Denise's Daily Dozen

Copyright

Publisher’s Note: The information herein is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health-care professional and is not intended as medical advice, but as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of the author. You are advised and encouraged to consult with your health-care professional in all matters relating to your health.

Copyright © 2010 by Denise Austin

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Exercise photos by Hilmar Meyer-Bosse

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First eBook Edition: January 2010

ISBN: 978-1-599-95261-1

With the most humble of hearts for the blessing of such a wonderful family and upbringing, I dedicate this book to my mom and dad, whom I miss every day.

CONTENTS

Copyright

Acknowledgments

Introduction

PART ONE: GETTING READY

The Daily Dozen Fitness Plan

Twelve Favorite Fidget-cisers

The Daily Dozen Eating Plan

Half a Dozen Tension Tamers

Frequently Asked Questions

Twelve Easy, Effective Ab Exercises

PART TWO: THE PLAN

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Twelve Ballet-Inspired Barre Exercises

Twelve Meals You Can Make in About Twelve Minutes

Shopping Lists

Recipe Index

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I
want to thank
all
my loving family… each one, from the oldest to the youngest. We are truly blessed to have such a close-knit big family. I treasure all of our times together.

I’m so thankful to my husband, Jeff, for our happy life together… twenty-five years of your amazing love, loyalty, and laughter. I have tears in my eyes of pure pride and gratefulness for our daughters, Kelly and Katie, who have both grown up to be such hardworking, caring, and “love of life” people. I’m so proud to be your mom.

I want to thank Michele Bender for all her help with this book. You are a joy to work with. Also, thanks to Christopher Mohr, PhD, RD, CSSD, a sports nutritionist, for all his help planning healthy meals. A big thanks to all my friends at Hachette, especially Harry Helm and my book editor, Christina Boys.

A very special thank-you to Jan Miller and Nena Madonia, for everything!

Thanks to my three sisters and my great bunch of girlfriends who are so supportive and always there for me, helping me with some of the recipes and testing some of these exercises.

I love what I do, helping people to feel better about themselves and making a positive difference in their lives.

—Denise Austin

INTRODUCTION

P
eople always ask me where I get all my energy. It’s true that at fifty-two years old I have more energy than I did at twenty-two! I feel great, too (and I’m proud to say I’m 100 percent all natural). It’s a direct result of a well-rounded lifestyle that includes everything from fitness to healthy eating to stress reduction to sleep and more. I want you to feel good, too, and get through your day with energy. I want you to change your lifestyle so that you wake up and start each day on a healthier and happier foot. You can have all the money in the world, but if you don’t have your health, you have nothing.

In this book, I’ll share all my secrets and tips for living your healthiest lifestyle ever. But it goes beyond my own experience and expertise. I am a curious person, and I spend a lot of time asking the most brilliant people in the world a lot of questions. It’s true. Thanks to the work that I do with the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, I am surrounded by some of the top experts in our country from world-renowned organizations like the Mayo Clinic, Cooper Clinic, National Institutes of Health, and more. I talk to these experts on a regular basis, querying them on the latest news, research, and what’s in store for the future. In other words, I have done a lot of information gathering for you and am excited to pass it on because I want to help you live a fitter, healthier, and more enjoyable life. I know that what you want is simple, reliable information that is quick and easy. I know this from my thirty years in the health and fitness industry, but I also know it because that’s exactly what
I
want. I’m a wife and a mother and understand what it’s like to work full-time and juggle all the responsibilities of a family. But despite a busy life, you
can
look and feel your best. In
Denise’s Daily Dozen
, I’ve compiled the newest health information so that you can reap all the benefits. Remember, you only live once; why not live it as healthy and vibrantly as you can?

B
e fit, healthy, and happy forever…

PART ONE

GETTING READY

Never underestimate your power to change and improve!

You can do it!

The Daily Dozen Fitness Plan

D
o you want to boost your metabolism, burn fat, tone up, and get in the best shape of your life? Good! That’s just what the Daily Dozen Fitness Plan is going to do! Each day, you’ll have twelve easy exercises that you can do in twelve minutes. In just two weeks, you can lose up to twelve pounds! I’ve designed these exercises to blast fat, burn calories, shrink your fat zones, and help you tone up. Each day’s routine makes the most out of those twelve minutes so you are training smarter in a short amount of time. But I’m not just
saying
this works; I
know
it does. Why? Because this is how I keep my own weight down and stay firm. Fitness may be my day job, but that doesn’t mean I want to spend all day working out. I don’t. Instead, I maximize every minute of my workouts doing compound exercises that target more than one muscle group at a time and combining cardio workouts with toning. And that’s exactly the program that I’ve designed for you with the Daily Dozen Fitness Plan.

Your Daily Dozen:
Twelve Easy Exercises in Twelve Minutes a Day

To me, there are three main components of a well-balanced workout: cardiovascular exercise, toning, and flexibility. Each one is important, and the Daily Dozen includes them all.

THE DAILY DOZEN PLAN IS A NO-SWEAT PLAN

If you miss a day of exercise, don’t stress out. Just do it the next day along with the twelve-minute workout assigned for that day. Of course, if there’s a day when you’re raring to go and want to do more exercise than the twelve minutes, simply add another day’s workout or do one of the two bonus daily dozens.

Cardiovascular exercise is critical for burning calories and melting fat off your body as well as keeping your heart muscle healthy. Cardio exercise blasts off fat, shedding pounds. It also boosts your fitness level so you can do things like climb stairs without huffing and puffing. My favorite form of cardio exercise is walking—and it’s also one of the easiest! It’s great for your legs and relieving stress, but the reason I really love walking is that you can do it almost anywhere, and anyone can do it.

Toning exercises firm all the muscles in your body, including your abs, arms, buttocks, thighs, hips, chest, shoulders, and back. Toning through strength training, using both free weights and your own body weight, is also important for slimming down, because the more muscles you build, the more you boost your metabolism. The reason? Muscle demands more energy from your body than fat does. So the more muscle you add to your body, the more calories you’ll be burning throughout the day. In fact, studies show that for every pound of muscle you add, you automatically burn an extra thirty-five to fifty calories per day—and that’s while going about your normal activities. Even at rest, muscle burns almost twice as many calories as fat. (Isn’t that amazing?)

Now, I know some women are hesitant about strength training with weights because they’re afraid they’ll look too bulked up or masculine. But it’s time to change that thinking! Men typically develop big, bulky muscles because of the high level of the hormone testosterone that they have in their bodies. Though women’s bodies have some testosterone, too, it’s not nearly enough to get those bulging muscles. So don’t worry about the exercises in the Daily Dozen bulking you up. They won’t. Rather, these strength moves tighten and tone and eventually redistribute your weight in a healthy way. Your arms and legs will feel firmer, your body will feel stronger, and you’ll be burning more calories daily—even when you’re sleeping!

A
ctions speak louder than words. Walk and talk!

The third essential element of a well-balanced fitness program is flexibility. As we age, we naturally lose flexibility, so we’ve got to do a little work in order to stay agile and spry and continue walking with a spring in our steps. Flexibility wards off injuries from exercising as well as day-to-day activities. For example, how many times have you heard about people throwing their backs out simply by reaching for something or picking something up? Maybe you’ve experienced this yourself. But increasing flexibility can prevent injuries just like this. Of course, stretching is also very relaxing, helping you release tension—especially in your hips and back—and simply makes you feel better. That’s why we warm up before and stretch at the end of every workout in the Daily Dozen, and it’s why I’ve included a yoga routine.

The Daily Dozen Fitness Plan contains all three elements—cardiovascular, toning, and flexibility—in the twelve easy moves you do for twelve minutes each day. By the end of the week, you’ve done them all!

In addition to sculpting your muscles, blasting flab, and boosting flexibility, all of these workouts will help shrink your fat cells. We’re each born with a set number of fat cells, so it’s not the number that makes us, well, fat; it’s how big they get. Several things impact the size of your fat cells, and two of the big ones are exercise and eating. By exercising and eating right, you’re helping to shrink those fat cells and successfully reaching for the body you’ve always wanted.

The other thing you’ll love about this plan is that it’s designed to fit into
your
life, and it’s a great economical way to get your body and mind in shape. I know your life is busy and that you can’t afford to add another time-consuming activity to your to-do list. I totally understand. Because as a wife, mother, and working woman, my life is busy, too. Really busy. That’s exactly how and why I came up with the Daily Dozen. You have to carve out some time for exercise, and everyone can find twelve minutes, your minimum daily requirement. You can get up twelve minutes earlier—which is what I like to do most of the time—or stay up twelve minutes later. You can shorten your gabfest on the phone with a friend or get fit while watching your favorite TV show. However you squeeze in your twelve minutes, my point is that with my plan, you’ll never have to make any kind of radical or jarring changes to your daily routine. It was created to make the most of every minute, because I know that every minute you have is precious to you.