How to Select the Right Exercise Ball for You

 

The first step in choosing an exercise ball is finding the right size to fit your body.  Exercise (or stability balls) come in 3 sizes: 55cm, 65cm and 75cm.  The size reflects the actual height of the ball when inflated to it’s maximum capacity. 

Ball Size      Your Height

55cm (22″)       4’11” – 5’4″

65cm (26″)       5’5″ –  5’11”

75cm (30″)      6’0″ –  6’7″

Remember these are basic guidelines – if you have short legs you may need a smaller ball, long legs you may need a larger ball.  If you’re heavy you may want to consider a larger ball to prevent the ball from flattening too much when you’re sitting on it.

When sitting on the ball your feet should be flat on the floor with your hips level or slightly higher than the knees. 

Look for balls with the anti-burst feature.  It’ll cost about $10 more but they’re designed to deflate slowly if punctured.  A great safety feature to keep you from landing roughly on your butt if the ball goes pop!

Cost of balls range between $8 and $50.  The cheaper balls usually don’t possess the anti-burst feature or come with a DVD to get you started.  For $20-30 you can get a good quality ball with a starter DVD and stretch bands.

Coming up ~ how to inflate your ball.

Yummy Burger Recipe

This recipe is very simple to make as well as being healthy and delicious! Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients

1 lb Honeysuckle ground turkey 99% fat free
1 Onion, chopped
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup fat free shredded mild cheddar cheese
dash of salt and pepper

• Mix ground turkey, chopped onion, bread crumbs, salt and pepper
• Mold into 8 equal patties
• Lay patties on wax paper
• Divide the shredded cheese equally between 4 patties, placing a small pile of cheese in the middle of each burger
• Press remaining 4 burgers on top sealing the cheese inside
• Coat skillet with cooking spray and bring to medium heat
• Add burgers and cook 5-6 minutes each side (or less depending on how well done you like ’em)

Nutrition info:  Each serving contains 287 calories, 1.9 g fat, 29 carbs and 37 g protein

Top with lettuce and tomato and serve on wheat or whole grain buns. Enjoy!

Welcome to our Blog!

Hello, we are Bill and Peggy Foman. Together we have lost a total of 92 pounds (Bill 74 lbs, Peggy 18 lbs) by eating sensible amounts of healthy foods, exercising and keeping a positive spirit.  Our goal for this blog is to help others successfully reach their weight loss goals by sharing our experiences and offering helpful tips and tricks.

 Over the past year, we’ve been following a low fat, low calorie diet while paying close attention to our portion sizes and walking 4-5 days per weeks for at least 45 minutes.  We’re off to Florida in 4 weeks and want to get our bodies in shape for the beach so we’ve decided to step up our game by adding an exercise ball to the mix. 

Follow along as we get on the ball…..