Buh-bye Love Handles

From a Jillian Michaels email newsletter - basic stuff we already know, but good to hear it again.

Q: What kind of exercises can I do to target my love handles and get rid of them once and for all?
A: This answer is the same one I have for any spot-reducing question you guys could ask. Both belly bulge and love handles are about excess body fat, not lack of muscle. Crunches and ab exercises are therefore not the solution. The best way to reduce these problem areas is to reduce your overall body fat percentage, and we all know that that requires diet and exercise.

That said, I'm actually experimenting with different stretches and light isolation exercises to try for specific areas of the body. These stretches will bring blood, and thus oxygen, to these problem areas — my theory is that the oxidization will help break down the fat. And hey, stretching is always beneficial! For love handles, try this side-bend stretch in conjunction with diet, exercise, sodium reduction, and 80 ounces of water a day:

Side Bend (Do this stretch at least three times a day throughout the day.)

Purpose: To stretch the triceps, upper back, abdominals, and obliques.
Here's how you do it: Bend to one side, while holding your opposite arm overhead, then quickly stretch to the other side, raising the other arm. This drill should be done in a controlled, continuous fashion for 10 stretches on each side of your body.

Vitamins

It's important to make sure to get all of your daily nutrients, but can be difficult when dieting. I think this may be irrelevant to us, since everyone seems to be taking the balanced approach, but you never know. I've always struggled with my iron levels and until I started keeping a food diary I hadn't really paid attention to what my values were. This is huge for me because I know iron can cause fatigue and, well, I had been feeling quite a bit of fatigue lately and realized my iron is too low. I'm also terrible at taking pills daily, so I keep a bottle of multi-vitamins at my desk and am getting into the routine of taking it while I eat breakfast or lunch. It has been suggested that I set a recurring alarm to make sure I take it, which I may end up doing because I know how important it is to for me. The dietitian I work with has said it can be beneficial to cut multi-vitamin's in half and take them morning and night because your body can only absorb so much at a time. I'm not all into that yet because that requires more of my time and I'm lazy. :)

Pumpkin Spice Lattes

Who loves Starbuck's Pumpkin Spice Lattes as much as me? They are a major weakness for me when fall rolls around. Besides the fact that I don't want to spend $5 everyday on a latte, I decided to try to make something similar to save calories (and money!). I bought some Torani Sugar Free Pumpkin Pie Syrup from World Market a couple weeks ago. What I did was I put a few teaspoons of the SF syrup and a tablespoon of fat free powder creamer into my coffee. It is not exactly the same, but it's close enough that I'll take it to save 170 calories, a bunch of carbs and almost $5. I'm thinking I'll try the latte version tomorrow... I'll let ya know how it goes.

Fill Me Up (with soup!)

I just made this pumpkin soup. It was pretty good and it was SUPER filling, but I've also been sick and had some dental work done, so not being able to eat has shrunk my stomach a little. It only has about 130 calories per serving and is low-fat, too. I personally think soy milk makes everything seem more rich than than it really is, therefore more satisfying and not feeling quite like diet food. One of those that you can make for dinner and have for lunch the next day.

The Skinny on Oils

Even though we're all avoiding the fried foods and cutting out many of our "treats" we still want our food to taste good, right? Well, that can be accomplished through seasoning AND through oils. Don't just use olive oil (or Pam) to saute your veggies. Venture out and give yourself a real treat with some richer, more decadent oils. My favorites are white truffle oil and dark sesame oil. When used in modersation they can bring an amazing flavor to your food while only adding a couple of extra calories - definitely a worthwhile tradeoff in my opinion!

Here's the skinny on 1 tbsp of oil:
Olive Oil: 119 calories/13.5 g fat, 1.7 g saturated fat
Truffle Oil: 120 calories/ 14 g fat, 2 g saturated fat
Sesame Oil: 123 calories/ 13.7 g fat, 1.9 g saturated fat

Peanut Oil and Canola Oil are in the same ballpark, too.

So, steam your veggies and drizzle a teensy bit of truffle oil or sesame oil on them for a new, amazing, decadent flavor.

Drizzle on grilled, roasted and baked meats or fish and veggies.

The only real difference in these is cost. Truffle oil is quite pricey and sesame oil is more than olive oil, but if it gets you to eat those boring UNFRIED veggies with no ranch to dip them in then it's probably worth it ... for a while anyway. And by the time we're all broke we should be skinny so we'll be happy anyway, right?! :)

Salts and bloat

Did you know that 1 teaspoon, yes TEASPOON, of soy sauce can cause you to gain 2 pounds of water bloat? Salt is generally bad, bad, bad for weight loss because it causes your body to grab onto every h2O molecule that floats by. So, while it may just be a short-term weight gain that's easily lost, it does a lot for our motivation ... or lack thereof. And it makes you puffy. Gross.

My advice on salt is to minimize your intake while in weight loss mode - use seasonings and spices liberally. Pepper is totally fine. Also the Mrs. Dash seasonings are good - they make you think you're getting salt, but not giving you the bloat. And do all the other obvious things - buy low sodium foods when possible, low sodium soy, limit the diet soda intake, etc.

You Know We're Gonna Drink

Because we're trying to be realistic, we know we're going to have a least a few drinks while we're on this diet. So here are some tips:

• Instead of just sitting there knowing that we should be drinking a glass of water for each alcoholic beverage (*cough* Vicki *cough*) we're actually going to do it.


• And drink a lot of water before going out and after getting home.


• Try really hard to not eat food when getting home late at night after partying. Sometimes it's necessary or worth it, but it can't happen every time. We can't be our own worst enemies and convince ourselves we need it, either!


• Try to find lower-calorie versions of our favorite drinks.

Bottoms up!

Food Finds

These are some great, filling, low(er)-cal options:

• Aunt Millie's Whole Wheat Slimwiches - 90 calorie bun; perfect amount of bread because regular buns are just too much if you ask me


• Dannon Light n Fit - 80 calories in a single serving container


• nonfat Greek Yogurt (flavored) - loaded with protein!


• All Whites Egg Whites - high protein, low cal


• Blue Diamond Wasabi and Soy Almonds - delicious, protein packed snack (my latest obsession. next up - Cinnamon Brown Sugar!)


• 94% fat free popcorn - make it yourself and it's even better, but I struggle with making it myself and let's be serious, I'm all about convenience


• lowfat cottage cheese


• veggie burgers (any kind) - low cal, low fat, always a great source of protein, super easy and fast to throw on a Slimwich


• Babybel - they now have all sorts of flavors

Enjoy!

Subway Swap

Not sure if you love Subway as much as I do, but saw this simple swap today and thought it was good advice. Found it on the MensHealth: Eat This, Not That email. I never think to make these simple swaps, but this one cuts the calories in half and is only a fraction of the fat.

6-Inch Chicken Marinara Sub

The meatball marinara sub tastes great, but costs you 580 calories and 23 grams of fat. If they use oven-roasted chicken instead of the meatballs, you save 260 calories and 19 grams of fat. Top with oregano and a few black olives. Jared would approve.

Read more about off-the-menu swaps.

Jackie Warner Secret Smoothie

I have heard her swear by this smoothie for YEARS! I'm definitely going to try it. Good for breakfast & pre-workout. Here's the recipe and the video.

1 scoop low-glycemic Protein Powder
1 tsp Glutamine Powder
1 tsp BCAA Powder
1 tbsp L Carnitine
1/2 tbsp Flax Seed Oil
1 cup frozen spinach
1 cup frozen berries

Bottoms up!