As part of my Your Shape Challenge, we had the opportunity to have a conference call with Laurel House last week.

Laurel is a well-being lifestyle expert, co-author of “Star Quality; The Red Carpet Workout for the Celebrity Body of your Dreams” (Wiley August, 2008). She was a freelance writer for many magazines (Elegant Weddings, Men’s Health, Alive, Spa) and is currently the West Coast Editor for FIT Magazine!  Laurel also runs the Twitter and Facebook pages for Your Shape and does a fantastic job interacting with the fans of the game.

We submitted questions for Laurel before the call and she did a fantastic job answering us.  I took notes during the call, only to have my computer shut itself off and lose all my notes!  There were a few things I do remember her telling us that I would like to share with you.

I am constantly running around my house, chasing kids and lugging laundry up and down 2 flights of stairs, in my mind I should be a twig because of all of this exercise!  Not true according to Laurel, she said that your body gets used to the everyday activities you do and after a while these activities are no longer challenging to your body, in order to challenge your body you need to do something different from your everyday activity.  This is why when you have an exercise regimen you hit a plateau at some point, this is when it is time to take it up a notch and challenge your body.

In my mind if I exercise even 15 minutes its better than nothing.  Right and wrong, it is better than nothing at all but by exercising less than 20 minutes I am only burning the food I have eaten.  It takes 20 minutes of exercise before you begin burning fat.  Laurel suggested 60 – 90 minutes of exercise per day.  Around 60 minutes for maintenance or 90 minutes for actual weight loss.  You don’t have to do it all at once and it does not have to be the same sort of activity each time.  She said one of the best things you can do is take a walk after dinner.

Laurel also reiterated something we all know (but don’t always follow), breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  You need to get your body out of sleep mode and fuel it to boost your  metabolism.  If you plan on exercising in the morning she suggested something lite before your exercise and then your full breakfast after exercise.

I wish I could remember more! She had so many great suggestions.  We are planning an informal chat on Twitter tonight at  8 pm EST with Laurel and the Your Shape Challenge team, so I am hoping to get the valuable information I lost over again!  This time I am going to commit it to memory.  If your health is something that you would like to learn more about, or you would like to hear more about how the Your Shape game can help you with your health and weight loss goals please join us tonight.  You can also learn more about the game on the Your Shape website.