If the numbers on the scale fluctuate from day to day, check your salt intake. Refined salt (table salt) will wreak havoc on your waistline with water retention and bloating. Though a temporary condition, it's one you should try to avoid; this type of salt does not do a body good, causing damage to our bones, kidneys, heart and muscles.
Our daily intake of this salty mineral should be 2500mg. How much is 2500mg? A teaspoon.
The human body in its splendor does not produce salt, one of the essential elements of life. To get the salt our body needs, we have to rely on our food choices. As previous stated, too much processed salt can damage vital organs, yet our body need it and let's face it--some foods taste better with a little salt.
Sea salt is unrefined salt derived directly from where it's name suggests. The effects on this salt on the body are opposite of its processed sibling. The minerals sea salt contains, extracts toxins, reduces blood pressure and has the ability to detoxify the body. And if you are worried about the taste--don't be, salt taste like...salt, refined or not.
Stay on top of your sodium intake by cutting back on refined salt. Processed salts reside in processed foods and its time to say NO to the processes it performs on the bodies. To control refined salt intake, learn to read nutrition labels, eat foods as close to its natural state as possible, and when eating prepared meals--leave it on the table, unless its straight from the sea.
Looking for a different kind of workout? Release your inner stripper with pole dancing. Before you turn your nose up and think, ‘Well, I’d never’, consider most exotic dancers have great bodies and in many cases their bodies are a by product of their jobs.
I took a pole dance/lap dance class last weekend--in celebration of a good friend’s upcoming nuptials. I showed up for a fun time without realizing a real workout was lurking around every pole spin. You are getting a cardio and strength training workout with squats cleverly disguised as a lap dance bump and grind and bicep and tricep work not so cleverly hidden as you hoist your bodyweight up on a pole. Being sexy hurt so good, I have the aching arms, legs, and abs to prove it. Four days later, my body is still reminding me just how sexy I am. ;)
If you are in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area, please don’t hesitate to gyrate yourself over to Studio Rio. You will love the workout and the
feeling of being a woman no matter your size. Forget who you are or discovery our real self as you are encouraged to pick out a dance name while in the studio. It will be the most empowering hour you have spent working out. I promise.
Leave your inhibitions at the door and the pounds on the studio floor.
As a girl always looking to see how others are losing weight, I stumbled across Physician’s Weight Loss Center. A body fat analysis was free so I made an appointment. Maybe it was my naiveté I fully expected to go on for an analysis and that’s it. What I received was a free consultation, which included a body fat analysis. Greeted by the office manager (a graduate of the program) boasting about her 55lb lost, I was given a booklet of forms to fill out which asked for everything short of my DNA strip. Finally, I’m lead back into the room where I’m asked to step on the scale—the scale would read my body fat and hydration levels, oh joy, same technology I have at home. 20 body fat points higher than my at home scale, the consultation began.
The Physician’s Weight Loss Center (PWLC) offers a pocket full of weight loss programs based on the amount of weight you would like to lose. My goal weight is 179. I’m 5’11. According to the chart that was shoved in my face, I should be at 132-162 for my height. Huh? These are the lowest numbers I’d ever seen. I want to be healthy and still be meaty; my husband demands such. I have no interested in being tall and lanky nor do I have an interest in having my husband break out a magnifying glass to find the curves. I’m not planning on auditioning for America’s Next Top Model, so those numbers just won’t do. Where is the physician?
The next shocker comes when I’m informed of the recommended meal plan…of…wait for it…wait for it…1,000 calories. Do not adjust your eyes, you read it correctly. Yes, 1,000 calories and included in those 1,000 are supplements (snack bars, soups, pretzels etc.) I must purchase for the center. Are you kidding me? I was even more shocked when the office manager informed me that she was only taking in 600 calories—A DAY! Everyone knows, taking in anything less than 1,200 calories is not healthy and in fact will cause you to lose weight, but not body fat, with a calorie intake that low, you are losing muscle mass. Seems she was reading my mind, because the next thing out of her mouth was—and I quote “you will lose some muscle tone, but it will come back over time.” How, I thought? Since nowhere in this program was exercise mentioned. My muscle tone was not going to come back miraculously. Maybe they have muscle tone returns supplement in one of their little boxes. Again, where is the physician?
Guys, it gets better. We are now talking cost. It has been decided for my 30lb lost; I should be on an active program for three months and then move into maintenance for a period of up to a year. The active part of my plan would cost me $850, which includes my before and after pics (I have my own digital camera), and a consultation with the ‘physician’. $850 for three months, this explained why they wanted to get me to a lower goal weight as they are paid by the length of time I’m actively losing weight. My brain checked out on maintenance price. Where is the door?
I sincerely believe people should do whatever they need to do to get healthy. I’m sure this option has worked for many people as the common placed weight loss image of a thin person standing in too large jeans depiction implies. This plan would not be a viable option for me as there is no way I could sustain myself on 1,000 calories. I would eat everything I sight and there is no way I would pay them for the privilege to starve me under the guise of a ‘physician’s’ weight loss.
In the words of my little sister, weight loss is free. Touché little sister. Touché.
For a month now, I've been using the latest gadget in my get fit arsenal--a Bodybugg. You may have seen this product used on a very popular weight loss show. It's taken a month for me to get acclimated to the bugg and to form an intelligent opinion on it.
The Bodybugg is a small black monitor you wear 24/7 strapped to your left arm. It not only calculates your calories but also your steps. You upload the information to your computer; input your food and the software will tell you if you are operating in a calorie deficit or surplus. These values are also measured against the goals you have set for yourself. Along with your body parameters (age, height, weight etc.), you also set up the amount of weight you want to lose and the system will give you a target calorie intake and output number.The Bodybugg has an accessory you can purchase--a digital display--which shows you a real-time accumulation of your calories and steps. It can be worn as a watch or clipped to your clothing.
My decision to purchase the bugg was simple. My weight loss had stalled. I was tracking my food intake and tracking my calories, a la my heart rate monitor, but still nothing by way of weight or inches lost. Based on my tracking, I should have been losing at least a pound a week. It was then I started to research calorie counters andthrough that research is when I discovered heart rate monitors are not good indicators of calorie burn. They tend of overestimate and that’s when I started to give the bugg a serious look. The Bodybugg uses heat flux, skin response, skin temperate and an accelerometer to determine calories burned. It has been proven to be 92% accurate. It does not calculate heart rate.
What I have learned from using this system is--we don’t burn as many calories as we think to sustain life. We hear that all the time. Your body burns calories all day—and it does, but for me, that burn as been approx 1.4 calories a minute. I’ve also learned that many household chores have a greater calorie burn than doing an aerobic workout. The bugg tends to either underestimate or correctly assess (I haven’t figured out which one) calories while weight lifting. At first I was disappointed with the numbers I was getting after a hard weight lifting session. I wanted the heart rate monitor to be correct. Now I’ve come to appreciate the lower numbers because it motivates me to move more to meet and exceed my goals.
I’ve worn both my bugg and heart rate monitor during exercise. With cardio exercise, I burn 200 calories or more on the heart rate monitor than the bugg and with weight lifting I burn 50-100 calories more on the heart rate monitor than the Bodybugg, therein is the problem (for me). I really wanted the higher numbers to be accurate but they just weren't. After seeing these discrepancies, it was clear to me why my weight loss had stalled.
All in all, I’ve am happy with the purchase of the Bodybugg. I stumbled out of the gate the first two to three weeks, but once I really started applying it, the weight is moving at a rate of 2lbs a week. Am I able to lose weight without it? Yes and I have but this system shows me to take greater care in the things I eat and it motivates me to keeping moving.
Here is an example of the feedback from the Bodybugg.
The Bodybugg with digital display retails for $349. This includes a free 45-minute coaching session and a 6-month subscription to the web component.
Looking for a change? Is it the same politics as usual?
We could argue that our campaign to lose weight is much like politics.Are you doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result, working out some days, sometimes not, eating clean sometimes, sometimes not but always getting on the scale hoping—today is the day the weight will finally, magically disappear? Do you sometimes fight dirty by taking pills or buying the latest weight loss gadget, when you knew there was no way it could deliver on its promises? You need a new way to govern yourself and your thoughts about losing weight.
On your weight loss campaign what is it going to be experience or change? Well, the politics of weight loss suggests the perfect solution is a little bit of both—doing those same ole things that work for you and turning the page to something new to take your body to another level.
Get re-energized! This is OUR time. This is YOUR time. This is MY time. It’s okay to keep doing Slim in 6 because it works for you. It’s also okay to be a maverick and mixed up as many programs as you like. No one system works for everyone. Whether you are conservative or liberal, Beachbody has a program for you. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. You don’t have to be all right-winged or all left-winged. Most of us are somewhere in between. So you are free to step out on your own and rebel against those weight loss views that do not work for you and embrace those that do.
Some days you may want to kick, punch and jam with Turbo Jam and other days you may want to house your body with Rockin Body. Maybe you feel like burning it up with Slim in 6, while also feeling like a bit of Kenpo with P90X. Whatever you views, it’s your decision to make. No one is going to make the decision for you and guess what, it’s your right and your duty to take care of your self. Vote to put yourself first. Elect to cast a ballot for change. Change of your body, health, mind and spirit. Yes you can--be a success story. YOU—are the change you can believe in and with Beachbody- together we can put country first by winning the war on obesity. This is NOT a dumb war.
I'm an Personal Fitness and Business Coach for Beachbody. My goal is to share fitness tips to help you succeed, which means I will always tell you the truth as 'I' see it. I am committed to helping others reach their goals either by starting and maintaining a profitable home business, getting fit and fabulous, or...both.
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