The Do's and Don'ts of Holiday Eating

Thanksgiving has come and gone and the holiday season
is in full swing I know how hard it is to resist all
the celebrative eating and drinking (and the weight
gain that comes with it) so I put together for you an
awesome guide to eating during the holidays. I was going
to put this on my MVP Boot Camp Blog but decided to only
offer it to you as a subscriber to my e-mail list.

DON'T try to convince yourself that you're going to
eat less after the holiday event therefore it's ok to
eat what you want during the event. You will not have
as much motivation to diet once the event has passed.

DO eat smart for the 3-5 days leading up to the event.
You'll look even better when you turn up at the event
and you will feel less guilty when you enjoy yourself.

DO dress sexy. Wear something tight, do your hair up,
put on your highest heels etc. This way you will feel
less likely to indulge in a huge dinner.

DO position yourself as far away from the appetizer
table as possible

DO bring your own dish to the occasion. Nobody has
to know that it's healthy or low calorie and at least
you'll know how many calories and the ingredients that
are in it.

DO send people home with food if you are hosting a party.

DO sit at the table as far from the unhealthy food
options as possible. If you have to keep standing up,
putting your drink down and reaching across Madea to
grab a piece of bread you're not going to have as many
pieces as if it were right in front of you.

Stick to these guidelines and I promise you will
keep the weight off while everyone around you gains
another 4-8 pounds!

And if you want to actually LOSE weight during the
holidays like many of my personal Kettlebell Bootcamp
clients, then check this out.....

On Thursday I'll be opening up a special bootcamp
workout and nutrition plan that will actually help
you drop an entire pants size during the holidays
without being on a miserable diet.... and the best
part is that I'll be offering it at a RIDICULOUS price.

The only catch is that I can only take on 20 people.
Once these 20 spots are filled, I won't be able to
accept any more people until the New Year so keep your
eyes peeled on Thursday for this one time deal.

Gaining Weight To Qualify For Lap Ban Surgery

At 202 pounds, Steffany Sears knew she was fat, but not fat enough to qualify for traditional weight-loss surgery.

Desperate for help, the Gold Bar, Wash., woman did what seemed the only logical thing: She gorged herself on chips and cookies, pizza and fried chicken so she’d gain at least eight pounds more.

“I would have eaten myself stupid,” recalled Sears, 34, who was turned down by her insurance company for the $20,000 procedure. “I know friends who would have done that, too.”

In the end, she actually qualified to participate in a clinical trial that led the federal Food and Drug Administration this spring to lower the bar for obesity in people eligible for one form of weight-loss surgery, Allergan’s Lap-Band stomach-shrinking device. Because she had a body mass index, or BMI, of between 30 and 35, the target range of the new rule, she even got the treatment for free, instead of having to take out a second mortgage on her house.

Today, at 5-foot-6, she weighs 143 pounds. “I felt like I’d won the lottery, really, with my life,” said Sears, a native of England.

But Sears’ experience highlights what dieters and doctors alike say is a growing dilemma. Spurred by strict insurance policies that limit surgery to high BMIs of 35 or 40, some obese people are actually striving to gain weight – in order to lose it.

Web sites devoted to weight-loss surgery are full of advice and anecdotes from would-be losers who claim they ate piles of bananas, chowed down on burgers and curly fries or swilled gallons of water to nudge the scale to the correct heights.

“That happens all the time,” said Dr. Robert Michaelson of Northwest Weight Loss Surgery in Everett, Wash., who was a clinical investigator for the FDA trial. “I’ve seen people come in with ankle weights on.”

Sometimes, it works. Elizabeth Marks, 32, of San Diego, Calif., was turned down for surgery once by her insurance company for being less than 100 pounds overweight, but accepted after she gained more.

“I just had two weeks of eating all the junk I could,” Mark said.

In general, a person who is 5-foot-6 and weighs 220 pounds has a BMI of 35. At 250, the BMI climbs to 40.

Weight-loss doctors definitely discourage patients from gaining more and instead urge them to pursue non-surgical options, or to find other ways to pay for the surgery. One good reason? Some insurers regard the practice as fraud.

“I tell them go home. You don’t qualify,” said Dr. Namir Katkhouda, a bariatric surgeon at the University of Southern California who has performed 2,000 procedures. “They come back six months later and their problems are much worse.”


Excerpted from MSNBC: Gaining Weight To Quality For Lap-Band Surgery? | A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss

The Workout Push For the Holidays

If gobble 'til you wobble is your holiday mentality, You aren't alone. While most are laser focused on fitness during the summer, the holidays prove to be the most popular time to slack off from a workout routine. If you're thinking about throwing in a towel for a turkey leg don't give up just yet.

Everybody is working hard, getting ready for the beach, for many, the summer grind in the gym is over. Gym memberships everywhere typically see a decrease between October and December: the season when holiday fun, family and food are the focus.

Next thing you know, you're eating leftovers. When the winter months come, people get relaxed and the next you know two months have went by and that's the hardest part staying with your fitness goals.

Gaining about ten pounds during the holiday season is the norm for most. Eating small portions every three hours and exercising at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week will give you what you need to still maintain.

Strive to keep fit, stay healthy and push for a yearly, not season goal of physical fitness.

15 minutes of stretching at home or walking will make a difference for those you may not can make it to the gym or afford it:

If the president can stay healthy through the holidays, so can you

By Jeannine Stein, Los Angeles Times

You think you have a rough time avoiding temptation over the holidays? It's probably nothing compared with the parties the president and first lady have to navigate. But as Cornell McLellan tells it, the First Family doesn't need any diet advice. He should know--he's their personal trainer.

"They get it--this is a lifestyle for them," he said of the Obamas. "Once you prioritize your health, fitness becomes who you are. These are people who work out every day, and they know how to make good food choices. They host a lot of Christmas parties, so it's great that they are who they are--I don't know who else could get through these parties."

When we spoke with McLellan he had just wrapped up the keynote speech at the American Council on Exercise's annual fitness symposium in San Diego. The owner of the Chicago training facility Naturally Fit, McLellan is also co-chairman of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. He had high praise for ACE's part in Joining Forces, a national initiative involving various areas of society to help and support service members and their families, including 1 million hours of free fitness services.

While McLellan said he doesn't accompany the Obamas that often when they travel, he doesn't worry that anyone is sneaking cookies on the sly or slacking off on their workouts. There's usually an adequate hotel gym, or the old stand-by: body resistance exercises.

"The president is someone who is going to work out," McLellan said, "even if he has to get up early. Wherever he is in the world he's going to make sure to get his time in."

Michelle Obama, he added, was one of the first people to complete the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award challenge, a six-week program designed to help children and adults adopt more healthful diet and fitness habits. The first lady, he said, wasn't cut any slack just because she lives in the White House.

"She had to report every jumping jack--everything," he said. "We're not just giving the awards out."

What's his advice for the rest of us who hope to dodge the egg nog and an extra five pounds this season?

"First, understand that your health is your wealth, and make sure to prioritize fitness," he said. "Do it first thing in the morning and get it out of the way."

Starving yourself before a big dinner is a big no-no: "That would be the wrong idea. Keep on your regular routine and think in terms of small portions." Two more tips: drink water before you start eating, and put your meal on a salad plate, which is smaller than a dinner plate. "Have 90% of what you need and 10% of what you want," he said.

So with all this great guidance, we guess there's no way to avoid sticking to a healthful lifestyle this season.

McLellan agreed. "I think all the excuses have been used up."

What makes us fat and how to avoid it

There are lots of things that can contribute to putting on weight or make it harder to slim down. Personal Trainer, Jamie Johnson tells us more.

Here are my top ten causes and what to do about them:

1. Eating too much
The most obvious cause, yet still the one hat most people tend to be in denial over. The easiest ways to reduce what you eat are to use a smaller plate, replace half your meal with extra vegetables and cut out unhealthy snacks.

Most people either eat too much or, more commonly, don’t realise that some of their favourite foods are actually very calorific. Mistakes such as eating too many carbs or eating foods high in saturated fats are easy to make and can be done completely unknowingly.

2. Drinking too muchThis usually extends to alcohol, but also sugary drinks like Coca-Cola. Did you know the average person will have to run for nearly two hours just to burn off the calories in a bottle of wine? I have seen clients shed pounds very quickly just by drinking half their usual weekly alcohol amount.

3. Stress
Being stressed causes the body to store fat, as well as having many other serious health effects. Therefore, dealing with stress is essential. Stress also has indirect effects such as making you less inclined to exercise or to comfort eat and drink more. It can also lead to…

4. Too little sleep
Studies have shown that people who sleep six hours per night or fewer are likely to be more overweight than contemporaries who sleep eight hours or more.

5. Getting olderAfter the age of 30 our bodies are slowly dying. Depressing isn’t it? Our metabolism slows down, cells regenerate less effectively and we need fewer calories.

Unless we are actively trying to do more exercise, we will find the same diet we ate in our twenties will be more than we need after 30, so we’ll gain weight.

6. Losing muscle
This is also linked to getting older, but can strike at any time if you change the way you train. If you drop regular weight training to do more aerobic exercise you may find you need fewer calories.

Conversely, adding weight training to your workout will help you lose weight more quickly than aerobic exercise alone.

7. Becoming less active
Do you spend more time at work? More time sat at a desk? More time sat in front of the TV because you feel tired? More time playing computer games? Drive places you used to walk or cycle to?

It can creep up on you and suddenly you find you are less active as you get older.

8. Crash dieting
Dieting makes you fat! Especially fad diets that involve only eating one food type or drinking lots of shakes. They work in the short-term because you eat far fewer calories, but as soon as you eat normally again you gain all the weight lost and a bit more.

The key is not to ‘diet’ but to learn to eat healthily in a way that can be sustained in the long-term.

9. Using the wrong scales
Not bathroom scales, but the wrong way to asses whether you have too much fat. According to weighing scales or the BMI measurement, Jonny Wilkinson is obese. The phrase ‘big boned’ is often used jokingly, but some people can be heavier on scales without actually being unhealthy.

The best way to assess whether you have unhealthy weight or fat to lose is to use a variety of measures, including an actual measurement of fat to assess whether the weight on the scales is unhealthy fat, or healthy muscle or bone.

10. MetabolismOnly if you have exhausted all of the issues above is it worth checking there is not an underlying medical issue, such as an underactive thyroid, making weight loss difficult.

People often use a slow metabolism as an excuse for weight gain and whilst all metabolisms are different, usually the solution is actually easier to reach and less difficult to overcome.