Nowadays, it is very hard to be a good mother, a perfect housewife, a lovely wife, do great at work and stay in impeccable shape. Most women tend to neglect themselves once they get married and have babies. They stop paying attention to their body weight and to their physical aspect in general. However, according to some celebrities, this shouldn't happen: there are also ways of achieving perfect shapes with minimum efforts.
Everyone knows Cameron Diaz and her perfect slender silhouette, but did you know that she works out only an hour/day, five days a week? Though she is not into sports, she practices surfing, Pilates, jogging or weight lifting, but not for more than one hour a day.
Jogging is a physical activity recommended in achieving a healthy body, increasing cardiovascular activity and toning the muscles. It is known as "the sport that prolongs the life"; English scientists have shown that jogging increases life expectancy up to 6 years for men and 5 years for women. Dr. Leon Creaney, Consultant in Sport, Musculoskeletal and Exercise Medicine, specifies that the jogging rhythm varies from person to person. However, you should be able to have a conversation while running. At this level, your heart and lungs are being stimulated, keeping you in shape.
Besides the weight loss, jogging has also some mental benefits, such as reducing anxiety and stress level. But even when practicing this relative simple sport, you should use specific gear: shoes, reflective jacket.
Strength training means lifting weights to strengthen the muscles, the bones and the connective tissues. A workout routine including weight lifting is just as important as jogging, being a good way to build lean muscle tissue, which raises the metabolism and reduces the body fat.
Pilates is a form of exercise, being well known for increasing flexibility, strength, and grace. The good thing with Pilates is that the exercises can suffer modifications, according to the user's needs. Thus, they can be performed by pregnant woman, by seniors and by people recovering after certain diseases/disorders.
The six principles of Pilates are: centering, control, flow, breath, precision and concentration. This training target the deep muscles of the abdomen, back and pelvis and celebrities use it to achieve a perfect, flat abdomen.
Jennifer Aniston prefers practicing jogging and yoga in a heated room. She says that practicing yoga in a heated room increases your metabolism and pulse rate, causing amazing weight loss due to the fact that you sweat heavily. Yoga increases flexibility and strength, using every muscle in the body and decreases the effects of stress on our bodies, the back and neck pains.
Yoga also includes some breathing practices which improve lung functioning and encourage relaxation. The actress states that: "Yoga strengthens my muscles and gives me a great sense of peace and calm. It also improves my breathing and centers me". Besides physical fitness, yoga is often seen as a complete coordination between the body, mind and spirit.
However many different workouts you use, keep in mind that a well balanced diet is also required in achieving a flawless figure.
Contrary to her colleagues, Jennifer Lopez doesn't keep a strict diet. She eats everything, but "moderation" is a word she keeps in mind all the time: "When it comes to my diet, I know what's good for me and what isn't. Once in a while I give in to my cravings. If I'm trying to lose weight, I cut carbohydrates from my diet. I'm not a health freak, who believes in not eating any sugar or leaving dairy products out. I eat almost everything, only in moderation. I believe in having a well-balanced diet - a little bit of everything".
She works out an hour a day, and her training includes yoga, dancing, cardio and resistance training. Yoga helps loosing all the stress accumulated during the day and dancing is good for calorie burn. The cardio workout exercises target endurance, calorie burning and achieving overall great shape.
Cardio exercise is considered to be any activity that is rhythmic and performed in a continuous way. Many sports can be considered as cardio exercises: dancing, swimming, jogging, walking, aerobics, and so on. Rigorous swimming can burn up to 350 calories per 30 minutes and leisurely swimming can burn up to 250 calories per 30 minutes. However, for weight loss, you should repeat your workout routine several days a week and one session should last for 60-90 minutes.
Like many other celebs, Beyonce prefers yoga, dancing, cardio, but also cycling or jogging. As for her diet, she avoids red meat, carbohydrates and bread, eating plenty of vegetables, fruit and fish. With outdoor cycling, you don't work out your upper body very much; however, you can burn a lot of calories. Cycling at less than 10mph can burn up to 372 calories.
As for the celebrities who are new moms, let's take a look at Halle Berry's workout routine! She was 42 when she had her baby girl Nahla, and she was ready to step on the red carpet after three and a half months. Her trainer emphasizes the importance of getting in the habit of exercising after giving birth. Halle Berry started by doing some cardio and stretching exercises, five days a week. After some weeks, she started hiking, jogging on the beach or practicing yoga.
Jessica Alba says it's easier to workout throughout the pregnancy, in order to shed kilograms faster afterwards. Prenatal yoga and light walking are great exercises during pregnancy. Also, breastfeeding is known to be an amazing method of loosing some extra kilos, as you can burn more calories than by doing a cardio workout. As for the diets, postpartum women should work toward a gradual weight loss! Rigorous diets can affect the baby and the quality of the breast milk.
The best way of loosing weight easily and healthy is to eat when you're hungry, drink enough fluids and make sure you have a balanced diet!