Dieting Adventures
Morning!
It’s been over 2 years since I began my weight loss journey and to this day, I’ve managed to keep off 50+ pounds. In honor of that, I’ve started The Fitness Brainery…the one stop place for all fitness-related questions. I’d like to invite you to swing on by and check it out!
Enjoy,
Barbara
Morning,
Check out
over at Back in Skinny Jeans. To wit:
This woman does not look Plus-Size to me at all. I saw these ads for Marina Rinaldi inside O magazine, and thought wow what beautiful outfits. I had never heard of Marina Rinaldi before so I Googled the name.
I honestly was shocked to discover that Marina Rinaldi is the Plus-Size division of Italian designer Max Mara. This woman in the ad is supposed to be Plus-Size? Marina Rinaldi’s sizes run from a 10-22 US, and the clothes can be found at upscale department stores like Bloomingdale’s, Saks and Bergdorf Goodman. There are also Marina Rinaldi stores around the world.
They consider a size 10-12 Plus Size! Are you kidding me ?!?.….MORE….
Doesn’t look plus-sized to me whatsoever! Fashion is truly sad.
Data points,
Barbara
ps – speaking victoria secret:
Morning,
I’ll admit it myself, I adore Korean food (especially the beef cooked directly at the table, not to mention Kimchi, the food of the gods). Here’s a neat news report about the Korean food diet:
Samhui “Sam” Mitchell needs no coaxing to eat all her vegetables. Mitchell, a native Korean, says her Asian-based diet isn’t centered on meat.
Mitchell is inspired by her homeland when it comes to preparing food. She moved to the United States in 1984 and takes pride in sharing Korean culinary traditions with her family, which includes her husband, Edward, and sons, Ben, 16, and Joseph, 8.
Residence: Stilwell in Johnson County
Occupation: Korean book translator and cosmetologist
Special cooking interest: Korean food
Are you a vegetarian? I am not a vegetarian, but I do make more dishes with vegetables than I do with meat. In Korea, meat is used more as a seasoning. My Korean heritage has taught me to eat lots of vegetables. I also cook with seafood, not only fish, but also sea vegetables including seaweed. We also eat fresh fruit without dipping it into any sauces.
What are the biggest differences between how Americans and Koreans eat? Americans have taste buds that like meat, cheese, sugar and fried foods. Food is so plentiful here with so many choices.
I have found when I eat more fresh vegetables, I feel better. I try to pass along good eating habits to my children and get them to develop a taste for vegetables. We don’t indulge in sweets too often.
Is dinner the largest meal in Korea, as it typically is in America? In Korea, traditionally, the biggest meal was at breakfast. When I was growing up, most social gatherings in Korea were at breakfast and people would eat a protein, vegetable, fruit and soup in the morning. But nowadays, Koreans also have social gatherings in the evenings and they can have big dinners like here.
My parents really believed in a big breakfast, and I am trying to hand that tradition on to my kids. I like to make a big breakfast for my family to help them get their day started right….MORE….
And if the above intrigues you, here are some great Korean recipe sites:
Enjoy!
Barbara
ps – want to enjoy Korean music while eating Korean food?
This breaks my heart:
…According to a recent survey by M.E. Collins, 42 percent of girls in first through third grade want to be thinner. That’s right, dieting is no longer for those looking to fit into that dress for Prom or even for that first dance in junior high. Being thin is a concern for almost half of all six-year-old girls on the playground.
However, the desire to be thin isn’t confined to a specific age group or gender. Unhealthy body images, eating habits, and eating disorders are becoming more common throughout the country, including on college campuses….MORE…
Truly horrible.
What do you think?
Barbara
Morning,
I read on my BigHugeMinds Diet/Fitness board earlier today the following post about Kimkins – it was posted by a member and went to her blog. The title is:
Kimkins Diet Rolls On Despite Founder’s Excess Poundage
and it discusses the Consumer Affairs article, to wit:
…Waiting in line at your favorite grocery store is a guaranteed way to see the covers of magazines targeted toward women. It’s a real challenge to find just one week of a year where the cover of at least one check-out tabloid doesn’t have blaring headlines about weight loss or the most recent diet sensation.”Better than gastric bypass!” “Kim lost 200 lbs in 11 months!” “Christin lost 100 lbs in 5 months!”
Those very comments appeared on the cover of the June 12, 2007 issue of Woman’s World Magazine. The story was a fascinating look at a weight loss diet known as Kimkins, created by Kim Drake, also known as the “Kimmer.”
The Woman’s World story begins by saying they sent out their spies to gather intelligence about Kimkins. The Kimkins website included numerous before-and-after pictures of not only the “Kimmer, but also happy members that had shed massive amounts of weight.
Woman’s World describes Kim as “smiling” when responding to questions. This implies that the Woman’s World interviewer was personally watching the response of Kim Drake. So, you would think that Woman’s World would have noticed that “Kim” was in fact a 300-pound woman.
Kimkins before & after, according to Woman’s World
The Kimkins website saw a huge increase in memberships due to the flattering Woman’s World cover story. Records introduced in connection with a class action lawsuit against Kimkins show that for the month of June, 2007, Kimkins pulled in over $1,200,000 in membership fees.
Mouthpiece needed
So great was the response that Kimkins needed to hire a public relations spokesperson — and there was no one better suited for the job than Christin Sherburne.
Christin’s picture had been featured on the Woman’s World cover, holding a pair of old jeans next to the headline: “Christin lost 100 lbs in 5 months!”
“I was excited about it,” said Christin. “I’ve been overweight all my life, and even though I had never met Kim Drake in person, I wanted to tell others how they could finally lose the weight as I did.”
Soon the Kimkins machine was in full throttle. Members were reporting faster weight loss than they had ever experienced on other diets, and Christin was in P.R. mode in her new role as spokeswoman for Kimkins. But little did Christin know what would happen next.
Job & hair loss
The job of a spokesperson is to represent your company and answer any questions that might be thrown your way, including those from the media. One day, Christin found herself facing questions that she couldn’t honestly answer … questions concerning medical claims and health issues related to the Kimkins diet.
“As a spokeswoman, people would ask me questions that I couldn’t answer, especially related to the medical safety of the diet,” said Christin.
Christin did the logical thing. She contacted Kim Drake, the founder of Kimkins. Christin sent a letter to the “Kimmer” in which Christin asked about medical claims of the diet.
Is the diet safe? Are medical authorities backing the diet? All reasonable questions that any spokesperson needs to be able to answer.
To Christin’s dismay, instead of getting answers to her questions, she received a pink slip. Kim Drake had removed Christin from her public relations job and offered her a much reduced role moderating the Kimkins forums.….MORE….
This particular article starting to fly about the Internet! Here are just two takes on it:
Be sure to alert me here to more!
Personally, I feel that Heidi Diaz, the scamster behind the Kimkins diet, should have the book and the entire library thrown at her. Preying upon the most helpless in our society (people desperate to lose weight) is just plain abominable.
Enjoy,
Barbara
Did you know that 95%
of people who go on a diet fail? Are you one of those 5 out of 100 who will succeed? Read these examples below and find out!
7). Your “diet” is less than 1,200 calories per day. Deprive your body of the base calorie requirement to function at your weight, and it will think, OMIGOSH I’m starving, let me embrace every fat deposit I can find.
6.) Your “diet” consists of pre-packaged meals. You’re not learning how to be healthy, you’re simply following rules. When you get tired of the price your prepackaged meals cost, you’ll be back to your bad eating habits once again.
5.) Your “diet” consists of meal replacement shakes. Can you imagine drinking your nutrients for the rest of your life? Once you get off them, the weight will fly back to your hips.
4.) Your “diet” has no foods in it you enjoy. You’re not a masochist; eventually you’ll say, to hell with this!
3.) Your “diet” is severely lacking in needed nutrients. Eventually your body will rebel, you’re crash and burn, and you’ll say, to hell with this!
2.) Your “diet” is only for 14 days or 18 days or 21 days or what have you. What do think will happen once you complete it if you haven’t learned how to eat healthy? You’re right – kiss those pounds a welcome once again.
And the number one reason why your diet will fail:
1). You’re on a diet and not a lifestyle change. If you return back to your previously unhealthy way of eating after your diet, of course you’ll gain back the weight quicker than a toddler scarfs down an ice cream cone
Enjoy,
Barbara
ps – want a diet you can enjoy?
Now this is downright scary
but it goes to show you how utterly unthinking people (in this case, celebrities) can be.
They may say they just have good genes, but you deserve to know: Many stars are jogging their butts off, and some resort to unsafe, even illegal weight-loss practices, say insiders. “To be fair, a lot of the top women are doing the right things: eating healthy and exercising, but not obsessively,” says Beverly Hills trainer Gunnar Peterson. “It’s the up-and-coming women who I often see starving and going to crazy extremes.” Here’s the silly stuff they’re doing — and the healthy, longer-lasting alternatives you should try instead.
They abuse laxative teas
“The big thing among teen actresses right now is dieter’s tea. It has a mild laxative effect. But many young girls are abusing it — drinking 10 cups a day…..They do superexpensive liquid cleanses
“Once, a very young actress client of mine bought $3,000 worth of supplements from her doctor to do a cleanse. All she was allowed to have for two weeks were liquids and the vitamins she bought — no solid food……They subsist on coffee & booze
“One client I had would stave off eating as long as she could — it was just coffee, coffee, coffee all day. Her organs were so stressed that when we trained together, I could literally hear her heart pounding away in her chest.They misuse diet pills
“A musician who’d been taking an over-the-counter fat blocker came to see me. While on the drug, you can have bad side effects if you eat fatty foods, but she kept eating creamy pastas, ribs, you name it…..They stay locked in the gym…
“There’s one singer-actress who works out at my gym for about five hours a day, even on weekends. She spent her birthday here…..…and then lie about it
“I had one actress who trained with me and took six Spin classes a week. And all she ate was lettuce and Swedish Fish. When the press asked her how she’d ‘transformed’ her body, she said, ‘Oh, I do yoga and hike with my puppy.’ ….They obsess over the tabloids
“Paparazzi deliberately try to catch celebs in unflattering moments. It can be devastating….MORE….
What do you think?
Enjoy,
Barbara
ps – Hollywood can have good things:
Morning,
I want one.
Plain and simple, I want one. 
You can Swim and Train and Stretch and Row and ….
…..
The amazing Aquatic Fitness System, AFS, is more than just a swim spa. Use it to swim-in-place, of course. But you can also use it to walk, run, stretch, row, strength train and more! Speaking of swimming, the AFS serves as an exceptional training tool that you can use to help you teach your children how to swim.
Low-impact exercises strengthen, tone and shape your body while you’re suspended in buoyant weightlessness. Advanced aquatic engineering pampers and soothes. The AFS combines the benefits of a fitness center with the rejuvenation benefits of home hydrotherapy.
The AFS provides fun, fitness and relaxation for the whole family!…MORE….
If anyone wants to send me one, please, I shall graciously accept.
Enjoy,
Barbara
ps – and if you’d like hot tubs, enjoy:
You know exercise is good for you
but how do you make it fun for your family? Try out these great tips I do with my own!
10.) Dance Dance Revolution. DDR (or Dance Dance Revolution) is a great way to bring all family members together. Even when it’s not your tun on the mat, you can practice the moves behind the family member who is currently participating! Kids of all ages adore this game, and parents too can have a blast with it.
9.) Add music! Do you have a favorite family CD that everyone loves to listen to? Get the kids together and tell them to make up their own exercise moves to it (the sillier the better!). Your children will try to outdo each other in making them laugh…which will make them exercise more.
8.) Go to Family Swim. Do you have a local YMCA? If so, did you know there’s family swim every day? My family goes there at least once a week and has a blast splashing in the kids’ pool with their parents.
7.) Make an Obstacle Course in your home. We live in a ranch house that has a staircase to the basement on either sides. I’ve set up obstacle courses that had things to jump over in the basement, things to dodge in the hallway, and things under which to crawl in the living room (you can hang a pole over two chairs for that, or use a bo-staff if you’re into martial arts). One by one, I’ll let the kids dash through the course, while their siblings cheer them on.
6.) Do a Family Walk! Back when I was starting my get-healthy plan, I began walking 2.4 miles around my home. Then I figured, why not have company? So I brought my kids along. The side benefit to this is that we have an hour of solid family time together, where we can talk about many things that happened during the day.
5.) Take karate as a family. Besides being a great skill for all kids to master, it’s a wonderful way to keep active. I’m the only mom who takes it with my kids at my dojo, and they’re quite proud of me. Never mess with Samurai Mom!
4.) Go roller skating. Talk about zooming! Roller skating is great tame fun (especially if the music is from the 70s!). And the added benefit is when summer rolls around…your kids will already have the skills to roller skate on the boardwalk.
3.) Put on fun exercise DVDs. Think Billy Blanks is just for adults? Your kids will try to outdo you in any exercise DVD you put on. My kids want to tell Billy, your DVDs are very painful and we love them. Gotta love kids.
2.) Have silly competitions. How many pushups can YOU do? How many jumping jacks will level your children? Challenge your kids to the last one standing; you’ll be surprised how far they’ll push themselves.
and the number 1 fun family exercise tip is:
1.) Be creative! Ask your kids for what they’d love to do if computers didn’t exist. Then see if you can recreate it at home. Quite often with a little bit of big huge minds, you’ll be able to make it happen as a family. The family that laughs together, lasts together.
Enjoy!
Barbara
ps – need some great exercise DVDs?
You’ve heard it here first, folks:
On Friday, February 22, 2008, five Wii video games will be featured as the top five deals in the Amazon.com Gold Box. The identities of each deal will be revealed one at a time.
Here’s how it will work:
Well, what are you waiting for?
Enjoy,
Barbara
