Weighing Safety Concerns and Benefits of Exercise During Cancer Treatment

Exercise is often the last thing on anyone's mind after a diagnosis of cancer, and the fatigue and other pains of treatment will push it even further out of mind. It should, however, be a primary focus of the cancer patient, because exercise offers a wide array of benefits during every stage of treatment without the risk of side effects that are common with medications used to treat the various symptoms. Researchers have found that the benefits afforded by a regular fitness program for healthy adults are the same for cancer patients, including reduced anxiety and depression, lessening of fatigue, a better night's rest, moderated weight gain or loss, and an increase in appetite.

The most substantial influence of exercise as an adjunct therapy for cancer patients is in body image and self-esteem. These two factors play a major role in quality of life, and quality of life indicators have been used to successfully predict lifespan and survival rates in some types of cancer.

Safety Concerns of Exercise During and After Treatment
Most cancer patients and doctors are reluctant to implement exercise programs, because of safety concerns, especially during treatment and after surgery. It is important to realize that the evidence shows exercise cannot only be safe for cancer patients, but physical fitness can actually improve the effectiveness of treatment. Better circulation, more lean muscle, and a sturdier metabolism all add up to a healthier individual, and most oncologists will agree that a healthier patient has more treatment options and experiences fewer side effects from those treatments.

Still, safety concerns are valid when choosing among the many types of physical fitness programs. Someone undergoing mesothelioma treatment may be advised against aerobics, but they can still gain the benefit of reduced symptoms through specialized forms of exercise. The same goes for post-op patients. A program devised by a physical therapist working with the cancer team will help to speed recovery and contribute to the patient's sense of hope.

Fitness and Survival
Besides providing better quality of life that plays into survival rates for terminal cancers, a physical fitness program can increase the chance of survival and prevent recurrence. Regularity is the key to unlocking these benefits. The general recommendations are for aerobic exercise on five to seven days of the week. It should be moderate intensity and total 150 minutes.

Patients without the stamina for this level of exercise are not going to miss out on benefits though. Exercising up to the individual's tolerance level will gradually increase that tolerance, and some benefits will be seen almost immediately. It may be a difficult path and feel impossible at time, but support from loved ones and a personal trainer can help.

By: David Haas of the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance

How to lose weight fast

Everyone keeps asking that they want to lose weight fast but they don't understand that it is easy to gain weight but its difficult to burn it.

It is one thing to look at this weight loss tips list and marvel at it’s size but in fact to make the biggest changes in your life you just have to make a couple small changes at a time in your life until life is where you want it to be. So peruse this list, sure, but more importantly just pick a couple of things that you can do now and then come back in a couple of days to pick another couple.

The most important thing is YOU are responsible for your weight loss. No one else can help you. They can only motivate you.

How to lose weight fast

1. Drink plenty of water. Our body needs a lot of water so give in to water. Water is not just way to flush out toxin but if you have more water in your body you will generally feel healthier and fitter. This it self will discourage any tendency to gorge. The best thing about water is that is has no calories at all.

2. Stay away from sweetened bottle drinks, especially sodas. Hey all those colas and fizzy drinks are sweetened with sugar and sugar means calories. The more you can cut out on these sweetened bottle drinks, the better for you. So if you must drink sodas, then stick to diet sodas.

3. Eat fresh fruit instead of drinking fruit juice. Juice is often sweetened but fresh fruits have natural sugars. When you eat fruit, you are taking in a lot of fiber, which is needed by the body, and fruits of course are an excellent source of vitamins.

4. If you do have a craving for fruit juice then go for fresh fruit juice instead of these that contain artificial flavors and colors. Or even better, try making your own fruit juice taking care not to sweeten it with too many calories.

5. Go crazy on vegetables. Vegetables are your best bet when it comes to losing pounds. Nature has a terrific spread when it comes to choosing vegetables. And the leafy green vegetables are your best bet. Try to include a salad in you diet always.

6. Watch what you eat. Keep a watchful eye on every thing that goes in. Sometimes the garnishes can richer than the food itself. Accompaniments too can be very rich. Remember that it is the easiest thing in the world to eat something without realizing that it was something that you should not have eaten. Selective memory you know

7. Eat only when you are hungry. Some of us have the tendency to eat whenever we see food. We use parties as an excuse to stuff our selves. Understand that the effect of a whole week of dieting can be wasted by just one day’s party food. Whenever you are offered something to eat do not decline it completely bit just break of a nibble so that you appear to mind your manners and at the same time can watch your diet.

8. Count the calories as you eat. It’s a good idea to have an idea of the calories that most food items have. If it is a packed thing then the label is sure to have the calories that the substance has.

9. Stay away from fried things. Fried things are an absolute no-no. The more fried things that you avoid, the lesser weight you will gain. Fried things are called so because they are fried in oil or fat. And even if the external oil is drained away, there is still a lot of hidden oil in it so stay away from it.

10. Try to burn more than 600 calories everyday.

Weight loss after C section

Ok so this isnt any usual topic that I decide to write about. I was surfing the net when I came across this topic and it's a good research. Their has been a study that 56% mother's opt for C section when they decide about child birth because it less painful and fast and you don't have to wait long for this procedure plus it is usually choose to avoid any complications with the baby. But any kind of operation done on your body has it's side-effects. In C section they cut the skin and everything that comes in between your skin and your womb so that would include all the tissues and muscles that are present in the abdominal. When the baby is out they stitch everything back to normal. But the healing is a long process since the stitches will take time to heal. You when you think about losing that weight you gained during pregnancy you need to first consult your doctor who will check you stitches regularly and make sure that you don't put extra pressure on your abdomen or else the recovery can be painful. So before deciding on anything first consult your doctor.

Ok first thing that you need to do is go slow because you are breast feeding right now so need some of those calories until you stop breast feeding you need at least 1800-2000 calories everyday or else you will not enough energy. So take care of how many calories you are actually taking.

 For the first 1-2 weeks start by walking or brisk walking if you don't feel any pain in your abdomen. Try to sweat as much as you can because around 10% weight is the water fat. you can take the baby with you as well. After 2 weeks you can try sit ups and some bending exercises. You can also start doing some yoga, it will increase your circulation of blood in body and would help in healing process.

After 4 weeks when the doctor has given you a clean chit you can start doing some good exercises like crunches and curls.

crunches for lower abdomen

reverse curls

After at least 6 weeks you can really start doing some regular strenuous exercise like jogging, swimming, jumping rope. But remember as soon as you feel any pain in your abdomen stop that exercise immediately. As for diet since you are breast feeding you are already loosing a lot of calories through that so don't worry about the diet. you need to tighten up those abdomen muscles that's all.

Motivation for weight loss

When you decide that you want to loss weight or you want a firm belly, you have all the motivation to start working out that particular day but as soon as you get the time to do the actual work you find a lot of excuses to avoid exercising at that particular time.WHY??????

The Main Problems
Why do people want to avoid making exercise a regular thing? 

1. Too difficult- People set out with a lot of ambition and enthusiasm, and start out with a big goal. “I’m going to go to the gym for an hour a day!” or “I’m going to run 30 minutes every day!” The problem is that the goal is too difficult to sustain for very long. You can do it for a few days, but you soon run out of energy, and decide that exercising is not for me. I need to find another way or maybe I'll start dieting that way I'll defiantly loss weight.
2. Too many goals. Often we set out to do too much. We want to run, and lift weights, and eat healthy, and quit sweets, and stop drinking soda. Well, those are multiple goals, and you cannot focus on the exercise habit if you’re trying to do all the others at the same time. Or we might start with one goal, and as soon as we jump to step two we think it's not possible and I need to find some other way. Well the answer is NO. You may as well find a lot of excuses to avoid exercising but their is only one thing that is stopping you and that is YOU. 
3. Not enough motivation. It’s not a lack of discipline, it’s a lack of motivation. The most powerful motivator is the internet. When I first started out I was always making excuses. But one day my brother gave me a link to site that told me about all the diseases and health related problems due to obesity. I was shocked to see what I done to my body and I was responsible for a healthy future if I wanted it.

2 Simple Steps

So how do we solve those problems? Keep it simple. 

1. Set one easy, specific, measurable goal- Decide on a single goal and think about what is more important for your body. As your family members and your close friends to keep reminding you whenever you sway away from your goal.
2. As soon as you set up your goal keep a log of it. If you decide you are going to the gym to workout. Keep saying it to yourself all day so that you don't forget it. If you remember it you will make your plans accordingly so that you can always have time for exercising. Once you get to the gym and start working out, you will forget everything and start feeling great because you will be working for your own body. Keep saying it to yourself. ' If I want to live a healthy life without any medication or machines supporting me in old age, I need to exercise to keep my body full of energy. I am only helping myself for a better future'. I do the same thing and I guess this is my only motivation. 

My set of rules for weight loss

• Sodas and soft drinks were my favorite thing. Now I have realized they were the worst thing that could have happened to me. All sodas contain sugar – loads of it. You want to avoid it at any cost.

• Always keep a watch on everything you eat.

• Black Tea or Coffee is absolutely better health-wise than your normal. As long as you drink an extra glass of plain water after it, you'll be absolutely fine. Another type of tea which carries great health benefits with it is Green Tea. 

• Feed yourself with fresh fruit and vegetables that bear high water content. Foods that come under these category - tomatoes, watermelons, cantaloupe, kiwi, grapes etc. These items constitute about 90 to 95% water, so you'll be able to eat plenty of these without feeling heavy and without worrying about gaining weight.

• Many people believe that fruit juice is healthy and it helps in losing weight. Juice has actually lots of sugar in it – specially juices that come in packaged form. Its better to make your own fruit juice and have it than have the packaged ones – but try keeping the sugar level low. It provides more nutrients to your body, and is healthier too.

• Vegetables are your best friends when it comes to shedding of those extra pounds. 

• Most important tip- Water is the source of livelihood – and is one of the key elements required to lose weight. Your body needs a whole lot of water for its daily functions, as you know. Water keeps you away from being de-hydrated, flushes all toxins of your body, and makes you feel healthier and better. The best thing about water is that you can drink as much as you want.

Before and After working out or exercising???

Recently I have started feeling very hungry after exercising. And I keep searching for good nutritional food in my refrigerator but I keep thinking would it make my workout useless if I eat anything. So I did a Google search and I am not able to find a proper website that would help me find a solution.

So I did my own research for a month with my friend who is more interested in gaining weight now I know the proper answer to this question.

I found out that after working out, we are low on energy and need a cool drink.

And one more thing I noticed that all these websites keep tell us to drink a lot of water during exercise I would advise you against it. It cools down our body and lets face it most of the time we are trying to do exercise and increase body temperature but we let that process stop by drinking tons of water. So the best thing to do is to drink only 1-2 gulp of water in between workouts which is enough to keep the body hydrated.

Before/after workouts or exercises:

1. First thing I did was to let my body cool down. In that way I let my body reduce it's temperature on its own.

2. Don't drink cold water between or after workouts. Only drink normal room temperature water to keep your body hydrated.

3. After workout or exercise, just sit down or let your body cool down. Take a simple walk so that you can save up some energy.

4. Drink a glass of cold water after half an hour so that you don't stop the process of fat burning.

5. If you stop sweating and have had enough water you can eat a citrus fruit like an orange or drink lime juice or lemon juice but it should not be a cold drink. Take all these juices at normal room temperature. You can also eat something like wheat pasta and whole wheat bread.

6. If you are trying to gain weight and make muscles then drink  protein shakes, skimmed milk, protein bars but remember it should not contain any sort of fat or the body would be consuming fat which would make you restless and make your body weak.

7. Before going for exercise you can have fresh fruits, sports drinks low in fat content, pasta, bread, sandwich without any cream or sauce and yogurt.

8. I would again tell you to have a glass or lemon juice and honey in warm water before exercising which would increase the fat burning process tremendously. It is my own personal experience and I can tell you it has helped me A LOT.

Extreme workout for girls

I have tried these workouts and they are great if you want to get in shape after weight loss.