1. Photographing my cats. Yes, I know — weird.

2. Flannel. Wear with clear heels and you will suddenly feel much sexier. Just don’t tell anyone.

3. Don’t diet. Ever. I hate “no”. I get rebellious, and I really don’t like challenging myself to stay away from Buttercup Bakery. I think the cookies must get lonely, begging for a belly to love them. The best part? Learning to love the badass exercise session the day after—a different kind of high that burns off the frosting and keeps me and my body in check. Plus, cupcakes makes me much nicer and easier for others to love me.

4. Getting up today, feeling achy, too tired to move. By evening, total running euphoria, muscles nice and pliable, thanks to exercise.

5. More Running. I covet being a gazelle, so running for speed and beating previous times/miles is important to my training. I continue to challenge myself by perfecting my stride, but my darn lower back can keep up. I still practice…being sweaty makes me feel good.

6. Walking around NYC with the confidence in your stride knowing that you strong enough to resist a push or pull.

What are your 6 things?

Jillian Michaels wants you to write down your weight loss goals. She needs to shut it.

For some reason, I’ve always been resistant to things like writing down goals because it feels so motivational speaker affirm-y to me, like I’m some 80’s go-getter in a power suit trying to scramble my way up the corporate ladder, or a New-Age-y lady in flowing pants determined to find my myself via the spirit of a monkey.

But I am open minded enough to see how writing down goals might be a very sensible thing to do, as it makes what you want more concrete in your mind and gives you some direction and all that. I just don’t get it when it comes to weight loss goals. And I don’t understand how it’s any different than say, your everyday to-do list.

Do you want to know what I never hear when I talk to fat person, a skinny person, a man or woman?

When I started exercising, back when I gained 20 pounds boozing my ass off, my list would have said this: Lose 20 pounds

When I lost the 20 pounds, I would make a new list and it would say: Lose 5 pounds

When I talk to someone that’s super thin about their exercise goals, I get this answer:
Lose weight

Like them, I didn’t give a sh*t about healthier or stronger. Those words were never in my vocabulary. I just wanted to wear my skinny-pants again. I wanted to lose weight.

So here we are, 7 years later. I got so much more out of exercise that “just weight loss”. The jiggles disappeared, I could run much faster, I was three times stronger, my muscles were defined, and I gained the baseline fitness level and confidence to try anything physical.

Listen, I love Julian, she is amazing at what she does. However, there is now a responsibility to our fatter-than-ever society: it’s not just about being thin, the other factors are way more important. Weight-loss should be a side product of exercise, not quite a goal.

From this day on, instead of starving yourself thin or getting your colon washed out with that crap they stick up there, try getting on the treadmill for half-hour. If you don’t feel better, email me and we can talk through it.

I came across this article recently and wanted to share it with all the new mothers out there.

Source: New York Times News Service

When Jessica Jochim returned to work after her three-month maternity leave, she was the envy of her co-workers at Babies “R” Us. Jochim, who had gained 40 pounds carrying her first child, steadily slimmed until she was a size 4 again. Yet, exercise was a pre-baby relic. She wasn’t dieting, either. In fact, every two hours, she snacked as if on cue.

What was her secret? Breast-feeding her newborn James on demand, and using a breast pump to take milk home to him.

“All the ladies at work started joking they were going to go in back and pump so they could start losing weight like I was,” said Jochim, a mother of three from Vancouver, Wash. “I had a baby suckling 600 calories a day out of me.”

That breast-feeding gives mothers an edge shedding baby weight has long been suspected. But lately, a parade of celebrities has attributed their postpartum slimming to nursing, bringing this age-old topic back into the spotlight. Adding to the conversation is a large study that suggests that weight loss through breast-feeding is not a myth.

Earlier this year, Rebecca Romijn, who wore a shrink-wrapped outfit in “X-Men,” called breast-feeding her new twins “the very best diet I’ve been on.” After Angelina Jolie posed for the November 2008 cover of W magazine nursing one of her twins, she said that it had helped her regain her figure. (That cover made her an icon among breast-feeding advocates and inspired a bronze statue of a nude Jolie double-nursing her newborns that was exhibited in London last month.)

These days, more than ever, a mother is expected to bounce back from pregnancy and be a “yummy mummy” in no time. Skin-care lines like Mama Mio target mothers with firming creams like Boob Tube. Nursing mothers can buy form-fitting tops at YummyMummyStore.com so they can flaunt their shape as they push their Bugaboo.

Is it any wonder that some new mothers are quietly thrilled at the calorie cushion that breast-feeding provides? “Nobody wants to admit they are doing it for themselves, or ‘I’m doing it to help myself look hot again,’” said Jesse Comer, from Portland, Ore., whose main motivation to breast-feed was her baby’s health. “It’s tough to admit to other people that everything isn’t about the baby.” But Comer, like many mothers interviewed for this article, “felt like until the weight was off, I wouldn’t feel myself.”

For those incredibly shrinking women, the time they nurse is precious not only for its skin-on-skin cuddling, but also for the Get Out of Dieting Jail Free card that comes with it.

But does breast-feeding actually speed weight loss in postpartum women? It depends.

Last year, an epidemiological study of 36,000 Danish women found that the more a mother breast-feeds, the less weight she retains six months after birth. A few factors determined how much she lost: whether a woman was overweight before pregnancy, what she gained while expecting and duration of nursing, said Kathleen M. Rasmussen, an author of the study and a nutrition professor at Cornell.

The study’s convincing data impressed experts like Cheryl A. Lovelady, a nutrition professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. But, she said, referring to the Danish women, “we don’t breast-feed as long as they do.” Other studies, however, have found that breast-feeders don’t necessarily shed fat quicker than women who feed their newborns formula. A small double-blind randomized study conducted at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center found that nonlactating women lost more body fat than lactating women at six months, and at a faster rate. Karen Wosje, its lead author, suggested that the appetite stimulant prolactin could lead nursing mothers to overeat. Or the fact that nonlactating mothers were able to exercise more vigorously than the nursing mothers in the first half year may have tipped the scale in their favor.

Breast-feeding didn’t mean effortless weight loss for Sara Juli. Seven months in, Juli, a fundraiser for a dance organization, had lost only 10 of her 50 pregnancy pounds. In retrospect, she said, she realized that she had eaten too heartily while eating for two. But “everyone was like ‘Don’t worry, you’ll lose it all while breast-feeding,’” Juli said. To which she’d respond: “Sweet! Can you pass the rice pudding?”

After birth, with her outsize habits, it was hard to change her diet. “All your energy is being sucked toward learning how to raise a baby,” she said. After she weaned, she invested in a personal trainer and Weight Watchers. So far, she has lost 10 pounds in 10 weeks, no thanks to breast-feeding.

What then to make of tales of prodigious eating among thinning breast-feeders? Lovelady suspects some of them who say they eat without consequence used to be “restrained eaters.” That is, they ate fewer calories than they expended — say, 1,700 calories instead of 2,000 — which, counterintuitively, slowed their metabolism. Once pregnant, they ate enough to keep their metabolism humming for the sake of their baby. Postpartum, “they are losing a pound a week,” Lovelady said. Yet, “they are eating a whole lot more” since making milk requires about 500 calories daily.

Breast-feeding mothers face many obstacles: little hospital help, public squeamishness and too-short maternity leave. So advocates like Marsha Walker, a registered nurse who has helped lactating mothers since 1976, don’t hesitate to tout pro-baby and pro-mother reasons to nurse. Baby can get an immunity boost, and mothers with breast cancer in the family may lower their risk. (Nursing itself also helps the uterus shrink back to size.)

Walker thinks breast-feeding mothers shouldn’t feel guilty for loving the calorie burn. “We deserve it,” she said. “She ought to get into those skinny jeans after nine months of pregnancy and 20 hours of labor. That’s what I tell mothers. Go for it.”

Others suggest that women who view breast-feeding as a dieting tool may have “deeper body issues,” said Claire Mysko, an author of “Does This Pregnancy Make Me Look Fat?” She was troubled by our cultural preoccupation with postpartum weight. Mysko, and her co-author Magali Amadeï, spoke to women who tried on pre-pregnancy clothes when they returned from the hospital. “Our advice is you should be motivated by the health of your child,” Mysko said.

Some women say breast-feeding becomes a crutch for them. Ellen Martin, an animation producer at Nickelodeon, was sorry when she stopped. She misses that “very intimate” connection with her daughter but also the fact she could “maintain an extreme appetite without gaining.”

Melissa Ramsay Miller, a nursing mother of 4-month-old Luella in South Hadley, Mass., is clear-eyed about the limits of breast-feeding’s ability to “get her body back.” She has 5 pounds left to lose, but said she has a “soft stomach.” “It doesn’t make sense it would go back to what it was before,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’m OK with that.”

I just ate a loaf of bread. Yes, the whole thing. I am rushing to my computer to type and tell you that incase you were considering doing it…don’t.

OK, on a more important note, let’s talk NY Times articles again. Did you catch this one on intervals? Rats get thrown in water, some swim for six hours a day, some are weighted (meaning extra intensity to the workouts) and thrown in for 20 second bursts with 10 seconds of rest for a total of four-and-a-half minutes of exercise. Both groups show the same molecular changes in increased muscle endurance. Moral: Short bursts (intervals!) of oh-god-I-wanna-die exercise may be as effective as long, sustained stretches of steady cardio. I keep saying it, intervals, intervals, intervals.

Here it is for you all to enjoy!

Can You Get Fit in Six Minutes a Week?

I wanted to discuss making workouts a priority, partly because I love repeating myself, but mostly because people actually ask me: do I really have to work out? Equinox said it best:

it’s not fitness, it’s life.

The only thing I’m mad about is that I wasn’t clever to think of that tag line first.

Okay, so I am generally very far behind on things I ought to do. Like work, and paying bills, saying nice things to my loved ones, and sleep, and so on. I end up managing my life by crisis, meaning I deal with whatever is on fire in front of me. And sometimes that means that I don’t have to workout because I have other important things to do.

Well, lemme tell you, I have discovered something very important. Namely: when I get enough sleep and exercise, I am more, not less, productive. I actually accomplish more in my life by getting the sweaty, sleepy bits covered. Now, you’d think that after proving this to myself 75 bajillion times I’d just have it down pat, but I have one of those brains that doesn’t retain things that are good for me. Bad things are encoded in the memory forever and ever, but details like, “You’ll feel lousy if you eat that whole bag of Cheetos” and “You’d better get a run in or you’ll wonder why you hate your life so much and why everyone is out to get you” slip through this fantastic filter and land somewhere on the floor where I can’t find them…

So I recently made this promise to myself to push the exercise up to fire status, meaning it gets done no matter what. Same with sleep, though I’m less good at doing that one still. Now here’s a shocking truth for you: I feel better and I’m more productive. Am I still way behind on everything? Oh yes. Do I feel somewhat more sane about that? Not really. But I generally feel better, and that’s important, because if I have to go through life feeling like shit every day I might as well crawl into a bag of Cheetos and cry myself silly.

Oh yeah, and sleep-exercise makes it easier to avoid foods that do me in. Easier, though I’m still largely unsuccessful. But when you love sugar like I do and you’d get down on your knees for a good piece of chocolate cake with extra frosting, everyone calls you easy anyway…

There’s all kinds of gear and videos and crap out there so you can exercise while you sit at home, exercise with your baby, exercise while you do the dishes, exercise while you have a heart-to-heart with your teen about the dangers of using crack, and so on. Some of it is fine, but most of it is totally stupid. To be perfectly honest, I think the optimal set-up is to exercise while you, um, work out. I mean, I get that we have busy lives and multi-task the hell out of everything all the time, so god forbid you have a spare moment when you aren’t doing three things simultaneously, but I really think giving something your full attention is meaningful.  And I think it generally means working out harder.

This is starting to sound both pro and con for one of my cardinal rules of fitness: SOMETHING IS BETTER THAN NOTHING. (All caps means it’s profound and important, or that I my pinky has a tic and I accidentally hit the all caps button. Or that I’m yelling. One of those.)  I use this rule when I have only twenty minutes and I start thinking, “Eh, forget it, I don’t have time to run.” Then I remember that even a short run does more for me than not running at all. It really helps me regularly, because I’m not very bright (you know, the whole college thing) and I tend to forget something as simple as this.

See, I’ve been to the gym and seen the lines of people on treadmills reading or staring at a TV or talking on the phone even, and I understand. Distraction lessens the pain. If it works for you, then good, do it. But I think it can potentially lessen the intensity of the workout. For me, I can do music and that’s about it.  I like being focused and intentional whenever possible for exercise.  I’m simple and easily distracted too, so I have to do it this way or I’ll find myself reading People and going, “Oh that Britney is such a wildcat” instead of say, sprinting. I also rarely work out when I’m training other people, aside from racing them or jogging alongside or doing a few spur-you-on reps. I’m not that good at splitting my attention, and obviously my first responsibility is to the person I’m training, I need to check form and be rah-rah or grrr-grrr or whatever, and I’m not so much doing that if I start feeling my own workout. Perhaps that will be my answer to the comment I get often, “It must be so great to be a trainer because you get to work out all day when you train people.” No, I really don’t work out all day, which is why I can only do two reps of everything for demonstration purposes only.

Anyhow, stuff like this weighted bracelet thing or extra-tight slip so you get exercise while you dick around town just seems goofy to me. But I might be biased because they use the word “buns” in the copy, as in “tighter buns.” Really? Are we in the late 70’s-early 80’s? Like, “Oh that Magnum P.I., he has such nice buns.” Ick. Gross.  But whatever, maybe you can’t live without your ass-firming slip, and it’s just one more way to get fit for you. My idea if you want to work out all damn day long is to set a timer and every hour do ten push-ups. Your office mates will love it, no one will think you are a freak at all.

Rambling also burns calories, I believe, and that is one thing I practice often.

I’ve talked a lot lately about why I love the gym. One reason I haven’t mentioned is purely for the entertainment factor. I love people watching! Most people go to the gym to work out in peace, to lose the muffin top, or to burn enough calories to make up for the over-indulgent weekend. They show up, they quietly do their thing, and they leave feeling good about what they’ve accomplished. Occasionally, however, you’ll see someone who catches your attention in a big way. For some, these annoying personalities ruin the gym experience. And yes–maybe they do need to learn proper gym etiquette. However, I love seeing those that “stand out” in the gym crowd:

1. The cell phone addict. I occasionally walk into the gym talking on my phone, but the conversation usually lasts no more than a seconds minutes once inside. Others, however, will show up and gab for 45 minutes straight while walking on the treadmill. If you really want to get in a good workout, you probably shouldn’t be able to carry on a long conversation! But thanks for sharing the most boring, dumb details of your life with the rest of us gym-goers.

2. The Sweat-er. OK…I guess I sort of fit into this category, because I. sweat. a. lot. I try to be conscious, however, of the sweat I leave behind. There’s nothing worse than going to sit on a machine that displays a perfect wet outline of your sweaty ass. Ewwwww.

3. The Beauty Queen. I have clients who never showed up without lipstick, earrings, and an overwhelming aroma of hairspray and perfume. Yes, it’s true. I feel badly for making them work hard because I don’t want to mess up their hair! These days, I not only see girls showing up with long, flowy hair (that they never put in a pony tail), with their full makeup on (that they never work quite hard enough to sweat off), but also with their cleavage spilling out of their tops, and their bum cheeks hanging out the back. Really, girls? Are you trying to make those of us who roll out of bed and head to the gym with bed hair and no makeup look bad? Well it’s working. But we’re the ones laughing!

4. The Farter. Do I need to explain? These ones are always lurking somewhere in my early morning spin class. Small, crowded, sweaty damp room. I’m not laughing…I’m choking in between vomiting in my mouth.

5. The Grunter. We see your muscles, guys. Do we really need to hear them, too? Actually, this one makes me laugh more than any other. Keep on grunting. You’re helping strengthen my core with laughter.

6. The Social Butterfly. For some, the gym really is just a social outlet. Avoid eye contact at all cost unless you want to spend 20 minutes gabbing instead of working out! They have nice jaw muscles, though.

7. The Front Row Performer. In group fit classes, these girls are the ones who stand closest to the instructor, but practically make up their own routine. The instructor marches, and they jump. The instructor does 10 squats, and they do 20. Over-achieving-attention-seeking-non-conformists. I love these girls. I’m just not brave enough to join them. I’m a conformer, yes I am.

8. The impatient guy. Stop asking me if I’m done with the machine. I’ll get off when I’m done! Unless you’re secretly hitting on me…I’m involved.

9. The Nudist. OK, I don’t love this one. I usually avoid the locker room in case the beauty queen decides to take a shower and forgets to put her clothes back on. What’s up with the big 70’s bush?? I don’t want to see it, thanks!

So you want know if you can do abs everyday, do you? No one ever asks if they can train back everyday or calves? Actually, I’d think they were crazy if they did. Okay, here’s my answer…

There are three primary types of core training:

1. stability; 2. strength; 3. power

Most of us will generally only train for stability and strength. My philosophy is that you can perform core stability exercises most days of the week. These are planks, bridges, balance exercises, and isometric holds.

You should not perform core strength exercises everyday, so no crunching, leg lifting, twist moves. We have to remember that muscle needs rest to grow, its recommended to get at least 24 hours of rest before training the same muscle group…this includes abs.

In an earlier poll, you guys said that abs were your least favorite to exercise, so how come you want to know if you can train them everyday? Don’t get it…

Oh!?…You wanted me to say you don’t have to, got it!

Quiz time! How long does it takes to see significant physical changes through diet and exercise? No, not two weeks, or three. Or five. There is lots of equipment, gadgets, programs, gyms and trainers out there who promise that in six or eight short weeks, you too can remake your body completely. I mean, just follow the simple, fun, and effective steps outlined and watch the pounds melt away and the muscles will emerge until you look so goddamn good, you’ll be a physical specimen to behold, right? Right?

Um, fuck no.

Well, how about maybe you can. It really depends. You might be a genetic outlier, one of those people who sees instant results when you engage in some physical activity, say, like me…not to brag, but because it is my blog…

Or perhaps you will follow a program that has such a drastic regimen, you’ll immediately drop weight like nobody’s business. (Keep it off? That’s another story.) Or maybe you’ll develop a big old meth habit or get a nasty disease and not eat for a week and that will make you skinny. Oh please let me get a parasitic worm from that local watering hole so I can be thin! I mean, it could all happen.

But folks, you’d be better off thinking six months to a year for big changes.

And this is why when people start training with me and they say,

“I have such-and-such event in a month and a half—will I be near my goal of losing 100 pounds and looking awesome by then?”

or,

“How long will it take for me to be where I want to be?”

I say, “you should probably think in three-month increments, and by that I mean you’ll likely feel different in three months, and then wait at least another three before you start assessing your body, but really, this shit is for the long haul.”

I’m just not going to promise something like that and put anyone on a 1,400 calorie diet and then make them think they failed if they can’t do what I frankly wouldn’t do myself and what I wouldn’t risk for anyone, considering what it could possibly do to long-term health. I give the best workouts I can, and I hope people will develop affection for this exercise stuff in a love-hate way, and I always secretly hope people will find their inner badass and be better for it, but I’m plumb out of pipe dreams, I smoked them all myself that one year I was in college before I dropped out.

“But wait!” you say. (Just say it so I can keep writing) “I know someone who lost 20 pounds in two weeks/I had instant success before on x program/ The infomercial promised it would work in six weeks with a money-back guarantee. What about that, huh?”

No.

I know this is supposed to be devastating news and all, because we like immediate results, myself included. I’m very big on instant gratification.  Sigh.  And the prospect of a whole year of eating a stringent diet and exercising vigorously sounds so baaaad, it’s reason enough to not even start.

But the message today is good one, I swear.  Work hard, but be forgiving of your mess ups.  Look at the long rong ahead and be patient…don’t forget how long it took to gain weight, it will take as long to lose it.  This sounds so lame that my hard-ass may cry true tears of lameness, but in the end, it’s all about perseverance and self love.  I just vomited in my mouth.

It’s a funny thing when one starts exercising…they get sooo annoying.  Take me for example, I get super annoying. I do 20 jumping jacks and immediately start asking people if  they see results, if I look any fitter or thinner.  Then I continue to pest them everyday until they acknowledge change. Ugh.

It’s so frustrating when you make an effort to lose weight — an honest-to-goodness, try-your-heart-out effort — and it goes nowhere. (Of course, who doesn’t feel a smidge of impatience right from the get-go? There’s always a little part of you that expects to be transformed after just one workout.) My clients often cite lack of results as one of the top reasons for giving up on an exercise. So, for those who have ever felt like they’ve been left at the starting gate when trying to lose weight by exercising, here are a few tips that may help.

Work Harder. When you first begin an exercise program, even a leisurely stroll can leave you sucking wind. After a few weeks, you’ll notice that the same amount of exercise won’t leave you quite as breathless, and your heart won’t thump quite as loudly. That’s a sure sign of progress, but it’s also a sure sign you need to kick into a higher gear. In fact, there’s some scientific evidence to suggest that doing one or two hard-hitting workout sessions a week can rev up weight loss; when you push yourself, you burn a greater number of calories per hour and can pump up your resting calorie burn rate for several hours — or even several days — afterwards. For stalled weight-loss efforts, add one to two weekly “interval training” workouts (that’s where you mix speedy, high-intensity intervals lasting one to five minutes with slower recovery intervals lasting an equal amount of time).

Go Longer: There is no question that some exercise is better than none at all. However, when you’re attempting to downsize, 20 minutes here or there probably isn’t going to cut it. According to many expert organizations, there’s a certain calorie burning threshold you need to hit to begin making a dent in excess body fat. For example, the American College of Sports Medicine proposes shooting for 300 calories worth of exercise daily. The National Weight Control Registry recommends burning 2,800 calories per week through exercise, which translates into four to seven hours of movement depending on your mode of exercise, how intense your workouts are and how much you weigh.

Balance it: A combination of aerobics, weights and mind-body activities will help you get there faster. Aerobic pursuits, such as running, cycling and swimming, burn tons of calories but don’t do much for your metabolism. Weight training burns some calories, but its main purpose is to build and preserve fast metabolizing muscle. Stretching, whether it’s traditional, Yogic or Pilates-based, burns more calories still and keeps your muscles supple and injury free so you’re less likely to miss a workout.

Diet matters: It takes about 14 minutes of moderately-paced walking to burn off 100 calories and about a millisecond to scarf down 100 calories worth of chocolate. Even though research indicates that exercise is the most important health habit you can cultivate for both losing and maintaining weight loss, all the treadmill sessions in the world won’t do you any good if the majority of your meals consist of super-sized portions of junk food. That doesn’t mean jumping on the latest fad diet bandwagon. However, you’re probably going to have to limit calories to some extent, even if you’re religious about working out.