Do The Split

Yeah, I know, you don’t have time to work out. I hear it all the time. I have to admit that I too have used that sentence and sometimes way too often in the past. I figured that I had to put in at least a full 30 minutes of body pounding, heart racing, and sweat drenching exercise to benefit from the exercise at all. Guess what, and this does not happen often, so mark this on your calendar people, for it may not come around again in a long time…I was wrong (I won’t repeat it either so I hope you got that)

While doing my research I came across a few articles that stated “short bouts of exercise throughout the day can have the same benefits as continuous workouts.” How come I never knew this before? Why didn’t the PE gym teacher, the one that we all suspected used Old Spice (the female gym teacher, you know the one, yeah her) not tell us that we did not have to spend the actual full gym period doing exerting ourselves? (I wonder if she still smells of Old Spice or upgraded to Axe.)

Ok, moving on. A study was done on non exercisers and people that either did the full 30 minutes or split their 30 minutes of exercise up in two 15 minutes sessions or three 10 minute sessions (you don’t need a calculator, it all ads up to 30 minutes, trust me). The results were that the only group that did not see a change in their weight loss or an increase in their endurance was the group that did nothing, yes the non exercisers.

So, stop saying that you don’t have time to exercise, do the split and split your 30 minutes a day up, you may be amazed at the results.

TTFN
Diet Diva 4 Life

Do Women Need Special Workout Clothing?

Maybe you have never thought of this, I know I never did, but looking good while you get fit can actually motivate you and give you confidence. No, I don’t mean piling on the makeup like our beloved and departed Tammy Faye Baker or having your hair perfectly coiffed, I am talking about wearing the right clothing. Yes, the right clothing can give you that boost to keep going, almost like some sort of drug free high, a sprit lifter if you will. (Hmmm, maybe this is why I have lulls in my exercise routines).

I for one have been wearing the same old sweats that I can remember buying back in 1999. They have been washed so many times that to tell you what the original color was, is next to impossible. But then again, I don’t go to the gym to workout, I do all my workouts at home, in my basement, but even so, even if no one can see you like at the gym, you still need to have the right clothing.

One of the most important piece of clothing to put lots of thought into is your footwear. Get footwear compatible for whatever exercise(s) you plan on engaging. This may mean that you end up with several different pairs of sneakers but trust me, you will thank me for letting you in on this secret. If you walk, get a good pair of walking shoes, if you run, you will need shoes for that as well, if you are the fitness fanatic that dabble in various forms of exercise, then a pair of cross trainers may be the best bet for you. The different shoes have different levels of shock absorbers for the different type of exercise, but you already knew that right? Oh, one thing that most people forget, when trying on athletic shoes, take the socks that you plan on wearing with the shoes with you, this lets you see how the shoes feel with the socks and ensures the best fit. I only just learned that, and boy I could have used this piece of knowledge years ago.

Divas, lets go to the “girls.” We need a GREAT not good, sports bra. The last thing we need is to be knocked unconscious when running or doing jumping jacks. (Hey, is that considered a sports injury?) Besides, last time I checked “flapjacks belonged in a diner. Invest in a bra that pulls moisture away from the skin like a moisture-wicking fabric, minimizes jiggling and bounce (you don’t need to be bound as if you are wearing duct tape though) and last but not the least important, is comfortable. Don’t forget adjustable straps to reduce the possibility if chaffing on the shoulders.

Let’s not forget your underwear, yes, we can talk amongst ourselves about that topic, it is not a secret anymore. Please, please, please do not wear cotton underwear., cotton gets wet quickly and stays wet longer. Quick drying, moisture-wicking fabric is best. Last thing you need is something that holds in moisture, that can only promote “other” health issues that we all know are unpleasant and even more uncomfortable.

As for pants or short and tops, again I am going to tell you NO cotton for the same reason as NO cotton in your underwear, it will get wet faster and stay wet longer, which will only make you uncomfortable and cut your exercise time down. Try clothing that is blended with spandex, this gives you some flexibility when moving, again, moisture-wicking fabrics are best. The same suggestion stands for your socks when it comes to the moisture factor, cotton will not be a friend to your feet, moist feet can only lead to foot fungus later down the road (yuk). Does color matter do you ask? No, not really, but my personal choice would be black, after all, black is slimming and looks good on any shaped body.

To cut this long story short, check out your local sports stores or online stores for your clothing, I am sure you will be able to find a knowledgeable sales person who isn’t sixteen years old and looks at you with a dead starfish look in his eyes when you ask questions. For your shoes, I would definitely do the in person store thing, you really want to try on as many pairs of shoes as it takes to get the proper fit.

TTFN
Diet Diva 4 Life

She Can't Keep a Secret

Ok, I will admit it. I read the Hollywood gossip. I get in the especially long lines at the supermarket so that I can read at least the hottest tidbits from one of the most popular gossip rags ( I wont say the name but it starts with E and rhymes wirer) without having to actually buy the thing. I mean, I can’t buy my favorite cheeses and the gossip magazine as well, the Diet Diva must make sacrifices you know.

Until I go to the supermarket, I get my fix of gossip from the internet. I was reading www.dailymail.co.uk when I happened to stumble upon an article on this year’s Oscar sweetheart Kate Winslet. You remember Kate, the chick from Titanic who threw that diamond into the ocean and Leonardo had the hots for? Well, Kate has finally revealed the secret to her envious figure. She says she owes it all to just “20 minutes of Pilates a day”

When asked, Kate dismissed she engages in grueling exercise or “faddy” diets, she insists that Pilates done in her home to DVDs no less is the culprit for her knock out body.

Did you know that Pilates was developed and inspired by Joseph Pilates, a prisoner of war in the Second World War about 75 years ago? (you guessed that’s why it is called PILATES huh and not named after someone else huh; you are a genius) It is a non strenuous exercise that stretches the muscles of the body to make them more long and lean. I like it because what other exercise can you do that consist mostly of lying on your back? (come on, get your filthy mind out of the gutter for a few minutes please) Rather than building up muscle, Pilates is most effective at toning the muscles of the buttocks, stomach and thighs, the plight of most women alive.

If you live under a rock in some undiscovered country, and have never even heard of Pilates and want to discover what Pilates is all about, I suggest that you first pick up a DVD and check it out. There are tons of DVDs available on this exercise. There also may be some community centers in your neck of the woods that offer low cost classes, look into those options as well.

So if you are looking for a new change in your exercise routine, give Pilates a try, you just may like it. It will not result in bulky muscles, but will have you on the road to a long, sleek toned look and you may just be a rival for Kate.

What else do you have to do in 20 minutes?

TTFN
Diet Diva 4 Life

Stupid Cupid

Sigh. Here it is again, Valentine’s Day has made its arrival. Damn that diaper wearing cherub who has nothing to do all year but fly around shooting his poisoned arrows into the hearts of the pathetic and feeble. (Can you detect that I find folly in Valentine’s Day?). So it is very likely that your beloved will take you out for the obligatory meal that does not include a super size option or a pick up window.

Already you are salivating like Pavlov’s pup because you have been waiting for this day since January 1st, when you vowed that you would become a convert to a healthy lifestyle and a sensible way of eating. The cream sauced covered dishes are floating in your head like the objects you see in the balloon above the head of a cartoon character that has just gotten bonged on the head with a heavy object, most likely an anvil. But in the back of your head, like a piece of shredded wheat caught in between your teeth, (annoying but not enough to spend all day concerned over) you are a tad bit concerned with the progress or the lack there of that you have made so far this year in your diet.

The Diet Diva’s advise should you choose to accept it? Go out and enjoy your Valentine’s meal. Order what you like but remember to eat only half of what is on your plate. When the tuxedoed waiter (if you are lucky enough to go to this class of a restaurant) places your plate in front of you, immediately ask him for a take away container. Of course this may cause him to look at you like you have just grown the snake filled head of Medusa and have him whispering to the bus boys and size 2 hostess at the front entrance who looks like she never gets to take home any leftovers, but who gives a rat’s ass what they think?

My point is, if I shut up long enough to make it, is that you don’t have to forgo social functions or spend all your time eating lettuce leaves and washing it down with purified H2O, you can still enjoy yourself but do it sensibly, and besides, taking home the leftovers mean that you won’t be wondering what you will have for lunch the next day. Just image how green-eyed and inquisitive your co-workers will be when you whip out this fancy smanchy leftover meal for lunch instead of the normal dried up microwaved cardboard meal you normally chow down on at lunch time.

Happy Valentine’s Day Diet Divas

TTFN
Diet Diva 4 Life

Yeah, Sort of Like the Tooth Fairy

Hello Diet Divas,

Remember when the tooth fairy left spare change under your pillow when you lost a tooth and how excited you were to find it when you woke up? (I hated those kids that got $, all I got was a note saying to brush well). The exhilaration was so fanatical that you spent all day in the mirror wiggling each and every tooth for additional monetary compensation, you wanted the tooth fairy to drop the mother load of dimes, nickels and quarters all at once (no pennies please, even at that young age, you felt pennies were not worth the effort to lose a tooth).

Well back to my point (must keep focused). Losing a tooth back then gave us our rewards, losing a tooth today will just make us look silly so don’t attempt it (on purpose that is). So why not take an old habit and make it new again? Why not reward ourselves for the weight that we lose? No, I don’t mean rewarding yourself with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey ice cream for losing 5 lbs., that would be pointless now wouldn’t it? I mean a reward like a pedicure, a new handbag, pair of shoes or a mini spa day for a facial? Or better yet, place a fiscal value on every pound that you lose, let’s say $5.00, and for every pound that you lose, tuck that $5 bill away to save for a bigger purchase, perhaps that Tiffany bracelet that you have been eyeing for close to two decades now (and here you thought you were never going to afford that shiny piece of bling)

Diet Divas, pamper and reward yourselves for losing, don’t let the tooth fairy be the only Diva giving rewards, besides unless you are in your twilight years and ready to be fitted for your dentures, she is not going to be visiting you any time soon anyway, so in the meantime, become her, and bestow the rewards upon yourselves.

TTFN
Diet Diva 4 Life

Pssst...Diaries Are Not Just for Your Dirty Little Secrets

Hello Diet Divas,
One of the most successful tips for getting and staying healthy is to maintain a food and activity diary. I mean, most of us, at least those of us who want to look like we are organized, keep a schedule of the things we plan to do either on a daily, weekly or monthly in some sort of organizer (there are some anal retentive Divas that do it on an hourly basis…bless you if you can do this and may I add, you need to see a professional for this sickness)

Write down the foods you eat or plan to eat, the activity you plan to do (walking, running, which DVD workout, etc) and how much of it you will do as well as the goals you plan on reaching for that day, week or month.

If you do this on a daily basis, make sure you do it the night before, this way the next morning you will know exactly what your meals and activities are. If you think that doing it a week at a time is your choice, then I suggest that you draft your schedule every Sunday night.

Now, please don’t write down what you know that you can never accomplish, that is setting yourself up for failure right from the start. Your behavioral goals should be simple and something that can be accomplished with few major changes in your life; example- cutting out excessive use of salt or sugar, or whatever behavior you want to change to make your life a more healthy one. Small changes can lead to bigger changes later on. Write it down and make it happen! (kinda like the movie, Field of Dreams..build it and they will come)

Remember to list EVERYTHING you eat, even snacks (don't try to lie and say you don't have the snacks Diet Divas, you know you do and you have to list them.) At the end of he week, sit down and review the past week. You may be surprised at the stuff you consume and the foods you can eliminate from your diet. I betcha didn't know that by cutting just 100 calories per day from your diet, you can lose ten (10) pounds a year. Yes, this is true.

So Diet Divas, in addition to keeping your diaries of “dirty little secrets,” keep a FOOD and ACTIVIY DIARY as well, believe me, this is one diary you won’t mind if it falls into the wrong hands or your mother reading if she happens to be spending her vacation with you and decides she wants to give your bedroom a quick cleaning (can someone please tell me why moms feel the need to still use that cleaning line? We all know they simply want to snoop)

If any of the Diet Divas out there do this already please give me some feedback, if you plan on doing it or have any other suggestions to add, give me feedback as well, I welcome it.

TTFN (TA TA FOR NOW)
Diet Diva 4 Life

You Can Ring My Kettle Bell

I am a collector of exercise DVDs and Videos (don't know whey some people still refuse to put their workouts on DVDs, please get into the 21st century) I have such an assortment that if I chose to workout every day for a month, I would never do the same workout twice in that month. Recently I found a new workout called Kettlentics that I have found to be my workout staple of the moment. Kettlenetics uses a weight that is called a KETTLEBELL or KBELL that is used for the muscle shaping benefits of resistance training, "Kettlenetics is a totally unique, dance-inspired exercise program that swings, slims and sculpts your entire body strong and slender, with easy, flowing moves set to incredible, upbeat music, for fast and fun, total body slimming!"

Though it is dance inspired ( a Miami City Ballet dancer by the name of Michelle Khai is the leading the workouts) you don't have to have rhythm to do it, so if you have been known to step on your own feet while doing the twist, don't let that scare you off. It is just lots of flowing movements while holding the kbell which increases the resistance and in turn burns fat without giving you bulky muscles like Arnold back in the day when he was in Conan the Barbarian, when he was looking like beefcake (not beef jerky like he is beginning to look now.) You can purchase the kettlebell kit which includes DVDs from the Kettlenetics website or pick it up from Amazon for much less than what the official website sells it for, that is if you think that it will be something that you might be interested in adding to your collection to use (or to give you one more thing that you have to blow the dust off of when you are cleaning).

Almost forgot, since KETTLEBELL workouts are the new craze in fitness now, the ever popular company known as THE FIRM also has a kit on the market. Again, you can find it for cheaper on Amazon if you look.

I want to hear your feedback on it if you do give it a try. Take care for today Diet Divas.

TTFN (ta ta for now)

Diet Diva 4 Life

Am I being SENSA-ble?

If anyone knows me, they know that I am a home shopping junkie. I rarely shop in retail stores and the mailman and UPS dudes know me by name and even wave to me if they see me outside their tours of duty. So a few weeks ago, as I was watching HSN, they had their TSV (Today's Special Value for those novices) of this new spectacular-amazing weight loss product called SENSA.

First let's get to what SENSA is. Sensa is a weight loss system that comes in a container not unlike that of dental floss, only larger. It has 2 compartments, a "salty" compartment and a "sweet" compartment. These compartments are filled with what they call "taste testant" which by the way, if you read the container, the "testants" are still patent-pending. The testants are supposed to send messages to your brain to release the hormone to tell your body that you are full and it is time to stop eating. You are supposed to sprinkle these on EVERYTHING that you eat that is either solid or semi-solid (sorry, can't add them to your frothy mug of beer) but you can sprinkle them on your gummy bears, your pork rinds, your sticks of butter, your candybars, your tub of butter drenched popcorn when you go to the movies, whatever you eat that is again "solid or semi-solid." This means that you have to carry SENSA with you wherever you go. For this reason they send you 2 containers per month, one to keep at home and one to carry around with you, just in case you have to nibble while running errands at the post office or grocery store (yes, when sampling the grapes to see if they are just right at the supermarket, pull out that SENSA and sprinkle baby)

The claim was that you can continue to eat your favorite foods, all you had to do was sprinkle SENSA on your foods to "safely and effectively curb your appetite and lose weight without feeling deprived."

Well, after hearing the presentation on HSN and re-watching it throughout the day, I knew I had to have this product. If all I had to do was "sprinkle" my hips, belly and butt away, man I was hooked. My fingers quickly dialed up HSN, (now you know I have their number on speed dial in all my phones) I placed my order and even signed up for automatic shipment which meant I would be getting SENSA shipped to me without fail every 2 months, (now why would I want to be without this miracle diet if it was the answer to all my prayers?)

I could not wait to get home every day hoping that the mailman or UPS had made my delivery. Anyhow.... I get the "miracle sprinkles" and by this time, I have done additional research on the product while I am waiting for it to arrive. Turns out this product is questionable. The claims that Dr. Alan Hirsch, the creator of the Sensa Weight-Loss System, have not been verified. Here are 2 links to reputable sources that provided information on the product; 20/20 Sensa expose video and another to an ABC News article also about Sensa.

I think I will be packing this baby up and shipping it back pronto, and please do not ask me what I paid for the miracle sprinkles, I am now embarrassed to even say it, but YES! I WAS HOOD WINKED. Nothing gets the fat off your bum like good old fashioned hard work, now I have to turn off HSN, QVC and all the other shopping channels that have attributed to the butt spread from the hours of sitting and viewing the presentations and truly work out, there is no miracle in healthy weight loss.

TTFN (ta ta for now)

Diet Diva 4 Life

Happy New Year Diet Divas!

Ok Diet Divas, so I rang in the new year, you know, Auld Lang Zine, watching Dick Clark on television and wondering why the heck he was not home in bed resting like I was. Of course I rang in the new year just as I sent the old one out, with food being shoveled into my face. The meatballs, the seafood quiche, the kabobs, the bacon wrapped chicken bites, need I go on? With each bite I was saying to myself, “tomorrow brings a new me.” I was thinking that I was going to start my new year off w/a bang, blow the dust off my workout DVD collection do at least 3-4 workouts per week and eat a sensible assortment of grain, fruits and vegetables and let's not forget, load up on the vitamins and water.

Here we are into the second month, I have done maximum maybe 5 workouts, eaten less than sensibly and still have not taken the plastic off my brand new bottle of superwoman vitamins. Why pray tell me am I still wondering why I have a side body profile not unlike the famous Elmer Fudd in the Bugs Bunny cartoons?

Where are you on your quest for the new year?? Have you done better than me? Do you want so show off and tell everyone how much you have accomplished? Come on Divas, share..

Hope to hear from you soon

TTFN (ta ta for now)
Diet Diva 4 Life

Hello, is it Me You're Looking For?

Hello Diet Divas,

How many of you out there are on the eternal quest for the body of your dreams? That perfect body? No..not the air brushed body of that glossed up model on the cover of the latest fashion magazine that looks like she had a 1/2 a bowl of air krispies for breakfast, but the body that doesn't make you unzip or unbutton your pants or take your pantyhose off the moment you get into the driver's seat, especially when you think that no one outside of your tinted car windows can see you.

Well, I am on the eternal quest. This blog is for all those who have tried the herbal teas, the fat flushes, the cabbage soup, the pills that would quite possibly choke Mr. Ed if Wilbur forced him to swallow them, and all the other crazes that we happen to see while up late at night watching infomercials or flipping through the magazine at the checkout. (For the record, you can buy that magazine and take it home with you you know, the checkout is not the free library)

Bring your stories, your humor, your new findings on dieting the healthy way, your exercise tips, your sure fire tasty low cal, low fat recipes, your encouragement and most of all your wit to this blog..let all the Diet Divas 4 Life unite. Almost forget, guys, you are welcome to drop some postings as well, we just won't refer to you as DIVAS.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
Diet Diva 4 Life