Find Your Community!

You know that friend or family member who sees you take that second cookie and says, "Do you really need that?" I have one of those too (okay, I have a few of those) and I know that they are trying to help, but the problem is that they are actually not. I usually feel so self-conscious that when I'm around these people, I hardly eat anything at all. But that backfires because, after an evening of not eating anything, I feel sorry for myself, along with being massively hungry, so I indulge and gorge on whatever I want.

Apparently, I"m not alone with that. Studies have recently shown that having a friend or friends that treats you like this is very bad for your health and people who are trying to lose weight end up losing less or even putting on weight from having these bad influences in your life.

That's not to say that you should avoid these people altogether, but you may want to cut back and try to avoid meeting them during mealtimes. Try to arrange meetings when you know that food isn't really something you will be spending your time doing, maybe finding an active meeting place, like the beach or mini golf.

Some people though can be a real asset when you are trying to lose wait. I've actually found that not having people to talk to face to face helps a lot. When I have a real life workout buddy, I feel that we are always competing. I've never found a weight loss buddy in my real life friends because we are all at different weight levels and some of the things that they do, I just can't do yet. Which is why the internet is my weight loss buddy.

My favorite (and free) site is sparkpeople.com because you can not only track your weight, your food, and your exercise, but also talk on message boards and talk directly to your weight loss buddies. People can send you motivational gifts, ask you questions, and give you answers. And you can form your own support groups to give you more people to be held accountable to.

I would definitely recommend signing up, but if Spark People is not your thing, there are plenty of sites like it to track on. But definitely look for the community aspect. It can help more than you know!

Ten Hut: Ten Pounds Down?

So yesterday I decided to try something new. I found this diet online called the 3-Day Military Diet and was hesitant to try it, but I started it yesterday morning and I'm still going. Here's the trick: for three days, you eat food listed for you and for the other four days, track your food, but you don't have to go as hardcore as the other three days. On the first day, you can drink coffee in the morning with your listed breakfast and then you have to have coffee or tea with your lunch as well. But that's the last of the coffee you can have for the three days. In fact you can't have any caffeine at all so that's where a lot of people drop out, so I wouldn't recommend it if you go through caffeine withdrawal. If you can withstand the caffeine withdrawal, the diet itself isn't so bad. I personally like having my diet already planned out. I like not having to worry about writing down everything I eat for once, I have to admit, because it is an annoying process. It's nice to have it already planned. I am pretty hungry because there are little fat and little carbs in the diet. The diet plans on boosting the metabolism which relies on protein, which is the basis of the diet. Tomorrow is my last day and my weigh in day. The 3-Day Military Diet promises a 10 pound loss in the 3 days. They promise a 40 pound loss in one month  so I'm game. I'll keep this up for a month and see where it takes me. The only other warning I'm giving you and for myself is that energy does not replenish the same while on the three days. The first day I went on the bike for forty minutes and went all out. The night before I did an "Incredible Abs" workout with Cindy Whitmarsh. My abs still hurt and I'm just now getting the feeling back into my legs. I'm not saying don't exercise. I'm saying save the hardcore stuff for the other four days. After all, it's a military diet. The military definitely works hard for their bodies. Hopefully, by tomorrow, I'll be ten pounds down.

Sleep Time

Today I want to talk about something that gets a lot of oversight in the world of health. A lot of people think that staying up in the hot summer nights, squeezing in an extra workout in the wee hours of the morning, is the trick to losing weight. But the truth is that our bodies require a lot more than just a increase of exercise and a decrease in food consumption to lose weight and stay healthy.

See, I've always had trouble sleeping. Ask my mother. When she put me down in the crib, I would protest for hours. Unfortunately, that habit translated to when I aged. Now, I know I need nine hours every night. That's the general formula. But when I'm in school, I'm up until midnight or later and waking up at five or earlier. I thought it was just because of my workload with school. When I'd crawl into bed, I'd toss and turn for a while and sleep would just overtake me. Then I'd wake up seemingly minutes later and the cycle would begin again. Now it's summer and I'm trying to fall asleep at around one or two every night. Problem is I can't sleep. My thoughts start racing and suddenly I'm tossing and turning just like during the school year. All my problems come flooding back and I can't think straight. My mind just keeps going a mile a minute. Then suddenly I'm looking up at the clock and it says four.

I never used to think much of my sleeping habits. I knew they weren't great, but I figured they could be worse. But I read something recently that made me rethink it. Turns out, you can be classified as an insomniac if you can't fall asleep for over a half an hour. Well, that's every night for me. So now I'm thinking it's really time to make a change.

I've always noticed that the higher my stress rate goes, the less I sleep. I'm sure you're all thinking, "Well duh. We all knew that." But it's lowering the stress that's the problem and the thing that almost no one has the answer to. I think everyone, if you're going through similar circumstance as I am, needs some "me" time. Make some time in the day, even if it's just for a few minutes, to do something you enjoy and that relaxes you. For me, it's swimming. The feeling of the water against m soothes me to a lull and relaxes me to the point that I don't need to think of anything but the water and the sun beating down on me. Find what does the same for you. Another thing that can be very helpful is to write a list of the things that are on you're mind. If you write them down, you are mentally confronting them. Since you are acknowledging them, they can't sneak up on you in the middle of the night and cripple your sleep.

However, if you have done all you can think of and you still can't sleep, go see help from your doctor.

I hope this helps you and your sleep. Tonight, try and use these couple of tricks and tips and hopefully you will be catching up on your Zzzz.

Cleanse the Soul, not the Body

Just to clarify I don't look to lose weight because I want to look like a Victoria's Secret model. I know my body wasn't built to ever look like that and I've come to terms with that. But sometimes I forget that just because I put on a few extra pounds, it isn't a reason to hide my body.

I do well in school, not valedictorian good but good enough to get me into the Italian National Honor Society, the English National Honor Society as VP, and the Honor Society. My parents came to see me in the English National Honor Society induction ceremony and as part of the rules provided by my teacher I had to wear a dress. All I could think of as I got such a prestigious honor was Oh God, my legs look awful. These girls all look so pretty. Why do my ass and my legs have to be so huge? I spent the hour pulling my dress as far down as it would go without ripping off the sleeves and exposing my breasts.

After the ceremony, my dad asked me why I looked so uncomfortable. I just shrugged and said I don't like dressing up, which is true since I am more of a jeans and tee type of girl. He told me that I looked like I was trying to contort myself, trying so hard to hide myself by curling into a ball where no one could see me. I hadn't even realized I was doing that.

A part of this blog is meant to be even more than physical health. It's also emotional health because everything goes hand in hand. It's hard to work up the courage to lose weight or take care of yourself when you don't even like yourself. It's difficult to do, I know, but you have to try to look at yourself and remind yourself what you do like. If it helps, write a list and look at it when you need the support. Me, I love my curves and my eyes. I think they're my two best features. Try to think of your own best features.

Teenagers vs. Weight

Recently I posted this blog on the forums of Seventeen.com. I probably should mention something I haven't yet mentioned. I am 16. I've been avoiding saying that but I don't particularly want to anymore. I'd like to make it more personal. I've been trying to lose weight for three years. It's a daily struggle and I've experienced several setbacks (hell I'm going through one right now).

Anyway, I'm 16 and attempting to reach out to girls out there just like me. I posted a link on the forums and ended up with hundreds of hits in just a few minutes. The forum reached the top ten in number of hits. While I was so excited to get so much attention, I couldn't help but be a little disheartened to see just how many girls are hoping to lose weight. I know some of those girls don't have to do it. I know I do, just to be healthy. I'm not looking to be 100 pounds. My goal is 140. That's all. After that, I'm not pushing it.

I was talking about health to my friends recently and these were the three girls' weights: 117, 130, 139. They are all aound the same height of 5 ft 6 in. The girl weighing 117 was more desperate to lose weight than the other (healthy weighted) girls because she is muscular without an ounce of fat on her and muscle looks bigger than fat does. The girl at 130 has been tracking her food intake for a year and has lost ten pounds (because she thought 140 was too big). The 139 girl hasn't tried too lose weight but she constantly complains about her weight and makes her more and more upset. And then there's me.

I've let myself go. I was 147 at my smallest which was about a year ago. Then came Christmas and I ate and I promised I would lose it. Then came Easter and I ate and I promised I'd lose it. Then came summer and one miserable thing happened after the other and I ate to make myself feel better. Now it's October and I've lose about two pounds in September and now I'm at about 180. Ask my friends what I weigh and they'd never be able to come up with a number. I never told them anything near my weight.

I have to lose weight. Why? Because I don't want to go to college looking the way I do. Because I don't want to go to prom no being able to fit comfortably into a dress without Spanx constricting layers of fat. Because I don't want to be winded every time I'm asked to run in gym class. Because I don't want my feet to hurt at the end of the day, every day, from walking between classes.

Anyone who's reading this, I ask you do please do a BMI calculator before going farther into this pursuit. If you're on the lower end of your BMI or even below it like the girl at 117 is, take a good look in the mirror. We are all beautiful, big and small. But you're skinny.Yes we, the overweight, probably envy you a bit, but you don't see it that way. You're not looking to be healthy, don't lie. You're looking to be skinnier. How far will you go? Eventually you will be even less healthy than those of us who are overweight rather than you who's underweight.

I'm starting a movement for us teens, or at least trying to. Stop looking for skinny. Stop praying for Twiggy's body and start looking for how you look best. Stop fighting your bodies. Some girls look better with curves like their mommas gave them. Some have an athletic body, the type that carries them for miles of miles on their marathon runs. Some have skinny bodies, few curves or muscles but at a healthy weight they still look like sticks. We are all different and we shouldn't try to fit some stereotype in a magazine. As long as we are eating healthy, exercising, and at a healthy weight for our heights, we should focus on staying who we are.

The Liquid Diet (and I'm Not Talking Cleanses!)

Thursday I had the misfortune of having all four of my wisdom teeth extracted. 10:00 a.m. I went in and at noon I walked out, feeling and talking like Kramer. For the next few hours I felt fine, numbness aside. Then, little by little, the numbness wore off and an awful pain started in.

The doc gave me a list of things I had to follow from Thursday to Monday: rinse with saltwater, don't drink anything carbonated, take the painkillers (which, evidently, are also sleeping pills, considering the fact that I've been sleeping at least fourteen hours every day). But the number one thing on the list was to eat foods that require minimal chewing. I stocked my fridge with sugar free chocolate pudding cups, Special K chocolate shakes, pina coloda protein shakes, cottage cheese, mac and cheese (one of my personal favorite foods) and Yoplait light yogurt. These are the six foods that I've been living off of. Doesn't sound all that healthy, right? Then why have I noticed that my jeans are fitting better, my stomach is smaller, and I've lost two pounds in the last two days (without exercising at all because doing so is off limits according to my doctor)?

Well this is why! For one thing, repetitious eating has been shown to limit the amount of food you eat. The reason for that is become your palette isn't being subjected to something new constantly. When you eat something tantalizing and new for dinner every night, your brain savors it and wants more, so you eat more. If you eat, say, mac and cheese like I've eaten for the last three nights, the first night your brain thinks, "Yay! This is good!" Second night it's like, "Oh ok, not exactly exciting but whatever it's still pretty good." By the third night it's saying, "This again? So boring!" When you subject your brain to food you like more often, you stop thinking of it as taboo. You stop craving it and you stop piling it on your plate.

Now take a look at the list again. The pudding is sugar free. The shakes are both less than 200 calories and are high in protein. The cottage cheese and mac and cheese are high in calcium and the cottage cheese is low in fat and calories. The yogurt is low in fat and calories and high in protein. While they all taste great, they are also all healthy takes on their original, high-calorie counterparts.

I'm also in a little pain and because of that I'm eating a lot slower, helping me get filled up faster and making my mind remind me to stop eating as soon as I'm full. I'm not saying that you should go take out your teeth to lose weight, but I am saying to eat repetitiously, sticking to healthier variety of foods and a healthier amount of each. It's way easier than you think!

Tip #27: Get Back to What Works

I'll admit it: So far this year has not been kind me. I've gained a little weight back and my skinny jeans can tell. I've done a lot lately: TweetWhatYouEat, SparkPeople, just plain old keeping a log. All in all, they've helped somewhat, but not to the magnitude that Weight Watchers did. So I'm shelling out the cash and getting back on track.

I'm over one week into my re-diet and I have to say it feels pretty good. My skinny jeans are still complaining but I feel lighter. I'm exercising more than I used to with the kind of motivation that Weight Watchers brings me. On Sunday, I got on my stationary bike and pedaled at or above 12 mph until I reached 15 miles. My legs were sore, but in a good way, like I know I accomplished something. I've lost over two pounds already this week. I'm standing up straighter and not as concerned with hiding my weight gain under really baggy clothes.

I'm eating a lot more fruit (which has no point value on the PointsPlus program) and cutting back on my cravings, which often total more than I can have (like my personal favorite Skippy peanut butter). I will say that my body is a lot hungrier now, which means that I was definitely eating more than I should have before and my body isn't used to the healthy calorie amount I'm at now. I've been through this before, so its really no trouble. I know I'll get through that.

So for right now, my skinnies are left to the back of my closet, but I feel asured that I can lose the weight to button them up again.

Tip #26: Tech Triumphs

Usually when you're looking to lose weight, technology is not the greatest thing to turn to. Television turns you into a couch potato and you get so sucked into the Internet you forget about your workouts. However, a new idea has found its way on to the internet and it just might be exactly what those of us who can't stick to a diet are looking for.

Tweet What You Eat. It's exactly how it sounds. No matter how big or small a meal is, you just type it into Twitter, send it to Tweet What You Eat and they track it down in a Food Diary for you. Bonus: if you are too lazy or too busy to look up the calories for each item, select "CrowdCal" and Tweet What You Eat will find the calories for you. It's an easy and simple way to track your daily calorie intake. Plus, you can have them send you an email consisting of all of your food diaries for the past week, which is a great way to see what your weaknesses and strengths are.

I just started this recently and I'm already loving it. You really think about what you are eating when you know that other people are able to see it too.  It's the perfect way to get back on track in the New Year.

Tip #25: Post Holiday Weight Gain

My willpower sucks. It's true and I'll admit it. I just polished off my third cookie for today. I also gained back over five pounds during the holidays. Too much dessert, way too much dessert.

But I'm making a pact with myself. I'm not counting until the holidays are truly over. I'll continue my journey in the New Year because, right now, stepping on the scale is a bad idea. Every time I see that scale creep up, I get depressed and I eat. Which only makes the scale creep up more. Its a vicious cycle.

Right now, I'm eating what I want without a second thought. Sure that's far from healthy, but that's the goal. This is the one time of year I'm saying "To hell with it!" and munching on candy and cookies. I love eating the stuff and when I'm surrounded by it, I just can't say no. Rather than eating it and hating myself afterwards, I'm eating it and enjoying it, knowing that there is always time to burn the calories off in the New Year.

On January 1st, here's what I'm doing:
Any leftover candy is being donated to Operation Shoebox for the troops overseas.

Leftover cake and cookies (unwrapped) go straight in the trash.

No more specialty coffee drinks or soda.

Lunch (what is now consisting of pb&j and cookies or leftover pasta) will be made up of whole wheat sandwiches and veggies.

Dinner will be on a small plate and consist of veggies and protein (unlike the Sicilian pizza I had last night)

Dessert- cancelled. No eating after 8 pm.

Here's my New Year plan and as long as it is in writing here, I won't forget it and I won't slip up. If you plan on following your own New Year's Resolution, write down your own plan and read it everytime you want to indulge.

Tip #16: Don't Beat Yourself Up

Since the invention of the scale, it has been a woman's worst enemy. Or at least that is what I've always felt, until recently. The truth is, we really are our own worst enemy. The scale tells you a number, sure, and sometimes, you just hate seeing it written down like that. It never says, "Geez, you're really packing on the pounds, aren't you?" or "Man, you're fat!" It only tells us what our weight is. It doesn't even tell us whether we gained or lost a pound. The panic of seeing the number is all in our heads. The voice that tells us these confidence-shattering phrases is only in our heads.

Don't give that voice the chance to say it. First off, DO NOT WEIGH YOURSELF EVERY DAY! That is such a horrible idea! Just don't do it! Every time you step on a scale when you are trying to lose weight, you want to see the scale move down, but losing a pound (or more) everyday is unhealthy. Aim for between one to two pounds a week. Therefore, weigh yourself every week only. Have a set date and time to do that, as your weight fluxuates through out the day.

Second, when you step on the scale, keep a mantra in your head or written down in front of you, reminding you that the scale doesn't change anything. So what if it went up? You're gorgeous anyway. You aren't trying to become Twiggy 2! You're trying to get healthy and it doesn't matter how long that takes.

Lastly, remember that getting healthy takes time. Don't set rediculous goals for yourself. It will make you do unhealthy things in the end, like skipping meals or cutting calories to the point you can't function properly. The goal isn't to be super-skinny or like a starved girl in a magazine. The goal is to get healthy.

Tip #15: How To Get Back on the Wagon

I recently posted that falling off the wagon is the worst thing you can do. That being said, it's difficult to get back on the wagon, but not impossible. The first thing I've found that helps is not to do it alone. If you splurged a lot the day before, your body is going to want it again. It's hard to say no when your stomach is growling for that second slice of chocolate lava cake. Warn a faithful friend at work or school that you're dying for a slice, but you have a calorie limit you want to uphold. If he or she is as trustworthy as you say they are, they'll be honest when they think you are over eating. Sometimes that outside voice quietly saying, "Hon, I know you love those, but maybe you've had enough," is a lot more helpful than your inner voice screeching, "ENOUGH ALREADY!"

The second trick is to track everything. On the days when you do splurge, try and keep track of what and when you eat. It will help you decifer how to prevent it. If being surrounded by donuts in the conference room makes you want to eat everything from the jelly to the boston creme, keep a protein bar on hand during meetings. Or keep a few water bottles handy as the water will keep you full and it will also keep your mouth busy so a donut won't be in it. If you are hungriest late at night, keep yourself busy by taking your dog for a moonlit walk or taking a nice, long bubble bath. There are a thousand different ways to keep from splurging. Find one that works for you and next time you are tempted to overeat, you'll know how to say no.

And for my final trick, don't try to compensate for your overeating. You can't eat 2500 calories one day and then 500 the next. Your body will be all over the place and completely confused as to what the heck you are trying to do to it. You will not lose weight this way. It just doesn't work like that. If you eat 2500 calories one day, you cannot overcompensate. Instead you just have to eat what your usual healthy calorie quota is, whatever that may be for you, as long as it is over 1200 calories. After a day or two, your body will readjust and remember that you are trying to get healthy.

And don't beat yourself up for overeating! You can get back on the wagon! It's just going to take a little hard work!

Workout #12: Take the Challenge!

I love a challenge, in school, in writing, but especially in my workouts. It's the feeling I get after it that I adore so much, the feeling that you just gave it all you've got and succeeded. You can fail when you've been given a challenge in work or school, but the only way to fail when you're challenging yourself working out is to give up before you finish. Workout challenges make you want to push yourself until you reach the cool down.

There are tons of challenges you can take in your workout!

Challenges with Easy Access: Try a workout challenge from ExerciseTV! There's usually a variety to choose from. This month, there is the 10 Pound Slimdown Extreme. In a category under this title there is a list of workouts to try from the Yoga workout to the high intensity kickboxing workout. I've only done the kickboxing workout and I have to tell you that, like all good challenges are, it works your body hard! I had a cramp in the first ten minutes of the forty minute long workout. Although it did hurt, the second I reached the cool down, I felt empowered and strong!

At Home Challenges: There are other challenges to take when you don't have Exercise TV, though they may require a bit of cash and equipment. Beach Body and P90X challenges your body in insane ways, always promising results. There's a variety of others, requiring no cash or equipment. They can be found on various workout blogs and websites, like Sparkpeople.

Group Challenges: This is my favorite kind! There are so many to choose from! Gather your friends to your local gym and look for a challenge there! Or do something good for your fellow man as well and get your friends together for a walk, like the Susan J. Comen walk. Its time for you and your friends, a super long workout, and something good for the world. You could also try a challenge to help build your endurance by trying to run a little each day. Start off running for one minute and walking for nineteen, then 2 and 18, and 3 and 17, and so on until you can run the whole twenty. I suppose you could do this alone but everything is easier and more fun in a group.

Can't find a challenge you like? Why not create your own? Gather your friends together and try to come up with something, like taking a new, high intensity class every other day for a month.

Tip #13: Game of Chance

The easiest excuse not to work out is to say that exercise is boring, and why waste time doing something boring? Although exercising daily can help you lose weight, reduce your risk for disease, and increase your life span, some people (like me) let working out fall to the wayside because they're bored. I've been doing a barre workout everyday for the last few weeks and, while I still like how the workout makes me feel, I've become bored with doing the same workout over and over again.

So I decided on a cure for workout boredom. Its the title of this post, a game of chance. There are two ways I use this idea.

Idea 1: Pick out a of a hat! This takes a little time to make, but its well worth it! Take a piece of paper and write down some of your favorite workouts. Write down 5-10 hard workouts and 5-10 workouts that you find relaxing and are low-impact like yoga or bellydance. Then, cut the workouts out and throw the hard workouts in one hat or box and the easy ones in another. Each day, pick out from each hat or box and do twenty minutes of each.

Idea 2: Roll a die! Make a list of workouts, the same way you did in Idea 1, only this time you need 6 of each. Then, simply roll the die once for the hard workout and another time for the second easy workout.

This keeps variety going! I'll be hard to roll the same number each day or picking the same slip every day so you'll never get bored!

Tip #12: Keep Active

Now, I'll be perfectly honest. I've eaten horribly this past week, not even thinking about health, but I stepped on the scale this morning and was down half a pound. Now, I've always heard that diet comes first, then exercise, and I'm certainly not saying to forgot your diet all together, but I am saying that maybe exercise is more important than people realize.

I've been keeping active a lot lately. Before this whole hurrican started, I was at the Jersey shore. I ate a Dunkin donut in the morning, topping it off with a latte. Then, for lunch, I had a peanut butter sandwich with chips. Then, for dinner, I had a hamburger and onion rings and fries. And I picked up an ice cream cone on the way home. However, instead of laying on a towel tanning, I ended up in the ocean, pedaling and pushing through the waves. The next morning, my legs actually felt tired and I felt like I didn't completely screw up the day before. That day I had I-Hop crepes, mac and cheese, a giant chocolate chip cookie and then did a Barre workout in the morning, walked with Shape-Ups in the afternoon and did yoga at night. Then I discovered, dispite my horrific diet, my increase in exercise regime had helped me go down half a pound. Now, imagine what I could do if I actually kept up with this increase in exercise and my diet! I might be able to lose double, triple, maybe even quadruple of that.

What I'm saying here is exactly that. Pay attention to not only diet, but also exercise. If you've been tracking your food (good for you!) start tracking your exercise. See if you can add an extra ten minutes to your exercise. Maybe an after dinner walk (instead of an after dinner cocktail) or yoga while you watch television. It's not as hard as you may think it is!

Workout 4: Swimming

Hi! Its officially summer for me and for me, favorite workout to do is swimming. I love the feeling of the water all around me and my arms and legs pulling me through it. I'm a horrible runner because I lack so much stamina but when I'm swimming I can go on forever. Which is good, considering have good swimming is for you. On average, you can burn 256 calories in just 30 minutes of swimming. To lose weight you really have to burn 500 calories a day. By swimming an hour a day, you go over that by 12.

Try mixing it up and swimming different ways to tone different muscles:
Lap 1: Backstroke: Concentrates on all back muscles and the hamstrings
Lap 2: Freestyle: Concentrates on biceps, triceps, pectoralis, shoulder muscles, trapezius, deltoids, gluteus, latissimus dorsi, hip flexors, and respiratory muscles
Lap 3: Breaststroke: Concentrates on inner and outer thighs, calf muscles, triceps
Lap 4: Butterfly: Concentrates on gluteus muscles, abdominals, back and shoulder muscles, quadriceps, hamstrings, biceps, triceps

Tip 4: Plan Ahead!

Hi everybody! Sorry this took so long!

I recently noticed something that is really helping me! I'm planning my meals a day ahead. I write down my next day's breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two snacks. Then I tally up the calories! I know that if my meals add up to the total amount of calories I should have in a day, I'm not going to go and snack because I'm going over my calorie limit! Also, I account for one moderately unhealthy snack, like a Vienna finger or an ice cream bar. If I know that I'm having a treat later, I don't feel a need to snack on unhealthy things throughout the day. Doing this helped me kick my afternoon cappuccino habit!

Here was mine for today:
Breakfast: Oatmeal, coffee with skim milk, banana
Lunch: Whole wheat tortilla, part skim mozzarella, lettuce, tomato, turkey
Dinner: Mandarin Orange salad
Snack One: Grapefruit
Snack Two: Greek yogurt
Unhealthy Snack: Weight Watchers Ice Cream Bar

Give it a go and plan it out for tomorrow!

Workout #3: Bellydance

Dear Pursuers,
I know you read the title at least twice and probably thought Is she crazy? How is that even a workout? But trust me it is! It's not hard and it doesn't have a very high impact but it's fun! If you did a hard workout yesterday and you are still a little sore, but you still want to work out today, then this is the workout for you. The moves range from easy to very challenging. I'm sure you probably think that it really doesn't do anything for you but it actually tones many spots. Moves like snake arms and facial gestures are good for toning arms. Moves like the ripple and camel tone the core. The Turkish bunk and the Egyptian step are good for thighs and hips. The Ethnic shimmy tones everything! All the moves make you feel sexy and feminine. Look up some classes nearby or look up some videoes on Youtube! There is a show on FitTv called Shimmy, and that might be fun to try too!

Tip #3: Add in "Workouts"

Dear Pursuers,
I hate doing long workouts. They're boring, tedious, and painful.That's usually why I try to do workouts that supply the best calorie burn for the shortest time. The other thing that I do is to incorporate excercises into my daily life. Instead of just sitting on the couch, break out the Wii and play a little Just Dance or The Michael Jackson Experience! It'll keep you on your feet and it's completely addictive, as you want to beat your score constantly. It doesn't feel like you're burning calories, but you are! No Wii? No problem! On comercials, find an excuse to go upstairs. On your way down, step on the stair below you, press down on it and lift your back leg, then place both feet on the top step and repeat on the other foot. Keep doing this to every single step. It actually, really tones your glutes and its easy and fast. Don't feel like doing that? Try a mini workout set to your shows.

Ex. (My favorite show is Doctor Who so I set it to that)
Every time someone says Doctor, do jump squats
Every time someone screams, do sit ups
Every time a companion solves a problem, do push ups
Every time the Doctor and companion start runnng, jog in place
Every time the Doctor goes on a tangent completely unrelated to everything the episode is about, jump rope.

Another idea is that you watch something that makes you want to get up and move. Like I always try to learn the steps of the dances in Dancing with the Stars. Also, singing burns some calories and works the abs. Try and sing along with Glee!

Workout #2: Cycling

Dear Pursuers,
The greatest way to lose body fat is by cardio. It gets your heart rate up and makes you burn calories. Cycling is a great form of cardio! It burns 350 to 400 calories an hour on an average effort. One of the greatest things about cycling? You can make this number even bigger by adding intervals! You can actually burn more calories using intervals rather than biking at maximum speed for an hour. Here's one that I do pretty often. It will leave you sweating a lot, but it gives me so much energy and torches so much body fat!

-Start with a five minute warm up using a medium speed.
-In the first minute of your workout, go to a slightly faster speed (one that pushes you slightly out of your comfort zone, but still allows you to keep a steady pace)
-In the second minute, push your self to a fast pace (one that pushes you completely out of your comfort zone. It should be hard to keep going on a steady pace)
-In the third minute, slow back down to a medium pace. This should help you catch your breath.
-In the fourth and fifth minute, quickly climb off of the bike and do a series of toning exercises (ex. push-ups, sit-ups, squats, lunges, tricep dips)
-Repeat this set as many times as you like to complete the workout. I usually do it for a half-hour , which is five more times.

Tip #2: Don't Inhale!

Dear Pursuers,
Everyone has cravings and its perfectly fine to give in to them sometimes! Yes, I am in fact giving you a free pass on this, but before you grab that brownie, think about a few things first:

1. Are you hungry or are you craving?
Ask yourself this the second you think about eating indulgently. If you find that you are craving something, ask yourself again if you really, really need to eat it to be satified.

2. If you answered no to either question, eat something satifying.
Keep a snack on hand that will satify you when you find that you are hungry, rather than craving. If you find that you are craving something, eat the satifying snack, too. If you are already satified, you will crave less and will be happy with a few bites of a brownie rather than the whole thing.

Here's an extra little trick I read about in Health magazine: Think about yourself giving into the craving. Focus on the food, the taste and textures. You can fool your brain into thinking that you already gave into the craving before you actually do. This will lessen the craving so you won't actually have to give into the real craving!