Summarize the following:
Need to go the grocery store? Walk there. Need to get up to the fifteenth floor of a building? Walk there, don't take the elevator. Need to get to soccer practice? Walk there. Look at each walking opportunity as an opportunity to burn more calories and to get fitter. Get a pedometer. A pedometer will keep track of the number of steps you take during the day, and you can hide it on your hip so that no one can see it. A good pedometer will convert the number of steps taken into calories burned. They're worth it! Put on some of the best, most motivating 80s dance music, and get ready to get ready. Warming up and stretching will help you get the most out of your exercise. Plus, who can exercise when they're injured? Examples of warm up exercises include:  20 push-ups, 20 sit-ups, and 20 burpees. (Burpees are when you jump in the air then drop down do a push-up and repeat.) Running in place intensely for 1 minute, and then switching to 1 minute of light jogging in place. Touch your toes, stretch your arms in tandem, get those quads and hamstrings loosened, and don't forget your torso and neck. Interval training is where you do really intense activity for only a short period of time, and then moderate or light intensity work for the majority of the time. Scientists have found, in several studies, that people who do interval training actually end up exercising for shorter periods of time and burning more calories than people who go at medium intensity for their whole workout. An example of interval training would be this: while running around the track, go as hard/fast as you can for one whole lap, then jog at light speed for the remaining three laps. Every four laps is a mile. Feel — and love — the burn. The great part about sports is that they're competitive. Competition makes us push ourselves harder than we would have by ourselves, for the most part. You may be thinking: I'm not good at any sports, or I'm not comfortable doing any sports. Just remember that people respect other who try hard and who respect themselves. If you think doing soccer, basketball, or swimming would be fun and keep you engaged, then go for it. Let your competitive streak burn the calories for you. If you don't have some cardio machines with you at home, consider joining a gym so that you can use some. Try out the following cardio machines and see which ones work best for you:  Treadmill. The treadmill might actually feel worse than free running, but it's definitely better than nothing. Try to find a nice, fast pace that keeps you sweating. Elliptical. You can set a different resistance strength for most ellipticals, making this a good strength training/cardio dual workout. Stationary bike. If you take a spinning class, get ready to have your butt kicked. Spinning class on the stationary bike is a great way to lose weight. Cross-training involves a range of different strength, endurance, and aerobic exercises that will work out many different parts of your body while generally keeping you from getting bored (which is a huge reason why people stop exercising). Cross-training regimes like Crossfit may not be the best at burning a lot of calories very quickly (they're better at replacing fat with lean muscle), but it's worth trying out. Who knows, you could find a new inspiration! To really get tap your aerobic ability, try dancing. No, not necessarily in your room, although that's always encouraged. What about a dance class at your local Y?  You could try something like basic jazz or pop or hip-hop classes if you're familiar already and you find the dance moves or music comforting. You could also try something like zumba, which combines Latin and international music into one fantastic workout. Zumba, like regular dancing classes, is taught by a dance instructor. You'll probably need to exercise twice as much to meet your goals. Better pick a couple exercises that you really like, because chances are you'll be doing a lot of them in order to burn 10 pounds in a week. You might want to set aside 4 hours a day in order to exercise: 2 2-hour sessions, broken up in the middle with a break. If you need any motivation, just thinking of all the weight you're saying goodbye to and the fabulous body that you'll be welcoming in no time flat. Good luck!

summary: Walk everywhere. Get in the habit of warming up/stretching before going all out. Try interval training. Get involved in a sport. Make use of cardio machines. Do cross-training. Dance the night away. Do exercise, and do it double-time.


Summarize the following:
Many fears are based in false beliefs or catastrophic thinking. When you see a spider, you may immediately have a belief that says that the spider will harm you, and that you will die. Identify these patterns of thinking, and start to question them. Do some online research and understand your actual risk versus perceived risk. Recognize that the worse-case scenario is highly unlikely. Begin to re-structure your thoughts to not engage in catastrophic thinking, and start to talk back to those thoughts. When your fear arises, pause and reflect on your actual risk. Talk back to your negative thoughts or false beliefs and say, “I recognize that some dogs are vicious, but the vast majority of dogs are gentle. It is unlikely I will get bitten.” After you have confronted your false beliefs, begin to expose yourself to the fear. Oftentimes we're afraid of something because we haven't been exposed to it very much. "Fear of the unknown" is a commonly used phrase to describe the automatic aversion people feel to something that's different.  If you're afraid of dogs, start by looking at a badly drawn doodle of a dog done in silly colors. Look at it until you feel no fear response. Then, look at a photo of a dog, then a video of a dog. Examine it until no fear response exists. Go to a park where you know one or a few dogs will be on-leash and watch them until you feel no fear. Go to a friend’s house who has a dog and watch him interact with a dog until no fear response is elicited. Ask a friend to let you touch or pet his dog while the dog is restrained by your friend until you feel neutral. Finally, be near a dog and spend one-on-one time with a dog. The power to label your emotions is beneficial for self-understanding and emotional intelligence. It also appears that engaging with a fear and verbalizing your fear has incredible power to help you overcome fears and regulate emotions. Researchers had spider-fearful individuals exposed to a spider, and participants that labelled their fears (“I feel very scared of this spider”) had a lower fear response the following week when exposed to a different spider. Running from fears never improves the way you feel about a fear. Next time you experience a fear, verbally engage the fear, using words that describe your fear and anxiety. When your body experiences fear, lots of triggers ready your body for a “fight-or-flight” action response. Learn to override this response by counteracting with relaxation techniques. Relaxation tells your body that there is no danger and that you are safe. Relaxation can also help you cope with other stress and anxiety in your life.  Try deep breathing exercises. Focus on your breath, and start counting each breath: four seconds inhale, then four seconds exhale. Once this is comfortable, elongate your breath to six seconds. If you notice your muscles tensing, be conscious to relax them. One way to do this is to clench all the muscles in your body for three seconds, then relax them.  Do this two or three times to melt stress throughout your body.
summary: Identify false beliefs. Try gradual exposure. Practice engaging with the fear. Learn relaxation techniques.