March 2nd Tips

First off, Miss Sharla is down 3 lbs this week! WAHOO! She's cutting out sugar and it's working. Good job lady, keep it up. (She also shared some great tips via email. I'll add those here in the next post.)

Here's some interesting info I got from The Biggest Loser today in my inbox... leave a comment and let us know what you think.


10 Ways to Make Small Changes
By Cheryl Forberg, RD

As nutritionist for The Biggest Loser for 11 seasons, I've learned a great deal about typical factors that plan a key role in weight gain. These factors are what many of our contestants, as well as many Americans have in common. They:

1. Prioritized other things—such as their families, friends, and jobs—over their own health and wellbeing.
2. Had absolutely no idea how many calories their bodies really needed (or how many they consumed each day).
3. Frequently skipped breakfast and other meals.
4. Didn't eat enough fruits or vegetables.
5. Didn't eat enough lean protein.
6. Didn't eat enough whole grains. 7. Ate too much "white stuff," such as white flour, white pasta, white sugar, white rice, and simple carbohydrates.
8. Didn't plan their meals in advance and often found themselves grabbing something on the go, which they ate standing up, in the car, or at their desks.
9. Drank too many of their calories (some people consumed their daily calorie budgets in sugary drinks alone!) but didn't drink enough water or milk.
10. Didn't get enough exercise (if any).

If this list sounds familiar, you have 10 great places to start making small changes. The most important swap though, really needs to be No. 1 on your list – changing your priorities.

Feb 16th Tips

Hello cute ladies - first off, the amazing Miss Sharla is down 3 lbs! Wahoo!

Here is the short version of 10 ways to boost you metabolism. Get the "skinny" by clicking here for more details. Thanks WebMD for these GREAT tips!

1. Build muscle
2. Kick up your workout
3. Drink more water
4. Have your drinks on the rocks
5. Eat more often
6. Spice up your meals
7. Eat more protein
8. Drink your coffee black
9. Drink green tea
10. Avoid crash diets... diets with less than 1,000 calories

Good luck this week ladies!!

Weigh In

WAHOO!
The fabulous Miss Tonya B. lost 3 lbs this week!
Way to go lady!!!

Sugar Detox

I FOUND IT!!!

Click here to get the entire list on how to do a sugar detox. For your info, here's step number one. This explains why...

There’s no sugarcoating the facts. Excess sugar consumption puts your body in danger of many potentially fatal conditions.

TASK #1

Know Your Risk

Learn the top 4 reasons why sugar should get the boot from your diet.

1. High Blood Pressure - Normal nitric oxide levels keep blood vessels healthy and open. Too much sugar in your diet decreases nitric oxide levels, causing blood vessels to become narrow, which causes high blood pressure and an increased risk for cardiac disease.

2. High Cholesterol - People who consume too much sugar are more likely to have lower levels of HDL, or good cholesterol, higher levels of LDL, or bad cholesterol, and higher levels of triglycerides, or blood fats. This clogs up arteries and blood vessels, leading to heart disease.

3. Liver Disease - A diet high in sugar is believed to exacerbate fatty liver disease. Too much sugar spikes insulin and drives fat into the liver cells, which causes inflammation and scarring, eventually causing the liver to become cirrhotic.

4. Insulin Resistance - When sugar enters the body, insulin opens the door to allow sugar into the cells. However, when there are continuous sugar spikes, insulin becomes less effective. Sugar can’t get into the cells and become “stuck” in the body, producing toxic effects that lead to obesity and the threat of diabetes.

Back On That Wagon!

Goodness! It's been way too long since I've visited this wagon!!! So sorry that I've been a big slacker head. I need to remind myself that

I'M WORTH THE HARD WORK!

And SO ARE YOU!

Yes, this journey to get more healthy and lose weight is hard.

It takes effort and determination and will power
and is sometimes more than we feel like we can do.

But we are all

STRONG,

AMAZING,

POWERFUL
Women!!!

WE CAN DO IT!

So, please take a few minutes to catch up on the tips.
I've posted ones from the last few weeks plus the sugar info.
Feel free to leave a comment and tell us how you're doing and what you think.

OH - at this week's weigh in,
Sharla lost 3 lbs and Chantelle lost 2 lbs. WAHOO!

The Evils of Sugar

The American Heart Association recommends consuming no more than 6 teaspoons of extra sugar a day. (Anything not found in food naturally... like an apple... this includes all baked or homemade or factory made yummy sweetness things but also stuff like ketchup.) The average American consumes a crazy 22 teaspoons!

Sugar has been linked to high blood pressure. It causes our blood vessels to swell thus constricting the opening and upping our blood pressure. Click here to read an article on that.

I saw this info on Dr Oz last week... but now I can't find it on his website!!! I'll keep looking and post it if/when I find it. But really, we all know that sugar is BAD FOR US! Do we really need to know more than that?

3 Extreeme Tips

These are taken from The 4 Hour Body. Click here to see the first clip on Dr Oz then find the links there to see the rest. Very interesting stuff...

1. Get cold. It takes a lot more effort to do your normal stuff if your body is cold. Thus, you will burn more calories. Start off by just putting an ice pack on the back of your neck for 20 minutes. Then add your upper back/shoulders. Next add ice to your upper chest. Once you're accustomed to that you can try a cold shower. Then, if you're REALLY brave and ready, take an ice bath 3x a week for 10 minutes. DON'T just start with the ice bath!!! (Who the FREAK would want to?!?!?!?)

2. Start your day with A LOT of protein. Like 5 eggs or a protein shake. Sorry, I can't remember how much or why... you'll have to look it up yourself ;)

3. Pig Out once a week. Many people can do well the rest of the week if they know they get to pig out once that week. There are just some things you need to do to make sure the pig out doesn't ruin you. Fist, drink a small glass of grapefruit juice BEFORE you binge. This will help keep your blood sugar even. Afterward, within 1 hour, do air squats for one minute. This will open up receptors in your muscles... which burn more calories than the rest of your body.

I don't know about ya'll ... but I'm going to do those air squats after any time I mess up my diet!