The Day ahead

I am about to go out to my first two clients of the day, the first one has recently had a baby (7 weeks ago) and we have been training for the last 4 weeks, very gentle at first, but are now training around 65% - 75% intensity, for short spells and she is coping really well. it is also measurements day for her so I am sure we will see some good results.

The second client is 67  and great to train, she will have a go at any exercise, I trained her a couple of days ago on a circuit training session, and she handled it no problem. Today we are going to do her favourite - kickboxing. She loves it and it is such a good workout that it ticks all the boxes to help her improve mobility, lose weight, enhance coordination and balance, and is great fun.

That will be my morning sorted, then more clients this afternoon and evening, so a good day surrounded by motivated, eager and driven people.

www.fittoyou.co.uk

Fat Binders and Weight Loss

If you – like so many of us - are looking for a natural way to lose those excess lbs and achieve a healthier, happier body, then fat binders may be the answer.

100% natural and traditionally derived from plant extracts, fat binders can provide you with the perfect stepping stone to achieving an easy healthy weight loss, with none of the risk that can come with some chemically induced weight loss supplements.

What are fat binders?

In simple terms a fat binder is a component that gathers and binds fat molecules.

So let’s just say for this example you eat a cheeseburger.

Once your burger has been broken down by your stomach, it will move into your intestine where it will meet the fat binder you ingested earlier. From this point your fat binder will bind the fat molecules making them too big to be absorbed back into your body.

But this is not all fat binders can do.

Alongside their natural ability to reduce your daily fat consumption, fat binders are also known for being effective appetite suppressants, enabling users to reduce their meal portions and lose weight.

As soon as you have taken the fat binder, it will begin to work to bind your fat and offer you results on its very first day.

Are fat binders better than other appetite suppressants?

When you traditionally take an appetite suppressant, they help you to cut your appetite by making your brain believe your body is full, when it is not. They essentially directly affect your central nervous system, altering your hunger signals and the timing in which they are released.

On the other hand, fat binders work within your digestive tract to help bind your fat molecules and lose weight. Other than that, fat binders have no other affect within your body.

Why choose a fat binder?

Compared to most weight loss supplements, fat binders can offer you a healthy weight loss, with none of the risk.

One of the most recurrent problems you’ll find in even the most popular weight loss supplements is their side effects. Chemically altered/made, some may be able to offer consumers a steady weight loss over time, but alongside these weight loss benefits consumers will also be able to find an array of uncomfortable side effects, that are not only just unpleasant but dangerous to your health too.

For example how many weight loss supplements have you seen in the media that have been recommended as a means to losing weight alongside other dietary changes and exercises?

The answer is not many. But add a natural fat binder to the equation, and you’ll experience a different media outcome altogether.

Take for example natural fat binder Proactol. Medically backed and clinically proven to work, Proactol for 2 years running has been voted by both slimmers and dieticians alike as one of the top 5 ways to naturally lose weight in 2008.

Yet compared to most fat binders Proactol can offer consumers a range of other natural health benefits too:

• Lower blood cholesterol

• Increased joint flexibility and energy levels

• A reduction in food cravings

• A 450 daily calorie reduction

• No known side effects

And with medical backing from the Medical Device Directive 93/42 EEC, consumers can take Proactol confident in the knowledge that with its natural fat binder benefits on hand they can begin to lose a steady 1-2lbs a week with minimal exercise.

 

Good/Bad

Good

• Reaching lowest weight since primary school
• Losing over 35kgs from lapband.
• 6 nights in Bali with girl friends
• only spending about $300 in 6 nights in Bali
• not putting on weight in Bali
• going to the gym at the hotel once
• Sister and her boyfriend got engaged on Sunday
• Read Twilight then watched movie. Book is better
• 2 weeks off work
• Size 14 jeans fit (Target brand but still!)
• Ordered wedding dress
• Bob & Tiff on The Biggest Loser. Sensational!
• My hairdresser has agreed to come to Margaret River to do my hair for the wedding
• Dockers finally won a game
• Made best lasagne ever and did not PB it.

Bad

• Night reflux and waking up thinking I’m choking to death
• Daily PB’s
• Quads aching for 4 days after doing Hinges in pilates on Thursday
• Being back at work after 2 weeks off!

Luckily they’ve managed to squeeze me in between surgeries tomorrow so I can see about getting some fill removed and hopefully enjoy some food going down!  I don’t know what has caused this sudden PBing and reflux, very weird considering I haven’t had fill put in since November. Also, I’m enjoying the weight loss (of course) and I’m worried with the extra fluid out that that will stop. But I have decided that I would rather enjoy eating rather than being worried about where the nearest loo is and violently PBing for the next 6 hours.

Anyhoo, good to be back in the blogersphere. Looking forward to catching up on everyone’s blogs.

 

Update: Just had a call from Doc Watson’s rooms and they can fit me in tonight at 6pm - yay! No more night reflux!

Adios, "Fat Clothes"

Yesterday was a first for me. I took all of my “fat clothes” (the stuff that no longer fits), folded each  ite  and placed everything in Hefty bags for pickup by the Salvation Army. It was a bit like a funeral. And a bit like a rebirth.

Oh, yeah, I’ve lost weight before. And in the past, I threw my clothes into the trash the second they got too big … only to be sorry a few years later when I inevitably gained the weight back. But this time, I kept the clothes for a while. I’ve lost about 60 pounds, and they’re definitely hanging on me. For some reason, though, it took time to feel ready to relinquish them.

Why did I throw out my fat clothes so fast before? Disgust.  Shame. Self-loathing. Oversized clothing represented my oversized body, and I wanted them  gone, gone, gone — I couldn’t get rid of the clothes (or the weight) fast enough. And, unfortunately, it seemed like they couldn’t come back fast enough, either. Yup, I’m a yo-yo veteran.

How many times have I lost weight? Almost more than I can count. In fact, I’ve lost the equivalent of several human beings (big ones!). But this time feels different:

• This time, I feel more connected to my body. Exercise plays a huge role here — more so even than diet. I feel more aware of my body — and what it means to “lose it.” Because it is a loss, in more ways than one. For me, it’s a  little bit like a death. I’m losing my image of myself, and  of the way I think (want?) others to think of me. I’m losing my  protection. And I’m losing my mother again; even though she died when I was a teen, eating (really, overeating) has helped to keep her alive, because my mother represented nurturing and caring and love. So did her cooking. But I’m also losing something that keeps me unhappy, unhealthy, unwhole.
• This time, I’m  more compassionate toward myself. As I folded those clothes, I felt a sadness for the woman who uses food to filter her feelings. Who feels safer when she’s heavier. Who feels less afraid when she’s got bigger, fleshier armor. And a respect for what she’s accomplished.
• This time, I’m more conscious. The fact that I could spend time folding and putting away those clothes is nigh-on miraculous. The act was deliberate. It was self-aware. It was how I want and need to live.

This is heavy stuff (pardon the pun). I didn’t plan to get quite so intense in my inaugural blog! But these are … well, weighty issues. And I know I’m not alone with them. I hope you’ll share your experiences with me.

Why Women Must Lift Weights

First off, I’m a guy whom have discovered how valuable weight training has been for me in my continued weight lost, and especially with keeping the pounds off in the long haul.  What weight training has done for me is to allow my to continue with my calorie counting diet and not being so stringent with my diet.  Weight training is one of the better things one can do to increase their metabolism.   HOWEVER, weight loss/gain and weight management has a direct correlation with the balance of total calories consumed versus calories burned.   Metabolism is the engine that burns calories, and it varies from person to person.

See my post about Understanding Calories & Weight Loss for additional info regarding calculating your bodies metabolic rate.

The Mayo Clinic writes about metabolism:

Stated simply, metabolism is the process by which your body converts food into energy. During this complex biochemical process, calories — from carbohydrates, fats and proteins — are combined with oxygen to release the energy your body needs to function.

The number of calories your body burns each day is called your total energy expenditure. The following three factors make up your total energy expenditure:

• Basic needs. Even when your body is at rest, it requires energy for the basics, such as fuel for organs, breathing, circulating blood, adjusting hormone levels, plus growing and repairing cells. Calories expended to cover these basic functions are your basal metabolic rate (BMR). Typically, a person’s BMR is the largest portion of energy use, representing two-thirds to three-quarters of the calories used each day. Energy needs for these basic functions stay fairly consistent and aren’t easily changed.
• Food processing. Digesting, absorbing, transporting and storing the food you consume also takes calories. This accounts for about 10 percent of the calories used each day. For the most part, your body’s energy requirement to process food stays relatively steady and isn’t easily changed.
• Physical activity. Physical activity — such as playing tennis, walking to the store, chasing after the dog and any other movement — accounts for the remainder of calories used. You control the number of calories burned depending on the frequency, duration and intensity of your activities.

The general consensus from women is that, ‘I don’t want to get bulky.’  Or, ‘I want to have that feminine look and not too much muscle.’ On the contrary, fitness expert Jim Karas states that, weight and strength training makes you smaller.”  In addition, walking, running, and spin classes do not burn up nearly as many calories as we’ve been led to believe, which is why strength conditioning should warrant more attention from women.

Elizabeth Quinn, an exercise physiologist says that you will gain muscle tone and definition.  Researchers state that ‘women typically don’t gain size from strength training, because compared to men, women have 10 to 30 times less of the hormones that cause muscle hypertrophy.’  Quinn says ‘this is a bonus.’

I can’t express to both women and men how much weight training has played with me keeping off the pounds.  I’ve used a combination of cardio and strength training.  I wish I could say that I’ve been consistent with my workout routine.  But over time, the close to 90 pounds I have lost, has been fueled by some weight lifting. The bottom is muscle develop, which also increases your metabolism.  This in turn, helps your body burn more calories per day! Generally speaking, for each pound of muscle you gain, you burn 35 to 50 more calories each day.

So what are the ladies thinking at this point?  Again, the key to weight management, in my opinion, is a combination cardio and weight training.  People who do both are better equipped to control their weight!  Most women only do cardio.  This is evident when I go to the fitness center.  If there are, say 12 women in the gym, I’d see about 2 of them doing any weight training.  Women love the treadmills and stairmasters and eliptical machines.  That’s great.   But, don’t forget to lift some weights.

Ladies, do not be afraid to visit the weights section of the fitness center! That area belongs to you just as much as it does the fellas!  I’d encourage you to do some research on finding good weight training exercises to do and how you carry them out.  If you’re doing only 3 weight training exercises each time in the gym, you’ll be fine.  Start out with the lowest weight possible, and gradually increase in small increments over a period of time.  And never hesitate to ask any of the patrons or staff at your fitness center for help and guidance while lifting weights.  Everyone is willing to help; never forget this!

And remember, the easiest way to improve your metabolism(metabolic rate) is to alter what you eat and increasing routine activities.  I list 25 non-exercising ways to help increase your metabolism in another one of my blogs here.

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Food Addict/Exercise Avoider Holding 8 Day Revival: Y'All Come!

I’m an addict — excess food intake and avoidance of physical exercise at all costs are my drugs of choice — and my problem is Dave!

I’ve released another 6.4 pounds within the past few weeks (YEAH!!!) and yet my commitment “to do the next right thing” to take care of myself is less than wholehearted.  “Why” is NOT important (REASON: We addicts must ACT our way into right thinking, rather than “mental masturbating” in hopes of thinking our way into right acting).

I will acknowledge that I’m still (as I have the right to be) dealing with the death of my mother who passed away less than five months ago.  Some days my grief is not much of a burden to bear, while other days (like Easter was and I’m sure Mother’s Day will be) are too difficult for words.

No sooner than I felt like I was getting a reasonably decent handle on coping with my mom’s death, then my closest female friend passed away on April 16 — just four months and 16 days after my mom died!  My friend was only 54 years young.  I’m 51 years young.

All of this grief is HARD to deal with! And yet, all of my overeating and exercise avoiding wont bring my mother or Anna back from the dead. Duh! Acting out with my double-sided addiction might even hasten the day of my death. Duh!

When I say that my “commitment” to my recovery ain’t what it should be (yes, I typed the dreaded “should” word), this means that some days I follow my food plan MOST of the day (say up until 7:00pm), but then stop writing down my food intake and exercise effort for the rest of the day.  I wouldn’t be shocked that my food intake is greater than my food plan calls for on these “half-ass days” and my exercise effort isn’t what it could be. Ya’ think?

So here’s what I’m doing today and for the next seven days (eight days total): I’m going to write on this journal EACH day for these eight consecutive days. Many church’s hold “revivals” to renew “the spiritual batteries” of their members. So as an addict I wouldn’t be surprised that (from time to time) I/we would benefit from a revival-of-sorts to re-charge my/our “recovery batteries”.

So the revival is on!!!  My we all get CHARGED UP, re-focused and re-committed to working our individual program of recovery each day, ODAAT!

This post will be continued late tonight when I post my Food Intake and Exercise Effort and Sane Thinking portions of my recovery journal sheet for TODAY: Saturday, April 25, 2009.

What Brought You To Try Medifast?

I stumbled upon Medifast by pure accident. I was search online for something related to my work, and I stumbled upon the blog of a man who lost a lot of weight, very quickly, using only Medifast and sheer willpower. My first reaction was…”Medifast? Whaa?” How could I, a seasoned dieter, an internet wiz, and an overall smarty pants, not know about Medifast? What was this guy doing to lose this weight so quickly? What made him stick with it, and hit GOAL? It sparked my interested, so I read on. Okay.. there’s talk of shakes, soups, oatmeal…not bad. I look at his weight drop increments, and am just all-around impressed.

I do a quick search for Medifast. The logo looks familiar, but I had never even heard the name up until I found it on that blog. From there, I read countless reviews of people who had hit goal, or were very close to it…people who had tried every other diet out there and failed. Not paid reviews, not scam sites.. real, honest reviews from real people with real goals.  I talked to people, and asked a good friend of mine, who happens to be a nutritionist about it. Come to find out, she was a Take Shape for Life health coach as well, and highly recommended Medifast to certain clients of hers. She apparently didn’t think I was overweight enough to ever tell me about it. She was floored when I told her how much I really weighed. Her reaction was, “Wow, you carry it SO well!”.

While that’s sweet to hear, the truth was that my body was carrying around 90 lbs of weight that it would be much better off without. It was time to take action. I was dissapointed after my last venture into ’serious’ weight loss waters. I did Weight Watchers, and counting points made me irritated.

Everyday, I wake up and Thank God I found Medifast when I did. I am 25, I have my whole life ahead of me, and I was spending it being miserable, fat, and becoming increasingly introverted by the day. That’s no way to live life!

I started a thread in the ‘Medifast Connection’ board on Mymedifast - asking people how they stumbled upon Medifast. Many people said they saw friends who had lost weight, they heard from others who had friends, or they simply saw an ad that sparked interest. To date, this topic has almost 50 responses, so if you’re curious, feel free to check it out.

How to get fat and waste time

Most people struggle with time management and staying fit.  The two issues are profoundly interconnected.

So, we’ve got Lochi Horner, to run our next skills-workshop brekkie, on Saturday 9th May at 9am.

Lochi has trained and mentored thousands of people on the benefits of leading a healthy and productive lifestyle. After building the largest private personal training organisation in Queensland in 2 years, Lochi is now Head Lecturer at the Victorian Fitness Academy and trains students in time management and other fitness-related topics.

For one hour, over an English breakfast, Lochie will practically show us how to get fat and waste time, and how not to.  It will be at Level 1, 20 Melbourne St, Ringwood:

The event will be held at L1, 20 Melbourne St, Ringwood

It will be a sell-out, at $35.  Click here to pay by credit card using a secure PayPal website (it’ll take 30 seconds).   

Or, you can click here to find out more.

See you there!

Eva Longoria - 5'1" and 98 lbs - healthy and fit?

Source: OK Magazine

Eva Longoria seems toned, fit, and healthy.

EVA LONGORIA PARKER

Height: 5′1″

Though she packed on pounds last year for Desperate Housewives, Eva, 34, said she never went up a size. A source says, “She actually did go up to 25 in jeans, but she’s back to her normal size 24, 0 dress, 98 pounds.”

Other stars:

MARIAH CAREY Height: 5′9″

The songstress, 40, has always been famous for her fluctuating waistline. “She was fitting into size 4 dresses last May, just after she married Nick Cannon,” a source tells OK!. “Now, she’s a 6, but sometimes an 8 or 29 in jeans; it always changes.”

JENNIFER ANISTON Height: 5′5″

America’s sweetheart has always been fit. “Jen’s never changed from size 26 jeans and a 0/2 dress,” a source tells OK!. Two-hour yoga sessions, 45-minute workouts and a protein-packed diet keep the Baster actress, 40, toned at 110 pounds.

JESSICA ALBA Height: 5′7″

Following the June 2008 arrival of little girl Honor Marie, Jess, 28, quickly peeled off the pounds. “She was size 28 in jeans by August; in October, a 26,” a stylist who works with a top denim line tells OK!. “By December, she was her usual size 25, 0/2 dress and 110 pounds.”

JESSICA SIMPSON Height: 5′2″

She wore size 28 jeans earlier this year, but “now Jess requests size 26,” a celebrity stylist tells OK!. The singer, 28, is currently a size 4 dress and 122 pounds. “She’s bigger up top, but has a teeny waist,” adds the stylist.

TORI SPELLING

Height: 5′5″

Forget the rumors that the 90210 star and mother-of-two, 35, starves herself. Tori, who weighs in at 110 lbs, says she stays slim by exercising with her family. Her rep tells OK! the actress wears size 25 jeans and a 0/2 dress.

KIM KARDASHIAN

Height: 5′2″

Despite what you might have read in a recent tabloid, Kim, 28, is anything but plus-sized. In fact, she’s a rather petite dress size 2 to 4, and a 26 or 27 in jeans, her rep confirms to OK!. The 118-pound reality star, who has released a line of fitness DVDs, owes her curves to two-hour daily workouts that include weights and an abs series.

JESSICA SIMPSON

Height: 5′2″

She wore size 28 jeans earlier this year, but “now Jess requests size 26,” a celebrity stylist tells OK!. The singer, 28, is currently a size 4 dress and 122 pounds. “She’s bigger up top, but has a teeny waist,” adds the stylist.

JENNIFER LOPEZ

Height: 5′8″

Following the birth of twins Max and Emme in February 2008, J.Lo, 39, slimmed down with the help of trainer Gunnar Peterson, who designed her daily cardio/strength-training regime. Now, “she’s a solid 28 in jeans,” a source tells OK!.

BROOKE SHIELDS

Height: 5′11″

The 43-year-old mother of two was a size 28 while filming her NBC TV series, Lipstick Jungle, her friend tells OK!. Now that the show’s been canceled, Brooke’s eased up on her diet. “She’s a size 29,” a source tells OK!.

Pictures and gallery: http://www.okmagazine.com/pixandvids/gallery/13637/1

The Look Of A Female Fitness Model

How To Look Like A Female Fitness Model

By Vince DelMonte

Do you pass by the magazine stands in the

store and envy the bodies of the cover models? More and more women today are

coveting this body type; strong and muscular while still being feminine. Gone

are the days where strong women are seen as too masculine and unattractive. 

The female fitness body is here to stay.

Now, curves are back so long as they are created with muscle mass and have a softer appearance. Hot celebrities such as Jessica Biel and Jessica Alba are now gracing the covers showing off their new curves. What’s more is that these women are garnering a great deal of male attraction - much more than their thinner counterparts such as Lindsay Lohan or Victoria Beckham.

Luckily, if you make some smart changes to your workout program you can get yourself on the road to looking like the next female fitness model, maybe even covermodel!

First things first. Pink Weights.

If you want to add sexy curves to your body, you need not be afraid of heavier weights. Don’t worry, you are not going to bulk up and begin bearing resemblance to Vin Diesel, as women simply do not have the testosterone in their bodies to be able to do this. In fact, in a very good situation, assuming sound training and great nutrition, a woman would be lucky to put on about half a pound of muscle mass per month. Not quite as scary as you thought right? And that is assuming everything is done right… many will experience a slower rate yet.

The problem with pink weights is that for most of you, they aren’t challenging! You’d be surprised at how strong you already are if you’d just push yourself that little extra bit. So next time you’re in the gym, pick up a ten pound dumbbell or if you’re really ambitious, go for fifteen. You’ll start noticing your body changing more in the next few weeks than in the last few years you’ve spent slaying away on the stairmaster.

Weights have the power to completely transform your body. They will make you a smaller, yet curvier version of your body now.

Don’t be alarmed at your scale weight though as upon weight training your body weight may go up. Relax however, because one pound of muscle takes up much less space on your body than one pound of bodyfat does, therefore you may weigh more, but you will look smaller. 

Next comes cardio.

Women have this tendency to just gravitate towards the cardio section of the gym. Whether it is the best place to check out the men lifting or it feels safer to them, whatever the reason, they go there and stay there - for hours at a time.

This is something that has to change. Think about how many hours of your life you’ve spent on that treadmill, stairmaster or elliptical machine. Do you really look that much different because of it? I’m guessing probably not.

Not only that, but how many of you put in your hour while watching TV or reading your favourite magazine? This is probably a good indicator that you aren’t quite working as hard as you could be.

The truth of the matter is that your body will quickly adapt to all that cardio training that you are doing. So while before you might have burned a hundred calories running a mile, now you are only burning 80. Unless you continually add more and more time to get the same calorie burn, it is going to stop being an effective fat loss tool. And when you’re already doing six hours a week, who really wants to spend MORE time doing cardio?

The secret is changing the format of your cardio from that of a comfortable steady-state session to one that’s composed of high intensity intervals that will really kick you out of your comfort zone - and blast away body fat as well.

This is by far a more productive form of cardio to be doing so rather than wasting another hour of your life not really getting anywhere, next time you’re in the gym for cardio, do twenty minutes, alternating thirty seconds going as hard as you possibly can with a minute and a half at a much easier pace to recover. It will be hard - I warn you. Stick with it for one month however and you will be extremely happy you did.

Now. Bring on the carbs.

Have you grown a love-hate relationship with carbohydrates? You love the way they taste but don’t like the number they’re doing to your waist. Understandable - many women feel this way.

The key thing to remember with carbohydrates is that they are not necessarily ‘evil’, so long as the portion size you eat remains under control and you are timing them properly. To have carbohydrates working most effectively for you, it is critical that you time them before and after your workouts. This is when your muscles are going to need the energy and will rapidly soak them up!

So if you’re craving a bagel, have at it, but enjoy it right after you’ve finished a hard lifting session, as described above.

Get rid of your fat phobia.

One critical thing that many women do not understand is that in order to lose fat, they must eat fat. Women in particular actually tend to do better on a higher fat diet than males do. This has to do with their hormonal make-up and the way their body functions and responds to various macronutrient levels.

How many times have you reached for the cookies on the shelves, solely because they were ‘fat-free’ so you thought they’d be a safe dieting food? This was a terrible mistake.

When you remove the fat out of products, often times manufacturers will begin to add in extra sugar to make up for the taste. Newsflash. Extra sugar sends insulin levels skyrocketing and guess what insulin is? The fat storage hormone. So, what you need to do is try and minimize the amount of insulin surges you create throughout the day, while staying within your total calorie budget. Do this and you will have your best defence against warding off both hunger and fat gain.

Now, guess which macronutrient has the least effect on insulin levels? That’s right - dietary fat.

So do not be so scared of consuming fat in your diet. It will help you deal with hunger and help your food taste better. Ideally you should be aiming to get no less than 25-30% of your calories coming from a combination of healthy fats (fish oil is particularly important).

Work Those Glutes

Finally, the one body part that most women usually will say they want to improve upon is their glutes. That curvy, sexy backside appearance tops the list of many gymgoers and in order to achieve this you are going to have to be doing the right exercises.

Concentrate on adding heavy-weight lunges, one legged squats, hamstring curls and ass-to-the-ground squats into your program. These are your fast track to a great behind. You can do all the cardio you want to try and get it, but unfortunately, all that might do is make you a smaller version of your exact same self. If you want to change the way you look, then you need to change the way you train.

So next time you pass by one of those covermodels and start dreaming about what it would be like to have that body - make it a reality for you. Many women are capable of making great improvements to their bodies if they would just stop with the training methods they are currently using and get on ones that are much more in tune with their goals.

———————————-

About the Author:

Vince DelMonte is the author of No Nonsense Muscle Building: Skinny Guy Secrets To Insane Muscle Gain found at http://www.VinceDelMonteFitness.com

He teaches males and females how to develop a fitness model body without supplements, drugs and training less than before.

© 2006-2008, Vince DelMonte Fitness. All rights in all media reserved. You may reprint this article so long as the article and author bio are reprinted intake and all links are made live. This article may never be sold individually or as part of a package.

Sam is Cranky

You have no idea, you poor fools. So I went to the doctor on Friday because I had missed two periods (no i was not pregnant, seriously people, if i were pregnant you would probably the first to know, right before i began shouting it from the rooftops).

Girly health related stuff to follow (along with some humor) so if easily offended…jog on people.

I went in and had the usuall girly exam (always a pleasure)  OK honestly it wasn’t that bad.  The dude who did it was a nice guy, it wasn’t creepy at all, and unlike the last time it didn’t hurt a bit.  The last time hurt a LOT and I was happy to discover that the guy who performed the last one was not working that day.  Or perhaps it was his day at the hopital.  I do not like him at all, he always makes me feel all nervous and uncomfortable without considering the painful papsmear.

Well anyway, he asked the usual questions, i asked him about what we can do about my late period.  he asked me a few more pointed questions and i answered them.  He ordered a thyroid check and prescribed me povera to get my cycles restarted.

I also got the lecture that i needed to lose weight.  Seriously?  I am ten pounds over weight but still.  I had actually lost ten pounds since my last visit.  Plus, dude, he was a gynecologist.   Was i looking a bit chubby down there?  Is that even possible?  “No, i couldn’t possibly have another peice of cake, it goes straight to my pooter”

When i got home i let hubby know and he complained about the prescription.  He said that the last time that I was on it, it made me cranky.  I rolled my eyes.  Sure it made me cranky, but i didn’t have much of a choice, now did i?  So my mother in law took me out to lunch after my appointment.  I ate delicious “bear food” from panda express and then i went to get my blood drawn for my test and then i went and got my povera prescription filled.  I felt good at the end of the day.  I had a lot of anxiety over my appointment and that was all past me.  For the most part.  I am still waiting for the results of my womanly exam and my thyroid screening but besides that, the worst is behind me.

or so i thought, dun dun dun!

So i started taking the pills.  That night i got a massive headache.  It felt like somebody had stuck a knife in my eye.  But i figured it was because i was running on so little sleep.  I went to bed and when i woke up the next morning…i was feeling insane.  Really really insane.  I felt like raging for no reason.  I kept telling hubby to keep the baby away from me because i just was snapping at him all day for no reason.  And after i did it, i realized that i was being stupid and irrationally reacting to the situation but i couldn’t stop myself.  I just felt like i was filled with rage. 

I tried eating something, in case it was low blood sugar.  Nope, didn’t help.  And food tasted funny, which only annoyed me more.  So i went for a walk with Caleb, to get us both out of the house and into the sunlight.  Perhaps some exercise would do us both good.  No, everything annoyed me outside too.  It was too hot, i didn’t like sweating, my shoes weren’t very comfortable, my bra rubbed the wrong way, the wind blew my hair in my face the wrong way.  I came back from my relaxing walk more angry than when i left.  So i came home and took a bath.  Baths always relaxed me.  Not today though.  The temperature wasn’t just right.  I put the music on too loud and when i went to lower the vollume i got water on the floor.  Then caleb stood at the door and was yelling unhelpful reminders that i shouldn’t splash.  I just sat there fuming until it was time to get out and get dressed.

I wore my favorite dress and even put makeup on (which usually makes me feel better) but nothing came out right.  I had to run to the store to buy anti-static spray and some hose.  When i told hubby i was going out for hose he started laughing so hard that he nearly fell out of his chair.  I wanted to punch him, but i took a few breaths and walked out of the house.  I bought chocolate while i was there.  When i came back hubby had recovered enough to tell me that when i said i was going out for hose, he thought i said i was going out for hoes.  *sigh*

so off we went to a birthday party.  It was fun but the noise of the childrens was a bit much for me.  I tried to have fun and it was nice, but i couldn’t decide whether i wanted to hang out with the girls or if the estrogen was too much for me and i needed to be near the manly men (who sat around eating turkey legs right off the grill like barbarians, LOL)

we got home late and even though we had an guest over, i very nearly went straight to bed.

Sunday was a lot better.  I got a headache again, but besides that it wasn’t so bad.  We went to church, had bbq for lunch (i am so tired of meat now, you have no idea)  I stayed up late with my friends after hubby took Caleb home, so i got a nice break away from the kid.  got some adult time in.

Today…is just as bad as saturday.  I am so so cranky.  I have raging PMS right now.  You have no idea.  Caleb doesn’t know when to stop.  It has taken all my self control not to sell him to the neighbors.  I went looking for a book this morning because i wanted to quote it in my myspace blog and i threw a ridiculous hissyfit when i could not find it.  Caleb keeps telling me i’m making him sad because i yell at him.  I told him i’m sorry but that he needs to be good because i’m in a bad mood.  He goes to his room and 20 minutes later comes out to tell me “NO!  No mood, Mommy!” and i couldn’t decide whether i wanted to choke him or laugh, so i went into the bedroom and cried about it for a while.

Then i went online and bought myself some pretty, even though we’re short on funds right now.  I got the boxed set of the twilight series.  Even though i already own it…but not the boxed set.  Plus these are all in hard cover…

Seriously, i’m not usually this crazy.  Or at least i don’t think i am.  I called my mom, but she was telling me stories about how she knows how i feel because she had a same reproductive problems i’ve been having.  She had a hysterectomy at 35, that isn’t the best news.  So then i called my mother in law and she talked me down.  She asked if i had prayed and i told her I didn’t, and she told me that it would help.  She also told me to put on some christian music too.  I didn’t even think of that.  When i hung up i was so mad that i had missed to obvious answer, and then started crying because i was just so happy to have someone like my mother in law in my life.

The plan for today is to go out somewhere with my mother in law, so that i can be somewhere with witnesses.  I think i could hold myself together better in public.  or at least that’s the plan.  I might just start sobbing in the waiting room of the allergy institute.

Povera is The Devil.

Pray for me, seriosly.  I think i’m losing my mind.

"Burn The Fat - Feed The Muscle" By Tom Venuto - Review

Review by Rahul Alvares

All of three hundred and forty pages, “Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle” (BFFM) is one of the most comprehensive books I have read on fat loss. What I like most about Tom Venuto is his honesty.

Tom himself writes somewhere in the beginning of the book – “I am probably the only person in the world who will tell you that fat loss is difficult!” There… the cat’s out of the bag and its not going back in!

As the chapters progress from “Goal Setting”to “Weight Training For Fat Loss,” Tom takes you through a most interesting, informative and easily-explained story on burning fat. BFFM is a lifestyle. It is not a thirty day diet schedule with extreme measures for attaining unrealistic goals, it is something that you could work with for the rest of your life and stay in excellent health if you do so.

The good thing about the book is it gives you the right conscience. After you’ve read the book you will feel guilty as Judas when you touch a donut (if you even manage to do so in the first place!). The chapters on nutrition are excellent. Most of the book actually deals with effectively monitoring your diet and calorie intake.

Like I said nothing extreme. If you are looking for a secret formula like the extract of some fungi found only in South America, or a schedule that says ‘thirty two minutes of cardio and fourteen sets of tricep kickbacks’ then you are going to be highly disappointed. Because BFFM is about teaching you how to fish and not merely giving you the fish when you are hungry.

Tom will teach you how to diet, exercise and monitor your progress. He will even give you the right motivation and make you set very realistic goals. Kind of like walking you to the door. Then comes your part of experimenting, finding out what works for you and stepping back on track every time you find yourself having drifted away. That’s the honesty of the whole program.

If you are relatively new to training you will find the book most informative.

But personally I think that for an advanced trainer it will be like reading a lot of things that he/she already knows about. If you already have a good knowledge of dieting then there are few new things you might learn about in BFFM. BFFM is very basic and broad in its approach. Although I don’t really think I can blame Tom for that because I, too, believe that the real secrets to fat loss are fundamentals and hard work.

Click here to learn more about

“Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle”

 

 

The Biggest Winner Challenge in Health & Wellness Magazine

The Biggest Winner Challenge in SE Denver's Health & Wellness Magazine. Be sure to check us out!

Check out our article!! The Biggest Winner Challenge will be in the 5th Annual Health & Wellness Magazine, due to hit hospitals and doctor’s offices in the SE Denver area on April 23rd. I am sooooo proud of this!!

If you want to change your life DO IT!

Change it NOW! Don’t let another day pass you by!

You deserve nothing but the BEST…a life full of nothing but success and fulfilling your wildest DREAMS!

www.thebiggestwinnerchallenge.com

Just a quick post

Hi all, just to let you know that I have not crawled under a rock somewhere.  I have just gotten super busy as my life sometimes get.  I am helping my mom with some of her doctor’s appointments.  Helping my mother in law with my sister in law who has mucked up her finances and housing royally.  I have been attempting to help my husband when all that is not going on to gear up and organize himself for finals.  And just been being a mom as best I can.  I have fallen off of my diet and keeping track of my food journal.  Going to have to go back to paper and such till I can go back and get the time to do it at the computer everyday.  The mission is to make myself realize I need to take back control.  I do this.  I feel that everyone needs my help and I forget to say when.  Enough.  I need to do me now today.   I do this though and this is part of that lifestyle change that needs to occur.  I know that many people think this is all about food, but it is how we use and see and feel food.  If that does not make sense, think about when you are super hunger or super upset, what food related thing goes through your head.  Is is I want chocolate, or ice cream or mash potatoes or soda?  Think about it.  What you using that food to do to you or for you.  I may be making mistakes, but I am also making amazing discoveries.  Straight from my mouth last night as I was drinking like 24 oz of soda (I felt I was having a bad day) I said to my husband, “This is my drug of choice!”  And I don’t even know what promoted that statement, but the message was profound.  Think about this.  I used to drink a two liter a day of soda or more and not even think about it, I always felt stressed or tired.  And now that I have been slipping into bad habits this last couple of weeks, a statement like that.  It is not the only thing I am realizing, but yet an awesome insight into myself none the less.  I do have a short video I hope to post this weekend.  It is my weigh in for April 11th, Good Friday.  So hope you all are doing well.  Remember leave me a comment and I promise to get back with you.  Smile this is the last chance that you get at this second then it is gone never to return again.  Don’t waste your time, strive, thrive and feel alive.  =D

Winds of Change Weight Loss Support Group

Reflection is better when it is shared with a friend. ~Sun

Are you interested in losing weight and having a more health centered lifestyle? Come join us as we walk this journey to health and well being by setting small attainable goals in a supportive environment.  The group will focus on changing behaviors and establishing good habits and patterns to achieve a more balanced harmonious life. Each person’s time of sharing will be valued as we utilize a “talking stick” to give an uninterrupted opportunity to talk. The group is open to men, women, and teens who desire to lose weight and live a more health centered life. The group is casual in format with no weigh ins, no measurements, and no fees. Let us all learn from the tortoise; slow steady progress will win the challenge of attaining health and well being.

Winds of Change - Healthy Lifestyles and Weight Loss Support Group

Sunday, April 19th Time: 11 A.M. - 1 P.M.

This support group is limited to the first 12 people so register online or call Ubi’s today. (253) 445-6128

 

 

 

Eating too Little?

Last couple weeks, been feeling WAY more tired than I am used to. I was working off an older sheet I had, where the calculations put me at 1660 calories per day. Doing a little research, I’m thinking as I’m 37, and not 32 when I used to work on fat loss, and I ran into good article about weight (fat) loss, and only reducing calories by 15%. Recalulated, and right now trying to hit 1800-1900 calories a day (and no, I wasn’t increasing calories against workouts). So lets see how this goes!

Finally...

I made a good system, I exercise now.   I just couldn’t stand myself anymore.   I luckily didn’t feel like enough of a failure to kill myself.  Nothing that drastic.  I hope my new plans work out.   I have a ten page paper that I hope to finish in the next two days.  Ican’t fuck up anymore with school.  I want to feel okay.  I also have a huge psychology project due.  I want to be done with everything by Thursday.  I miss being relaxed.  I will do what I need to though.  I’m ready enough for that much.  I trust myself to get myself out of the hole I dug for myself.   I just need to stay motivated.

The Perfect Recipe for Quick Weight Loss!

The Perfect Recipe for Quick Weight Loss! by Frances Norah Smith If you want to lose weight quickly while keeping your junk food buddies close to you, then calorie shifting dieting is ideal for you! With calorie shifting, you don’t need to keep eating the same types of foods day after day. You can lose weight by eating different foods on different days, and those foods could range from low-calorie to high-calorie foods. Now, if you are wondering how you could possibly lose weight with such a diet, read on to find out the answer!

To give you an idea of how quickly you can lose weight with the help of calorie shifting diet, let me tell you that you can shed as much as seven pounds every week; compare this with a low calorie diet with which you can lose no more than 2 pounds per week!

With calorie shifting method, you would be eating low calorie meals one day and have a high calorie diet on the very next day. Or if you want, you can even have a combination of low-calorie and high-calorie foods in your daily diet!

This way, your body is kept guessing your calorie intake level and as a result, it keeps the metabolic rate high at all times just to be on safe side. If on one day, you happen to have an unusually high-calorie intake, it would be difficult for your body to burn those high-calorie foods with a low metabolic rate, and the opposite is equally true!

Since your metabolic rate always remains at a high level, you are bound to lose weight in no time!

Obviously, the high calorie foods are usually junk foods, while the low calorie foods are natural fruits and vegetables, fishes, nuts, whole grains, etc. With such a rich diet, you are very unlikely to become bored, ever!

The calorie shifting dieting approach also requires that you eat small meals at regular intervals. You simply need to break your present large-sized meals into five or six small-sized ones, and have each of these meals every two or three hours. Spacing out the meals this way would help keep your calorie intake at the desired level, thus ensuring that you get rid of the extra flab quickly and easily!

The calorie shifting dieting also recommends that you drink at least eight glasses of water per day!

In short, the calorie shifting dieting focuses more on the type and quality of the foods you eat and less on your daily calorie intake level! Think about it: if you consume a lot of burgers regularly, you will gain weight, and even if you eat only low-calorie salads of the same quantity, you are not going to keep the weight away permanently either! However, combine the two, along with a healthy dose of protein intake in the form of lean chicken meat and eggs, and you have got the perfect recipe for rapid weight loss!

About the Author: Frances Norah Smith and her team have been researching on how to burn fat quick for a few years. For a limited period, you can receive an invaluable free report on the fastest way to lose fat by going to her website.

How Is Your Relationship With Food?

Image by Malingering via Flickr

Melissa Byers has written a thought provoking article called Zone Gone Bad (full article is only available to subscribers, but you can read a summary) about the disordered thinking that she and her sister experienced whilst on The Zone Diet.  Her article is not a criticism on The Zone Diet, as she freely admits that she had disordered thinking whilst on other diets as well, but rather a look at how being on a diet can affect our relationship with food.

With me, I had disordered thinking whilst counting calories.  It simply did my head in.  I was afraid to eat foods I didn’t know the exact calories of and I started to dislike eating in general because of all the hassle of tracking the calories.  I developed an extremely unhealthy relationship with food and so I stopped counting calories before it escalated into a full blown eating disorder.

Most of us begin a diet because of our unhealthy relationship with food.  We binge eat, we experience emotional eating or we eat all the wrong foods in all the wrong amounts.  Therefore a diet like The Zone Diet or counting calories can start to get us focused on a more healthy way of eating.  However, it can all go very wrong when we start to take it too far.  We start to decrease the amount of calories we are consuming every day because we think if we can lose some weight whilst eating a healthy amount of calories a day, then we could start losing a lot more if we slash the calories we are consuming in half.  Or we get obsessed with measuring and weighing foods.  Or we start to skip meals.

So if you find that you have started to develop a very unhealthy relationship with food, how do you get back to having a healthy one?

1. Stop skipping meals

If you have been skipping breakfast or lunch or dinner, then it is time to start eating three healthy meals and two snacks every day.  You must give your body the proper nutrition it needs if you want to be healthy and to be able to get through your daily workout.

2.  Clean Up Your Diet

If you have started binging or just simply eating the wrong foods, then it is time to throw all that junk away and to stock your kitchen with whole foods.  Remember if it comes in a box it shouldn’t come into your house.  The best diet contains meat, vegetables, some fruits and nuts & seeds - nothing else.

3. Get Off Those Scales

If you are finding that you are weighing yourself multiple times a day, then it is time to hide those scales and break the habit.  Try to get down to weighing yourself only once a week.  This is something I struggle with as well as it is so tempting to weigh yourself once a day to see how you are doing.  However, your weigh will fluctuate, sometimes quite considerably, due to water weight and other factors.  Therefore it is best to only weight yourself once a week at the same time every week to get a true reflection of how your weight loss is progressing.

4.  Look At Your Portion Sizes

So you have cleaned up your diet and think you are eating well, but you are still putting on weight.  Take a look at your portion sizes.  Are you eating too much meat and too little vegetables?  Is your snack really a full meal?  In today’s world we are used to our portions being huge when in fact the amount of food we actually need is much smaller.

5. Track Your Workouts Not Your Food

If you have started to develop an unhealthy relationship with food, then it is time to put that food diary away and start tracking your workouts instead.  Now, this is not intended to develop an obsession with how long you spend exercising, but instead to see how much your fitness is improving.  How long did it take you to run a mile this week?  Is your time better than what you got last week?  How much weight could you deadlift this week?  Did you set a PR?  Tracking your workouts can give you a sense of progress and achievement that tracking your foods never could.

6. Take Some Time Out

Sometimes we just need a vacation away from the dieting mentality to recharge and refocus.  Take a diet vacation.  This does not give you licence to binge eat all week, it is just to take some time away from being focused on food all the time.  Maintain a healthy diet during your vacation but don’t count calories or blocks or replace meals with shakes or whatever your current diet has you doing.  Use this week to refocus goals and how you plan to reach them.

7. Start Enjoying Your Food

With all this dieting we can forget that food is there to be enjoyed.  Spice up your diet with some new recipes or try some brand new foods.  Spend some time in the kitchen this week experimenting with food, you may be surprised what culinary delights you can create.

A healthy relationship with food is a very important aspect of maintaining a healthy weight, good health and ensuring that you have all the energy you need to get through your day.  Don’t sacrifice your health, both mentally or physically, to chase a number on a scale.  Eat a well proportioned diet, exercise 5-6 times a week and you will reach and maintain a healthy weight.

ShinDong's Reason for Weight Loss

ShinDong, “Because of 1 sentence said by Lee Teuk, I lost 20 kg”

Super Junior ShinDong has revealed that because of one decisive sentence that fellow member Lee Teuk that had made him go on a diet.

ShinDong said during MBC ‘Yoo Jae Seok and Kim Won Hee’s Come and Play’ for ‘Super Junior Special’ where he talked about his 20kg lost of weight after a diet and also related episodes to it.

ShinDong, “Originally, it was because of my health, but when I heard ‘Just going to lose 5kg?’, it weighed on my heart more and more.”

He also said, “But one of these days, on a broadcast program, Lee Teuk said, ‘Our ShinDong will not just stop here. Next week, he is going to lost 10kg more!’ And that went onto news articles, and I can only lost up to 2okg.” causing a wave of laughters amongst the audience in the recording studio.

ShinDong then added, “It’s like a yo-yo now.  I added about 10kg again. But right now I’m most satisfied with my weight.”

This episode will aire on 13th April.

 

Credits to sookyeong’s minihompy. here at sookyeong.wordpress.com

The Importance of Cleansing and Its Most Necessary Steps

Alright, now this is something I have been wanting to get to for a while. Consequently, it is the next step in the protocol. In my opinion, it is probably the most important.

There is much to be said about reestablishing balance within an ecosystem. Every system in the natural world seeks to find some state of equilibrium. Things of high density flow toward things of low density…water flows down a mountain rather than up.

Even if we look at certain natural disasters, we find that despite the inevitable and unfortunate amount of destruction a tsunami may leave in its wake…there are always good things that come as a result of remineralizing depleted soil.

This remineralization comes from the ocean waters of these massive waves. If you look into the research that has been done you will find that ocean water contains health giving compounds in extreme abundance…such that some of these compounds have not even been discovered yet by our modern science.

These minerals are the missing components in our current earths food supply. It is depleted. We all know this. Vegetation of the modern area has no where near the healing capacity of vegetion of a century ago.

But, as the earth has an intelligence of its own…it notices these things and has determined many courses of action to combat the effects of these types of things…tsunamis, hurricanes, storms…

Ok, I just realized I went off on a bit of a tangent. But, the above writing does come to the heart of what cleansing is all about.

I consider much of the beginning of a cleansing or healing process to be pretty much a matter of cutting as much of the unnecessary aspects out of our bodys, and perhaps even our lives.

It is about zeroing out as completely as you feel you can…or as you feel you would like to. This zero point is different for everyone and truly as you go along this path you will find that for a long stretch of time each time you feel you have achieved your zero point….it may evade you…going deeper into parts of you you never considered needed cleansing.

Truly, the reason this protocol is designed the way it is is because I want it to contain each of the most necessary aspects for healing. One or more processes for each and every aspect required to heal the human animal.

In the western world…as we all know….we have done ourselves in with the things we do to ourselves. Much of the way we live is destructive in every sense. The food we eat…the air we breath…the water we bath in and drink are all toxic.

In my protocol there are 3 steps in the process of what I would consider to be a complete cleansing regimen.

Those are:

Mucoid plaque removal (colon, liver, gall bladder, blood, other large organs)

Heavy metal detoxification (fat deposits, lymphatic system, brain, blood)

Bacterial cleansing (blood, tissues, organs)

Any cleansing regimen that you see in the marketplace today has some relation to one or more of those three things.

In the next 3 posts, I will go in depth with what I consider to be the best ways are to go about following through on those base principles and give you the reasons why.

I hope all is well with everyone.

Subscribe and comment.

Peace, Love, Light!

3 Organized Meal Plans For the Fans of FatLoss4Id­iots!

3 Organized Meal Plans For the Fans of FatLoss4Idiots! by Frances Norah Smith With due respect to the huge number of articles written on the benefits of calorie shifting, I just wished that the authors of those articles had also taken the time to offer a few easy-go-recipes for the followers of the diet. Regardless, I am going to fill that need with my article! If you have been looking for some good recipes that go well with the concept of calorie shifting, you would be able to find them and more from this article!

For the sake of argument, I am making a few assumptions here, the first of them being that you are quite familiar with the concept of calorie shifting method of dieting. I am also assuming that you are a member of the FatLoss4Idiots diet program, which follows the philosophy of calorie shifting diet. Now if those two assumptions are true, then you are going to benefit tremendously from this article. I will offer you a 3-day meal plan based on the dietary requirements of FatLoss4Idiots.

For your information, these meal plans are only for the non-vegetarians; I cannot mention the vegetarian diet here, as it would mean infringing on the copyright of FatLoss4Idiots. If you want the vegetarian version of these meals, you can access that from within their membership area.

Also, note that you are free to consume these meals in any way and order you wish, the only exception being the meal plan of second day. Furthermore, if you don’t want to eat a particular food suggested in the meal plan, you are free to do that as well. These meal plans are as flexible as they should be, so that you can enjoy your meals and lose weight at the same time!

1. Meal Plan for First day:

Your first day should consist of the following meals:

Meal A-

I) Mixture of vegetables in steamed form: When you are starting the diet, I would recommend that you eat a bowl of steamed vegetables. You can have any number of vegetables you wish in the mix. If however, you choose to eat them fried, make sure you use as little oil as possible; I would also suggest the use of olive oil over your regular fatty oil.

II) Slices of roasted beef and hard boiled eggs: It is important to start building your lean muscle mass right from day one, as more lean muscles means speedier fat burning and a stronger and flatter body! Increasing your protein intake is a great way to build strong muscles, and good news is that both lean beef and eggs are rich in protein content!

Meal B-

Your second meal would consist of eggs, this time in scrambled form. Also, you should also consume broiled sea bass.

Meal C-

For the third meal, I’d go with sausage links along with cottage cheese.

Meal D-

For the fourth meal, broiled orange roughy along with tuna salad would make a great combo, and if you add a few pears to the mix (in fresh form of course), you cannot help but explain ‘Wow!’

2. Meal Plan for Second day:

You could have the following meals on second day:

Meal A-

For the first meal, you should eat nothing except a deli meat sandwich. To make this sandwich, you should only use the following ingredients:

-Any kind of meat that fits the deli style, such as turkey, ham, roasted beef, etc.

-2 Medium-sized sandwich breads

-Optionally, you can also add onions, tomatoes and lettuce to the mix

Meal B to D-

Your next three meals should consist of nothing but fruits. You are however free to choose any fruits from the following: peaches, pears, plums, oranges, strawberries, grapes, grapefruit, apples, kiwis, etc.

3. Meal Plan for Third day:

If you are bored of the fruit-only meals of the previous day, the meals of the third are as delicious as they could be!

Meal A-

You can start your day off with shrimps (one of my favorite foods by the way) as well as Pastrami in sliced form.

Meal B-

For the second meal, nothing could be better than having lean chicken meat. Along with chicken, you should also have the macadamia nuts, as they are high in unsaturated fats!

Meal C-

Did I say that the third day has some interesting foods in store for you! For your third meals, you can have both cheese and turkey, although in sliced form. Along with that you can also have banana milk shake (trust me, it tastes fantastic!).

Meal D-

With this fourth meal, you would be back to square one. Remember that when you started dieting I recommended hard-boiled eggs and slices of roasted beef for your first meal! Well, you can have them again for this fourth meal. That completes the dieting cycle!

Even the best laid out meal plans could appear to be boring after sometime, which is why I highly recommend that you use the diet generator software that comes free with your FatLoss4Idiots membership! This tool would generate awesome meal plans based on your food choices.

A diet program that lets you eat what YOU want- can anything be better than that!

About the Author: Frances Norah Smith and her team have been reviewing on burn fat exercises for the past few years. For a limited time, you can get an excellent free report on the fastest way to lose belly fat by going to her blog.

Two Hours to Easter....

…but I’ll break my fast after the early morning service held up at little Glenshee, a point that geologically sits on the Highland Boudary Fault, and geographically on a ford at the start of the hills that mark the beginning of the Highland landscape. The last day has been every bit as trying as the rest;  yet taken on its own it would seem like a pretty good day’s eating: an omelette (hens eggs) with pak choi donated by Janet; 2 hard boiled eggs (ducks, just for variety!) for lunch plus a munch of some of the Bucks Horn Plantain, Chervil, Garlic Chives and Chives I was selling at the time (I was at Blairgowrie Market) washed down with a flask of luke warm herbal liquid, and for dinner a cross between a Spanish Tortilla and Scottish Stovies, made from fragments of venison recovered from boiling the deer bones from the banquet 6+ weeks ago and kept in the freezer, mashed rather small seed potatoes, half an ancient chilli, an onion from Andrew and parsley from the greenhouse - bound together with yet another egg. That was it, last challenge meal.

After market we went shopping. My children are cooking for me tomorrow and have all sorts planned (including some pizza at some point!), but I felt rather odd going round the supermarket with them. So many things no longer appealed and I certainly didn’t feel inclined to plan a binge. I am looking forward to the organic bread and hot cross buns I bought at market, and some yoghurt. Fresh mushrooms appeal, as do crisp apples (as opposed to shrivelled ones) and grapes.  Strong mugs of rooibos tea, with milk. Ah - and some real ale, and the Cairn O’Mohr Carse of Gowrie apple juice and cider that’s waiting for me in the cupboard. Nothing particularly exotic or fancy - simple foods and the choice of having them is what I crave most.

I shall be foraging for fun now, but intend to keep wild food as a large part of my diet; and go for local produce wherever I can. Where I can’t, fair trade. Can’t afford to be totally organic, but what we produce is organic enough and this year I’ll try to produce more of the foods that would get me through another fast in late winter/early spring - not that I’m intending to repeat the experiment!

Not sure how much money I’ve raised yet, but work has begun to get the gardens and orchard at Bankfoot Church off the ground, I’ve found new friends and feel it has been worthwhile. Changed my outlook on food for sure….. and there’s the small matter of rediscovering my waist and being a stone and a half lighter - an unexpected benefit! Chocolate eggs and freedom to eat notwithstanding, I don’t want to put it all back on, so some of the changes in my eating will be lasting ones.

But less eggs and a moratorium on herbal teas!

6 Tips For Cutting Fat

By Phil Stevens

I don’t like Cutting Fat! Who does? But it ain’t as bad as people make it out to be.

Restriction, dieting, eating less then you need to sustain yourself, your training, your strength and hard earned muscle. No, its not fun, but in reality it isn’t that darn hard.

Not as hard as many make it out to be, and really unless your looking to get to extreme leanness its pretty damn easy and anyone who has been in the game any amount of time can tell you it’s a far cry easier then putting on an above average amount of lean mass or strength.

It’s not an experience I would call enjoyable by any enjoyable stretch of the imagination but I will share a few tips that I have employed and you can to make your next phase of cutting some pudge a lot easier and hopefully as well a lot more productive and in turn shorter.

It’s Just Food…

Mind set / a back bone. The number one thing I hear, and I just HATE hearing from people when I am cutting fat is “Gawd How Do you Do that? How do you stay so committed?” How do you not have the cake at a birthday party? How do you go from cramming anything and EVERYTHING you want plus some in your pie hole one week getting ready for a meet to not even a taste the next. Oh!!!! I cant do that the cravings are just too bad, I can’t handle them I have to have a little of this or little of that. To calm my nerves and what not.

COME ON!!!!!!! How weak are you. It’s friggin food, it not like you’re a crack addict. Show some spine, some will power. Food is an inanimate object and people have some how given it more power then it deserves. Social power, and in some cases physical power. Are you really going to sit there and tell me a HO HO has more spine then you? You had a craving and Just couldn’t resist the UNRULY all-powerful snack cake or cookie.

First thing you got to do is simply want what your goal is commit to it and just accept it. You don’t have to label the food BAD, or EVIL. “Bad Bad cookie” Just label it what it is food, and if its not on your menu right now for the goals at hand you just say?? Um NO and you don’t have it. It’s that easy, try it next time. Instead of dwelling on a simple mass of calories and letting it waste minutes of your day and cause undue stress from so called craving honestly ask yourself if you’re going to let a snack cake have more power over your actions then you.

Protein your Protein and Stay Hydrated!

This is nothing ground breaking and don’t claim it to be. I won’t waste your time going into all the specifics of why one should eat protein and stay hydrated if one needs to know that there are literally thousands of documents and articles written on the importance of each by myself and those much smarter then I in the field of nutrition. Look a few up, or ask some direct questions on the forum or the next Iron Radio Broadcast (www.ironradio.org) What I will do is give a suggestion I have used that couples the two habits of getting your protein in and staying hydrated.

A 1 Gallon diluted protein shake. Plain and simple every single day when I am cutting calories below my maintenance I make a HUGE 1 gallon diluted protein shake and sip on that all day long. I know the importance of getting a steady small stream of protein to keep amino rich blood and halting undue muscle catabolism, That and hydration need is increased even more so due to the lower general carb intake it is of vital importance to keeping as much lean mass as I can. Let alone the facts that both habits keep you satiated and performance up, waste products flowing out etc..

Just take a gallon container. I use an empty milk jug and add 3-5 scoops of your favorite protein dependent on your protein needs. The drink away al day to keep both these staples of dietary habits in check. As an option I add a bit of pure sucralose and stevia for sweetness and salt to keep one of my crucial electrolytes in balance during the periods of HIGH hydration and loss of sweat from adding activity.

Start Green

Going Green is the latest craze as I’m sure you’ve heard and it should be when dieting as well. But Im talking about a different green. Im not talking about recycling your used tampons so they can be used to make a new space aged coating for the space shuttle so it moves through the sky more efficient and doesn’t burn so much precious fossil fuels I’m talking Veggies.

Once again people give food, fuel too much power and they label certain foods as breakfast foods and certain ones NOT, and in general somehow veggies are in the not category. I say a food like veggies that we know is a great food for when trying to shed fat due to its high fiber and micro nutrients content then it should not only be a breakfast choice but a breakfast staple. We should start out one step ahead and have a nice big serving at the first meal of the day. Yeah, it aint hash browns, biscuits and gravy, or captain crunch but it is serving a HUGE purpose in or current goals eat it.

How I don’t care eat it as a side item like at dinner, or get creative and put it in a shake, an omelet or other. It really doesn’t matter just start he day with a BIG serving of the green stuff and see how it helps you shed the lbs.

Get Moving

Cardio, NEPA, whet ever get your butt moving do more then you were yesterday. Plain and simple start doing more simple activity then you were prior to trying to lose fat and it will add up. It doesn’t have to be complicated. It doesn’t have to be the next greatest cardio craze that promises to rip the fat off you, just do something. Preferably something you enjoy, find fun. If you can lose time, laugh and enjoy what your doing al the better and al the more effective it will be.

I prefer to mix it up, Play a sport, go for a simple walk, a hike, a bike ride, a swim, row, throw things, drag things. Take part in anything that simply has your doing something. It all counts, doesn’t have to be complicated and again it doesn’t have to, and shouldn’t SUCK. If I have something planned and dread doing it, or really hate the thought of it, FINE, I’ll do something else. Its OK, just do something, whatever you find the least Crappy.

Now if your just being a wuss and making excuses, then sure sometimes you have to just suck it up and do it and get it over with, It wont take long and wont be the end of the world. Likely once your done it wont seem like that much and you’ll be glad you did, but Just do a little more then last week, it doesn’t have to be a ton, it all adds up.

Kiss a Fish…

Or smell like you did. Taking fish oils will be the last little tip I recommend. Again, by now this shouldn’t even be something I have to suggest, and I definitely wont go into great detail as that’s be done again and again. When cutting fat even more so then in your daily routine I suggest you really load up on the fish oils, for a good size male I say 10-15 grams a day. I personally take 12-15 that’s aside from any fish I eat.

The benefits are vast from general health on the cellular level, to really aiding aches pains and lubricating joints while your on a hypo caloric diet. They also have the effect of aiding in fat burning, cognitive function possibly helping when you would be a bit cloudy from the lowered energy intake and raised expenditure. Thinning the blood a bit getting nutrients flowing in and out of bodily tissues more readily and aiding in cholesterol.

Get a BIG tub and start them TODAY make it a habit and if you have a fat loss phase planned you might think about starting to load up a bit higher a few weeks prior to get a bit ahead of the game.

Training Choices

I am going to keep this very brief and simple. Im my experience you have 1000’s of choices in how to train when you want to shed body fat. Literally any program can be used for both training to lose fat or pack on mass the biggest difference is the diet and your NEPA / Cardio. That said in my opinion you have two choices that are best and will lead to the greatest fat loss to lean mass preservation.

#1 GO heavy, brief and frequent. Get in pick one maybe two BIG compound moves do it hard and work up to the 90% zone or higher and get OUT

#2 Go Heavy, Go Long, But very infrequent

Get in the gym Hit it HARD again big compounds lifts work up to heavy sets in the 85%+ range. Hit he whole body and hit it hard. Then rest. Two simple bare bones but hard sessions a week is Plenty with this route.

These two are by far the best. Why? #1 you need to go heavy. Nothing is going to convince your body that it is a MUST to keep the precious lean mass that you have built like lifting near maximal loads. You don’t have the energy intake for lots of long hard sets and tons of reps, let alone the fuel to recover form such sessions. Blitz the body give it a reason to hold onto mass but do minimal muscle tissue damage and get out. Use the diet and moderate cardio and NEPA to target the fat loss.

Conclusions

These tips are easily applied real world basic bones tools anyone can use when they are looking to shed some body fat and they want to sway the success a bit more in their direction. Most people don’t need to worry getting caught up in the minutia that they do over complicating things and breaking things down to exact calories and exact macros. If they employ simple good nutritional habits and add on a few tips and tools like these they can make great success and likely make it further and faster toward their goal then if they had went a more invasive route.

Get Strong! Stay strong!

Chris

Celebrity Diet Secrets Revealed: Detox

I wouldn’t have a real problem with celebrities coming right out and saying “I have a role and I want to look skinny for it so I’m going to fast.”  I understand that’s how they stay skinny and it helps me to justify the fact I don’t look like them…as I am not willing to stop eating.  What I do have a problem with is the bizarre acceptance of these ‘cleanse’ diets and when instead of telling it like it is these offenders say they are “ridding their bodies of toxins”.

Offenders: Beyonce, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jared Leto and Ms. Katie Holmes, who is looking mighty fly:

Let’s explore Master Cleanse. Here’s how it works: for 10 days (the recommended amount of time) you drink a ‘lemonade’ made from fresh lemon or lime juice, maple syrup, water and Cayenne pepper.  No solid food at all. First of all, that sounds like the most disgusting drink of all time.  Second, the only thing in that little mix that has any calories is maple syrup.

Soooo reader friends…Master Cleanse=starvation.  Will you lose weight, hells yes.  Will you emerge from your lair with bags under your eyes and the shakes?  My guess is yes.  If you’re going to starve yourself don’t punish yourself by drinking a glass of that terribleness…at least treat yourself to some TOXIC coffee.

~Love Handles

Tomorrow better be good

I started off last week pretty poorly with food, Fat Food Friday followed by a day at the football (AFL), but since have been working pretty hard.

I’ve eaten well and have started walking again .. maybe I should rephrase that, I’ve started going on walks again. For the past 12 months my Achilles heel has been a problem - a calcification where the tendon meets the heel bone - and so has been too sore to walk any great distances, and I haven’t been able to afford physio to help get it remedied.

I’ve spent the past three days down the coast and have been for a walk each day, even doubling up yesterday going for a late afternoon walk with my son. The first day was a 3.6 kilometres walk, then a 4.8 kilometre walk the next morning and a 2.5 kilometre walk in the afternoon and again this morning.

If my weight doesn’t drop 2 kilos, I’ll be totally  … annoyed.

Let’s see what happens.

Yes the Achilles is sore!

"EXERCISE OF THE WEEK"

THE EXERCISE OF THE WEEK IS…

LUNGES

Lunges are a very important workout, which many people do not incorporate into their routine!  Lunges can be preformed at a beginner, as well as an intermediate level; as can just about any workout.  Lunges are not very hard, but can easily be preformed incorrectly…so pay attention

A few tips to remember when doing lunges:

• The front knee should not bend anymore than 90 degrees, which would never allow you to not see your toes!(You should always be able to see your toes)
• Always look forward or straight up, never down
• Your torso should be aligned(Hips, shoulders, and feet should always be aligned)
• Don’t Lunge out to the left or right too much, and don’t Lunge too close to the center of your body or you will not have any balance

Personally, I do lunges all the time, with variety…

for example, I do “parking lot” lunges, where I lunge from one end of the room to the other with my arms up parallel to the floor, while holding a weight!  This is considered a full body workout because I am using my legs, as well as my upper body(mainly shoulders).

Another way to increase the intensity of the lunge is to speed up the lunge(rest time between each lunge), or even hold weights by your side(better for muscle development/building)

I'm a Grade-A "Self-Saboteur"

Um, yes, that’d be me. 100% bonafide, grade-A “Self Saboteur”.

About four years ago, through the beauty of the Weight Watchers message board, “Tales from the Scale” a group of several amazing women of all ages from all corners of the U.S. came together and dubbed ourselves the “Weekend Sabatogers.”

At one point, we debated changing our name, since “sabatogers” doesn’t really exist in proper English … but the point is, we had one thing in common: in our own ways, we all practiced diligence all week, and then we tended to let our guard down on the weekend … and repeated the same vicious cycle over and over and over again. We picked each other up, dusted each other off.

I love these women dearly — many (if not all?!) are loyal blog readers, and though our little group disbanded when life just became too complicated to keep up the thread each day last fall, we are still very close in a way that is hard to explain except to each other.

(In fact, they even sent us an incredibly generous engagement present when my husband and I got engaged in 2005!)

I’ve met five of these amazing women in person (four of us met up in Chicago for an amazing weekend two Aprils ago, and one of them I met when I lived in DC). And today, one of these incredible women is one of my closest confidantes in real life now, too; my move to Michigan was a blessing in more ways than one, since she’s in Chicago!

I feel very blessed for their friendship and support … and that’s why today I am here to admit, once again, that I am a complete self-sabatoger … all week long, lately.

Whereas before I had lost weight and was bemoaning a few “nagging” pounds I thought I still needed to lose (when I was actually at my goal weight), now it’s more than a few.

And so, if ever there’s a time to be viligilant, it’s now (before I need a new wardrobe and/or before starting a family!)

But here’s the problem: I’m not doing anything to stop the ridiculous, impulsive buying of sweets I don’t need.

I keep saying I will stop, that I can be my own “watch-dog” … telling myself I don’t need it … but then impulse strikes and it’s in my basket and I buy it and before you know it, it’s gone.

I’m proud I am not engaging in chewing and spitting (hurrah)! … but I’m like a broken record here yet again. I’m still buying the crap, which makes these moments of self-sabatoge possible in the first place.

Like Shannon talks about in her book,I’m not solving the problem (being impulsive) — I’m just replacing one anxious behavior (chewing and spitting) with another (buying sweets impulsively and nibbling) when in fact, I just need to quit, cold turkey. I won’t die without them. Yes, life’s meant to be lived, but no one ought to be consuming chocolate in this fashion.

I tried to remember my mom’s words:

“But with you, it’s like YOU were the one who said “NO” to yourself when you began WW, but now you have the power to do what you want and won’t let yourself tell you “NO” anymore. So you still buy it (”I can buy it if I want, and I can’t tell me not to!) So there! And if I buy it, then I also have the power to throw it away.”

But sadly, they didn’t resonate at Target at all yesterday at lunch-time. (Sorry, Mama!)

I’m still doing it; still buying the candy I know I don’t need, instead of eating cleanly. And almost doing it on purpose I think sometimes. Like a “screw you” to myself. Like an “I’ll show you, body!” coming from my mind. It’s like there’s dual voices inside my head; angel and devil.

Because my thoughts are so consumed with food … even when I’m not actively thinking about it … I often feel like a prisoner in my own head.

Yesterday there was absolutely no trigger. None. I had had a great workout at the crack of dawn, a nice morning at home with my hubby, I went to the dentist, I felt confident (albeit bloated) in my work ensemble, I had a productive morning with no stress at the office …

Then I went out to get a card for a friend at lunch at Target … and should NOT have set foot in the Easter candy aisle when my hormones are raging (it’s that time of the month) and before having eaten lunch … but I did. Mistakes #1 and #2 (knowing what my triggers are and being hungry).

Plus, in my head, I was thinking “today is the last day I could go get Reese’s Easter eggs because I won’t have time to go the rest of the week (GOOD!).” (As if I will never see another Reese’s again?! HELLO).

Anyway, the madness has got to stop …

I need to stop.

I CAN, I am just not doing it. And I’m only hurting myself along the way. It’s a vicious cycle.

I hate to see that I’m really and truly rebelling against myself, being my own worst enemy, sabatoging myself. And it’s not just indulging on weekends; it’s been during the week now, too, the past two weeks.

I’m going home this weekend to N.J. for Passover, Easter, my dad’s birthday and to say goodbye to my little bro before he moves to South Korea to teach English at the end of the month. (This is a solo trip home for me; hubby has this Sat. class for three more weeks, so he will miss this trip).

The thing is, I do NOT want this to haunt me; it’s a pebble in the road. A minor setback, but not catastrophic.

Tomorrow will be a better day. I honestly just need a few days of just pure clean eating … and while my meals are all clean and healthy, I’m making poor choices for snacks and am wasting energy on stupid Reese’s.

I took a teensy bite out of each of them (TWELVE; I bought two six-packs) and tossed them. Again. HELLO. No, I didn’t chew and spit them, but come on, Melissa, you know better. Plus, I felt like crap after.

I still ate my healthy lunch (bruschetta tilapia, green beans, apple) but I basically wasted a ton of calories on sugar and fat.

The whole day certainly wasn’t ruined, but it’s still (admittedly) very hard for me to not think in terms of black or white, “good” or “bad”. But I’m trying. Really, I am.

Life, like everything, has its ups and downs. The past two weeks have been plain hard for me. I am glad I can admit it here. And that admission is even better when I am willing to do something about it.

It’s a fresh start. I don’t want to be a self-saboteur and I don’t have to be. It’s my choice, and right now I’m choosing the enlightened path … one of balance and harmony.

April 13 marks my five-year Weight Watchers anniversary (when I began my journey). The way I’m looking at it (in baby steps): I have five days to really make a positive difference in terms of my mindset … and then a lifetime ahead of me.

I’m 22 days sober from chewing and spitting; let’s make it one day sober from unnecessary impulse buys and bites.

Who’s with me?!

How about you? How have you learned to cope with impulses?

I'm Going Streaking!

No, not like this guy. Get your mind out of the gutter! I’m beginning a “perfect streak” challenge, to coincide with my existing challenge to myself.

When I first got serious about losing weight, many moons ago- I joined an online group of moms at babycenter called Moms Losing Weight. Since then we have moved over to a new forum, but the general group is the same. There are some new comers and some, like me, who tend to come and go (always welcomed back with open arms) Some of the moms stay around even after reaching their goal, some come back after having a baby or any other life change that causes weight gain.

All in all, it’s a wonderful group of women, and I really thrive when I have their support. Unfortunantly, I have been so busy lately, that I have neglected MLW and tried to do this on my own. I miss them, though, so I have returned to the fold. I am starting small, though. Instead of jumping in on the various threads I used to be active with (calorie counters, couch 2 5K, and whatever team I am assigned to for our challenges) I am sticking to one thread for now. A perfect streak.

My goals for this are as follows. Each day I must…

Stay within my calorie range (curently 1,200-1,400)

Have 5 or more servings of fruits and veggies

Drink 64oz or more of water

Do 20 minutes or more of cardio exercise

Do 30 minutes or more of strength training (I am on a split plan)

D0 10 minutes or more of yoga

Keep a food journal

It’s pretty strict, but I think that’s what I need right now. I am dragging my feet and only so-so on motivation at the moment, and I think I need more structure. So far, so good today. The cardio and weight training goals have been met, and I am doing fairly well with my calorie intake. I need to get some yoga in, and drink some more water, but I should be good for the day. Between this and the exercise accountabilty from work, I am feeling pretty good right now. I moved myself on to week two despite not meeting all of my goals for last week, mainly because I need to see some forward movement right now!

I’ll update this later- right now I am taking a break from my deperate hunt for the title to my car (not the best thing to misplace!) and in a while John and I are meeting with a realtor about a house we really want (thank God, because this living-with-his-parents thing is really old now!)

The 2009 SELF Fitness Challenge

So, yesterday, I somehow ended up on SELF.com. Most likely on some Google train of thought - I honestly can’t remember how it started. Once I was there, I noticed they have a SELF Challenge. I hadn’t heard of it before, but apparently this is the 13th year they’ve done it. It’s a three-month exercise and eating plan designed to help encourage people to get active and stay healthy. There are online tools - meal and exercise logs - and Daily Newsletters you can sign up to receive with tips and tricks, and even community groups and discussion boards where you can share success stories or get more tips and tricks and lend advice. I decided, what the hell, why not?! So I signed up. It’s not like I’d have to change much of what I’m already doing. I eat great and exercise at least 3 times a week. So, when I first signed up I thought I’ll probably just keep doing what I’m already doing, but maybe keeping track of it will hold me accountable. And I also noticed there are a few giveaways for participating such as athletic gear or a trip to Antigua (yes please!). And then after I started to look around SELF.com I noticed there are SO many workout ideas, and I’m definitely going to have to try them.

See, I recently finished a 1-month boot camp that was hosted at a local athletic club. It consisted of hour long workouts a couple times a week where we’d run back and forth across a gym with lunges and jumping jacks and wall sits and obstacle courses and the whole works. It kicked my butt pretty hard, but it always felt really great afterwards.

They host this boot camp every month, and theoretically I could just sign up and start all over again. But I have a membership at another gym that I’m already paying for - so I decided that I’d try and take the habits I got from boot camp and carry them over to my personal workouts and just go to my gym for a while. At least, if this ends up not working out, I can always go back next month and sign up for their boot camp again.

Now, my main thing with workouts is they can get boring if they get too repetitive.  And I haven’t been a consistently active person for very long, so I’m always looking for new workout ideas (pretty much everything is “new” to me, but still). But boot camp was great because the stuff we did gave me new things to carry over into my personal work outs. But by the end of the month, I could see myself already exhausting them and I started to worry that maybe I shouldn’t try to do this on my own - that I should just suck it up and fork over the $90 for boot camp again. But then I found out that SELF.com has a plethora of articles and videos for people just like me! So, with a new found motivation, I started sifting through their ideas and suggestions.

I’ve been on my diet now for a little less than 9 months. So it’s hard to stay motivated and it’s definitely easy to fall into a slump where it feels like I’ll never be able to lose any more weight. I’ve lost 60 lbs altogether, but I’d like to go for at least another 10-15 more. I’m very happy with how I’m looking (I’ve gone from a size 20 to a size but I’d just like to tone and lose a few more pounds. I’ve been basing most of my weight-loss goal on the Body Mass Index, and figure if I can get to a 21.7 BMI then I will be perfectly average. The “healthy-range” of the BMI scale is between 18.5-24.9. Which means 21.7 would be right in the middle. To get to that BMI, I would need to lose 15 lbs. Granted, I’m in the healthy-range right now, but it would feel so much better to be in the middle of it, instead of on the side closest to being overweight. And, that’s why I need to stay focused and motivated!

So, today I set out with the goal to try out a few things I learned from some of the Fitness videos and articles on SELF.com. I decided to start my workout with Sizzle Calories. You warm up with a walk, then a few minutes in sprint for 30 seconds, then take it back to a jog for a couple minutes, then sprint again for 30 seconds. Rinse and repeat. It proved to be a very long 18 minutes for me. But man I could really feel it.

Side note: I am not a runner by any means. I usually do my cardio workouts on the elliptical because it’s so much easier for me.

After I finished that, I took some hand weights and did 3 reps of 12 of the Reverse Squat, Prime Climb, Take a Bow, and Flye Crunch - as detailed in the Great 1-month slim-down.  Even after the month long conditioning from the aforementioned boot camp, this workout - the Sizzle Calories, paired with the Great 1-month slim down - had me sweating like it was the first time I’d worked out in months. It felt great!

I finished the workout with the Balance Crunch, as described in the Flat Belly Bonus Video, and some simple rowing squats. According to my log, I burned something close to 300 calories. I’m thinking that tomorrow I’ll try the rest of the exercises detailed in the Great 1-Month Slim-Down and the Flat Belly Bonus Video. I thought breaking them up might help with muscle confusion and also help me keep from getting bored.

So, here’s to staying motivated and getting (more) fit, especially with bikini season encroaching!

Adventures in Clothes Shopping

Image via Wikipedia

I hate clothes shopping.  My attempts at clothes shopping usually goes something like this; go to the shops, look around, get depressed that there is nothing in my size that I like and come home again.  However, this time I had to buy something as none of my clothes, especially my jeans, fit me anymore.  They are hanging off me and I look like some ghetto kid, which may actually be the fashion these days, but isn’t entirely appropriate for the office.

So I steel my resolve and go to what is truly hell on earth - the mall. I find some men’s long sleeve shirts (I don’t venture into the women’s section, way too much pastel and frills for my liking) that look pretty good.  I am pleasantly surprised that I now fit into a men’s medium whereas before I was a large to extra large.  I also confuse the crap out of some guy on my way out of the dressing room as he is no longer sure whether this is the men’s or women’s dressing room and me telling him it was the men’s didn’t seem to help the matter.

Then I move onto buying jeans.  I used to fit into a men’s size 38.  I try on the 36’s but they are too big, however the 35’s crotch is way too small, who are these men that seem to have nothing between their waist and the top of their thighs?  The shop assistant then tries to get me to try on women’s jeans and in desperation I do so.  I am shocked that I seem to be a size 15 (US size 13) or in some styles a 16 (US size 14).  Before I moved onto buying men’s jeans I was around size 18 (US size 16) and that was a good 5 years ago.  The problem with women’s jeans is that the style is to have jeans fit really tightly around the thighs.  Who the hell designs these things?  I don’t know of any woman who is happy with the size of her thighs, so why on earth do we want to wear jeans that fit extra tight around them?  Fortunately the shop assistant goes and finds some men’s jeans in a different style where the 35s were designed for normal people and they fit perfectly.  I am so happy that I buy two pairs.

I also then buy some yoga style pants for Kung Fu from the women’s department, that’s right, I buy sporting clothes from the women’s section and they fit me.  Another first!

It is a very different experience buying clothing when you actually fit into clothes that you can find on the rack.  Now all I need is for stores to start stocking clothes I actually like and I might start enjoying the experience.

KIMMY'S GREEN PLANET REVOLUTION

hello everyone!! i hope this reaches you happy and healthy!!  

 

I just put the word out that i am involved with two product lines that i really believe are high quality, enviromentally friendly and of course very people friendly.

first is wowgreen

a completely natural, chemical-free- aka non-toxic, enzyme based set of cleaning products for the whole home (and workplace) enabling us to eliminate this exposure to toxic fumes and chemicals from the cleaning products we now use indoors.

yes, i, as some of you i hope, have used the all natural products and paid a little more because it is important- but i can admit the efficacy was nothing to rave about- although i felt they worked, there was scrubbing and rescrubbing involved.

this is why wowgreen products are better. they work. really well. being enzyme based the trick is to leave the product on for one minute then wipe away. these products really struck a chord with me not only because of the environmental consciousness of the company (call or write me or see website for details) but because they are completely non-toxic they are ok for us, our kids, and our pets.

traditional chemical cleaners are not.

i would love to send sample bottles to anyone even slightly interested.

and please see website to get more info: www.wowgreen.net /

yourjunebugs@yahoo.com

Second is monavie

a high-antioxidant beverage with 19 special whole food ingredients like acai, acerola, grape, bilberry, …(also more info available on website: monavie.com) i am not as eager about selling it, but i joined to get a discount on my one bottle a month. so if anyone hears about it and wants it i am a distributor. the blend i get has added glucosamine and i have trouble getting that from vegetarian sources.  it is great to have to supplement my own juicing at home and trying to eat right.

please let me know if you have any questions or answers:)

i hope to communicate with all of you soon enough through the avenue most available!!!  love always, kim

Kim’s Contact

yourjunebugs@yahoo.com

Neuromuscular System

When training, our neuromuscular system adapts to specific movement patterns.  It is advisable to change the training exercises occasionally to obtain optimal results.  I keep a list of all the exercises I perform and which body-part they target.  This helps when switching up exercises and saves time.

Also, different movements require different muscle-fiber activation patterns that may stimulate further strength development.  For example: if you do chest press (flat) the first time you do chest, if only performing one-exercise per workout, then do incline press the next time.  If performing multiple-exercise sets, then the rotational pattern of exercises works well.

Another way of switching up resistance training is the type of training that is done.  The following are a few different ones:

• Supersets
• Dropsets
• Assisted Training (eccentric contractions)
• Negative Training (eccentric contractions)
• Slow Training