Denise's Daily Dozen (3 page)

Your Weekly Dozen Miles

I’m a true believer that you need to do cardiovascular exercise (also called aerobic exercise) in order to burn fat and calories and change your body. That’s why in addition to your twelve-minute Daily Dozen workouts, you need to do twelve miles of cardio exercise each week. This is a must. And it’s the only way that you will lose up to twelve pounds in two weeks and drop a size—or two or three! The Daily Dozen exercises will boost your metabolism and tone you up. They’ll sculpt and firm your muscles, but if you have a layer of fat covering up those muscles you’re not going to see them.

The easiest cardiovascular exercise for most people is walking. All you need is a comfortable pair of walking shoes that have good arch support (to prevent feet from rolling inward) and that are flexible so they allow your feet to bend as you walk. And they should never pinch or rub even when they’re new. If they do, they don’t fit well.

I love to do interval walks to jump-start my metabolism and get a more effective workout in a shorter amount of time. An interval workout is where you intersperse fast-paced intervals of exercise with moderate-paced intervals. For example, let’s say that you typically walk at a pace of three and a half miles per hour for thirty minutes. If you mix things up and sprinkle in a few minutes of walking or running at, say, a five mph pace, you’ll burn more calories in the same thirty-minute workout. Your heart rate rises when you’re doing those fast-paced intervals, but it also stays up even when you switch to the slower-paced segments. And even if you aren’t able right now to walk or run at five mph for an entire workout, you certainly can do it for a short period of time, whether that’s thirty seconds or several minutes. I want your ultimate goal to be doing a twelve-minute mile whether that’s walking, power walking, running, or doing a mix of those things. In fact, I’m a member of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, which recognizes that the ability to walk/jog a twelve-minute mile is a sign of cardiovascular health. Make that your goal as you do your twelve miles of cardio each week.

GET AHEAD!

Keep your head in a neutral position for every exercise. To know what that feels like, stand with your back against a wall. Align your buttocks, shoulder blades, and head right up against the wall. Now walk forward. Take a moment to memorize that feeling.

AB-SOLUTELY NORMAL!

Don’t get discouraged by ab work. It can feel tough, especially in the beginning. That’s because short of getting out of bed, few movements in life mimic the abdominal crunch, so your abs really aren’t challenged enough in an average day. In fact, they may well rank as the weakest muscles in your body. Just do your best. As a general rule, go until you start to feel the burn and then do two more. A few weeks of this and you, too, will have awesome, enviable abs.

One of my favorite metabolism-boosting walks is to mix two-, three-, and five-minute intervals. To determine the intensity of these intervals, think of your effort on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being a very easy stroll and 10 being so hard you can’t carry on a conversation. You should never be at either of these extremes, but you should push yourself and be honest with yourself about how hard you’re working.

1. 5 minutes: Warm up (intensity of 5).
   
2. 5 minutes: Walk at a moderate pace (intensity of 6).
   
3. 3 minutes: Power walk (intensity of 7).
   
4. 2 minutes: Walk at a moderate pace (intensity of 6).
   
5. 3 minutes: Speed walk (intensity of 8).
   
6. 2 minutes: Walk at a moderate pace (intensity of 6).
   
7. 3 minutes: Speed walk or jog (intensity of 9).
   
8. 2 minutes: Walk at a moderate pace (intensity of 6).
   
9. 5 minutes: Cool down at a moderate pace (intensity of 5).
   

You can mix things up by varying whether you walk on flat terrain or an incline, or whether you walk inside on a treadmill or outside on the open road. You can also carry a weight—just two pounds or lighter—in each hand to tone your upper-body muscles as you stroll. If you focus on breathing deeply and walking with good posture, you’ll also be working your core muscles.

DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH!

It’s important to keep breathing when you work out in order to bring oxygen to your muscles and give you energy. Try to match your breathing to your movement, and to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Breathing also helps you relax, and it gives you renewed strength to execute your exercises and ready your body for whatever’s coming up next.

In addition to walking, there are so many other forms of cardio that can get you moving and count toward your twelve miles a week. This includes swimming, biking, the elliptical machine, and stair climbing. In any of these forms of activity, you can also do metabolism-boosting interval workouts to burn more calories and work harder in less time. Simply alternate one minute of faster-paced activity with four minutes at a slower pace. As you get stronger and more fit, increase the length of those fast-paced segments and scale back the slower-paced ones. As long as you’re getting your heart rate up, it counts toward your twelve miles a week. You can do the same form of exercise for all twelve miles each week (for example, all walking) or mix it up doing a few miles of walking, a few miles of swimming, and a few miles of biking. You can also divide the miles any way you like. Perhaps one week, you want to do two miles a day for six days. Other weeks, you’ll walk five miles twice a week and bike for two miles on another day. However you choose to do your twelve weekly miles, mixing and matching your cardio will keep each routine inspiring. And the results will be amazing!

Make Every Day More Active

In addition to your Daily Dozen workouts and twelve miles a week, I want you to be as active as possible on a daily basis. I really believe that one reason I’ve stayed in such good shape over the years isn’t just because of regular exercise but because I keep moving. No matter where I am, I don’t sit still for long, and I make the most of every moment. Recently I was on a flight from DC to Phoenix. The winds were so bad that instead of five hours, the trip took nine, because we had to stop and refuel. Most of the other passengers just sat for the entire time, but not me. I was walking the aisle to get my circulation going and stretching in the back of the plane. And at home when I’m brushing my teeth, I’ll do squats. When I’m waiting for my toast to pop up, I can squeeze in thirty push-ups leaning on the kitchen counter. Like I always say, your muscles don’t know whether you’re exercising in gym clothes during a formal workout or not. They just know you’re working them. I don’t just do this to tone up, I do it to boost circulation throughout the day: Circulation is what heals your body, and we all can use healing on a daily basis. I call some of these movements fidget-cisers (see
Twelve Favorite Fidget-cisers
), and I swear they keep me fit. They’re one reason why I have more energy today than I did when I was twenty years old.

NOT A DIET BUT A CHANGE FOR LIFE!

Together, nutrition and fitness will help you feel great and stay strong—for the long term! That’s the difference between my program and a short-lived diet plan. The healthy habits you’re learning from me are meant to last a lifetime! Call it a lifestyle change.

It’s also easy to sneak in more walking during the day! Get off the subway a few stops earlier, park farther from the mall, and walk instead of drive to the coffee shop in the morning. Make yourself tiny promises: You’ll circle the block twice before you buy your lunch; you’ll take the stairs instead of the elevator whenever possible. If you want, purchase an inexpensive pedometer—it hooks onto your clothing and counts your steps for you. You should aim for ten thousand steps a day, but do the best you can! You’ll be amazed at how quickly the steps add up. Just push yourself to increase your number each day and you’ll get to your fabulous new shape—one step at a time!

T
he more you move, the more fit you’ll be!

Of course, looking great in your jeans isn’t the only reason to do your Daily Dozen workouts and get fit. Getting in shape makes you healthier so you can do more and live longer. A recent study in the
British Journal of Sports Medicine
found that you can delay biological aging by ten or more years just by staying aerobically fit. Other research has shown that exercise can prevent an array of health risks from heart disease to cancer to osteoporosis. Working out will also help your soul and your spirit. It will improve your well-being and your energy level. It will change your life. You will feel recharged and energized. No more feeling sluggish or lethargic. No more tossing and turning at night. You’ll sleep like a baby. And this feel-good effect is like a snowball. Once you see the benefits of just twelve minutes a day and eating well, you’ll likely add other healthy habits to your life. You’ll want to keep going because you’ll see how wonderful you look and feel when you’re living a healthier lifestyle. Just remember, there are three things in life that are all up to you: how
you
eat, how
you
move, and how
you
think. Eat healthy foods, move every day, and be optimistic. That’s the basis of the Daily Dozen Plan and a very healthy, happy life. You can do it! I have faith in you!

Twelve Ways to Add Physical Activity to Your Daily Routine

K
eeping up with your exercise sessions—a walk, a bike ride, a strength-training workout—is great and goes a long way toward burning calories and making you feel fit. But don’t forget the importance of working more physical activity into your daily routine! One easy way to remind yourself is to think about every little step you take. This helps keep your body burning calories all day long. If you’re sitting all day, your body isn’t burning the calories it wants to. Sitting is the fastest way to gain weight—except for lying down. I’m a big believer in doing easy activities without getting sweaty. Short bursts of activity like that can really add up—which is what you want when you’re trying to lose weight. Here are some tips on stepping your activity up a notch:

1.
Dance your dinner off. Whether you’re out on a Saturday night or staying at home, turn on your favorite tunes. The beat will keep you moving your feet, not to mention burning off some extra calories.

2.
Stand up every hour on the hour and stretch your arms overhead. It opens your chest and brings oxygen into your lungs. It’s great for circulation and enhancing your energy level.

3.
Take the stairs instead of elevators. In addition to burning more calories, you’ll save time—one study showed that waiting to ride an elevator takes twenty seconds longer than climbing up one flight of stairs. Today, see if you can take the stairs at least once when you normally wouldn’t. Then tomorrow, do it twice. In no time, you’ll be a stair master! If you need to go up several flights and can’t climb them all, try a combination of the stairs and the elevator. Every step counts!

4.
Walk up the escalator rather than just riding along. You’ll burn calories and get to where you’re going in no time.

5.
Decrease your dependency on your car and see how many errands you can run (or how much commuting you can do) by bike. Biking is fantastic exercise because it helps tone your legs and gives you a great fat-blasting cardio workout.

6.
If you live in a house with more than one level, bring things up or down the stairs as needed rather than letting a pile gather and
then
doing so.

7.
If you’re blessed with the gift of gab—as I am!—use that time to your fitness advantage. Instead of sitting on the couch or in a chair, pace back and forth.

8.
Try this wall squat next time you’re chatting on the phone. Stand up and lean your back lightly against a wall, making sure to press your spine flat. Then, as if you are sitting down in a chair, slowly lower your body along the wall until your knees are bent to at least a forty-five-degree angle (but don’t go lower than ninety degrees). Hold the position for as long as you can. Start with twenty seconds and work your way up to sixty-second intervals. Repeat the exercise every few minutes during a phone call and you’ll really give those thighs a workout!

9.
At work, walk to a co-worker’s office to tell him or her something rather than e-mailing. Not only will you burn a few calories and stretch your legs, but you’ll reap the benefits of making a human connection instead of a computerized one.

10.
Walk your kids to school rather than driving them. Childhood obesity is a huge epidemic, and physical education classes at many schools are being cut from school schedules. So if it’s possible to walk to your child’s school from your home, do so. You’ll help establish healthy habits at a young age—and that’s priceless.