If you have read a fitness magazine, watched a workout DVD, trained with a personal trainer, or taken a group exercise class over the past few years you may have performed the, The Draw-In Maneuver.

This technique is also referred to with phrases such as, “suck/draw your belly button in towards your spine”. Last night as I bossed my clients around, pushing and poking at their abs to make sure they were nice and tight, I told one to make sure her belly-button was pulled in, nice and tight. She glanced my way before seriously asking me if she was sucking hers the right way….

Drawing in your stomach activates your deep internal core muscles: transverse abdominis, internal oblique’s and pelvic floor muscles.

Think of your transverse abs an internal girdle—when engaged, it tightens, giving you support around your trunk. Obviously when tightened, the muscles are being trained to be stronger and more defined. This drawing in also helps to provide stability to the spine while you are pushing, pressing, squatting, lunging, and rotating.

When the core muscles are involved, the movements of your limbs will be more efficient, making your lifts and exercising more effective. It helps us protect our lower back from strain and injuries.

How do you do this? Pretend you are putting on a pair of TIGHT jeans, suck in your lower abdomen as though you need to zip up the zipper. That works for the ladies, so men, run out right now and buy a pair of super tight jeans so you can do it too! Or pretend you are walking by that sexy woman in her tight jeans and suck in your gut as far as you can. And YES, we know you are sucking in your big gut when you walk by.

When should you do this? As often as possible. It will take perfect practice to do this correctly and be able to hold it for the length of one entire rep, or even 20 seconds at a time.

So my friends, if you don’t already suck, start sucking now.

I was thinking to myself the other day, you know what we don’t have enough of?

Ineffective and fraudulent diet/fitness products directly marketed to desperate, unknowledgeable people. Don’t we need to do more to make sure they buy one ridiculous product after another in a futile search for the magic cure for their imperfect, loathed bodies? Shouldn’t we be teaching them to fall for one quick and often unhealthy fix after another, instead of occasionally trying to promote informed food choices, daily physical activity, and realistic body acceptance?

So I was excited when this came across my desk, as it was exactly the type of aforementioned product I looking for.

“With Flex Belt, you can train your abs even if you’re too busy or too tired for a traditional workout. Just slip on the comfortable toning belts and the clinically proven, patented medical-grade technology stimulates the nerves that make your muscles contract and relax. As a result, you get an effective abdominal workout that targets all the muscles in your abdomen – all in just 30 minutes a day. ”

So I’ve been busting my ass in the gym for a six pack when all I had to do was buy this?? Wasting all this time when I could have been using this belt in my knitting class, and getting fit while I knit? God, don’t I feel stupid now.

Everyday, as we sit are our desks and surf the net, (instead of working), we are bombarded with these images of what we are suppose to look like, these unnaturally thin, ruler type bodies that are deemed beautiful. Meanwhile, Americans held prisoners at their desks are busting through their double pleats while eating breakfast and lunch (chips, cookies, coke) from the vending machine. Exhausted, they go home to watch TV, gnaw on lettuce before later breaking down out of frustration and hunger and eating an entire bag of Oreos.

But with the Flex Belt, they can eat as many Oreos as they want, right?

Ridiculous.

Abso.fucking.lutely.ridiculous.

In an age where offensive and ridiculous diet charlatanism is endemic, this product actually managed to truly disgust me. Perhaps it’s because I’ve worked so hard for my barely there six-pack and know firsthand not only hard it is to get, but also to maintain. I guess if I had one wish for Mr. Flex Belt creator, it would be that those of you who are profiteering from this scam should somehow be wrapped into about 100 of these belts and then have the intensity be turned up to 100 on each. But, I can bet my thought isn’t original, as it’s a matter of time before the full body belt that melts away fat as you eat comes to fruition.

This holiday season, I couldn’t avoid filling my pie hole with every piece of food people offered me. Whether it tasted bad or not, I shoved it down my face as though as I was a bear getting ready to hibernate. So yes, I’m kinda fat.

I spent the holiday with my boyfriend’s beautiful family instead of mine. Every time I miss an occasion with my family, it feels like I’ve somehow gotten away without serving a 72 hour jail cell sentence. If only I had been a doctor, like my father wanted me to be, I would have the means to sedate them before every meal just so I could get through it without having to debate LOUDLY about Jehovah’s witnesses, gays, Jews and heaven.

Let’s move on to a more important topic: new year’s goals! I know, because we’re humans, that this new year comes with a lot of resolutions and topping the list is to get healthy and fit. Well fellow humans, after my ATV accident, I am right along side you and your desire to be buff. Here are few tips I’ve made for myself to ensure a successful endeavor — I hope they will be as beneficial to you!

No deprivation
Deprivation won’t make you thin or happy. Designate a meal a week when you can eat absolutely anything you want.

Get enough sleep
Sleep loss has been shown to affect the secretion of cortisol, a hormone that regulates appetite. As a result, individuals who lose sleep may continue to feel hungry despite adequate food intake. Additionally, sleep loss may interfere with the body’s ability to metabolize carbohydrates and cause high blood levels of glucose, a basic sugar. Excess glucose promotes the overproduction of insulin, which can promote the storage of body fat, and can also lead to insulin resistance, a critical feature of adult-onset diabetes.

Toss whole milk and use only skim milk
Swap at least one daily cup of whole milk for skim milk (collectively from coffee, cereal, etc). At the end of five weeks, you’ll save 2,450 calories and drop 3/4 pound. Here’s why: one cup whole milk = 150 calories, one cup skim milk = 80 calories. Thus, 150-80 = 70 daily calories saved, 490 calories saved per week, and 2,450 calories saved at the end of five weeks.

Make all your sandwiches open-faced
For the next five weeks, omit the top slice of bread and you’ll save 80 calories per sandwich (stick with regular size bread for sandwiches – skip rolls and bagels). If you’re currently eating one daily sandwich, you’ll save 2,800 calories and lose about ¾ pound. Here’s why: one slice of bread averages 80 calories. Lose one slice per day for five weeks, and you’ll save 2,800 calories (35 slices total). Since it takes a deficit of 3,500 calories to lose one pound, 2,800/3,500 = 0.8 (about ¾ pound lost!).

Eat more slowly
Research shows you eat approximately 60 fewer calories per meal when you slow down your pace. Thus, slow down the pace for all three meals, and you’ll save 180 daily calories – that’s a whopping 6,300 at the end of five weeks (the same amount of calories in 24 McDonald hamburgers or 105 Duncan Munchkins or 30 slices of thin crust Pizza Hut Pizza). Best of all, those 6,300 saved calories can translate into a two pound loss!

Lose the liquid calories
Trim 250 liquid calories off each day – at the end of five weeks you’ll save 8,750 calories, prevent 574 sugar cubes from entering your body, and knock off 2.5 pounds! Here’s a quick beverage guide; 20-ounce bottle soda = 250 calories, 20-ounce Vitamin Water or Life Water = 125 calories, 8 ounces fruit juice – 110 calories.

Omit the salad dressing
Completely omit salad dressing and instead douse your veggies with plain balsamic/red vinegar or fresh lemon (when you’re home, take advantage of low-calorie varieties. Looks for brands that provide no more than 50 calories per 2 tablespoons). Since an average salad contains five tablespoons salad dressing, and each tablespoon provides about 80 calories, you’ll save 400 calories per salad. For those who eat a daily salad, at the end of five weeks you’ll trim 14,000 calories and knock off four pounds of fat!

I love sleep, it’s my meditation. I’d pick sleep over over anything ? don’t wake me up for food, to give me presents or even for sex. I need a solid eight hours of sleep for my engines to be optimized.

Not getting enough sleeps makes me ugly and crabby, but what else is it doing? It increases your risk of being obese ? the less you sleep, the greater the risk. Two hormones affected by sleep and directly related to eating: gherlin and leptin. Gherlin, the “go” hormone tells your body to eat, and leptin, the “stop” hormone tells your body you’re full.

Sleep deprivation causes an increase in gherlin and a decrease in leptin.

In addition to a slowing metabolism due to lack of sleep, the body also causes cortisol levels to rise, which increases your appetite and creates unsightly belly fat.