How much food did you eat this weekend at the Memorial day BBQ? Do you feel fat?? Now that it’s time to get back to the grind, are you back to healthy eating?

In theory, eating a healthy diet is not all that hard. In practice, it’s a nightmare. If all of us had a portable refrigerator pre-packed with perfectly portioned meals that we could pull out of our ass on a moment’s notice, we would all be a lot skinnier. Unfortunately, we run out of the house in the morning, grab something at Starbucks, and then proceed to the nearest restaurant for lunch.

That is not to say all restaurants serve unhealthy food. There is a plethora of organic, make your own salad, or vegan restaurants. HOWEVER, our goal is not to simply eat healthy, but instead to lose fat. In order to lose fat you must pay attention to your macro-nutrient ratios and the calories you are taking in. See Sarah Jessica Parker’s diet to get an idea or what’s right.

The basic idea is that we should all be taking in more protein than we already are. For how much, see here.

The basic idea is that digesting protein actually makes you BURN CALORIES. Therefore, eat more protein to lose more fat. Even if you are STILL resistant to the weight room.

Generally when we order a salad at the local salad joint, the chicken that is added is very minimal, and not conducive to a weight loss diet.

So, the goal is to figure out a way to bring portable protein with you without having to raise chickens at your desk. Here are my favorite ways to do this. Keep in mind that the reason they are my favorite is because they are the easiest.

1. Use protein powder. My favorite is Whey Protein Isolate by Biochem since it has almost no unwanted ingredients. 1 scoop is 20 grams of protein so you can either use 1, 1.5, or 2 scoops based on your protein requirements. You can pour this stuff into ANYTHING. For instance, if you come to work and make instant oats, just mix in the protein.
2. On Sunday night boil a CRAP LOAD of eggs. Whenever you know you’re not going to be home for a meal bring a few of these with you. Eat the whites. Remember that 1 egg white ~ 4 grams of protein so you should be eating at least 6 egg whites per meal, if not more. If it’s more convenient, peel the eggs and take the yellows out before you leave the house so you can just take them out of a plastic bag and eat them when you are ready.
3. Greek Yogurt is fantastic. Although there is some debate on whether dairy is a good thing to be consuming when trying to lose weight, it is still better than eating a pile of rice with minimal protein. Fage brand has roughly 20 grams per container.
4. Grilled chicken breast is a winner. I know that most of us are not necessarily ambitious enough to cook chicken before you leave the house and bring it with you, but if you are this is a great choice. Just grill it up with a bit of oil and seasonings and throw them in tupperware.

Now, what do you do with these protein sources?

Throwing the protein powder into oatmeal is one example. Adding the chicken breast into a pre-made salad that you ordered at the deli is another. Sometimes you can even simply down the egg whites at your desk and eat half a granola bar to fill you up. Simple as that.

Remember, the KEY is to eat the protein first so it can fill you up before you eat the rest of the crap. Watch yourself disappear before your very eyes.

Rock on.

In honor of the release of Sex and the City 2, I thought it was only appropriate to discuss our favorite heroine and break apart her diet plan. On top of the fact that she lives in a fabulous place in NYC, has everyone’s dream husband, and frolics around NYC with her BFFs, she manages to stay in tip-top shape in her mid-forties! Bitch?

NO.

She works at it.

Carrie may eat at fabulous restaurants and drink cosmos all day and all night, but Sarah Jessica Parker follows the Zone diet.  Although genetics have a big part in her svelte physique, eating the right things definitely helps a LOT. Here is my analysis of the Zone:

The basis of the zone diet is to keep your macro-nutrient ratios at 40% carbohydrate, 30% protein, and 30% fat.  The key to understanding the Zone Diet is to think hormonally, not calorically. By this I mean that the hormonal effect of a calorie of carbohydrate is different than the hormonal effect of a calorie of protein, which is still different than the hormonal effect of a calorie of fat. It’s the complex interplay of these hormonal responses that controls your human physiology. Although it seems as thought the Zone diet has everything to do with calories, it’s actually the ratios of how you put these calories together that gives you the best hormonal cocktail for being able to lose fat while still producing enough energy to fuel your workouts.

The diet is basically another way to encourage people to eat more protein, although it organizes things a bit more.

Therefore, I give the Zone a thumbs up!  To read about it in more detail and get started, you can purchase the Zone book here.

We all have busy lives. Between work, school, kids, boyfriends, and keeping yourself looking fabulous there is not all that much time to hit the gym! In fact, even if we take the obligation of going to the gym out of our routine we can still find ourselves extremely stressed out. In fact, without a workout often times there is nowhere to release the stress which causes it to compound!

What if I told you that stress makes you fat?

Not because you are skipping the workout. The ACTUAL stress is making you fat!

Here’s a blurb directly from CBS:

“Your body produces many hormones in response to stress. But one in particular, cortisol, will send you searching desperately for ice cream or other high-calorie foods to replenish the energy your body believes it spent handling the stressful event. This system worked well for our ancestors, who expended lots of energy evading physical threats and needed extra calories to replace those they spent. But modern stressors don’t usually involve charging across a savanna, so we end up taking in more calories than we burn.Your body produces many hormones in response to stress. But one in particular, cortisol, will send you searching desperately for ice cream or other high-calorie foods to replenish the energy your body believes it spent handling the stressful event. This system worked well for our ancestors, who expended lots of energy evading physical threats and needed extra calories to replace those they spent. But modern stressors don’t usually involve charging across a savanna, so we end up taking in more calories than we burn.”

So although you may not notice, you are actually hungrier when you are stressed out and will end up eating more in one sitting.

Addition of calories = weight gain.

The good news is that it only takes 20 minutes a day to SIGNIFICANTLY reduce stress by doing the following exercise:

1. Get a pillow and put it near a wall with open space
2. Put your butt on a pillow and throw your legs up on the wall while you lay down on the floor.
3. Breathe in and out extremely slow. Make sure you are breathing into your stomach, and not your chest.
4. On the exhale, consciously RELAX every single muscle in your body. Pay attention to the eyebrows and the jaw.
5. Relax more and more on each breath. The exhale should be no shorter than 5 seconds
6. Concentrate on one scene. I prefer a beach. You choose what you like. If other thoughts enter your mind just release them

After 20 minutes of this you should be a new person. A new person with a smaller appetite, that is!

There always comes a time in the year (usually around now) that we realize that summer is here and it is time to get serious about our diet. So instead of our usual “eat healthy” routine we vow to stick to a chicken and lettuce diet for 1 month. That’ll do it, right??

Actually, yes, that’s right!

However, I must tell you that as strong-willed as you think you are, you are not going to stick to chicken and lettuce for 1 month. Even if you are a bit looser with your diet and throw some brown rice and some fruit in here and there, I guarantee there will come a day when you will get invited to a barbecue. Or you will go out to dinner with your boyfriend to a place where you MUST try the short ribs. Or you’ll just plain get sick and tired of eating the same shit.

For this reason, it is wise to allow yourself one cheat day during periods of hardcore dieting.

Now, what does a cheat day mean? Should you gorge yourself with cookies and ice cream until you can no longer breathe? Should you go to your favorite Italian joint and eat a huge plate of the creamiest pasta you can find. OR – better yet – should you go to sushi and eat 10 rolls all by yourself? That’s semi-healthy, right?

NO! DON’T DO IT!

The purpose of a cheat day is to allow a day during the week that you can eat whatever you want,  NOT whatever quantity you want. You are much better off eating a handful of fries with half a burger than you are eating 10 rolls of sushi. The point is, DON’T overfill yourself.

Here’s why:

1. You will expand your stomach. When cheat day is over you will need to eat much more food to get full. Eating more food this week than last week = get fatter.
2. The amount of calories that you take in from eating WAY to much of something reasonable healthy are going to hurt you a lot more than a small increase in calories of crap food.
3. You will feel like crap for the next couple of days. This means a MUCH greater chance of blowing your whole diet.

So enjoy your cheat day, but if you have too much of a good thing I WILL tell you that I told you so.

“Hey, have you lost weight??” — It’s those magic words we all love to hear. But how much weight have you lost? Have you lost any at all? Did the person telling you this borrow a large sum of money from you and is trying to butter you up??

The best way to truly know how much fat you have lost is to track with a fat loss monitor. Forget the scale since there are all kinds of fun things that happen during the month that cause your weight to fluctuate. After all, you want to track fat loss, not water loss, right?

Although there are more complex methods to measure body fat accurately (such as dunking yourself in a tub of water) I guarantee you that using a fat loss monitor is the simplest way to track progress at home.

Fat loss monitors are inexpensive and although they may not give you a completely accurate indication of how much fat you have, they will definitely tell you the rate that you are losing fat.

My recommendation is the Omron fat loss monitor, due to it’s accuracy and ease of use.

The way that the Omron works is by sending a small electrical current through you. Don’t worry, your hair won’t stand straight up on your head while you are taking your body fat measurement. In fact, you won’t even feel it.

The best way to track body fat progress is similar to the way you would use a scale – take a body fat reading first thing in the morning before you eat or drink anything.  Do this on a set day once a week.

Watch your body fat melt away! (If you eat less and work out more that is)

Remember, this method is not completely accurate so don’t be alarmed if your body fat is a  little higher than you thought. Nevertheless, here are standard body fat percentages for you and your man:

It’s actually not a miracle at all, but instead an age old ritual that we have forgotten in our modern lives – It is the simple act of making FRESH JUICE.

Sound simple?

Let me preface this rant by letting you know that my mother has overcome stage 4 terminal cancer by simply making 10 juices a day from fresh, organic ingredients.

So, what do you think will happen to you if you are trying to overcome a little flu, some skin problems, or worse – WEIGHT GAIN!

Juicing has TREMENDOUS health benefits and can prevent and cure almost any ailment, but curiously enough no one does it. Why?

You people are ignorant and lazy! It takes 15 minutes out of your day to wash the veggies, run them through the juicer, and clean.

There are plenty of things you waste your time on for 15 minutes each day such as – unnecessarily checking your Blackberry or iPhone, wasting time on Facebook, or eating food when you’re not hungry. Do yourself a favor – spend 15 minutes and make some juice instead.

You are probably thinking that you can go to Jamba Juice or Whole Foods and just order some, right? That’ll be easier. Unfortunately I have bad news for you – the juicers that are used in retail environments generally use centrifugal juicers. This means that when you run the veggies through the juicer the speed is so fast that many of the enzymes are killed. ENZYMES provide all the health benefits!

My mom invested in a Norwalk juicer that cost a few thousand dollars in which all the enzymes are preserved. This is a 2-step hydraulic press juicer which grinds up the veggies first, then squeezes them.

Don’t worry, I’ll spare you of this price tag. The one you should get will cost you about $200 and preserve about 80% of the enzymes. This one is a slow masticating juicer, meaning the rotation of the grinder is slow and will not kill as many enzymes. This will be good enough for you if you are not dying.

Here are the best things to juice in ranking order:

1. Wheat grass
2. Carrots
3. Kale
4. Beets
5. Ginger

So for example, you can juice about 5 carrots, 2 leaves of kale, small piece of ginger (half the size of your finger). This should make about 1 cup. If it tastes gross to you, add an apple.

If you want more detailed descriptions of juice recipes this book is good:Juice Fasting and Detoxification: Use the Healing Power of Fresh Juice to Feel Young and Look Great : The Fastest Way to Restore Your Health

Do this once a day and you will feel better. Do it twice a day, even better.

You can also do a full juice fast for 1 or 2 days! The first day will suck, the 2nd day you will feel amazing!

Stick with it for a few week, you WILL see a difference in your skin.

Oh and, before I forget, YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT!

Vegas season is here. For you it may be Miami season or French Riviera season. Wherever you are going this weekend, you want to look amazing and feel good!

Let me tell you one key thing if your target weekend is this weekend: YOU WILL NOT LOOK ANY DIFFERENT WITH THE STANDARD DIET AND EXERCSE PROGRAM. It takes 1-3 months to see visible results with these programs, so in the 3 day case it’s time for drastic measures.

Here is what you do:

1. Continue to eat healthy and exercise on your regular program without killing yourself. You don’t want to give up now and look bloated

2. If you want to appear thinner, you must get rid of the water in your body. The best product to accomplish this (and clean you out while you are at it) is “Super Dieters Tea”. Drink this 2-3 times a day.

3. I cannot stress this one enough since it is BY FAR the most important. GET A TAN!! This amazing phenomenon will instantly make you look 10 lbs thinner and healthier.

Since we are on a time limit and we hate the damages of the sun, we will have to resort to the fake stuff. Using the fake stuff correctly is key since we don’t want to come out looking busted.

My observation so far has been that spray tanning is not a good idea for a big event unless there is a woman physically spraying you. If this is your preference you will generally need two applications, which will cost you around 100 bucks. This is money that could be spent on Mojitos at your vacation destination.

I have found that the best solution for a beautiful tan is to choose an excellent self tanning lotion. Notice I said “lotion”, not mousse or gel. The reason is that lotion moisturizes the skin at the same time as it tans you, which keeps your tan looking more natural and fresh. I have done all the work for you and tried them all – lucky you! Here are my favorites:

This one is a bit darker, but still keeps your color looking natural:

This one is less dark:

I’m not sure how long it’s been since you have applied self tanner, but the good news is that technology has come a long way. Long gone are the days of streaking and patches. These two formulas (if applied in a reasonably correct way) will have your tan looking natural.

“How do I apply”, you ask? It’s easy! Most guides will have a 5 step process which no one has time for, but I have found ways to cut down time just for you! So…

1. Take a shower in the morning as you usually do (I hope). During this shower, exfoliate, especially the areas with looser skin.

2. At night before you go to bed apply the lotion LIBERALLY and ALL OVER. Don’t think that just because you don’t want your face tan you should stop at the neck. Bad idea. the only places you should not apply are the bottom of your hands and feet.

3. Put moisturizing lotion on your hands and feet after you apply the tanner.

4. Go to sleep and wake up looking fabulous.

There you have it. Start now.

I know we are past the Atkins phase and everyone is back to just eating healthy. However, I am going to put a new twist on an old idea that will make you lose weight if you implement it correctly.

Consider this – Eating protein ACTUALLY speeds up your metabolism. Why, you ask? Protein takes A LOT of work for the body to digest. And we all know that performing work = burning calories. Any time you eat 100 calories of protein, you will use up 25 of those calories just to digest it!

So if you are eating 2000 calories a day of protein, you will be using 500 of them just for digestion!

2000-500=1500 calories for all you math wizards.

Now, don’t get all excited and start thinking you are going to eat 2000 calories a day worth of chicken breast. You still need carbs and fats in order for your body to function. You ESPECIALLY need carbs if you work out.  So the obvious solution is to eat a higher PERCENTAGE of your daily food intake from protein while decreasing your carbs and/or fats.

There is no need for calorie counting.

Just do this:

1. Take your body weight and multiply by 1.5. ex. 130×1.5=195 Read more…

I have a friend who has taken a liking to Fage yogurt. Good for her! The stuff is high in protein, low in calories, and has friendly bacteria that are good for you. The problem is, by the time that I see her at 10am in the morning, she has downed 3 bowls of yogurt, granola, and fruit. “It just tastes soooo good!”, she raves.

Ladies, the easiest way to get fat quickly is to eat too much food. Conversely, the easiest way to get skinny quickly is to eat too little food! Are you shocked? Weird. We get wrapped up in high carb, low carb, gluten free, sugar free. However, the amount of food that you are taking in on a daily basis takes a HUGE precedence above what you are eating. Do you have that one friend that snacks on Doritos all day and doesn’t work out, but is still in shape? Bitch! What’s her secret?? Well, I am letting you in on her tricks: She doesn’t eat that much! If she started eating more, she would gain weight.

This phenomenon is not always completely black and white since there are girls that have done so much damage by taking in too few calories and doing too much cardio that their metabolism is screwed up. This is a whole other case with a different solution which involves increasing calories gradually. However, for us normal chicks who eat reasonably healthy and have one or two nights out a week, the “Eat Less Food” diet will work out just fine.

Try this tomorrow: Eat each meal to the point where you are still ever so slightly hungry. Eat the next meal when slightly hungry turns into moderately to severely hungry. Eat again until you are still slightly hungry. Repeat. After a few days your body will get used to less food. Just don’t reduce calories too much to where your body is storing fat.

This gradual calorie reduction method is a tried and proven method of many fitness professionals. I guarantee it will work for you too.

We work out, eat healthy, and get excited when we buy clothes a size smaller. After a while it becomes a vicious cycle in which we are constantly trying to get in better shape no matter what we look like. Don’t lose sight of the point of all this, ladies. The goal is you want to look sexy and fabulous!

Yes, the woman on the right is a little thick… but would I be going out on a limb if I was saying that she is the sexier one?  The most important thing to looking hot is your style, your attitude, and your confidence. Unless you are severely large, percentage of body fat comes 2nd when it comes to appearance.

Take a chick who is 10 lbs overweight, get her a tan, a well-styled outfit,  good makeup,  and good hair… and I guarantee you she will look 1000% better than the girl who is in shape and looking frumpy. So the moral is — utilize your workout time in the smartest way and eat healthy, but don’t let it take over your life. 5 lbs here and there will not make that much of a difference in the way  you look.

Comments on which woman you think is hotter are much appreciated!

“Don’t eat carbs. ”

“Go vegan. ”

“Run 5 miles a day. ”

“Lift weights.”

Opinions are like ***holes. Everyone has one.  Are you as frustrated as I am with all the information out there about how to get in shape?? Who the hell do you listen to? The reason I decided that this blog is an absolute necessity is because there are one million and one  “pros” out there who are publishing information to women like you and I about how to shed fat quickly. So far none of them have found the magic potion. I am not a pro, but instead just a regular chick who was blessed with the “curvy” body type. As a result, I have been working out most of my life and reading the latest and greatest info from every expert out there on the newest workout and diet. I have also worked with more than one top notch trainer. I am consolidating everything I’ve learned here so you have access to a one stop shop on everything you need to know about workouts and nutrition. Stay tuned for tips and tricks I’ve learned throughout the years! Sign up to be the first to get the latest info!