Bawdy fitness @bawdyfitness - Tumblr Blog

Rational for final project

Veena Ramalingam

Student ID: U3082433

I chose to do a reference site on a current affairs topic about a lab grown kidney, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22123386. I chose this topic, because it sounded interesting and it is a beginning to a new era in the field of medicine.

The website was created using Dreamweaver. 8 separate pages were created for each of the sections I chose to write about in my website. The topics chosen are the most important and relevant topic to the topic chosen. These topics were about the kidney and the transplant. Although there are other topics discussed in the topic I chose, these were the key issues and links to the other topics mentioned have been provided on each page.

In order to understand how a good informative website works like, I looked at several websites to understand their structure and the way they worked. Here’s a list of the websites I analysed to understand how the structure helped with presentation of the content.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/mild_headache/article_em.htm

http://www.steadyhealth.com/Dizziness___Slight_headache___Unsteadiness_t66589.html

Livestrong.com: This is a website dedicated to healthy living and has several topics about everything related to health. In regards to links to other pages and information, I saw that this sort of information was provide on the sides. Since it’s a big website, a lot of links to other topics of the website were also provided.

TimesOfIndia.com: I used this website mainly to look at the way the links to related sources were presented. This is mostly where I got my idea of where to place the related information links. The related information was placed to the left in a little rectangular box of its own. I tried something similar by creating a separate class dedicated just for this in css. However, I couldn’t get it to align properly and the design of the page had been completely ruined.

In order to over-come this problem, I decided to use the in-built table function in html. In order to make the table suit the theme of the page better, I customized the table using css.

For the look of the website, I decided to make use of online colour palettes available. I based mine on one found from the ‘http://www.colourlovers.com/’ website. I decided to use simple colours and not patterns. This is so that the reader isn’t distracted in any way.

Users using this website will come for information, hence I strived to provide the information in the most readable way possible without many distractions. With most websites I have researched, the information has always been presented in the left corner with other extra information to the right and I have used a similar format for my website.

A variety of links have been provided such as videos, news articles and just other online websites. The links have not been categorized into videos or articles because mainly I didn’t want to cluster the page with over information that could just stray away the readers from what they are reading. I have found this to be the case in several websites, where there are many links to other topics on the side and it can be quite hard to focus on what you are reading when there is so much information being provided to the right of the page. This is another reason as to why links have been kept to a minimum. I have tried to provide the essential information that is applicable to the chosen topic.

This website, although similar to most other website, has it’s difference in that I tried to be subtle and succinct with the information. There is always a ton of information on the website and sometimes there is so much that visitors end up leaving the site because of the depth of information. Due to that reason, the information provided here is short; if they want to get into more detail, then links have been provided for them to continue reading about a certain topic written.

In conclusion, the website’s main aim is to keep the viewers distracted from anything, so that they can focus on their reading without being overly distracted. This was achieved by using minimal colours and providing brief information on each topic.

References

"National Kidney and Urologic DiseasesInformation Clearinghouse (NKUDIC)." The Kidneys and How They Work Page. 17 May 2013 http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/yourkidneys/

"Kidney Transplantation: MedlinePlus." U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine. 17 May 2013 <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/kidneytransplantation.html>.

"Kidney Problems: How to Improve Kidney Functioning?" Healthmeup RSS. 17 May 2013 <http://healthmeup.com/news-healthy-living/kidney-problems-how-to-improve-kidney-functioning/18919>.

"Kidney functions." Kidney functions. 17 May 2013 <http://www.renalinfo.com/us/how_kidneys_work_and_fail/kidney_functions/>.

"Kidney disease - prevention." Better Health Channel. 17 May 2013 <http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Kidney_disease_prevention>.

"Featured Story." What Is An Organ Transplant? 17 May 2013 <http://www.kidney.org/transplantation/transaction/organtransplant.cfm>.

"Featured Story." The National Kidney Foundation: Kidney Disease. 17 May 2013 <https://www.kidney.org/kidneydisease/howkidneyswrk.cfm>.

#media

Metapost

This is the first time that I have ever blogged about something and hence I would say that this was a very useful experience. While looking at other people’s blog and just researching about blogs, I was able to see how their topics and posts attracted people such as the wording of their titles and writing style.

My blog is about fitness and just tips and tricks that I found to be shared with the general public. I have posted a few image posts and actual text posts.

For this particular post(picture below), 4 people had re-blogged the image. It is an image that I created in photoshop.

Although 4 people re-blogging the picture is not a lot, I learnt how to capture people’s attention on blogs. Simple attractive images with little text will catch user’s attention because it is good to look at and doesn’t take a long time to read it. One of the key things that I found out about what attracted people’s attention is the whole aesthetics factor. If something looked aesthetic enough, people would stop and read it. Hence I tried to incorporate a lot of images.

Technical issues and self-learning:

At first, customizing the blog and editing the html code of tumblr was really hard and confusing. There were quite a lot of things that look complicated and since there were so many divisions in css style page, it was hard to figure out which sections of the page belonged to what. In order to over-come this problem, I tried to set a bright background color to each of the sections to figure out which section was what. This way I figured out which section was what and tried to modify the code according to my taste.

In order to create something visually aesthetic for the blog, I looked at several other blogs and see what they had done. I tried to look at the page source of each of the blogs and see their coding. I learnt from these source codes and tried to include a similar style to my own blog.

My biggest inspiration for design would be blogilate’s tumblr page (http://blogilates.tumblr.com/). It looked very simple, but at the same time very visually appealing and I tried to do something similar for my own blog.

I did create a floral background of my own using photoshop and was working on it using my laptop, however due to the robbery of my house (which included my laptop), I lost that file as well. The background image took a long time to create, and I was hoping to have it done by the time the blog was due, hence I couldn’t recreate the image again. I also had done quite a few posts in advance since I had other assignments to do, however this had also disappeared with the laptop. Despite that, I did try my best to keep up with the posts.

http://petrovahpierce.tumblr.com/. I used a bit of coding from one of her designs and modified it according to mine.

I used w3schools a lot for my css and html coding.

Lecture slides

One of the major things that I have used throughout my blogs that I learnt from the lectures was html and css coding. I tried several different ways of representing my blog and that is one of the major things I have made use of and displayed.

Also all images I created had been licensed which has also been derived from the lecture slides.

I was not able to show all lecture topics through my blog as my topic was fitness and I found it at times a bit hard to merge that in with my topic. However, I have learnt quite a bit about blogging and have to say that I have gotten a bit better with time and hence I might be able to relate the lecture topics more easily at this point of time.

Interaction with social media

Since not many of the people I know or am friends with have a tumblr account, I tried to share it through Facebook. There is an option of Facebook, which lets one feature their status posts and makes it more visible to my friends, and hence I used that to highlight my post. This meant more people would see it. Also I tried to pick the correct timing to put a status about my time so that the maximum amount of people can see it. I chose the evening since that’s when most people are on Facebook, and would most likely see my post.

Other

Towards the end, I realized having catchy titles was a way to capture the audience’s attention. Also I found out that writing something that was relatable to the general audience was also another way to get their attention because it means that they are reading about something that is related to them.

3 Best posts

1) The secret to weight-loss PART 2

Have you been running for the past 2 weeks, and disappointed that you are not seeing any results at all. Well here’s a method that will help you see results in as quick as 2 weeks. Okay it’s not really THE secret to weight loss, but it is quite effective and can speed up your weight-loss dramatically!

So what is it?

It’s known as HIIT and it stands for High Intensity Interval Training. So basically it is a training that involves several cycles of high intensity exercises which is paired with a low to moderate recovery period. One cycle can last till about as little as 20 seconds followed by a 10 second rest and this is repeated several times. It may seem like nothing, but this is a great way to burn fat and gain lean muscle.

So why does this work better compared to the usual cardio?

This sort of exercises forces your body to use the fat in your body as the main source of fuel rather than using glucose (the sugar). This means that you burn fat faster.

Also the longest it lasts is about 20 minutes. The shortest would be around 5 minutes. This means that it’s short and quick and doesn’t use up much of your time. It’s perfect for those busy people who only have 30 minutes or so to spend.

HIIT training boosts up both your testosterone and growth hormone levels. This is essential, as these hormones are responsible for fat loss and muscle gain.

Another great benefit of HIIT is that it can burn up to a 100 calories ever after you stop working out.

You know what it is and why it is so good, but how to actually do it?

You can pick about any exercises that really targets your entire body and use it in your HIIT. Basically the exercise period lasts for about 20-60 seconds with a rest period that is half the exercise period.

So for example, let’s choose sprinting or fast jogging: Do 60 seconds of sprint/ fast jog and a rest period of 30 seconds. Repeat this for around 5-8 cycles and that’s your HIIT workout for the day. Burpees are also a great exercise that targets your entire body.

Well watcha waiting for? Get off your laptop and get HIIT-ing!

2) 4 letters are all you need for a flatter tummy in just under a month!

There is just so much information out there about calorie counting, rules on when to eat carbs, the number of grams of sugar to watch out for and so much more. Losing weight is already hard, so you don’t need to complicate it with all these extraneous information and rules. So here is a simple rule to try, which pretty much sums up all these rules etc.

It’s called the LAFN rule- it sort of sounds like ‘laughin’, which is what you’ll be doing after you look at yourself in the mirror to see the amazing results!

L= lots of water

A=avoid processed foods

F= Fruits and vegetables and just clean eating

N= No sugar

If you follow this rule, you’ll definitely start seeing results in as little as 2 weeks itself.

3) Tips to make your workout more enjoyable and worth doing

That shining golden face: I’ve always noticed that when I exercise really hard(so hard there’s suddenly a waterfall from my body ), my face starts glowing and looks so clean and sometimes as a bonus, I even get those rosy pink cheeks. I look like I just had my makeup done by some professional artist. So my tip is, when exercising try doing it in front of a mirror and aim to exercise till you are at the stage where your face does the same thing. This means that you are working towards an immediate goal and this helps u stay focused. And once you are at the point where you have that face, then you can just admire yourself while exercising and hey it doesn’t feel so bad then ;).

Clothes: I’ve seen several people just wearing baggy t-shirts and shorts while exercising and for me that is not motivating at all because it just reminds me of big I am. So instead buy a cute pair of shorts and a colourful sports singlet and make sure you look good. This means that when you are exercising you realize how good you look and you know that your beauty can only increase with regular exercise and you’ll be motivated to do so.

Dancing: do your exercise moves as though you are dancing. For example do a squat and have some fancy hand movements to go with it and synchronize you with the music. This makes it feel like you are doing something else other than exercising and you won’t feel as much pain. When I am doing jumping jacks, I pop on some J-lo such as On the floor and do the jumping jacks according to the rhythm so it feels like I am dancing and even when I tire out, the music keeps me going. How good you look and you know that your beauty can only increase with regular exercise and you’ll be motivated to do so.

Feeling Good: Even if I exercise for just 10 minutes, I get this proud feeling of accomplishment when I go to bed. I know that I at least did something instead of nothing. And this feeling is amazing because you know that now you are one step closer to your goal then you were yesterday and you know that the new you is not that far away and helps you keep going the next day.

These tips may sound trivial, but have a go and hopefully it helps you as much as it did with me.

#metapost #media

Get that sleek beautiful arm!

You are looking through the pics you took recently with your friends. Your face looks great, but then you notice your flabby, thick, untoned arms. You could wear a full sleeved top or follow this exercise routine to get nice toned, good looking arms.

· 20 push-ups

· 1 minute of arm circles

· 15 push-ups

· 1 minute of arm circles

· 20 push-ups

· 1 minute of arm circles

#media

I Want to change my Genes (not jeans)…

Whenever I tell people I do power yoga as part of my exercise routine, they just frown and tell me sitting and breathing in a controlled motion isn’t going to burn my fat. Power yoga is actually quite the opposite as it involves quite a lot of controlled moves and positions which affects your body both internally and externally. It helps develop all that lean muscle and gets rid of all the excess body fat. In-fact Yoga is so good for you, because it changes your body on a genetic level! How cool is that. Check-out the article below:

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/health/blog/2013/05/06/yoga-meditation-healthy-genes/

How to looser inner thigh fat in 2 weeks

It’s a sunny day outside, just the perfect weather for those short shorts! All your friends decide to wear it, but you don’t want to because your legs don’t look that good. So you hide yourself in a pair of baggy pants. Well you don’t have to anymore, try these 3 exercises above and see the difference in as little as 2 weeks!

These exercises target all of the major muscle groups of your leg which means you are getting a full leg workout.

#media

Don’t even drink a little water!

Yes, don’t even drink a little water, instead you should be drinking A LOT of water!

Water should be called a miracle drink, because water is just that amazing for your body.

Here’s why:

· Water supresses hunger so this can help you keep off those chips

· Water renews your skin

· Water flushes out all those nasty toxins

· Not enough water reduces blood volume which means less oxygen to your muscles and this will mean you will start feeling tired.

· Also when your kidneys have too little water, your liver has to take over. Your liver is your major fat-burning organ and because of not enough water, it will start processing liquids instead of fat!

· And this is the exact opposite of what you want, so make sure your body is always hydrated!

If you don’t like drinking plain water, try this refreshing Lemon recipe below.

Add a few slices of lemon, water a couple of ice cubes to a glass and let it sit there for 5-10 minutes. You now have refreshing lemon infused water with no calories- it tastes better than lemonade yet with none of that sugar and calories.

4 letters are all you need for a flatter tummy in just under a month!

There is just so much information out there about calorie counting, rules on when to eat carbs, the number of grams of sugar to watch out for and so much more. Losing weight is already hard, so you don’t need to complicate it with all these extraneous information and rules. So here is a simple rule to try, which pretty much sums up all these rules etc.

It’s called the LAFN rule- it sort of sounds like ‘laughin’, which is what you’ll be doing after you look at yourself in the mirror to see the amazing results!

L= lots of water

A=avoid processed foods

F= Fruits and vegetables and just clean eating

N= No sugar

If you follow this rule, you’ll definitely start seeing results in as little as 2 weeks itself.

#media

The secret to weight-loss PART 2