June 2012
5 posts
March 2012
1 post
1) Green Tea:
Boost your metabolism by drinking green tea. Research has shown that green tea can aid weight loss by helping to burn an estimated extra 78 calories per day.
2) 7 p.m. Cutoff:Some people have lost weight by not eating anything after 7 p.m., which is usually the prime time when people tend to overeat. To satisfy hunger pangs, try chewing gum.
3) Cinnamon:Cinnamon has a reputation for specifically targeting extra weight in the stomach region. When the spice is combined with healthy eating habits – cinnamon can assist with insulin resistance to encourage weight loss.
4) Morning Weight Loss Drink:Boil one cup of water with lemon juice and honey to create a weight loss boost that should be consumed every morning.
5) Hula Hoop:Once you get the hang of the motion, include 30 minutes to one hour of hula hooping per day to watch the extra pounds melt away from your waistline.
6) Apple Cider Vinegar:Studies have shown that apple cider vinegar increases metabolism, which helps to burn more calories while the body is at rest. Mix two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar to 16 ounces of water, and sip throughout the day.
7) Fruit Smoothies:Encourage weight loss by starting the day off with a fruit smoothie, which delivers a blend of essential vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, and fatty acids to the body. The combination of ingredients offers a tasty remedy that helps prevent food cravings. A couple of additions to consider include orange juice, banana, strawberries, rice milk, concentrated cherry juice, flaxseed oil, aloe juice, and soy milk.
8) Grilled Food:Your meals will contain less fat and more of a healthy boost when you grill meats instead of fry or sauté.
9) Non-Stick Cooking Spray:Swap butter and oil with non-stick cooking spray when you need to coat your pans before cooking. Some people will save up to 27 grams of fat and 230 calories.
10) Steam Your Vegetables:Save a great deal of calories by steaming your vegetables instead of frying or cooking in melted butter.
11) Egg Whites:Cut down the fat content in your recipes by using two egg whites instead of one whole egg. Eliminating egg yolks from your meals will also lower your cholesterol intake.
12) Kitchen Scissors:When cutting fat away from your chicken and meat, use kitchen scissors, which take some of the strain from using a knife to cut away excess fat.
13) Frozen Yogurt:If you’re a fan of ice cream, find lower-fat substitutes, such as frozen yogurt and sherbet, to lessen the damage.
14) Applesauce:Applesauce makes a healthier substitute for oil, margarine, and butter when preparing baked goods, such as cookies, cakes, and muffins. For example, if a recipe calls for 1 cup of vegetable oil, use ½ cup of applesauce and ½ cup of oil.
15) Frozen Fruit:Packed with vitamins and minerals, freeze cubed fruit (like oranges, cantaloupe, pineapple, peaches, grapes, and strawberries) for an after-dinner treat.
16) Low-Fat Milk:The next time you add milk to your cereal, remember that whole milk contains 8 grams of fat per cup, while skim milk has zero. You will also get the same amount of calcium and vitamin D if you switch to low-fat milk. Calcium additionally helps break down fat.
17) Soy Products:Soy actually contains components (such as lecithin) that keep fat from sticking around longer than it has to. Soybeans also increase the body’s ability to eliminate fat by breaking down deposits in the body.
18) Oatmeal:Many food cravings develop with blood sugar levels take a dive. However, fiber-packed oatmeal lingers in your stomach for hours, which helps curb cravings. Just make sure you don’t pile up on the sugary flavored oatmeal, which does more harm than good.
19) Nuts:Stay full by snacking on nuts, which treats hunger pangs without packing on an extreme number of calories. Avoid salted nuts, which raises your blood pressure and can lead to water retention. A decent serving is 24 almonds per day.
20) Weight Loss Journal:Writing down what you eat in a ‘food diary’ can help you assess how many calories you consume throughout a day, week, and month. Seeing what you eat can help you make healthier choices that lessen your overall calorie intake. Some people also record how much exercise they get on a daily basis. The weight loss journal is also a good place to track progress by entering daily or weekly weigh-ins.
21) “Negative”-Calorie Foods:There is a theory that if you stock up on ‘negative’ calorie foods (items that burn more calories than they contain) – you can lose weight faster. At the very least, replacing your guilty edibles with negative calorie snacks can help you achieve your weight loss goals faster. Examples include celery, oranges, strawberries, grapefruit, apricots, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, tangerines, carrots, apples, and hot chili peppers.
22) Drink Water:Water is a natural remedy that suppresses your appetite, flushes away toxins, removes excess sodium, and helps increase your metabolic rate.
23) Citrus Fruits:The vitamin C found in citrus fruits offers a fat-burning component that helps eliminate excess pounds from your system quicker. A couple of ways to increase your intake of citrus fruits is to eat a grapefruit for breakfast, drink orange juice with lunch, or add lemon to your water at dinnertime.
24) Berries:The fiber content in berries can help with weight loss. However, don’t think that you can satisfy your intake with jelly, as many options have nearly no fiber and are loaded with added sugar.
25) Beans:Helping to tone your body and lose weight, beans make an effectively low-calorie side dish that is filled with protein and fiber. One of the best bean choices is cannellini, which slows down your digestion and makes your body work harder to process meals. The result is burning more calories. Other decent options include pinto and black beans.
26) Choose Whole Grains:Not all carbohydrates are bad for you and when you choose the ‘right’ kind of carbs for your diet – you can aid weight loss. Select food products that state “whole grain” or “100 % whole wheat” to avoid becoming too hungry throughout the day and night.
27) Cayenne Powder:Sweat your way to weight loss by consuming spicy foods, which sets your body in motion to burn calories hours after eating. Cayenne pepper is considered one of the best fat-burning spices to add to your dishes.
28) Ginger:Expanding blood vessels and increasing body heat and metabolism, ginger works towards burning fat. Eaten fresh, ground, pickled or candied, ginger also helps detoxify the body and stimulate circulation.
29) Green Leafy Vegetables:Fight a bulging waist by eating green leafy vegetables, such as spinach and broccoli, which offers a lot of fiber and very few calories. Starting your meal with a salad will help you eat smaller portions. The best greens to add to a salad are romaine, arugula, and spinach.
February 2012
1 post
Yesterday dumped about 4 inches of snow on our town so I’m going to head out in an hour and see how icey the ground is. I’m dying for a run but I think I’ll have to work around the snow this time… or at least go super slow.
January 2012
2 posts
WORKOUT LINKS and STUFF (found on tumblr)
DON”T HAVE TIME?!: Here are QUICK WORKOUTS
Spark People:
10 Minute Jump Start Cardio Workout
10 Minute Cardio Kickboxing Workout
10 Minute Jump Rope Cardio Workout
BodyRock:
BodyRock Cardio Exercise Workout:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5Insanity:
Jillian Michaels:
30 Day Shred:
Ripped in 30:
6 Week 6 Pack:
Banish Fat Boost Metabolism
No More Trouble Zones
Yoga MeltdownCarmen Electra:
The Biggest Loser:
Biggest Loser 30 Day Jump Start Workout
Biggest Loser Cardio Max Workout
Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga
Biggest Loser Boot Camp Workout
Turbo Jam:
P90X:
Tone It Up:
Diet Health:
POP Pilates:
Slimming Inner Thighs & Calves
Standing Pilates for Legs, Butt & Obliques
Getting Fit: A challenge for beginner runners or those of you who want to start running.
Week 1: Run one minute. Walk 90 seconds. Repeat eight times. Do three times a week.
Week 2: Run two minutes. Walk one minute. Repeat seven times. Do three times a week.
Week 3: Run three minutes. Walk one minute. Repeat six times. Do three times a week.
Week 4: Run five minutes. Walk two minutes. Repeat four times. Do three times a week.
Week 5: Run eight minutes. Walk two minutes. Repeat three times. Do three times a week.
Week 6: Run twelve minutes. Walk one minute. Repeat three times. Do three times a week.
Week 7: Run fifteen minutes. Walk one minute. Run fifteen minutes. Do three times a week.
Week 8: Run thirty minutes continuously.
Okay seriously noting this for myself. I am doing this when I get back to the gym in a week and a half or so. Yes please!
I’ve been putting off posting this for months because I keep finding more awesome workouts! I hope you guys find this helpful and have fun trying out all these great workouts. May you burn lots of calories, sweat buckets, and look hot :)
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Cardio & High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
Tone It Up Beach BABE video
BodyRock.tv Hot Body Workout video
BodyRock.tv 4 Minute Workout video
BodyRock.tv Hardest Workout Ever video
BodyRock.tvHard Bodies Getting Harder Workout
BodyRock.tv 6 Minute Workout video
BodyRock.tv Run The World Workout video
BodyRock.tv Hot Attack video
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All Over Body Toning
Tone It Up Arms, Abs, and Legs Pyramid video
Tone It Up Bikini Abs & Thighs video (with yoga ball)
Tone It Up Sandcastle Workout video
Tone It Up Bikini Body Workout with Self Magazine!
Tone It Up Bikini Blast Circuit Workout video
Tone It Up Bikini Body Workout with Self Magazine!
Pop Pilates Till The World Ends video
Pop Pilates Summer Slimdown Part 1 & Part 2
Bodyrock.tv I’m Into You Workout video
skinnyyogagirl’s 1000 Rep Workout
skinnyyogagirl’s Full Body Cardio & Strength Workout
skinnyyogagirl’s Burning Body Workout
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Abs
Pop Pilates Flat Abs Challenge video
Pop Pilates 3 Minute Ab Challenge video
Tone It Up Tighten & Tone Your Abs video
Tone It Up Itty Bitty Bikini video
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Legs & Butt
Pop Pilates Slimming Inner Thighs & Calves video
Pop Pilates Inner Thigh Insanity video
Pop Pilates Saddlebag Shaver video
Pop Pilates Standing Pilates for Legs, Butt & Obliques video
Pop Pilates Butt Blaster video
Tone It Up Bikini Beach Bum video
BodyRock.tv Abs Now Workout video (I know it says abs but it works the thighs more)
BodyRock.tv 300 Squats Challenge
skinnyyogagirl’s Legs & Butt Workout
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Yoga
Dashama Sun Salutations video
Dashama Sun Salutations 2 video
Dashama Hip Stretches
Tara Stiles Bend It Like Tara video (my favorite stretching video)
sadienardini 40 minute yoga weight loss videos Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
exercisetv.tv Yoga Fitness Plus 45 minute video
exercisetv.tv Beginner Yoga 20 minute video
exercisetv.tv Yoga Sculpt 30 minute video
exercisetv.tv Yoga Fitness Fusion 45 minute video
Yogis Anonymous Hurts So Good Power Yoga 95 minute video
Yogis Anonymous Blissed Flow Yoga 90 minute (love love love this one!)
Post Running Stretch video from FlexibleWarriorYoga
1. Catch the running bug. You’ll continue to burn fat after your jog: People who run for at least four hours a week melt more calories than non-runners, even when they’re not running, a Yale University School of Medicine study reports.
2. Crank it up early. Working out harder during the first half of your workout and taking it easier during the second burns up to 23 percent more fat than doing the opposite, according to a study from The College of New Jersey.
3 & 4. Go hard — and make it quick. Staying at 80 percent of your max heart rate for 40 minutes can amp your metabolism for 19 hours afterward, research published in Obesity notes. And doing a shorter workout at 75 percent of your max aerobic capacity will give you a greater metabolic boost than sweating longer at 50 percent, a Colorado State University reveals.
5 to 7. Lift dumbbells … slowly. More muscle equals mega metabolism boost. Strength training can help you trim major fat, research reveals — and doing super-slow (versus normal speed) reps increases strength by 50 percent.
Plus, using dumbbells activates more muscle fibers than using machines, explains Gregory Haff, Ph.D., an associate professor in the exercise physiology department at West Virginia University.
8. Speed up, slow down. Alternating bouts of high-intensity and low-intensity cardio has been shown to torch pounds.
9. Put on weight (literally). Wearing a weighted vest (about 10 percent of your body weight) while walking can boost your calorie burn by 8 percent.
10. Download Rihanna, not Brahms. Listening to up-tempo songs actually makes you run faster and harder than listening to slower-paced music, British scientists say.
11. Let kettlebells ring. Not only does working out with kettlebells build muscle, but doing it for 20 minutes burns as many calories as running at a 6-minute-mile pace for the same amount of time.
12. Keep it up. As few as 80 minutes a week of aerobic or weight training helps keep you from regaining belly fat after losing weight, according to researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
13. Add poles. Use Nordic poles while you walk, and you’ll burn 20 percent more calories, says research from The Cooper Institute in Dallas.
14 & 15. Lift first, nix the rest. Doing strength training before cardio can torch more fat than cardio alone. And if you do one move after another without pausing, “you’ll see more gains in strength and muscle mass,” says Dr. Pierre Manfroy, M.D., consultant for the book “100 Ways to Supercharge Your Metabolism.”
16. Add pounds. Lift heavier weights for fewer reps to make your workout more intense — and burn more fat — Manfroy says.
17. Try aromatherapy. Exercisers who inhaled strawberry and buttered-popcorn scents torched more calories than those who sniffed neutral odors, according to research from the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago.
18. Box yourself in. Wii boxing knocks out nearly twice as many calories as some other games, like Wii golf.
19. Kick it. Playing soccer not only torches more fat and builds more muscle than jogging, but it feels less tiring, Danish research reveals.
20. Stay in shape. Fit people have more fat-burning metabolites in their blood than couch potatoes do, scientists say.
IN THE KITCHEN
22. Get more protein. Eating a protein-packed breakfast and lunch helps you burn more post-meal fat than if you eat lower-protein meals, according to Australian research.
23 & 24. Guzzle green tea — or coffee. Downing five 5-ounce cups of green tea a day boosts metabolism, says Lyssie Lakatos, R.D., author of “Fire Up Your Metabolism.” Two cups of coffee will also do the trick, one study shows.
25. Have an omelet. Eating two eggs for breakfast while dieting will help you trim more weight and body fat than if you ate the same amount of calories noshing on a bagel, scientists say.
26. Stay above 1,200 calories… ”The average person’s body goes into starvation mode if she eats fewer than 1,200 calories a day,” says Eric Berg, author of “The 7 Principles of Fat Burning.” “That’s stress, and stress creates more belly fat.”
27. … and cut calories gradually. If you diet, don’t trim more than 250 calories a day. Cutting calories too quickly slows your metabolism down, Dr. Manfroy says.
28 to 33. Munch on these. Almonds, cherries, yogurt, grapefruit, whole grains, and spicy foods have all been shown to torch fat.
34. Fuel up right. Eating a low-glycemic-index breakfast (such as muesli and peaches) will help you burn more fat during a subsequent workout than eating a high-glycemic-index meal (like waffles), researchers from the University of Nottingham reveal.
35. Think before you drink. Sipping as few as 90 calories’ worth of vodka can slow your metabolism by 73 percent, one study shows.
36. Graze. Women who go without eating for long periods are more likely to have higher body-fat percentages than women who nosh more regularly, one study notes.
37. Dine like a Greek. Eating a diet rich in monounsaturated fat (think olive oil, avocados) can help trim both weight and fat, research published in the British Journal of Nutrition shows.
38. Stop gorging. Your body can only handle so much food at a time, so stick to 600 calories or less per meal to maximize fat-burning, says Leslie Cooper, co-author of “Flip the Switch: Proven Strategies to Fuel Your Metabolism and Burn Fat 24 Hours a Day.”
39. Skip juice. Reaching for an apple instead of apple juice is not only better calorie-wise, but it’ll also do a better job of boosting your metabolism, Dr. Manfroy explains.
IN YOUR LIFE
41 & 42. Get C and D. Vitamin C can help you burn more fat, and D may help you lose fat, research notes. Aim for 400 to 500 mg of C and 800 mg of D a day.
43 & 44. Walk more (in denim). Researchers found that fitness-friendly offices (think treadmill desks, mobile headsets) helped people trim pounds and fat, as did wearing jeans to work, since dressing casual encourages you to move more. Wear comfy clothes when you can, pace while on the phone, and stand while chatting with co-workers.
45. Add fish oil (And work out). Taking 6 grams of fish oil per day and hitting the gym three times a week can help nix body fat, an Australian study reveals.
46. Work the day shift. Keeping nontraditional hours lowers levels of hormones that trigger satiety, increases blood glucose and insulin levels, and raises levels of the stress hormone cortisol (which can drive you to eat more), scientists say.
47. Nix the boob tube. Cut your TV time in half, and you’ll burn more calories each day, research from the University of Vermont suggests.
48. Go mental. People who visualized themselves training a specific muscle boosted the strength in that muscle group, researchers found.
49. Eat a smaller dinner. Your body may not digest food — and burn fat — as efficiently if you down a huge meal right before bedtime, especially because your metabolism is slower while you sleep, Dr. Manfroy says.
50. Jump-start your morning. Wake up your metabolism — and get fat-burning started — by doing some sort of exercise within the first few hours of being awake, Cooper suggests.
51. Get your snooze on. Sleep for a solid 81D 2 hours instead of 51D 2, according to research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, and you’ll lose more fat. Sweet dreams!