Tracy Anderson's New Gym Only $900 Per Month!!!

For the low-low price of $900 per month, plus a $1,500 induction fee you can join Tracy Anderson's new scam, I mean gym, oops, I mean "studio." There you can learn all kinds of fitness myths, like don't lift more than 3lbs of weights or else you'll get bulky and ugly or running makes your ass ugly or even the gem that Anderson's clients aren't allowed to EVER do yoga. Bitch, please, why this woman is taken seriously in the fitness world is beyond me, no wait, I get it, Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow are prime members of this particular coolaid cult, so tons of rich women will just adore over-paying this woman (who wont even be training individuals at this studio, just training the trainers with her "method" which involves that metal ballet/S&M bar thingy) for the benefit of getting bad advice, developing new and innovative phobias, and of course aspiring to be teeny-tiny regardless of health. I hope that in this bad economy even the rich will say, $900 for what??? And thus find better, reputable (not to mention ethical) trainers and fitness regimes.

Oh, and this is just a snark, but what's with the 1992 prom dress Anderson is sporting in the promo? I get that the message is, if you work out with me you'll get this glamourous lifestyle in which you need to wear tacky-prom dresses from 1992 to the Met and whatnot, but the heels on the metal just comes off tacky (both Gwynth & Anderson look tacky) in this ad.

Product Review: Amazing Meal Original

Check out the great loot I got from the nice folks over at Amazing Grass! I've really wanted to find a non-whey, non-soy protein component for my smoothies and I read about Amazing Meal at another food blogger's site a while ago. Its a blend of hemp and rice proteins plus some fairly stellar nutritionals from a blend of greens and anti-oxidants. Now, I have to confess, I've tried a rice based protein in the past and it was HORRIBLE. Chalky, filmy, and the wrong kind of gritty (and I like some grit in my smoothies from walnuts, flax, or even oats). So, I was a bit worried about trying Amazing Meal.

Verdict? I loved it! I made a smoothie with 1/2 a banana, strawberries, blueberries, plain yogurt, and a packet of the Amazing Meal Original (vanilla). It definitely did have some green components that you might not like unless you've started putting fresh spinach or kale in your fruit smoothies, but if you have, converting to this mix might be a great idea in order to get your protein and some green power. Now, for those readers who know that I'm gluten-intolerent (aka allergic to wheat) you might ask: "hey, what about that wheat grass ingredient?" Well, I'm happy to report that wheat grass is gluten free!!! So, no worries on the celiac front. Next up: Amazing Meal Chocolate!

6 healthy-sounding foods that really aren’t.

Is Your Health Food Really Healthy?
6 healthy-sounding foods that really aren’t.
By By Rachel Johnson, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D., EatingWell.com

1. Energy bars
2. Granola
3. Salads
4. Smoothies
5. Yogurts
6. Sushi rolls
   

Salads
Choose this: Wendy’s Mandarin Chicken Salad (with 1⁄2 packet of Oriental Sesame dressing and almonds) 385 cal., 18 g fat (2 g sat., 0 g trans), 760 mg sodium Versus this: Wendy’s Southwest Taco Salad (with sour cream, tortilla strips, Ancho Chipotle Ranch dressing) 675 cal., 39 g fat (17 g sat., 1 g trans), 1,515 mg sodium

Yogurts
Choose this: Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt (nonfat vanilla) Per serving (5.3 oz.): 110 cal., 0 g fatVersus this: Fage Total Greek Yogurt (whole-milk) with Honey Per serving (5.3 oz.): 250 cal., 12 g fat (9 g sat.)

Granola
Choose this: Kashi Go Lean Crunch Cereal Per serving (1 cup): 190 cal., 3 g fat (0 g sat.), 8 g fiber, 9 g proteinVersus this: Sunbelt Banana Nut with Almonds Per serving (1⁄2 cup): 250 cal., 9 g fat (4 g sat.), 4 g fiber, 5 g protein

Mo'Nique Sets the Record Straight

I saw Mo'Nique last night at the Beacon Theater. She looked so awesome. She was representing for the Big Girls. She had this hot pink number on. She looked every bit Red Carpet ready. At the beginning of the show she set the record straight on here recent weight loss.

She says she has not undergone weight loss surgery. She also stated that she was currently 224lbs. I do believe that was her current weight for two reasons:

1. 5 minutes into the show she took off her high heel shoes and did the remainder of the show barefoot.


2. I also believe this because home girl had sweat marks all over her dress by the end of the show.

Yet, with that said, she never seemed to have to stop and catch her breath in between jokes and sight gags. So my props go out to Mo'Nique for getting healthy without going Hollywood diet crazy.

She is also losing weight slowly because she state her weight as 232lbs in her October 2008 article for Essence Magazine .

Report: Women ignore pregnancy weight limits

Full Article

• A normal-weight woman, as measured by BMI or body mass index, should gain between 25 and 35 pounds during pregnancy. A normal BMI, a measure of weight for height, is between 18.5 and 24.9.
• An overweight woman — BMI 25 to 29.9 — should gain 15 to 25 pounds during pregnancy.
  For the first time, the guidelines set a standard for obese women — BMI of 30 or higher: 11 to 20 pounds.
• An underweight woman — BMI less than 18.5 — should gain 28 to 40 pounds.
• The guidelines say women expecting twins can gain more: 37 to 54 pounds for a normal-weight woman, 31 to 50 pounds for the overweight, 25 to 42 pounds for the obese. There’s not enough information to set recommendations for triplets or more.

But even with the guidelines this is the recomendation for the overweight woman

What if a mom-to-be has gained too much? On average, overweight and obese women already are gaining five more pounds than the upper limit.

But pregnancy is not a time to lose weight, stressed guidelines co-author Dr. Anna Maria Siega-Riz of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

“It’s not, ‘Hey you gained enough, now you need to stop,’ ” Siega-Riz said. “Let’s take stock of where you’re at and start gaining correctly.”

Post Recommendation

Great post at Escape from Obesity about how perfectionist thinking (or simply over thinking) really screws with you in the now. Here's some quotes:

The other day I was thinking about this tendency I have to believe that something has to have an end point, or a goal, or some sort of measurement to be "perfect" in order to be worthwhile. It's hard to put a finger on this, but let me try and give a couple of examples.

When I think about strength training, or even when I *do* strength train, I feel great. But then I start to think, "What about next month when I go on vacation? I will be driving a lot, visiting a lot, and I probably won't have the time or equipment to weight train. All my efforts will be for nothing if I strength train all week NOW because if I skip weight training for 2 or 3 weeks I will be back to square one." Or, I go even further into the future. "I don't know if lifting weights is sustainable for the next 40 or 50 years. There will be times I am sick or busy. I might get tired of it and stop. I might get too old to be doing this. And then I will stop and all my lifting will have been for nothing."

Lifting weights JUST FOR TODAY gives me benefits even if I *never* lift weights again. I'll become stronger *for today*, I will feel energized and get more done. I will be proud of myself. I love the feeling I get after a good strength training session! And that makes it worth doing *today.* No strings attached.

Biking helps me feel better *today.* It gets my circulation going, I feel more alive, and it improves the condition of my knees. I do feel amazing after a bike ride, and that makes it worth doing *just today* even if I never do it again.

Sure, it would be ideal to have a future guaranteed to be filled with lots of weight lifting, biking, an immaculate house and a perfect, slim body, but sometimes we gotta just step back and say, "this is worth doing for today, regardless of the long term outcome." Because we cannot control the future.

So let go of the tomorrow worries, the perfectionism, the silly rationalizations. No matter what tomorrow may bring, do the BEST thing for you TODAY!

This was particularly inspirational for me--I think that I am particularly guilty of barrier thinking like this (for example, I'm trying to get a new job as a teacher for next Fall and I'm already thinking about how my exercise routine will change then, so maybe I should try to start that routine now all the while not doing what I need to do TODAY!)

‘Phantom fat’ can linger after weight loss

Body-image experts say it’s not uncommon for people, especially women, who have lost a lot of weight to be disappointed to some extent to discover that they still aren’t “perfect.” The excess fat is gone when they reach their goal weight, but they may have sagging skin, cellulite or a body shape that they still deem undesirable. Like Hicks, some even continue to see themselves as though they are overweight.

Experts say part of the problem in our body-obsessed culture is that many women — and increasingly more men — have highly unrealistic expectations of what weight loss can do for them. Too often, they think hitting their ideal weight will make them look like a swimsuit model in a magazine, and they’re disappointed when that’s not the case.

I have been blessed to be delusional. When I look in the mirror, I always look smaller then the scale says I am. The only time I can see is my true size is in a picture with measuring reference.

I take a lot of pictures in front of doors. So when I can't see the door around my hips. I have to accept that I am fat. It is a hard realization, so what I do when I can, is pose in open spaces with no references then I look smaller again.

I am also blessed to know that most of my problems are caused by my perception of events and the rest are due to economic issues. So I have no beliefs that my life will be better when smaller/thinner.

Household Work Factoids

Check out this fact-sheet on household labor statistics--interesting stuff! Some of the factoids include:

Gender

		is still the best single predictor who is spending how much time doing housework. And that's not true just in the U.S., but around the world, from England to Poland to Japan. 1. Women

		were reported to be doing the majority of the housework, in every nation but Russia in a 13-nation study. 2. Men just "help out" when they do chores

It isn't your imagination. In the U.S., husbands do much less housework than their wives, and when they do actually do it, it's seen as "helping out" their wives – who are primarily responsible for these tasks. But don't just blame the men for this: studies show that, for at least some women, the men are actually discouraged from doing more. Why? One reason seems to be that these women don't believe the men are as good at tasks as they are. (But that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: if they are never allowed to do anything, then they don't get the opportunity to become proficient at it.) Another suggested reason is that women, not just men, define their own roles in terms of their domestic responsibilities, and it's just as threatening for them to give them up, as it is for men to take these traditionally-thought of as "female" tasks on. 3.

70-80 percent

		Amount of the total domestic work done by American wives, regardless their employment status. 5. 50-60 percent

		Amount of the total domestic work done by Chinese wives, regarding of their employment status. 6. One in Five

Couples in Portugal who actually share all the main household chores. 7.

Yes, she is really spending all that time picking up after you –

		In the U.S., women put in additional five hours a week in housework once they are married, while marriage does not significantly effect the number of hours a man does. 12. It's the kids' fault, too –

		Children under the age of 12 significantly increase time in housework for both American husbands and wives – but the increase is three times as much for the mother's as it is the husband's. 13. Especially the boys' –

Perhaps setting a pattern of the future, while each girl aged 12 to 18 in the family increases a mother's housework by an hour – but doesn't change the father's housework. Boys the same age, however, add three hours a week of housework for their mothers, and almost one hour for husbands. 14.

40.4 percent

		of U.S. husbands say that the spouses do about equal amounts of housework. 17. 56.9 percent

		of U.S. husbands surveyed who said that their wives always or usually do the housework. 18. 66.9 percent

		of those men's wives who said they themselves always or usually do the housework. 19. 92.6 percent

		of Japanese husbands surveyed who said their wives always or usually do the housework. 20. 97.8 percent

of those men's wives who said that they always or usually do the housework. 21.

Is it more money?

		The more money a wife makes, the more likely her husband is to report that he does at least half of the household labor. But the women do not agree to the same amount of husband-done housework: they think it’s less. 30.

In households where women contribute to less than or up to half of the family’s income, the more money she makes, less housework she does. 31.

		If a wife thinks that women should be equal to men –

		she does less housework, but her husband doesn't do more of it. 37. If a wife thinks that men and women should share household work –

		she does less housework, but her husband doesn't do more. 38. If a husband thinks that men and women should share household work –

		his wife does less . . . but he doesn't do more. 39.