Exercise and Fitness: Questions & Answers
Vital Health Zone is proud to announce Gina Jackson, who is our resident exercise and fitness expert and who is available to answer all your questions about exercising and fitness. Gina has a private practice and is available for consultation.
Gina answers all your exercise and fitness questions below:
Q: I am 15 years old and I want to tone up pretty much everywhere, especially my tummy, hips and thighs. I walk to school everyday (25mins there and 25mins home.) I play 3 basketball games a week, plus 2 basketball trainings so I'm average.
What exercises would be useful in toning my problem areas and to help me lose weight?
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A: You are doing some good physical exercise, with the basketball and walking every day.
To tone up and lose some fat from the stomach, hips and thighs, you have to burn more calories than you eat. The most effective way to do this is with diet and exercise.
Current advice about exercise for teenagers is that they should get around 60 minutes of exercise every day, which can be broken up into smaller chunks throughout the day (it doesn't have to be done all at once). This is any type of exercise and includes:
- Dancing
- Jogging or running
- Riding a bike
- Organised sport (such as basketball)
- Skateboarding
- Walking
In addition to this, a good diet is essential. You need to be eating enough foods from the six food groups:
- Dairy food group
- Fats and oils food group
- Fruit food group
- Grains and cereals food group
- Meat and protein food group
- Vegetables food group
If you look at the information in these pages, you will see that there is a recommended level of food, including what constitutes a portion size, for teenagers of your age.
As a general rule, try to eat less foods that come in packets (or are packaged) and eat more natural, unprocessed foods.
Being a teenager, your body is still changing, which is normal, so do not stress about this too much. You can also speak to your parents about seeing a dietician who can recommend the best foods for you, based on your activity levels.
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