Tuesday, December 14, 2010
My Life's Biggest Project: Madonna's Diet
My Life's Biggest Project: Madonna's Diet: "The former material girl and world renowned pop star has been in the media recently for things like her new clothing line that she and her d..."
Madonna's Diet
The former material girl and world renowned pop star has been in the media recently for things like her new clothing line that she and her daughter Lourdes have created called Material Girl. Madonna has also been featured on the Ellen Show for speaking out about her feelings of bullying and basically becoming an activist for those who are bullyed. Madonna talks about how her children are 14 and 10 and how she has open disucssion with them about this ongoing problem a lot. They know that intolerence will not be tolerated in her household. Most could argue that certain ideologies start in the house so the fact that Madonna is so strong on speaking with her children about this ongoing problem is wonderful and will probably keep them from being bullies. The information and education has to start somewhere and it is great that she is started it now.
Today's post is not about bullying and how bad it is (even though it is), it is actually about Madonna herself. I've seen her on interviews and other things on television and it amazes me that she is 52-years-old. Isn't that insane. The ever changing pop stars body is amazingly fit and she looks younger than ever. Curious about how it is that she has found the fountain of youth I stumbled upon a Web site that swears to have the answers to Madonna's Diet and fitness secrets. I'm not sure of the credibility of the site, but I would love to share it with you. If it is something you may be interested in trying please feel free to let me know if it works.
The site has several celebrities diets listed, but not all of them were really diets. Lindsay Lohan's was listed and basically said that her figure could be based on a combo of weight loss pills and narcotics. This isn't healthy and not what I would consider a diet, plus everyone knows that LiLo has a drug problem, cocaine will in fact make you thin. I'm not here to endorse a negative lifestyle so I figured sharing Madonna's with you was one of the healthiest options in terms of celebrity fitness. So here it goes.
The pop star has never been considered in bad shape, but the older she gets the more she seems to be extremely fit. This is because according to the Web site she has taken on a strict routing of Ashtanga Yoga, which is what is supposobly keeping her entire body in shape. Madonna also follows a healthy diet and barely ever is seen eating junk food (because she hardly ever touches the stuff).
Famous people have the luxury of having a personal trainer, health and diet coach and Madonna is no different. Madonna eats "an organic whole food diet, rich in lean proteins which comprises most of her macrobiotic diet." When Madonna was asked about going out to eat she said, "I don't really eat food in restaurants - you can never be sure what's in it, can you?"
Madonna's macrobiotic diet is "a new way of life based on the centuries old practice of listening to your inner compass when you eat. The contemporary guide to healthful living that offers a fresh twist on an age-old philosophy. Is is based on a diet filled with whole grains, beans, vegetables, and some meats and fish." The site offeres a guide to this Macrobiotic Diet and it is as follows:
Guide to Macrobiotic Diet:
- Introduce Whole Grains (daily if possible)
- Use plant-based proteins over animal-based proteins
- Indulge in natural sweeteners (rice syrup, barley malt, maple syrup)
- Re-think dairy food
- Be patient with yourself
There are definetley things that are positive that one can take from Madonna and her fitness and healthy life style is one. You may not love her singing or her as an icon (I personally do), but one thing you can't deny is how amazing she looks. If you know of anything that she's doing please feel free to let me know or if you have any other awesome celebrity diet tricks that you want to share pass them my way too.
Monday, December 13, 2010
My Life's Biggest Project: Eating more is the key
My Life's Biggest Project: Eating more is the key: "Everything I've read talks about how we must eat more to lose weight. This is all because of our metabolism. We must keep it going all day b..."
Eating more is the key
Everything I've read talks about how we must eat more to lose weight. This is all because of our metabolism. We must keep it going all day because that is the key to weight loss. In my P90X newsletter I read an article entitled "Eat More, Lose More (Really?)", written by Justine Holberg. The article starts out with how we work out and see the scales going down, but then we hit some kind of plateu affect and the numbers on the scale are not going up nor are they going down, this is when we start to restrategize what it is that we are doing. Holberg says we start second guessing ourselves, thinking we are eating too much and not working out hard enough. Before calling it quits Holberg suggests that we ask ourselves a few questions and try to change it up the opposite way. Instead of lowing your food intake and uping your workout, try it vice versa, eat more and work out the same as before (so vice versa, kind of).
Ask yourself are you eating enough. Contrary to much belief sometimes you need to eat more to lose the weight. Here is why according to Holberg's article.
1.) Metabolism is the key to weight loss
"If you don't eat enough, or often enough, your metabolism slows to a crawl and weight loss becomes more difficult, especially when you're exercising. That's why skipping meals isn't a good idea if the goal is to shed pounds."
Tip: Make sure you eat breakfast, that is going to kickstart your metabolism and be sure to eat mini meals to keep it going throughout the day.
2.) To keep your metabolism up, you have to eat.
"Conventional wisdom dictates that when you first start dieting, the less you eat, the better. While it's true that you often should eat less, eating too little can backfire over time. As your body composition changes, your body will think it's starving, which can make it hold on to fat. (The process actually has to do with excessive release of a hormone called cortisol, but you don't need to know the details, so we'll just call it fat.) To avoid this, most experts agree that over time, you shouldn't eat fewer than 1,200 calories per day for women, 1,500 for men. If your daily diet consists of fewer calories than that, consider eating more."
Tip: Keep a food diary to track calories.
3.) You need more calories when you work out.
"If you're exercising while following a low-calorie eating plan, you'll need to take into account the calories you're burning. That's because it's now easier to enter starvation mode. Let's say you're burning 400 calories and only eating 1,200 to 1,300 calories per day. This means you're really only taking in 800 to 900 calories per day before you begin to calculate how your body composition is changing. Muscle burns more calories at rest than fat does, so as your body changes, you need to eat more to keep the weight loss coming."
Tip: "Drink an after-workout recovery drink like. After hard workouts, its calories are utilized so quickly by your body, some people refer to them as "free calories." They aren't, but they will ensure your muscles; hence, your metabolism will recover quickly." Also remember this: "Figuring out to what to eat, how much to eat, and when to eat isn't easy. That's why people often refer to losing weight as a journey. It takes a few different paths to get there. Sometimes you have to adjust your ratio of protein, fat, and carbs to start losing again. Or adjust your calorie level, which can include eating more to lose weight."
One thing you might be wondering is this, why is it that I know skinny people who barely eat anything? Well the answer to that is simple, they are starving themselves. And it's true you too can lose weight by not eating eventually, but you will be starving yourself and ruining your metabolism in the process so instead of being win win, it is more like lose lose, you lose weight you're going to gain right back and ruin your metabolism. "Reduce calories enough and your body will start breaking down its muscle tissue, and this will result in weight loss," said Holberg. "However, it makes your body increase its emergency hormonal responses, which also causes your body to be stressed and hang onto fat, making it very easy to gain the weight back again."
Holberg finishes the article by suggesting that we take into consideration what she has said.
"So I hope you take you take this thought away with you today: The idea is to keep your metabolism revving and running. This will help you get healthy and stay strong. Eat the right amount of food to help your body continuously burn calories and you're more likely to shed those unwanted pounds."
I haven't eaten as much as I should since I've had this surgery and part of that is because the antibiotics that I have taken have made me throw up so I've lost a lot of the calories that I've taken in. I took the last of my antibiotics yesterday so now I can hopefully eat more normally than I have been since Nov. 29. So last night I had a boo boo, but a slight one. I was starving because I hadn't eaten hardly anything all day. It was late and I needed to take my last pill, but I knew I would have to eat something or I would get really sick so on my way home from doing laundry I stopped at Braums and got a sixth pound hamburger. I know it isn't something that I can do all the time, but I figured I did it better than normal. Instead of getting the combo (with the soda and fries) I just got the burger and I also did not add cheese. One more thing in most of the the combo meals it is a 1/3 pound hamburger and I got the 1/6 pound.
Finals are this week and I am kind of stressed out. I normally exercise a little to get rid of the stress, but I can't do it this week until after my stitches are out (which is Thursday and my final is Wednesday). So if you have any healthy ideas about how to unstress please let me know.
1.) Metabolism is the key to weight loss
"If you don't eat enough, or often enough, your metabolism slows to a crawl and weight loss becomes more difficult, especially when you're exercising. That's why skipping meals isn't a good idea if the goal is to shed pounds."
Tip: Make sure you eat breakfast, that is going to kickstart your metabolism and be sure to eat mini meals to keep it going throughout the day.
2.) To keep your metabolism up, you have to eat.
"Conventional wisdom dictates that when you first start dieting, the less you eat, the better. While it's true that you often should eat less, eating too little can backfire over time. As your body composition changes, your body will think it's starving, which can make it hold on to fat. (The process actually has to do with excessive release of a hormone called cortisol, but you don't need to know the details, so we'll just call it fat.) To avoid this, most experts agree that over time, you shouldn't eat fewer than 1,200 calories per day for women, 1,500 for men. If your daily diet consists of fewer calories than that, consider eating more."
Tip: Keep a food diary to track calories.
3.) You need more calories when you work out.
"If you're exercising while following a low-calorie eating plan, you'll need to take into account the calories you're burning. That's because it's now easier to enter starvation mode. Let's say you're burning 400 calories and only eating 1,200 to 1,300 calories per day. This means you're really only taking in 800 to 900 calories per day before you begin to calculate how your body composition is changing. Muscle burns more calories at rest than fat does, so as your body changes, you need to eat more to keep the weight loss coming."
Tip: "Drink an after-workout recovery drink like. After hard workouts, its calories are utilized so quickly by your body, some people refer to them as "free calories." They aren't, but they will ensure your muscles; hence, your metabolism will recover quickly." Also remember this: "Figuring out to what to eat, how much to eat, and when to eat isn't easy. That's why people often refer to losing weight as a journey. It takes a few different paths to get there. Sometimes you have to adjust your ratio of protein, fat, and carbs to start losing again. Or adjust your calorie level, which can include eating more to lose weight."
One thing you might be wondering is this, why is it that I know skinny people who barely eat anything? Well the answer to that is simple, they are starving themselves. And it's true you too can lose weight by not eating eventually, but you will be starving yourself and ruining your metabolism in the process so instead of being win win, it is more like lose lose, you lose weight you're going to gain right back and ruin your metabolism. "Reduce calories enough and your body will start breaking down its muscle tissue, and this will result in weight loss," said Holberg. "However, it makes your body increase its emergency hormonal responses, which also causes your body to be stressed and hang onto fat, making it very easy to gain the weight back again."
Holberg finishes the article by suggesting that we take into consideration what she has said.
"So I hope you take you take this thought away with you today: The idea is to keep your metabolism revving and running. This will help you get healthy and stay strong. Eat the right amount of food to help your body continuously burn calories and you're more likely to shed those unwanted pounds."
I haven't eaten as much as I should since I've had this surgery and part of that is because the antibiotics that I have taken have made me throw up so I've lost a lot of the calories that I've taken in. I took the last of my antibiotics yesterday so now I can hopefully eat more normally than I have been since Nov. 29. So last night I had a boo boo, but a slight one. I was starving because I hadn't eaten hardly anything all day. It was late and I needed to take my last pill, but I knew I would have to eat something or I would get really sick so on my way home from doing laundry I stopped at Braums and got a sixth pound hamburger. I know it isn't something that I can do all the time, but I figured I did it better than normal. Instead of getting the combo (with the soda and fries) I just got the burger and I also did not add cheese. One more thing in most of the the combo meals it is a 1/3 pound hamburger and I got the 1/6 pound.
Finals are this week and I am kind of stressed out. I normally exercise a little to get rid of the stress, but I can't do it this week until after my stitches are out (which is Thursday and my final is Wednesday). So if you have any healthy ideas about how to unstress please let me know.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
My Life's Biggest Project: Surgical Bliss
My Life's Biggest Project: Surgical Bliss: "I was watching television around noon today. I had read article after article about weight loss, health, fitness and exercise fads, tre..."
Surgical Bliss
I was watching television around noon today. I had read article after article about weight loss, health, fitness and exercise fads, trends and the like. I took a break from it and turned my TV on to my trusted E! Channel. I absolutely love that channel and always know that there is something on for me to waste my time with on it, today I stumbled across the new reality competitive show entitled "Bridalplasty".
The show is about women who are about to get married and believe that the only way to have the "perfect" wedding is to look perfect and the only way to achieve that is to go under the knife. Each woman creates a surgical wish list and there reward for winning that episodes challenge is to get one of the surgeries from their wish list done. Each episode the bottom three women from the challenge are voted on to see which one gets cut (not in a plastic surgery sense, but in the sense of getting sent home) and which two get to stay for a chance to win.
Initially while I was watching this I thought wow are you serious, what a stupid show, but then I thought a little deeper. Do people really believe that the only way to have a perfect anything is to look perfect? Most of the time you hear about women who are upset about the way they look and how their weight problem or other imperfection is keeping them from meeting that special someone somewhere, but in this case these women have in fact already met that special someone. This made me realize that this need to look a certain waiy doesn't ever end. Whether one is single or with a significant other, this thought process never changes. There is a lot more to this show that meets the eye and it says a whole lot more about our society than one may think.
The idea of plastic surgery is one that intrests me immensely. I have thought about how much easier it would be to just go to a doctor throw down some benjamins, get some kind of miraculous surgery and walk out with a smaller booty. I won't lie this has crossed my mind, but then I think how much more mad would I be if I spent thousands and thousands of dollars on a procedure, but didn't fix the foundation. I would be at a financial loss and could wind up looking just like I did pre surgery. This is not something that I personally would be willing to chance.
Another thing about this show. I don't know how many people have been through any kind of surgery, but it is zero fun, I promise. Anything where you have to go completely under and get cut means you have a long recovery period and it really sucks. I have had six surgeries in the last five years (none of which have been cosmetic) and ever one sucks more than the one before it. I always make jokes that I wish I could have spent the money I spent on surgeries on a surgery that I wanted or that I wish I had a doctor that looked like Mark Sloan (played by actor Eric Dane) from Grey's Anatomy because that would almost make the outpatient procedure's bearable.
I make jokes about wanting plastic surgery, but in actuality when it came right down to it I don't know that I could go through with it. I do think that in certain instances one should get a procedure done, but I think it is easy to lose sight of what is important and that is that each person was created as an individual. Individuality and uniqueness is one of the things that makes someone beautiful. I understand not liking something about yourself, but if that's the case do everything you can to change it and if you still aren't satisfied I feel like as a last result you should consider surgery.
One girl on the show that placed in the bottom three and was one of the women facing elimination was a blonde woman with the most negative attitude ever. Sure she had a sob story, she and her groom-to-be had both been laid off and there were other bad things going on in her life, but she chose to stay in this Negative Nancy, Debbie Downer state of mind. This woman ended up staying, but only because it is a competition show and the other contestants saw her as less of a threat. However every woman who voted to let her stay reminded her that she needed to become less negative because she wasn't hurting anyone but herself for continuing to stay in that sad little mindset.
I know that I go on and on about being positive, but I really think that a positive mindset is going to be more beneficial than a negative one. People who are negative end up pushing other people away and that kind of attitude causes people to not like or misunderstand the individual. This can lead to other problems, but a positive person will be more successful. The need to believe in yourself is the first step if not the biggest step in changing something about yourself that you don't like. I'll use myself as an example.
Use to I was so consumed with how much I disliked the way that I looked that I started to dislike myself, forgetting that I had other positive attributes. I leaned on the fact that I was intelligent and made myself believe that my brains were all that I had to offer because for some reason I had it in my mind that people were either beauty or brains and I definitely didn't see that I had any beauty so I concentrated solely on the brain part. I'm sure that my lack in confidence held me back from opportunities that I may have been the best suited canidate for, but confidence just may be that selling point.
Today I by no means think that I am the most beautiful person in the world and there are certainly days that I revert back to that same mindset that I use to have because my butt doesn't fit into a size 2 pair of jeans, but I do realize now that I have a lot to offer. I also realize that if I am able to be successful in other aspects of my life, overcoming this one obsticle (my weight) is an obtainable goal too. I want to encourage anyone else who may read today's post to realize that you are a beautiful individual and that you have a lot to offer and no matter what goal it is in your life you are trying to achieve (whether it be a better body or abetter job), whatever it may be you have the power to make it. If you have any suggestions for me please feel free to pass them my way. I always love to hear what anyone else can bring to the table.
Initially while I was watching this I thought wow are you serious, what a stupid show, but then I thought a little deeper. Do people really believe that the only way to have a perfect anything is to look perfect? Most of the time you hear about women who are upset about the way they look and how their weight problem or other imperfection is keeping them from meeting that special someone somewhere, but in this case these women have in fact already met that special someone. This made me realize that this need to look a certain waiy doesn't ever end. Whether one is single or with a significant other, this thought process never changes. There is a lot more to this show that meets the eye and it says a whole lot more about our society than one may think.
The idea of plastic surgery is one that intrests me immensely. I have thought about how much easier it would be to just go to a doctor throw down some benjamins, get some kind of miraculous surgery and walk out with a smaller booty. I won't lie this has crossed my mind, but then I think how much more mad would I be if I spent thousands and thousands of dollars on a procedure, but didn't fix the foundation. I would be at a financial loss and could wind up looking just like I did pre surgery. This is not something that I personally would be willing to chance.
Another thing about this show. I don't know how many people have been through any kind of surgery, but it is zero fun, I promise. Anything where you have to go completely under and get cut means you have a long recovery period and it really sucks. I have had six surgeries in the last five years (none of which have been cosmetic) and ever one sucks more than the one before it. I always make jokes that I wish I could have spent the money I spent on surgeries on a surgery that I wanted or that I wish I had a doctor that looked like Mark Sloan (played by actor Eric Dane) from Grey's Anatomy because that would almost make the outpatient procedure's bearable.
I make jokes about wanting plastic surgery, but in actuality when it came right down to it I don't know that I could go through with it. I do think that in certain instances one should get a procedure done, but I think it is easy to lose sight of what is important and that is that each person was created as an individual. Individuality and uniqueness is one of the things that makes someone beautiful. I understand not liking something about yourself, but if that's the case do everything you can to change it and if you still aren't satisfied I feel like as a last result you should consider surgery.
One girl on the show that placed in the bottom three and was one of the women facing elimination was a blonde woman with the most negative attitude ever. Sure she had a sob story, she and her groom-to-be had both been laid off and there were other bad things going on in her life, but she chose to stay in this Negative Nancy, Debbie Downer state of mind. This woman ended up staying, but only because it is a competition show and the other contestants saw her as less of a threat. However every woman who voted to let her stay reminded her that she needed to become less negative because she wasn't hurting anyone but herself for continuing to stay in that sad little mindset.
I know that I go on and on about being positive, but I really think that a positive mindset is going to be more beneficial than a negative one. People who are negative end up pushing other people away and that kind of attitude causes people to not like or misunderstand the individual. This can lead to other problems, but a positive person will be more successful. The need to believe in yourself is the first step if not the biggest step in changing something about yourself that you don't like. I'll use myself as an example.
Use to I was so consumed with how much I disliked the way that I looked that I started to dislike myself, forgetting that I had other positive attributes. I leaned on the fact that I was intelligent and made myself believe that my brains were all that I had to offer because for some reason I had it in my mind that people were either beauty or brains and I definitely didn't see that I had any beauty so I concentrated solely on the brain part. I'm sure that my lack in confidence held me back from opportunities that I may have been the best suited canidate for, but confidence just may be that selling point.
Today I by no means think that I am the most beautiful person in the world and there are certainly days that I revert back to that same mindset that I use to have because my butt doesn't fit into a size 2 pair of jeans, but I do realize now that I have a lot to offer. I also realize that if I am able to be successful in other aspects of my life, overcoming this one obsticle (my weight) is an obtainable goal too. I want to encourage anyone else who may read today's post to realize that you are a beautiful individual and that you have a lot to offer and no matter what goal it is in your life you are trying to achieve (whether it be a better body or abetter job), whatever it may be you have the power to make it. If you have any suggestions for me please feel free to pass them my way. I always love to hear what anyone else can bring to the table.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
My Life's Biggest Project: The new imagination diet
My Life's Biggest Project: The new imagination diet: "The mind is a wonderful and mysterious thing. While browsing through the Fox news Web site I happened to stumble across a new scientific stu..."
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