Hi! I’m Chelsie
I am a wife and a stay at home mom. Our family recently relocated to the cutest town in Missouri for my husband to attend dental school.
My husband (Jake) and I met six years ago working on a summer crew for the US Forest Service in Nevada. We have been married for 3 years and our son is 1 year old. He is a busy little guy and currently loves to climb to the highest possible places in the house. We are in the process of totally renovating our house, and we still like eachother!
We enjoy spending time outdoors and trying new hobbies. I have a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Physiology and I am amazed by the human body. I am no body builder or ninja warrior. I’m a regular girl who dreads waking up before the sun, especially to work out. I enjoy playing sports (especially when my team comes out winner) and eating good food. My background has given me a good understanding of our body’s need for movement, and all the benefits we get from it!
Our bodies are designed to help us survive. Before refrigerators, supermarkets, and greenhouses were available, humans depended on their bodies to store energy for use during times of famine. Our bodies are still programed to store and conserve energy for us even though none of us have likely ever experienced a true famine. This is why when we eat more food than our body needs, it is stored as energy (fat). This is also why when we stop exercising, we lose the muscles we built. Because muscles take a lot of energy to maintain! And our bodies want to get rid of anything we aren’t using that requires energy to maintain.
When you exercise you signal your body to make physical changes. First, we need to define a few things. Basal Metabolic Rate(BMR) is essentially the number of calories your body uses to just stay alive. This is the rate at which your body burns calories if you do nothing but lay on the couch all day. Cool, right? You can calculate an estimate of yours here. The more muscle you build in your body, the higher that number is. Mitochondria (does anyone remember 7thgrade science class?) are the “power house” of the cell. They are calorie burning machines! Muscles are packed with mitochondria and the more muscle you have, the more mitochondria you have just burning up energy to keep the muscles healthy. So, as you exercise you not only burn extra calories during your workout, you are signaling your body to burn more calories even at rest!
Exercise can signal a lot of positive changes in our bodies. Stay tuned as we explore the effects of exercise on our heart, lungs, hormones, stress, offspring, metabolism, diet and immune system!
