CAJUN SHRIMP STIR-FRY

NUTRIENTS PER SERVING:

CALORIES: 310

FAT: 5 g

CARB: 31 g

PROTEIN: 27 g

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined

• 1 tbsp Cajun spice seasoning

• 2 tsp canola oil, divided

• 2 green peppers, seeded, inner ribs removed

and cut into strips

• 2 red peppers, seeded, inner ribs removed

and cut into strips

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• ½ cup white wine

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• Hot sauce to taste

• 2 cups cooked brown rice

INSTRUCTIONS:

Toss shrimp with Cajun spice seasoning and set aside. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large skillet and and sauté peppers for six mintues over medium-high heat. Turn heat down and add minced garlic, stirring constantly so that garlic doesn’t burn. Remove peppers and garlic from pan, wipe pan out with paper towel.

Return the pan to medium-high heat, add heat to remaining tsp of oil. Add shrimp and cook approximately 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add wine, lemon juice, peppers and garlic and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Season with hot sauce; serve each portion over ½ cup cooked brown rice.

 

Interval Training for Maximum Calorie Burn

Ok, so how many of you out there have had this happen to you? You hop on the treadmill, elliptical, bike, or whatever piece of cardio equipment you prefer, you set a speed and just go, and go, and go.  You don’t touch the incline, change the speed, or even the type of cardio you’re doing, you just drone on for hours on end to no avail.  You do this for weeks, maybe even months and you ask yourself, “Why am I not losing weight? Why am I not seeing results?”  Sound familiar?  This pretty much sums up what the term “cardio” has come to mean.  People get the misconception that in order to lose weight, you have to do mass amounts of cardio for hours on end.  Not true!  And plus, who can honestly say they have the time for that?  If you could, wouldn’t you like to put in just half the time of your normal “cardio” and get twice the result?

In comes high intensity interval training (HIIT).  HIIT is a type of physical training that involves bursts of high intensity work.  This high intensity work is alternated with periods of rest or low activity. The term can refer to any cardiovascular workout (e.g. cycling, running, rowing, etc.) that involves brief bouts at near-maximum exertion interspersed with periods of lower-intensity activity.  For instance, you may be on the treadmill at a recovery (lower effort) speed of 5 mph for 2 mins.  Following that 2 mins you increase the speed to 8 mph for 45 seconds.  You may repeat this for a total of say 30 mins or you could perform a certain number of repetitions of that interval group.

The reason that HIIT is so much more effective is due to the fact that you are working at a much higher intensity/heart rate than you would during regular steady state cardio.  As a result, this causes a greater increase in calorie burn and metabolism function.  Typically, with conventional cardio, once you finish, your metabolism returns rather quickly to it’s near resting state.  With HIIT, however, since you were at a much higher HR/intensity, your metabolism remains elevated for even hours after you are finished!!  So not only are you burning more calories during your workout (in a shorter time than you’re used to mind you), but you’re even burning more calories after!!! Talk about more bang for your buck!

Let’s take a look at some of the tremendous benefits of HIIT:

• You’ll burn more calories. The more vigorously you exercise, the more calories you’ll burn — even if you increase intensity for just a few minutes at a time.
• You’ll improve your aerobic capacity. As your cardiovascular fitness improves, you’ll be able to exercise longer or with more intensity. Imagine finishing your 60-minute walk in 45 minutes — or the additional calories you’ll burn by keeping up the pace for the full 60 minutes.
• You’ll keep boredom at bay. Turning up your intensity in short intervals can add variety to your exercise routine.
• You don’t need special equipment. You can simply modify your current routine.

Here are 3 sample HIIT routines you can try on your own!

Week 1 Cardio:

1. 2 minute warm-up

2. 1 minute as hard as you can go

3. 2 minutes at a moderate pace

4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 six times

5. 2 minute cool-down

Week 2 Cardio:

1. 2 minute warm-up

2. 1 minute as hard as you can go

3. 2 minutes at a moderate pace

4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 five more times

5. 2 minute cool-down

Week 3 Cardio:

1. 2 minutes at a moderate pace

2. 5 minutes at the highest effort you can sustain for 5 minutes

3. Repeat steps 1 & 2 two more times

4. 2 minute cool-down

So keep in mind when doing HIIT workouts that it IS supposed to be a challenge.  If, after the first time trying one of these routines, you feel as though you could’ve gone harder, now you know for next time that you can speed it up a little bit or add a bit of incline into the mix!!  Enjoy and GOOD LUCK!!!

Look Hot in Jeans

These moves will shrink your belly and sculpt your butt and thighs so you can slip—not squeeze—into your snuggest pair.

Deep inside your closet hangs an old friend: your favorite jeans. The ones you once lived in that you haven’t worn in ages because it’s too much effort to stuff yourself inside them.

The following workoutis designed to firm your butt, tone your thighs, tighten your core, and zap your love handles. In short, you’ll pare down the problem spots that are coming between you and your much-loved denim.

Rapid Toners
These eight moves will ignite your body’s fat-burning power and leave you trim and toned.

Do 2 to 3 sets of each move three nonconsecutive days a week. Increase the calorie burn by limiting rest to 30 seconds (or less!) between sets and exercises.

Sit on the floor with your legs fully extended, leaning back on your elbows, your fingers cupping the sides of your hips (a). Keeping your lower back pressed into the floor, engage your core and lift your legs about 45 degrees. Point your toes, press your thighs together, and trace 12 large clockwise circles (b), then 12 counterclockwise circles.

 

 

 

 

 

Hold a 5- to 15-pound dumbbell in each hand and stand on your right leg, lifting your left leg a few inches behind you (a). Keeping your back straight, lean forward from your hips until your body is almost parallel to the floor, the weights in line with your shoulders (b). Return to start. That’s 1 rep. Do 12, then switch legs.

 

 

 

 

Stand with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart and turned out 45 degrees. Bend into a squat with your knees over your ankles (a). From that position, step out with your left foot, keeping your knees bent in the squat position (b). Take a step with your right foot to return to start. Continue walking sideways, taking 10 steps to the right and then 10 to the left.

 

 

 

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and hold a pair of 5- to 15-pound dumbbells at your shoulders, palms facing forward (a). Keeping your knees slightly bent and your torso straight, slowly bend from your hips until your upper body is parallel to the floor (b). Hold for 5 seconds and return to start. That’s 1 rep; do 8 to 10.

 

 

 

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your arms at your sides. Lift your right knee until your thigh is parallel to the floor and raise your arms overhead, palms facing in (a). Hold for 5 seconds, then slowly drop your right foot into a front lunge (b). Bring your left leg forward and return to standing. That’s 1 rep. Do 10 to 12 on each leg, alternating sides.

 

 

 

Get on the floor and prop yourself up with your toes flexed underneath you and your elbows under your shoulders, shoulder blades back and down (a). Your body should form a straight line. Brace your abs and lift your right leg up about 10 inches (b). Balance your body weight on your forearms and the stabilizing leg. Hold for up to 60 seconds. Switch legs and repeat on the other side.

 

 

 

Hold a pair of 5- to 15-pound dumbbells at hip level and stand facing a step with your right foot planted on the step. Leaning your chest forward slightly, lunge backward with your left leg, bending your right knee 90 degrees (a). From that position, bring your left foot up to meet the right on the step; squat and hold for 2 seconds (b). Stand and return to start. That’s 1 rep. Repeat with the other leg; do 10 to 12 reps on each leg.

 

 

 

Lie facedown over a bench or padded stool with your legs hanging off the edge (a). Engage your abs and lift both legs until your body forms a straight line (b). Hold for 5 seconds, then lower slowly. That’s 1 rep; do 10 to 15.

Is Your Diet Making You Gain?

Avoid these 6 surprising healthy eating mistakes.

1. You Hoard Calories

Yes, cutting total calories leads to weight loss. But bank most of those calories for the end of the day and your hunger hormones will go haywire, making you eat more. Middle-aged men and women who ate their daily number of calories in one supersize supper produced more ghrelin, a hormone that causes hunger, than when they ate the same number of calories in three square meals, found researchers at the National Institute on Aging.

Smarter move: Front-load your calories. Overeating at night keeps you from being hungry in the morning, setting off a vicious cycle in which you’re never interested in breakfast but always starving by dinner. The key is to rebalance your day so you don’t set yourself up for an evening binge. To get your appetite back in the morning, cut your evening meal in half. Then eat a breakfast of about 450 calories, such as a scrambled egg with low-fat cheese on a whole wheat English muffin with an 8-ounce glass of juice–an amount that should keep you satisfied until lunch, says George L. Blackburn, MD, PhD, associate director of the division of nutrition at Harvard Medical School and author of Break Through Your Set Point. Once your appetite adjusts, don’t go more than 5 hours without another meal of roughly the same size.

2. You Eat Erratically

Trouble is, grazing may contribute to weight gain, according to a 2005 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study. When researchers asked women to eat at regular, fixed times or to break their usual amount of food into unscheduled meals throughout the day, they made a startling discovery: The women actually burned more calories in the 3 hours after eating the regular meals than they did after the unplanned meals. They produced less insulin, too, potentially lowering their odds of insulin resistance, which is linked to weight gain and obesity. What’s more, grazing instead of planning ahead can set you up to eat mindlessly, says Zied. In the end, we rarely realize how many calories all those little nibbles and noshes really add up to.

Smarter move: Figure out how many times a day you need to eat–everybody is different–and then stick to a schedule. “It’s not great to feel starved, but it is okay to feel slightly hungry,” says Zied. You can home in on your body’s internal cues with a food diary. It’s so effective that earlier this year, researchers at Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research found that dieters who kept a food journal lost twice as much weight as those who didn’t record what they ate.

3. You Don’t Count Every Calorie

People consistently underestimate the calories in nutritious items such as yogurt, fish, and baked chicken, found researchers at Bowling Green State University who quizzed students on calorie counts. “Just because a food is healthy doesn’t mean you can eat big portions,” says D. Milton Stokes, MPH, RD, owner of One Source Nutrition in Stamford, CT. “A handful of nuts can be 200 calories or more. And if you add that without cutting back elsewhere, it could be the reason you’re not losing weight.”

Smarter move: Count all calories. Once you learn that 1/2 cup of cereal can have as much as 200 calories or that there are about 220 calories in that “single-serving” bottle of OJ, you’ll be more prudent about how much you use.

4. You Crash Diet

Slashing significant calories might sound like the fast track to weight loss, but it’s likely to backfire. In fact, nutrition experts recommend you don’t dip below 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day. “If you crash diet for more than 2 weeks or so, your metabolism will temporarily slow down,” says Blackburn. “So the same exact dieting effort results in less and less weight loss.” The reason: Your body is conserving energy to keep you from losing weight too quickly. And that’s not all. When you drastically cut calories, you lose muscle along with fat–especially if you haven’t been exercising. Because muscle is your body’s calorie-burning furnace, this can slow down your metabolism, even long after your crash diet is done.

Smarter move: Aim to shed about a pound a week–the slow, steady weight loss ensures you lose fat, not muscle. “If you want to drop 10 pounds, get started 10 weeks before your goal, not 4,” says Blackburn. “You’ll have a better chance of actually taking off the weight permanently.” To drop a pound a week, shave 250 calories from your diet and burn an extra 250 calories through exercise each day.

5. You Set Short-term Weight-loss Goals

The National Weight Control Registry estimates that only 20% of dieters successfully keep off lost weight for more than a year. That’s because after we reach our goal, we let old eating habits creep back in. But people who win at weight loss consistently eat the same way even after they’ve slimmed down. In fact, the NWCR found that dieters who maintain their healthy eating habits every single day are 1 1/2 times more likely to maintain their weight loss in the long run than those who relax their diets on the weekends.

Smarter move: Think of healthy eating as a work in progress, not as a “diet” with a beginning and an end. The key: making small changes you can maintain so they become long-term habits. Start by creating a list of problem areas in your diet, then tackle them one at a time. For example, if you snack on a heaping handful of Oreos every night before bed, set a goal of having two instead of six, and cut back by one a day. Once you’ve made that a habit, pat yourself on the back and move on to your next goal.

6. You Think “Low-Fat” means “Splurge”

Research suggests that when a food is described as a diet food, we’re subconsciously primed to eat more–even if it’s actually as caloric as regular food. When Cornell University researchers offered the same M&M’s candies labeled either regular or low-fat to visitors at a university open house, visitors ate 28% more of the “low-fat” snacks. While less fat does not mean fewer calories, people make the assumption that it does, setting them up to overeat, say scientists.

Smarter move: First, check food labels: So-called diet foods frequently don’t save you calories. Take low-fat chocolate chip cookies–because they’ve been infused with extra carbs to add flavor, you save only 3 calories per cookie. Once you have that reality check, follow the golden rule for any food: Keep close tabs on portions. Limit yourself to two small cookies, for example, or trade in a bowl of frozen yogurt for a kid’s-size scoop; measure out condiments such as low-fat sour cream or low-fat ranch dressing. And remember–if you prefer the flavor of full-fat foods, you’ll still lose weight if you watch your portion sizes.

Eating Healthy For Dummies – 24 Ways to Re-Invent Your Diet

So you’ve been trying to eat healthy. Or maybe you haven’t even been trying. But perhaps it’s something you’re thinking about. After all, you’re bombarded each day with news that tells you to lower your sodium intake, eat less packaged food, consume less sugar or re-invent your diet.  But the truth is, it can be quite intimidating when you actually throw open your cupboard, pantry and refrigerator and try to figure out what is healthy and what isn’t, and many of these fear-mongering articles don’t actually tell you how to eat healthy.

And to make the problem even worse, if you actually do throw out those unhealthy items like potato chips, frozen hot dogs, candy bars, white flour and sweet cereal, what do you actually replace them with? How do you eat healthy without starving yourself?

Consider this article your “Dummies Guide to Eating Healthy”. With the simple substitutions outlined here, you can gradually eliminate the items in your kitchen that will make you fat, sick, fatigued, sore or grumpy, and easily replace them with the items that will transform your body and make your health rise to new levels.

Here’s how it works: I’m going to list a popular  item from your kitchen that you may or may not realize is unhealthy, and then give you some alternative choices for that item that you should be able to find at your local grocery store. You can then make the simple healthy food substitution and move on down the list to prepare for healthy grocery shopping! Are you ready to start?

Soda pop, Coke, Dr. Pepper, Kool-aid, etc. – Substitute sparkling water with natural flavors, purified water.

Juice “Cocktails” or “Drinks”, Powdered or Artificially Flavored Drinks (i.e. Frozen Orange Juice Concentrate, Fruit Punch, etc.) – Substitute unsweetened fruit juices like cranberry or fresh squeezed juices like orange.

Black tea and Coffee - Peppermint tea (decaf substitute) and green tea (caffeine substitute).

White Pasta (of any shape) – Substitute whole wheat pasta, spelt pasta, sesame pasta.

White Rice - Substitute quinoa, amaranth, brown rice, buckwheat, millet, barley, rye or oats.

White, Wheat, Rye, Barley or Oat Flour – Substitute ground whole grain flour (Arrowhead Mills has good brand).

Boxed “Sweet” Cereals – Substitute Kashi Go Lean, Bob’s Red Mill, Nature’s Path Corn Flakes, any Health Valley brand, or any Arrowhead Mills brand.

White Flour Crackers – Substitute rice cakes, rye or spelt crackers, or whole grain wafers.

Margarine - Yes, it’s actually not healthy. Substitute butter, in very small amounts.

Vegetable Oils (includes canola oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, cottonseed oil and safflower oil) – Substitute extra-virgin olive oil or grapeseed oil for low temperatures/dressings, and extra virgin coconut oil for high temperatures.

Regular Milk – Substitute plain rice milk, plain almond milk.

Cheddar Cheese or Swiss Cheese (or any other high calorie “blocks” of cheese) - Substitute pre-shredded fresh parmesan, crumbled goat or crumbled feta cheese. Better for you and you’ll use less. They also make something called rice cheese, but it’s more expensive.

Flavored Yogurt - Substitute plain, fat-free yogurt, and add flavor with a handful of frozen or fresh berries. You’ll save yourself from consuming over 4 teaspoons of added sugar.

Distilled Vinegar - Substitute apple cider vinegar with fewer toxins.

Aluminum Baking Powder/Baking Soda – Substitute aluminum free, low-sodium baking powder.

Cocoa, chocolate - Substitute “carob” (extremely low calorie and tastes similar, you can get it as chunks or powdered).

White Sugar & Corn Syrup – Substitute raw honey and pure maple syrup, or Stevia for zero calories.

Splenda, Sweet n’ Low, Artificial Sweeteners – Substitute Stevia.

Brown Sugar – Substitute molasses or dried raw can juice.

Potato Chips – Substitute baked chips or vegetable chips.

Dried Fruits (with sulphur) or “Packaged” Trail Mix – Substitute dried unsulphured fruits and raw, unsalted nuts from bulk foods aisle.

Regular Peanut Butter - Substitute natural peanut butter with no added sugars or salts or, better yet, almond butter or cashew butter.

Canned or Frozen Fruits with Added Sugars – Regular raw fruits from produce aisle.

Commercially Raised Animals Fed Grains/Hay Treated with Chemicals and given Chemicals to Keep Them “Healthy” – Substitute lean free range chicken and turkey, locally raised or organic, grass-fed beef, venison, buffalo or bison. Also eat more beans, peas, lentils and whole grains, and use protein powders.

Here’s an easy way to do it: get out a pen and piece of paper, go through your pantries and refrigerator, find any of the “bold” type unhealthy foods above, and write down on the piece of paper what the substitute should be. Then go shopping. Once the healthy food substitutions are in your house, you’ll be set to go! Did I miss any popular foods for which you still need substitutions? Just e-mail basmith34@gmail.com or leave a comment on this post.

And remember: the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results. Don’t get stuck in that rut. Once you commit, make these changes, and re-invent your diet, I can guarantee that you will be able to watch the fat literally melt away while your health, performance and energy levels soar!

Four For Your Core

Score a flat belly with this quickie total-body workout

You can barely commit to a monthly book club–how can you possibly dedicate a day or two each week to working just your core? Thankfully, there’s no need.

Go from one exercise to the next without rest; that’s one circuit. Complete three circuits, resting for 45 seconds between each. Do the workout two or three nonconsecutive days a week.

Chest Press with Crunch
Works: core and chest
Grab a pair of 8- to 10-pound dumbbells and lie with your upper back on a Swiss ball, feet flat on the floor. Position the dumbbells overyour shoulders. Press the weights straight up. Once your arms are straight, brace your abs and lift your shoulder blades off the ball. Pause, then lower back to start. Do 8 to 10 reps.

Lateral Raise with Rotation
Works: core and arms
Grab a pair of 5- to 8-pound dumbbells and stand with your feet hip-width apart. With your arms slightly bent, raise the weights until your arms are parallel to the floor. Rotate your torso to the right. Rotate back to the center and lower your arms. Repeat to the other side. That’s 1 rep; do 6.

Lunging Crunch
Works: core and legs
Grab the rope attachment of a cable-pulley machine with both hands. Facing away from the machine, step forward until the cable is taut. Lunge forward with your left foot while crunching your shoulders toward your knees. Brace your abs and stand up. Do 8 to 10 reps per leg. No machine? Hold a dumbbell in front of your chest instead.

Pullup with Leg Raise
Works: core and upper body
Grab a pullup bar with an overhand grip. Cross your ankles behind you. Pull yourself up until your chin passes the bar. Pull your knees toward your chest, then lower them and return to start. Do up to 6 reps. Don’t have access to a pullup bar? Brace your abs as you do 10 to 12 pushups. Place your feet on a Swiss ball if you have one.

The Metabolic Key to Weight Loss

BMR stands for “Basal Metabolic Rate”, which is the number of calories your body burns at rest to maintain life. While we like to think that our hardcore gym routine burns the most calories of the day, it actually doesn’t even come close. Instead, the BMR is responsible for 60-70% of the calories expended, through activities such as the beating of the heart, respiration, and body temperature maintenance. Here are some key factors that affect the BMR:

• Genetics. The one factor we can’t directly change. Some individuals have fast metabolisms, and some have slow metabolisms.

• Gender. Due to greater muscle mass and lower body fat percentage, men have a 10-15% faster BMR than women.

• Age. Because a younger person has a higher rate of cell division, once you are 20 years old, your BMR drops about 2% every 10 years.

• Weight. Due to increased body tissue volume, an obese individual actually has a higher metabolism than a thin person.

• Height. Tall thin people have a higher BMR than short people of equal weight. If both are on the same diet, the short person will gain much more fat.

• Body Fat %. A lower body fat % means a higher BMR.

• Diet. A strict diet or severe calorie restiction can reduce BMR by up to 30%. This is one of the reasons why people on a crash diet lose up to 20lbs of water weight, then plateau.

• Body temperature. For every 0.5 degree celsius increase in internal body temperature, the BMR increases approximately 7%. Physical activity significantly increases body temperature.

• External temperature. Prolonged exposure to extremely warm or very cold environments increases the BMR. People who live in these type of settings often have BMR’s that are 5-20% higher than those in other climates.

• Endocrine function. Thyroid glands that produce too much thyroxin can double the BMR, while BMR can drop by 30-40% in individuals with hypothyroidism, or inadequate thyroxin production.

• Exercise. In addition to increasing body temperature, exercise increases lean muscle mass, which burns more calories than fat – even when you’re not exercising.

The actual number of calories burnt by the BMR averages around 2000-2100 calories per day for women and 2700-2900 per day for men. The total day’s energy expenditure can dramatically increase this number, with very active athletes burning up to 6000-8000 calories per day.

So how do you determine what your personal BMR actually is? While there are advanced technologies, such as measuring heat output or expired gas exchange (if you’re interested, I actually run a lab that offers this option), there are also several different formulas. Here are three:

• Multiply. Take your body weight in lbs., and multiply by 15-16. This will give you an approximation of your BMR. If you want to lose weight, multiply by 12-13, and if you want to gain weight, multiply by 18-19. This method is very simple, but doesn’t account for body fat %, and will overestimate caloric needs for someone who is obese (30% body fat or more).

• Harris-Benedict formula. This formula uses height, weight, age and sex factors to determine BMR. It is more accurate than the multiplying factor, but also does not account for body fat %, and may also be prone to calorie overestimation for obese people. Remember, 1kg is 2.2lbs, and 1 inch is 2.54 cm.

o Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) – (6.8 Xage in years)

o Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) – (4.7 X age in years)

• Katch-Mcardle formula. This formula is the most accurate, and accounts for body fat %. To find “lean mass in kg”, simply multiply your weight in kg by your body fat %.

oMen and Women: BMR = 370 + (21.6 X lean mass in kg).

Remember, the BMR does not take into account your activity levels. This is where activity multipliers can be used to determine your total daily energy expenditure.

• Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)

• Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)

• Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)

• Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)

• Extra active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.)

An alternative to using activity multipliers is to use a heart rate monitor or personal calorie measuring device like a bodybugg arm band (www.bodybugg.com), both of which can approximate calories burnt during daily activities.

The last step in using this information to lose body fat or gain weight, depending on your goals, is to adjust your caloric intake so that it falls above or below your total daily energy expenditure. Let’s say that you determine your BMR is 1800, and your additional energy expenditure is 700, for a total of 2500 calories. By decreasing your total caloric intake to 2000 calories per day, you will be at a 500 calorie per day deficit. Since a pound of fat is 3500 calories, this simple change can result in a loss of 1 pound of fat per week. A good place to start for caloric restriction is to consume about 15-20% less than the total daily energy expenditure.

Remember, if you consume too few calories, or decrease caloric consumption significantly, you can depress your metabolism, decrease thyroid hormone production, and lose lean muscle. A good guideline is to never consume more than 1000 calories per day less than your total energy expenditure. General health recommendations recommend that women never consume less than 1200 calories per day, and men never consume less than 1800 calories per day. Listen to your body! If you are constantly sluggish, fatigued, depressed or nonmotivated, you may be overly restricting calories. But if you use your BMR to accurately adjust your energy intake levels, you can unlock the metabolic key to weight loss success.

Your Other Backside

Shoulder exercises are a popular part of resistance workouts. Working out while facing a mirror, many people train what they can see — the front and middle heads of the three-part deltoid muscle. But the rear head of the deltoid needs attention too. Otherwise, you’ll have unbalanced strength in your shoulders, which can set you up for a rotator cuff injury.

Let’s take some time to target the backs of your shoulders with bent-over shoulder raises. Here’s how:

1. Sit on the edge of a workout bench or a chair, a dumbbell in each hand and your feet shoulder-width apart. Bend forward at the waist so that your upper body is parallel to the floor. Let your arms hang straight down under your chest, with your palms facing behind you. Exhale and lift the arms up and out to the sides until your arms are parallel to the floor. Hold for a beat.
2. Inhale and slowly lower your arms back to the starting position; repeat. Keep a slight bend in your elbows throughout the entire movement. Be careful not to lift your torso when you raise the weights.

10 Snacks That Melt Fat

Whether lying awake in bed at night when hunger pangs strike, or at a social gathering where snack plates are circulating, most of us have experienced food cravings that are just too hard to resist. When the time comes to choose your snack, are you prepared to make the right decision? More specifically, are your prepared to reach for a food that will actually burn more calories than it contains? These types of foods, called negative calorie foods, are purported to have so little energy that your body uses more energy to digest and absorb the nutrients than the food actually contains! Switching to negative calorie foods for the majority of your snacking, combined with a solid exercise program, can enable you to literally watch fat melt away!

This article is going to give you a jump-start on your nutrition with 10 negative energy snacks that will boost your metabolism and burn loads of calories.

1. Cabbage. I suggest supplementing a daily salad with sliced cabbage strips, or finding a healthy cabbage salad recipe.

2. Celery. Drenched in peanut butter and raisins does not count.

3. Cucumber. Sliced cucumbers make a great addition to any salad or stir-fry.

4. Carrots. Again, sliced on salad, or eaten raw, if you prefer.

5. Tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes are great snacks, or stack them on a healthy sandwich with lettuce (another negative calorie food!).

6. Blackberries/Raspberries/Strawberries. Great for snacking raw, or throwing into a blender or a bowl of oatmeal.

7. Grapefuit. A bowl of fresh grapefruit on the breakfast table is a smart addition.

8. Watermelon/Honeydew/Canteloupe. Again, good for smoothies, nice for breakfast, great for snacking.

9. Peaches. Throw into a ziplock bag for a convenient snack at work or travel. Just remember napkins.

10. Mandarin oranges. Wonderful on salads, or with a meat such as chicken.

So how does it work? Basically, your body’s response to the presence of these foods results in the production of digestive enzymes, which act like small engines to break up carbohydrates, protein, and fat. However, because of their specific vitamin and mineral content, the enzyme response to these foods is so great that there are enough engines to not only break down the negative calorie food, but also additional calories that are present in digestion. So a 5 calorie piece of celery may take 30 calories to burn, resulting in a negative 25 calorie intake. Amazing! I haven’t seen the research that actually shows the science, but I know it’s worked with dozens of people that I train, so try it out!

How Sugar Makes You Fat!

Look at how many grams of sugar are in what you’re eating (on the nutritional label). Now divide that number by 4. That’s how many teaspoons of pure sugar you’re consuming. Kinda scary, huh? Sugar makes you fat and fat-free food isn’t really free of fat. I’ve said it before in multiple articles, but occasionally, I’ve had someone lean over my desk and say “How in the heck does sugar make you fat if there’s no fat in it?”. This article will answer that puzzler, and provide you with some helpful suggestions to achieve not only weight loss success, but improved body health.

First, let’s make some qualifications. Sugar isn’t inherently evil. Your body uses sugar to survive, and burns sugar to provide you with the energy necessary for life. Many truly healthy foods are actually broken down to sugar in the body – through the conversion of long and complex sugars called polysaccharides into short and simple sugars called monosaccharides, such as glucose. In additions to the breakdown products of fat and protein, glucose is a great energy source for your body.

However, there are two ways that sugar can sabotage your body and cause fat storage. Excess glucose is the first problem, and it involves a very simple concept. Anytime you have filled your body with more fuel than it actually needs (and this is very easy to do when eating foods with high sugar content), your liver’s sugar storage capacity is exceeded. When the liver is maximally full, the excess sugar is converted by the liver into fatty acids (that’s right – fat!) and returned to the bloodstream, where is taken throughout your body and stored (that’s right – as fat!) wherever you tend to store adipose fat cells, including, but not limited to, the popular regions of the stomach, hips, butt, and breasts.

As an unfortunate bonus, once these regions are full of adipose tissue, the fatty acids begin to spill over into your organs, like the heart, liver, and kidneys. This reduces organ ability, raises blood pressure, decreases metabolism, and weakens the immune system.  Not good!

Excess insulin is the second problem. Insulin is a major hormone in the body, and is released in high levels anytime you ingest what would be considered a “simple” carbohydrate, which would include, but not be limited to: fruit juice, white bread, most “wheat” bread (basically white bread with a little extra fiber), white rice, baked white potato, bagels, croissants, pretzels, graham crackers, vanilla wafers, waffles, corn chips, cornflakes, cake, jelly beans, sugary drinks, Gatorade, beer, and anything that has high fructose corn syrup on the nutritional label.

Two actions occur when the insulin levels are spiked. First, the body’s fat burning process is shut down so that the sugar that has just been ingested can be immediately used for energy. Then, insulin takes all that sugar and puts it into your muscles. Well, not quite! Actually, most of us, except those random Ironman triathletes and 8000-calories-per-day exercisers, walk around with fairly full energy stores in the muscles. As soon as the muscles energy stores are full, the excess sugars are converted to fat and, just like the fatty acids released from the liver, stored as adipose tissue on our waistline.

But that’s not all. After the blood sugar has been reduced by going into the muscles or being converted to fat in the liver, the feedback mechanism that tells the body to stop producing insulin is slightly

delayed, so blood sugar levels fall even lower, below normal measurements. This causes  1) an immediate increase in appetite, which is usually remedied by eating more food; 2) the production of a stress hormone called cortisol. Cortisol triggers the release of stored sugar from the liver to bring blood sugar levels back up, which, combined with the meal you eat from your appetite increase, begins the entire “fat storage, metabolic decrease” process over again.

This process of destabilizing blood sugar levels and sending our body on a roller coaster ride can occur throughout an entire day, week, or month. The excessive cortisol that accumulates in the body eventually distresses your hormonal system and results in other problems, including a further decrease in metabolism, obesity, depression, allergies, immune weakness, chronic fatigue syndrome and other serious side effects.

So what kind of carbohydrates can you eat to avoid de-stabilizing blood sugar levels, constantly  sabotaging your weight loss, and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in health care as you get older? Here is a list of carbohydrates do not trigger such a strong insulin response and instead provide long-term, stabilized energy: apples, oranges, pears, plums, grapes, bananas (not overly ripened), grapefruit, oatmeal, brown rice, whole wheat spaghetti and egg fettuccine, whole-wheat pasta, bran cereal, barley, bulgur, basmati, Kashi and other whole grains, beans, peas (especially chick and black-eyed), lentils, whole corn, sweet potatoes, yams, milk, yogurt (preferably low-fat or fat-free) and soy. Stay away from processed and packaged foods as much as possible, because they are highly likely to include artificial sweeteners (which basically have a similar effect as sugar), as well as simple and refined sugars. Keep your eye out for ingredients that include sucrose, maltose, dextrose, fructose, galactose, glucose, arabinose, ribose, xylose, deoxyribose, lactose, and other fake names for sugars. Even “healthy” juice and many health food products will need to be avoided if they contain high levels of sugar.

It may be tough to cut the sugar, but I guarantee that making this one change will give you noticeably better energy, drastically improved health, and a more satisfactory diet. Get started today – begin reading those food labels!