Exercise is only half of the equation; what you eat is the other half. Your attitude towards food can either make or break your weight loss regime. Follow these simple rules to slim down.

The Way to Eat

Eat MUFA. Monounsaturated fats (MUFAs for short, pronounced MOO-fahs) come from the healthy oils found in plant foods such as olives, nuts, and avocado. Include a MUFA at every meal. Incorporate a serving of one MUFA-rich food every time you eat.

Have a clear calorie goal. Consume four 400-calorie meals a day. Significant weight loss requires calorie control. For the average woman, 1,600 calories per day is ideal because it’s low enough to create weight loss while maintaining energy and preserving calorie-burning muscle.

Eat often. Have a meal every 4 to 5 hours to help control your blood sugar and hunger and keep your metabolism in high gear.

The Way to Think

Manage stress. This emotion causes a spike in the hunger-stimulating hormone cortisol, sending you straight for the sweets. And when cortisol is high, extra calories are deposited directly as belly fat.

Ask for help. Among people who have permanent weight loss, 70% reported having strong social support, compared with only 38% of those who lost and regained weight. Recruit others to join you (or encourage you), or sign up for an online support group…Keep reading.

The “mangae stress’ tip I can relate too. Not only will you eat yourself fat if you’re reeally stressed, but no matter how much exercising or eating right you’re doing the weight willnot come off.

Talk about frustrating.

As far as asking for help, studies have shown that black women in particular lose weight in groups, but not so well solo, so if you have some freinds you can join up with so so. Hell, make a game/competition of it. Loser has to by everyone dinner…or something.

Keeping up the day to day of working out can be tough. Motivation is key, but keeping up that motivation, particularly if you don’t like working out, can be just as difficult as saying no to that extra piece of cake. Well The Health and Fitness Guide offers 12 Keys to Staying Motivated:

# 1. Vary your routine every so often to prevent boredom and provide enhanced benefits by working different muscle fibers within the same broad muscle groups. Try different exercises; try doing more reps and lighter weights one day; more weight and less reps another day, etc.
#2. A little bit is much better than nothing and in fact goes a long way. While an hour or so 3 to 4 times a week is great, exercising for 15 to 20 minutes once or twice a week is much better than no exercise.
#3. Work with a trainer when bored or discouraged– even if it is just for a few sessions – to get you back on the right track, learn some new things and rejuvenate your workout.
#4. View work-out time as “your time” to escape from the demands placed on you from others and take care of yourself. Get in a “zone” by focusing on the music you’re listening to, the results you will achieve or how good you will feel after your workout.
#5. Write down your goals – You are more likely to remain committed to them. Also, keep a diary of your workouts and your progress – what gets recorded and measured gets improved.
#6. Workout with a friend – you will push each other and time will go by faster.

Keep reading for the other six.

What do you think?

Do any of these tips resonate with you?

When do I get to be a Skinny Bitch?

So how do you stay motivated when you’re not seeing any results?

What’s going to keep you going to the gym or doing that workout video or waking up early to run everyday?

I ask the question because that’s the situation I find myself in right now. My weight is fluctuating between 165lbs – 169lbs which is down from my high of 172lbs, but nowhere near the 140lbs I’m trying to get back too.

It’s beyond frustrating.

I know that my body is prone to weight gain and not so much weight loss. I also know that I gain muscle easily as well so that’s a bit of consolation. So except for the occassional experience with back fat (that’s gone now by the way) I’m not saggy or flabby and I still have a small waist and relatively flat stomach.

But still..

I’m tired of being fat.

And all the running and walking and jumping doesn’t seem to be doing the trick.

Sigh.

It can be tough.

Ultimately I don’t have any major words of wisdom, but to keep going to the gym, doing those videos and waking up and running. I think you have to be very methodical about it. Tracking your weight, being congzinant of what you eat and making the necessary changes if what you’re currently doing isn’t working. Basically you just keep pluggin away because the alternative isn’t an option.

Has it been a long time since you have had fun when you exercised? The rule of thumb is that if it isn’t fun you won’t stick with it. That certainly holds true for the latest fads in the fitness world.

Dancing has made its way from the nightclub to the gym.Dancing classes are all the rage now. We do it for fun and boy do we work up a sweat. Let’s see: sweating, fun, moving to a beat – that sounds like exercise to me. It has all the earmarks of a great way to shed some unwanted pounds. We’ve all seen Dancing with the Stars and those guys look great.

What are the options for dancing ‘til you drop? Here are some of the dance crazes that are making their rounds.

1. Zumba – This class is really gaining popularity. It is a mix of salsa, merengue, and other Latin styles put to stirring music that makes the workout more of an experience than an exercise. Several hundred calories can be burned in an hour from twirling, kicking, and twisting.

2. Hip hop choreography – Who wouldn’t want to dance like the girls on stage at a concert? Learning how to move your body takes practice. The majority of the steps depend on balance and a strong core. After you finish stomping, jumping, and turning, your body will be in great shape.

3. Ballroom dancing – Who would have thought that such a high society form of dance would hit the mainstream? It’s not the ballroom dancing of the 19th century. With quick moves, spins, throws, and dips, the ballroom dancing of today is hotter than ever. It is all that balancing work that keeps the dancers in such good shape for competitions.

4. Aerobic dance – These classes mix dance moves with some aerobics either on the floor or using an aerobic step. As you work the legs, buns, and heart performing step aerobics routines, the steps get more fluid when Latin dance moves like the cumbia are thrown in for good measure. While step aerobics is hard, the dancing component adds some choreography.

5. Couples dance classes – More and more couples are finding that they can have a good time and work up a sweat in a dance class. These classes are held in small studios. Choose your style: Fox trot, salsa, ballroom, or freestyle. Get a few friends together and try a class. You’ll learn some new moves and get in some physical activity three or more days a week.

Dancing is the next big thing in fitness trends. Does it work? Yes. Participants don’t feel like they are working out but their bodies still reap the benefits. You’ll work muscles you didn’t even know you had.

Choose to Move®

This is a 12 week fitness program promoted by the American Heart Association. The program is designed to show people how to get started with physical exercise and slowly increase it to a level that will be beneficial to their health. Getting physical everyday reduces the risk of heart disease and other conditions associated with it.

You can sign up for the program at the American Heart Association website where registration is free. As a participant, you’ll receive a handbook, biweekly emails containing fitness and activity tips, information on heart disease, and motivational emails to help you stick with it. The program also promotes a healthy eating regimen to help you lose weight and lower your risk factors for heart disease.

When the program is complete you will be able to sustain the results you have achieved. By the end, you will be performing at least 30 minutes of exercise at least five days a week, making better food choices to promote health, and learning to engage in more intense exercises for variety.

Choose to Move can be started as a family, with a social group, or done alone. It begins at your current level of physical activity and proceeds according to your needs making it great for young people and people of advanced age.

Start!®

This workout program is also recommended by the American Heart Association. It is a walking workout geared towards those who spend a lot of time in the workplace. As our jobs require less and less movement and longer and longer hours, we are less inclined to perform physical activity. The world is becoming more sedentary and overweight each and every day.

According to most health professionals, walking is one of the best forms of exercise. It gets your heart rate up and works the entire body at one time. Walking can be done anywhere and you can easily fit the activity into any schedule. It is easy and has great benefits.

The hardest part for most people is getting started. This walking workout encourages companies to get their employees moving. Healthier employees mean lower insurance costs and medical bills.

All the company has to do is set up the program and offer it to their employees. Employers will receive a guide to help the company program administrator keep everyone on the right track. Walking trails are set up and marked at work so employees can use them on their lunch hour or whenever they have spare time.

The American Heart Association wants to see the incidence of heart disease decrease and physical activity increase. Both of these workouts are geared towards doing just that. Check them out at www.heart.org.

Well, I am happy to report that as of my weigh in tonite, I have lost a total of – 16 POUNDS!! Happy Dance! So far for this month, I have lost a total of seven pounds. I would like to take off another three pounds before the end of the month. According to my online trainer Grant, (yep the same one!) 10 lbs a month for the first few months is a do – able month. Now, he didn’t say that it would be easy – apparently it involves a lot of sweating – but still an attainable goal. Next week, I start in with the weights! Oh Joy!

Because Mr. Grant has helped me in my greatest hour of need, and also cuz I am lazy and can’t think of anything funny tonite, I am going pass along some information that he gave me about weight training! Enjoy!

When do I add weights and how much? I’m glad you asked that question! Use the following guidelines: when you are able to do the scheduled number of sets and reps in a given exercise, increase the weight by the smallest increment possible, e.g., on the bench press if you can do all 3×15 with the weight of the bar only, add a 2.5lb weight to each side and use that until you can again do 3×15, then take the 2.5lb weights off and use two 5lb weights and start the whole process over again, and on and on. You will probably reach a point that you think you will never get beyond, but keep at it and you WILL eventually get to the next level.

Machines are a little more difficult, because the weight increments are usually in 10-20lb increases. In this case, again increase by the smallest amount of weight you can but you will probably have to reduce the number of reps you do because of the large increase in weight, e.g., on the wide grip pulldown, the lowest weight is probably 20 lbs and the next jump would be 40lbs-that’s a pretty big step so instead of doing 3×15-or 12 or whatever was specified, do 3×12, if that is still too much try 3×10 until you reach a spot where you can do at least two full sets and have to struggle to finish the last 2-3 reps of the last set. Make sense? By going in small increments and slowly you are less likely to injure yourself or to overtrain and get mentally and physically burned out.

The mental part of lifting is very important, it’s not just about beating your way through the next weight plateau, mentally push yourself along the lines that focus on the muscle that you are using to lift as well as the lift itself. For instance, when you are doing tricep kickbacks really concentrate on the contraction of the muscle all the way through the range of motion and also watching yourself in the mirror to make sure that you are moving the weight in a steady and controlled method-no swinging the weights and basically just flailing away-I’m sure you’ve seen some people doing that from time to time in your gym. Another thing, do not worry about how awkward you may feel when you first start doing and exercise or how much weight you are doing compared to what others may be doing-you have your own schedule and your own pace, concentrate on that-focus, focus, focus.

LISTEN TO YOUR BODY, my guess is that you will be pretty sore in the beginning-maybe even a little sore at me too, HAHA-that is to be expected and with time it will become less and less intense (but it ain’t never gonna go away, so get over it!!). Having said that however, as I said in my email, if you feel pain that is not muscle related stop the exercise immediately -ankles, knees, hips, elbows, necks, etc. Remember death is nature’s way of telling you to slow down when you don’t listen. And we don’t want that now do we?

Thanks Grant! Til next time, you can do it!!

Apparently, I’m not alone.

So when an e-mail showed up in my inbox titled, “11 Great Ways To Get Movitvated,” it seemed like divine intervention.

11 Great Ways To Get Motivated

You know you’ve got to get moving. You resolve to park the car a few blocks from work, take the stairs and hit the gym after work. But a few weeks pass and before you know it parking spots start opening up right in front of the building, the elevator is already in the lobby, and you’ve worked late every night that week. It’s not that you don’t know how to get fit, you just can’t seem to stay motivated. We all know people who are religious with their workouts. So, what’s their secret?

We asked fitness experts and regular Joes alike how they stick with their routine. These methods keep them moving; maybe one will work for you.

1. Embarrass Yourself
Make a mark on your calendar every time you make it to the gym or park. Seeing your motivation, (or lack thereof) in black and white helps keep you going. Suzanne Schlosberg and Liz Neporent, authors of Fitness for Dummies, Second Edition (IDG Books Worldwide, Inc., 2000) suggest “whether you write your goals on the side of your shoe or in your training diary, glancing at them on a daily basis will help keep you focused and motivated. Some people tape their goals to their bathroom mirror or refrigerators.” Do whatever works to make you remember what you promised yourself.

2. Join a Plan That Wouldn’t Have You for a Member
So you’re not Steffi Graf. That doesn’t mean you can’t join a tennis team. Richard Cotton, chief exercise physiologist for MyExercisePlan.com, says “joining a club, team, or finding an exercise partner…provides a support system and someone to simply share the experience with. Often times just knowing someone will be asking you ‘How’s it going?’ can be the difference between exercise success and failure.”

3. Love Thy Neighbor and Love Thyself
You can’t leave a neighbor standing on the corner checking her watch. She knows where you live. Miriam Nelson, Director of the Center for Physical Fitness at Tufts University, and the author of Strong Women Stay Young and Strong Women Stay Slim (Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1999) says, “When I make a date with a neighbor to go for a run I keep it, and we have a great time.” She also plans a regular appointment with her neighbors. “Saturday mornings several of my neighbors come over and we lift weights together; it’s a great way to start the weekend,” she says.

Read the other 8 here.

Let me know in the comments how you stay motivated when the going gets rough.

Vivrant Thang writes about life, love and the pursuit of good music over at http://www.songsinthekeyoflife.wordpress.com/.

Watching women like Toccara become fitter while still maintaining their curves
is inspiring to a bella who is trying to improve her health and shed some weight
by way of diet and exercise. For me, looking at photoshopped images of Mariah, Janet, or insert-hypersexed-scantily-clad-pop star here has never worked as inspiration. Instead, I look to celebs who I can identify with, who I know must work consistently hard and sweat to achieve their goals. Read more…

Here here Bella!

Ironically, as I was losing weight I had a picture of Tocarra and Queen Latifah up as my “ideal.” I never wanted to be thin and waifish. I embrace my curves and celebrate those that have them.

Kudos to those bellas working hard to regain their health and truly feel beautiful – whatever that may look like to them.

Vivrant Thang blogs about live, love and music over at Songs In The Key Of Life.

When you’re on a mission to lose weight, slashing calories can help in the short term. But new research shows adding physical activity to the mix is what peels away the most stubborn pounds (think belly fat) and keeps them off for good. Those who don’t exercise regularly (69 percent of women trying to lose weight don’t work out, according to the CDC) risk a rebound.

Dieting without exercise can’t zap the fat.
Exercise is just as important as diet if you want to lose belly fat. This isthe kind of fat that’s associated with metabolic syndrome, which can lead to heart disease and diabetes. Researchers found that obese women who dieted for five month without exercise had no changes in abdominal-fat cell size, while those who combined exercise with diet saw their fat cells shrink by about 17 percent. So a dieter who exercises often have smaller fat cells and a lower risk of heart disease.

Exercisers stay slimmer.
Active people have an easier time maintaining their results over time. In fact, exercise without a diet plan is more effective for managing weight. For optimum results you should incorporate both a diet and an exercise plan into your lifestyle.

This is just sad, ladies. I think if we’ve beat any topic over the head enough on this blog it is the importance of exercise. The belief that diet is great but if you aren’t moving then you aren’t really doing anything. To get the body you want and to be healthy you’re going to have to sweat. The article also points out that exercise alone is a more effective method of weight loss than simply dieting. You get that? So yes, continue with the healthy eating but Move That Body!

Related Posts
Don’t Forget the Weights
90 Minutes a Day Will Keep the Fat Away
Do What You Love

Go Slow During Induction
During the Induction phase of the Atkins diet you are severely limiting your carbohydrate intake. The change in carbs forces your body to burn fat as its primary source of energy. Since your body is used to using carbs as its primary source of energy exercise during induction can be difficult. The lack of carbs means your body doesn’t have the energy source its used to having to help you burn calories and sustain your energy levels during your workout. This phase of the Atkins diet is known for experiencing side effects such as fatigue, light-headedness and headaches.

Exercise during the induction phase of Atkins can make these systems worse; so keep the exercise to a bare minimum during the first two weeks of the diet. Light walking and other low impact exercise for no more than thirty minutes a day, are your best options for the Induction phase of the Atkins diet.

Add More Exercise as You Add Carbs
The best part of incorporating exercise into the Atkins diet is the more you exercise the more carbohydrates you get to eat. Exercise allows your body to better process the carbohydrates you consume so they don’t have a drastic affect on your blood sugar levels as they do for those who don’t exercise at all or very little.

Dr. Atkins diet plan allows for people who are very active to consume considerable more grams of carbohydrates a day than those who exercise moderately or lead sedentary lives. By Atkins standards a person who is active is described as someone who gets at least 45 minutes a day of vigorous exercise at least five times a week. The extra grams of carbs per day should act as an incentive for you to add more exercise to your diet regime. As you more through the latter stages of the Atkins diet try adding jogging, running, power walking or other high impact workouts to your exercise regime.

Don’t Forget the Weights
While aerobic exercise will make your heart healthy weight training will tone your body, making you look leaner and, as you gain more muscle, burn more fat. Working out with weights will replace the fat you lose with muscles and because you’re more active and in better shape, allow you to consume more carbohydrates on the Atkins diet. You can add weight training to your workouts as you move through the later stages of the Atkins Diet but by Lifetime Maintenance weight training should be a regular part of your routine as it will not only help you lose the weight but will aid in you keeping the weight off.