the most difficult ones to make. Read the stories of moms who fought depression and weight gain with their strong will and determination.

Postpartum Depression “TEARS TO CHEERS”

– By Rupal Agarwal

It’s not at all easy for me to write this. I wanted to share my story written with my heart. No one had ever told me about postpartum depression during my whole pregnancy time. You can’t guess that the new mom is suffering from PPD just by looking at her.

The problem is that people have many expectations from a new mother and they think that those first days or weeks or even months after child’s birth should be the happiest days of a mother’s life. Yes, I was overwhelmed with love for ‘Prisha’ no doubt but at the same time, I didn’t want to see anyone during those initial days as I knew they would expect me to be the happiest glowing new mom, who’s ready to face the world but no, the reality was far from that.

Postpartum depression (PPD), also called postnatal depression, is a type of mood disorder associated with childbirth. Symptoms may include extreme sadness, low energy, anxiety, crying episodes, irritability, and changes in sleeping or eating patterns. Onset is typically between one week and one month following childbirth. PPD can also negatively affect the person’s child.

Source – Wikipedia

PPD occurred when I delivered my baby girl after 9 years of marriage, no it’s not because I delivered a girl child, but because of the pressure, I received from family members to feed the baby, which I couldn’t even after trying really hard. I wished someone could understand the emotions I was going through. I went into the black hole of depression that I stopped feeling my worth and just couldn’t connect with the baby.

I remember a visit from my sister and papa and that time I just wanted to run and hide somewhere, had an emotional breakdown for no obvious reason. There was a time when I had cried for days, every other relative visiting us to bless the baby just wanted to know whether I was feeding the baby or not and that would make me so sad as well as mad. I didn’t understand why everyone has to offer an advice. I am a mother and I know what my baby needs. If I am not able to breastfeed my baby, I will bottle feed but why every other person has to come and ask the same thing over and again.

I tell you this is a crazy world. But I have just one thing to say to them.

My baby – My choice. 

I was telling myself this is just the PPD and it will pass soon. But it was not that soon for us, I had a difficult time dealing with what I was going through. Looking at my baby gave me strength and confidence that every mother does the best for her baby and so was I. Maybe I am not a perfect mother, but I am trying to do my best for her. For the world, she may be 20 months old but for me, she is 29 months old, I know her since she was in my womb.

I hit the rock bottom, I wanted to feel better for my family, my husband and most importantly for my baby. I was telling myself daily that I am a strong lady and a good mother. I fed her with the bottle and loved her every day despite my anxiety.

I didn’t expect new motherhood to be such a wild wave of emotion, that is why I wanted to share my story here. I wish I gave myself a little more grace and didn’t put so much pressure on myself. It took me almost 1.5 years to share this very personal struggle with you all. I finally decided to open up in hope that I too can help at least one person who may be dealing with this disorder that is not often recognized.

There will be so many times you feel like you have failed but in the eyes, heart and mind of your child you are SUPER MOM!

Deliver the baby but not your health 

– By Rashmi Datta

It’s been 20months since I gave birth to a sweet little girl and time is passing like anything. My baby has turned into a beautiful angel, but am I as beautiful as I was pre-delivery?

It was 4th of July 2015, when I saw the two pink lines and trust me it was the happiest day of my life, my husband and I were on cloud nine. I had to leave my job in the first trimester due to official policies and then started the weight gain. I used to be at home all day resting and taking in high-calorie food which was full of tallow.

In our Indian culture, we are supposed to eat ghee, oil and dry fruits for normal delivery and also the intake go double as the elders keep saying “you have to eat for two now”. And the problem is you can’t even say no to them.

Now when the delivery goes normal, you are again forced to eat the same dishes full of ghee and loaded with sugar. My veggies and dal always used to have extra butter added to them, even my tea was made with full cream milk. When I saw myself in the mirror almost a week after my delivery, I realized how much weight I have gained and trust me that was disheartening because I myself didn’t like to see that fat over my body.

It was the moment when I decided what I want to do. On the 25th day after delivery, I stood up and started performing the household chores. I was too firm to get back into the shape, while most women aren’t bothered about it but for me, it was an alarming call. What I gathered was that there was just a need for some extra efforts from our end.

“Health is your biggest asset, if you stay fit and healthy you live long and happy”

Getting married at the age of 26 and delivering a baby at the age of 29 made me think that getting back to my beautiful self, was a far fledged dream now. But this trauma didn’t last for long. All the credit goes to my husband who is tall, lean, has abs and is diet conscious. He is my biggest motivation. I too wanted to look healthy and pretty hence I decided to dedicate some time to the workout. Henceforth I joined aerobics and yoga classes but it wasn’t that easy to leave the baby at home and go out especially when the baby is still on breastfeed and is always looking for you, this time support came in from my Mother-in-law who supported me by taking care of the baby when I went out. Moreover, she took my side by answering back the neighbors as well who would mock me for leaving the baby at home to go to the gym.

I was delighted when my gym trainer, a week ago, appreciated me for being a mother to a 20-months-old angel. His words that you don’t seem to be rearing a child since you look so fit and in shape, made me reach the seventh heaven. So all this has been keeping me motivated and at the end, I want to say “love yourself and people will love you back”.

Health is not about the weight you lose, but about the life you gain.

This week, we also have one fun contribution from a super lady who aspires to write fiction stories someday, she is not yet a mother but understands a lot about motherhood.

Mommy and Time Machines

– By Neetika Soam

Whenever a woman becomes a mother, she automatically becomes super-talented and comes under the super-goddess species. They know everything and they can do anything. Even the super-fast “BOLT” can’t beat them the way they have the power to smell, watch, hear, and numerous other things they can do in just a frame of time.

Though I am not a mother yet still I carry a handful of experience in my belly and all the credit goes to my super-mom-friends who are the source of my crunchy, utterly-buttery flavors of motherhood.

Usually, mothers get emotional while revisiting their kid’s childhood memories. But during those days, they also wanted to get rid of sleepless nights and edgy days. This is the reason why I think that TIME MACHINES are just perfect for our super-moms so that they can ditch those edgy moments and re-live the cutest & happiest ones.

Statements like, “O God I am tired of these mood swings”. And after 9 months, “O god I love my little monster”.

And like these, “Can someone take this little one away for a while so that I can take my power nap”. And the very next moment, “where are they, where are my kids?”.

Now imagine if we give them a “Time Machine” to relive the best memories. Scenario would be like – “Aji sunte ho mujhe gudiya ki bahut yaad aa rahi hai, mein kuch waqt time machine me hoke aati hun” (I am missing my girl a lot, oh I should go in the time machine for some time and will be back soon)

I hope one day this would be possible and we all can re-visit our sweetest moments spent with our kids.

I totally loved reading these stories and once again I have got inspired by these moms to keep going in life, to stay positive and think about our health too for the sake of our kids and family.

Thanks a lot, Rupal, Rashmi and Neetika for taking out time and sharing your write-ups with me. Means a lot!

Mothers can not give from a depleted source. Every mother needs emotional, mental, physical and spiritual validation, nourishment and support. When a mother is respected and well cared for, she and her whole family will benefit. 

I hope you are liking this series and getting inspired by the beautiful stories shared by the lovely mommies. Do leave a comment below to show your love and support. And do come back next Monday to read the last set of stories for this month!

The post Mother’s health after childbirth – Stories of strong will and determination appeared first on Growing With Nemit.

The challenge I am talking about is not the one I am facing after pregnancy but it’s a long-lost challenge which I should have kept working on but I have many reasons to counter how I was not able to keep a track of my weight gain.

I was always on the heavier side; 65 kg was my ideal weight throughout my school and college days. When I got the job and started working I gained about 3-5 kg which would keep fluctuating between 65-70 kg for 3-4 years. There was a time when I gained around 8 Kg in 6 months as my job required me to work 9-10 hours sitting at my desk and then I had to travel for 2 hours daily to reach the office, it was back in 2014. I left my job to take control of my life and lost those extra 8 kgs but that’s a different story for to be told some other time.

When I got married, I somehow gained 5 kg more, so once my pregnancy was detected I was at 75 kg.

And guess how much I gained during my 9 months, the horrible 15 kg.  There was not a single day during those 9 months when I thought of eating sensibly and hence the result, 90 kg, and a cute little one!

But thanks to exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months and still going well at 19 months, I lost 10 kg without any workout. 

Now presently am at 83 kg, I gained 3 kg in last 3 months as I am spending a lot of my time sitting and working on my blog. But it’s never too late to realize what is going wrong with our bodies both inside and outside.

I was getting more and more lethargic, I feel like eating all the time and my body has started aching when I wake up in the morning. After bearing all those pregnancy and delivery pains, now I am not able to deal with these daily pains.

There is one more factor which contributes to my excess weight and that’s Hypothyroidism and PCOD.

So, keeping all the things in mind, I have set a goal of reducing 3 Kg in this month. I know this month is going to be full of challenges and struggles and to overcome that I am planning weekly what I want to achieve.

Week 1 is over, I started on Monday (Sep 4) with an hour of walk to give a kick start to my journey. That early morning walk was tiresome but my mind was feeling refreshed and it gave me a push to jump full swing into the workout routine from next day.

Walking- Day 1

• If you are someone who doesn’t want to complicate your workout then just stick to brisk walking for an hour daily, it is one of the easiest ways towards a healthy lifestyle and if you are able to maintain a walking routine then weight loss is also possible.
• Now to derive benefits from your regular walk you have to make a few changes in your walking style, keep the stomach in and shoulder and back straight and look at the front, not the ground. You should be aware of your body movements as well as breathing.
• 3 important points for any workout, Warm-up, Cool down and Stretching. Don’t start with brisk walk directly, rather start with 10 mins of regular walk to warm up your muscles and make your body ready for the brisk walk. Once you are near to complete the walk, slow down again for 5-10 mins which will cool down your body and then stretch your muscles.
• Keep a track of the steps you walk, or how many KM you cover daily. You will be surprised to see the change in these figures almost daily. You can use Google Fit, an app to track your daily steps and activities.
• If you missed a day then try to cover it up in next day or divide the time over the next few days or you can increase the frequency to cover up the lost 1 hour.
• This is also one of the best ways you can workout keeping your little one by your side. Just put your baby in the stroller or wear your baby in the sling and start walking.

Now that I am not a very big liker of walking and as it gets boring for me, and as mentioned in my earlier post, I have joined the Sports Complex for my weight loss journey and the first day I started with Swimming as that is my favorite sport of all and enjoy doing the most.

Swimming-  Day 2

• This is my personal favorite as a workout sport. Swimming is known as a low-impact activity with many physical and mental health benefits.
• It is beneficial as with each stroke upper and lower body gets worked, it also works on the core muscles which become loose during pregnancy.
• The best thing about swimming is it helps in reducing weight, also strengthen the muscle and tone the body, you can swim freestyle and get the overall results.
• I started with 20 mins of easy strokes whichever I knew and at the end of the week, I am doing 40 mins of freestyle strokes with 5 mins of the total break in between.
• Swimming is also a good choice if you experience joint pains as it is quite light on joints but at the same time give you the benefits of Cardio as well as Strength training.
• Always start slow and don’t over exert your body even if you think swimming is an easy sport.
• One of the best benefits is it helps in reducing stress, yes just imagine the feeling of floating in the cool water, definitely, swimming has its own mood-boosting benefits.
• Lastly, with swimming chances of getting injuries is quite low as the water supports the whole body weight.

Walking and Swimming that’s how I started my 1st week of weight loss journey. These 2 days were like a warm-up session for the next coming days which will involve more vigorous workout sessions. 

Have you started your weight loss journey or taken up any challenge to lose those extra kilos? Share with me, need to hear lots of motivational stories to keep my spirits high.

Do Subscribe to us if you like our posts and comment below to show some love.

The post Story Behind the Weight- September Challenge appeared first on Growing With Nemit.

I have been thinking a lot lately about being healthy and shedding some extra flab and getting back into shape. ?Many new moms can relate to that thinking, dreaming to get back to their old self. So, I have decided to head back to my mom’s place for a month. And start my weight loss journey.

Well, I am the most laziest person when it comes to exercise or for that matter a 30 min walk daily. I feel maintaining a healthy weight is the toughest task for a foodie mom like me, yes I am a big one! I just can’t leave parathas or rice or ghee or junk specially on weekends. ?

Challenges I face to start a workout regime–

1- I can’t wake up early, Nemit is to be blamed here, he just don’t want to leave dudu, we are still struggling with night time weaning.

2- Even if I wake up early by 7 am, I behave like a zombie, my body aches, I keep bumping into Caesar or he keeps bumping into me, I don’t know, but it’s sure that I am never into my senses.

3- By 6 in the evening I get/feel dead tired don’t know how/why so no evening workouts or walks for me.

Now you must be thinking what’s special at mom’s place, no I mean mom’s place is always special but how can that help me in getting healthier.

– Well, there’s a sports complex very near to mom’s place that I am thinking to join.

– Mom will keep me pestering & reminding about the change I want to see in myself and why I have hijacked her place.

– Nemit will get the best company while I will sweat it out at the sports complex.

So basically this is going to be my weight loss journey, if not weight loss then at least I want to gain some stamina and improve my eating habits in this month.

I will be updating about my journey often, so that I can get dose of motivation from all you awesome people around or may be if successful can inspire some too.

Keep visiting us to get a sneak peak into what’s happening in my life…err not mine anymore!! You can also Subscribe to get updates directly in your mail.

The post My Weight Loss Journey- September Challenge appeared first on Growing With Nemit.