Try to eat your way to skinny

If you're up for the challenge, soup could be the answer.

Do you really think I have a gimmick for you? I've never offered my readers a quick fix for losing weight, and I'm not going to start now.

However, I came across a method you may want to add to your plan or dropping a few pounds. As you may have already discovered, working out is half of the answer to losing unwanted weight. In fact, some people may argue it is less than half the answer.

The majority of the solution then falls on your eating habits. You can't eat what you want and expect to get miraculous results just because you're working out.

But what should you eat? Maybe you're not into eating salads for every meal and have trouble preparing well-balanced home cooked meals.

Have you considered soup? It's a one-pot meal that if made properly, can contain tons of vegetables, protein and essential nutrients. I personally like soup as a meal because it's easy to prepare, you can take it for lunch and you can get you a day's servings of vegetables almost in one serving.

There's even a Skinny Soup. It's low-cal, low-fat and full of fresh vegetables. And the best part is you can use vegetables you like to eat.

Click here for the Skinny Soup recipe

I would put chicken breast in mine to boost the protein, which you will need while working out.

Finally, check out this article, "Soup Therapy: Detoxify, Lose Weight, and Boost Immunity."

There's some truth to soup helping you get over illness. In addition to its healing powers, soup can function as a detoxifier because of the vegetables used. Fresh, organic veggies prove to be the best ingredients so keep that in mind when go grocery shopping.

And don't forget your seasonal vegetable list if you're unsure about what's in season. By shopping in season, you're more likely to support your local farmers and get the best quality food.

Click here for the Fruits and Vegetables Season by Season Guide

Ditching the woman pooch easier said than done

Either you’ve seen pooch, know someone with one or have one of your own, and it’s probably been hanging around for a while.

Not to be confused with a gut, which begins just below the rib cage, a pooch is that region just below a woman’s belly button that may give the appearance of a first trimester pregnancy.

In fact, women who have given birth may have a more prominent pooch.

The bottom line is how do you get rid of it?  Even the most physically fit women can’t ditch it, and you may find that your efforts to get rid of it are misdirected.

Before I elaborate on some ways to fight the pooch, I want to ensure you that it’s natural and you should not be embarrassed about it.  However, if you feel your pooch is larger than normal or that it’s not slimming down with healthy eating an exercise, visit your doctor.

I recommend adopting low fat, low calorie eating habits permanently along with a physical program that involves of a mix of cardio, core and abdominal exercises.

Your eating habits will promote fat loss while your exercise program targets the problem.

The pooch is fat so the only way to burn fat is to burn calories. That’s where the cardio comes in.  The core exercises will target your entire mid section (upper, lower abs and obliques).  Finally, abdomen exercises will shape the muscles so when you shed the fat it will reveal beautifully defined abs.

Now, don’t expect a miracle, especially if you are not in good physical shape and do not have good eating habits.  Give your new plan time. It takes some women months or a year or so for when starting from scratch.

Finally, dress for the pooch.  If you know you’re not going to do what it takes or if you need a little help as you work on it, consider adjusting how you dress.  Basically, if you don’t look good in something or don’t like the way it accentuates your pooch, don’t wear it. High-waisted pants, belted garments at the waist and form-fitting shirts or dresses are definite no-nos.

Here are some exercises to get you started:
Top 5 Women's Abs Exercises for a Sexy Midsection
The Best Ab Exercises for Women

Pounds vs. inches: Which is better?

There are at least two things which you must understand when getting and staying in shape.

The first is your body weight.  If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you twice, get off the scale!

Weighing yourself daily is what I consider unnecessary torture. Often our weight fluctuates and when you monitor it daily, you can drive yourself crazy.

The biggest complaint I hear is from people who work out regularly and say they don’t see their weight decreasing.  For the sake of argument, we are going to assume they are eating healthy.

So I ask, “Do your clothes fit better and do you feel and look better?” And they always say, “Yes.”
So what’s the problem? They are not seeing the pounds decrease.

I believe losing inches is a greater victory than losing pounds.  A loss of inches indicates you’ve gotten rid of fat, and isn’t that your goal?

The problem is we associate pounds to how good someone is supposed to look or how thin a person is.  Of course your body weight is important, but don’t take it out of context.

Check out these articles, which will give you insight and hopefully end your worrying about what the scale says.

Pounds versus inches
The Docs Blog
Losing Inches not pounds (video)

That brings me to my second point, what about your BMI or Body Mass Index?

What’s more important than how much you weigh is the percentage of your lean to fat weight, which is also known as your BMI.

I entered my height and weight into the calculator and it gave me a number that I am not happy with. It says I’m overweight.

According to the CDC, “Body Mass Index (BMI) is a number calculated from a person's weight and height. BMI provides a reliable indicator of body fatness for most people and is used to screen for weight categories that may lead to health problems.”

In hopes of faring better, I calculated my ideal weight using a BMI calculator.

The outcome wasn’t much better.  Low and behold the weight it recommends for me! I haven’t weighed that little since high school.

The above website also references different methods for measuring your body composition. It is important that you remember the calculators are accurate for MOST people not ALL people.  It’s a guideline, so don’t take it literally especially if your health care provider deems you healthy and fit.

The best advice I can give you, is don’t put too much weight (pun intended) into the calculators.  Neither considers your muscle mass, genetic make-up or other factors that makes each person’s weight unique.

My point is I know I’m not overweight and I know I am a healthy person in regards to my cholesterol and blood pressure, so there are things that contribute to my weight that a calculator can’t account for.

And if you’re still not convinced that calculators and body weight is not the end all be all, think about this.  The following was written in a by Dr. Michael Roizen and Dr. Mehmet Oz (both of the Oprah Show):  “If you compare their weights to their heights, both Michael Jordan and LeBron James were/are technically overweight at the middle of their play-off runs.” Dr. Roizen told a woman concerned with her two pound weight gain despite her ½ inch loss around her waist.

By educating yourself, you can be more informed and less anxious about what scales and charts say you should be.

Sweat doesn’t equal calorie burn

Yep. It’s true. Sweating does not mean you are burning a lot of calories.
In fact, how much you sweat during a workout is not correlated to calorie burn.  What it means is your body does a good job of keeping you cool.

Sweat is the human body’s air conditioner and it turns on when it feels you heating up.  That means the environment you workout in effects how much some of us sweat.  So, if you workout in a warm environment, you will probably sweat more than if you worked out in a cool environment.

The way your body burns calories remains true no matter how hot or cold it is.  Calorie burn is based on an increased heart rate for a specific amount of time, usually 30 minutes or more for most people.

And when you burn calories, you burn fat.  And that’s the skinny.  There are no tricks, no gimmicks and no way to get around it.

Now, there is something to be said for sweating.  When you do so, you release or eliminate toxins from your body.  So, if you’re feeling a little down about the calorie thing, know you are still accomplishing a lot when you sweat.

And if you're interested in burning calories without without working up a sweat, check out this list of activities that will kickstart your metabolism.

Weight lifting doesn't make women manly

“If I lift weights, I will look like a man.”  If that’s what you think, read carefully.

It's appalling the large number of women who believe they should not weight train because it will make them bulk up or miraculously develop large, unsightly muscles.

First of all, any woman who believes that is misinformed.  About seven years ago, when I was at the height of my weight training, I was smaller than I am now and had less body fat.  So, don't believe that just because you lift you'll gain size and look more masculine.

It's not that easy to build muscle thus altering your feminine appearance.  In fact, it’s harder for women to build big muscles than men because women naturally don't have high levels of testosterone.

What's most frustrating for me about this topic is women who don't weight train don't seem to be concerned about strength.  To me, being thin and appearing fit is useless if you can’t perform basic functional strength exercises.  The exercises are called functional because they don't target one muscle group, but focus on ranges of motion.

For example, when you reach up to grab something off a shelf or place something on a shelf, you're performing a classic weight training movement.   It’s called an overhead press or push press in some cases, if the item is heavy.

Do you have to lift a heavy box or carry packages into the house? Sure you do.  In that movement you're executing a deadlift.

And if you have little ones who you pick up -- well, you’re deadlifting and squatting.

Your body appreciates your ability to perform those movements.  By adding weight training to your workout, you not only learn to execute those movements correctly, but you also become stronger and more efficient because you’re using weights.  The resistance or how heavy the weight is, combined with how many reps you do per set, directly affects how much muscle you will gain.

Therefore, there is a method to gaining muscle, it’s not automatic. The best past of weight training is its affect on your metabolism. Performing weight bearing exercises or lifting weights, combined with your cardiovascular workout is the best way to achieve a lean, sculpted body.

If you still have your doubts, check out this article, it hits the nail on the head and addresses all of the myths about women and weights.