Breakfast is my Reward!

Monday night. Not much happening today with me in the way of fitness or health. I've decided I'm going to lose 5 pounds, and I'm going to do this by focusing on exercise and fat burning in the morning, when my body is most deprived of glycogen. I do love a good breakfast, but there is a lot to be gained from getting my workout in before I eat. This is actually the best time of the day to burn fat, right after you wake up, and it's also a great way to get yourself going if you have a busy day ahead of you. Plus, there is no breakfast tastes so good, nor any cup of coffee so sweet, as the one that you have as a reward for having run two or 3 miles right after you get out of bed. That's what a good breakfast should be: a reward for work well done.

To read more about how fat and muscle work together, and to get more tips for fitness and health go here: Lose Fat and Keep the Muscle, or go to this site: http://www.squidoo.com/lose-fat-maintain-muscle

Lazy, Lazy, Lazy. What is There to Eat in This House?

Lazy, lazy, lazy. This is a pretty good description of many people that I know. Out of shape, seriously lacking in motivation, and truly in love with their kitchen cabinets, which just coincidentally happen to be chock full of-eight, high fat, high sodium snacks, and even complete family dinners.

If this sounds familiar to you, maybe it's because it is. Most of us are lazy, and if you are American, it's not even necessarily your fault. You have the good fortune to live in a society where food is plentiful, exercise is optional, and most of the things you love to do, whether they're good for you or not, are readily accessible and cheap.

In some way, the pace of the world has overtaken us as human beings. We as a civilization have figured out how to live a life of economic success without ever having to exert one's body.
We can accept this as the status quo, or we can strive to do something about it. We can get back to the natural sense of ourselves by staying in shape.

A muscular and lean physique is something that harkens back to the very nature of mankind. The way we were, and cardiovascular health, speed, strength, and stamina were all necessary survival skills. I personally feel far more HUMAN when I am in shape and out-running everyone I know.

For some serious tips on losing fat at home: http://www.squidoo.com/lose-fat-at-home

Or to see the fat-burning diet system, check out this product: Strip That Fat

The Big Lazy Nut

So I started another fitness blog on a site called CureZone. The name of the blog is "The Big Lazy", and I'm very excited to get another blog going on this site it is a major hub for health fitness, and medical information, and tons of traffic. the angle on this particular blog will be to give fitness advice to people who openly college that they are completely lazy, don't want to exercise, and are looking for easy ways to stay fit. I think it's a huge market.

I think health and fitness is a great topic area and I don't expect that I'll ever have any shortage of things to write about. For example, today I was thinking that I could write a whole series of articles about my favorite food in the world: NUTS. that's right almonds, pecans, cashews, Brazil nuts, and so many others. I am eating nuts all day long, and I'm convinced that as a result my health is greatly improved, and that I am filling my body with antioxidants that will help fight cancer and keep me healthy for decades to come. My favorite thing about nuts is that they act as an amazing appetite suppressant, especially almonds, which I gulp down by the handful several times a day.

I remember seeing Mike Wallace on 60 minutes, who, as you may know, is well into his 80s but is still working in churning out great journalism with the energy of men 50 years younger than he is. He was asked what his secret is, and he said that his wife is almost making him keep nuts, granola, berries, and raisins. I do think there is something to this. This is the kind of natural food that early human beings ate before they developed civilization, and I think that our bodies are predisposed towards accepting this kind of food for optimal health.

Anyway, so there you go, I've are a blog about nuts for at least a paragraph or two so maybe I'll do one entry for each of my favorite nuts.

If you want to read a broader article about the kind of food you can eat to help lose fat and get healthy, look here: Best Foods To Lose Fat.

Also, to see a new article that I just wrote on Buzzle, go here: How to use Laxatives to Lose Weight

It's such a common fantasy to think that you could do a few easy and lazy things to lose weight while staying in your house, and avoid the gym completely. There is no truly "easy" system for losing weight, but there are a bunch of simple things one can do just hanging around the house that can make a serious difference in your weight loss goals. Here's my 3 favorite "lazy" weight losing tips:

Watch TV on the floor instead of the couch: If you do this, you'll find yourself stretching, moving around, and getting a little exercise while you watch TV, instead of just sinking into the sofa.

Ankle weights: strap them on and leave them on all day as you walk around the house. After a while you'll forget you have them, but you'll be building endurance and leg muscle, and burning calories. I also use wrist weights to help burn fat, provided that I can still do whatever I'm doing while wearing them.

Drink Water: How easy is this... but apparently it make a big difference in how your body processes fat. Drink a gallon of water a day, and yes, this means you'll also burn calories walking back and forth to the bathroom (this is a real thing, it will get you out of your chair more often and this is a good thing).

Read this article for some more great tips on losing fat at home: How to Lose Fat While at Home

Or to see a very effective fat-burning diet system I've been promoting, take a look at this product: Strip That Fat System

Some Hardcore Relationship Advice: How to Get Back with My Ex Boyfriend

A slight departure from health and fitness today ;-)

How to Get Back with My Ex Boyfriend
Breakups can ruin your heart and your health. When I broke up with my boyfriend a number of years ago, I was literally ripping my hair out, which I thought I would never do... pulling it out of my head because I had zero control over the situation.

I wanted to make things right, have the right conversation, and make things work to my advantage, and I was so focused on just doing that. I called her so many times, agreed to anything just to meet with him, but he didn't want to go through all the same old conversation again about what caused us to breakup, or talk again about how bad I feel about it, how painful, etc. He didn't want to give me another chance at all.

At some point I realized that my problem was that I was asking for another "chance", which is a stupid thing to ask for. People don't want to date someone that they give chances to, it doesn't work like that. Believe it or not, people actually prefer for their relationships to be on equal grounds, so that there is mutual respect, whether they realize it or not. No one wants to feel like they are giving you the "gift" of another chance—they don't want to be put in that position to begin with. And who want to date someone who is defining themselves as being on the losing end, begging to be let back up? Doesn't sound attractive to me. So that's my first piece of advice... needing "another chance" is a false idea, and it doesn't work in the breakup, so if you take this approach, you will fail.

Eventually I did actually get back with him when I changed my approach. The technique I did is basically what the author of The Magic of Making Upwrites about, and it really does work. I wish I had that book at the time, but I didn't, and luckily I ended up talking to someone who just knew how to do this and was able to tell me exactly what I was doing wrong.

But even today I keep seeing that book all over the web so I figure the advice must be working for people... either than or there's just so many damn breakups that there's no shortage of people needing the advice. Anyway I know other people who have read it and they say it's the right advice, and the same type of advice that I used in my situation. It has mostly to do with having some patience and then trying a totally different form of communication, so that you can "reset" the situation to your favor. You do have to take a different approach, but it's amazing to watch they way it works for people.

It's hard to really describe all the steps, but you can read a review of it on this site: http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-get-back-with-my-ex-boyfriend

Or you can just go to the author's website and get it here: The Magic of Making Up

Lose Fat At Home: The Busy (Lazy) Fitness Practitioner

Yes, we know, life can be busy (you want to be lazy and not go to the gym). Work, errands, chores at home, all of these things can get in the way of the time you need to get outside for a run, or to hit the gym for some fat-burning workouts (you hate working out and like to sit on the couch and eat chips). If only you had the time (you do, you just don't want to leave the house... the house is so comfy, i mean, really).

Okay, enough internal dialogue. One of the best pieces of practical advice for losing weight is to hit the gym, of course, but if you just can't do it, or don't want to, there are a million other things you can do, even right at home, that will add to your activity level and help you burn fat while going about your daily life.

For my extended feature on these tips, and other resources, please visit my page on Squidoo at this link: Lose Some Fat at Home, or just goto this address:

http://www.squidoo.com/lose-fat-at-home

If you are looking for dieting tips, I highly recommend this great diet system called Strip That Fat, which you can explore here.

Best Food To Lose Fat

See Which Food will Help Lose Fat

You can't spell "to diet" without spelling "to die". Yes, it sucks big time to have to eat anything other than what you want to eat. Our bodies are not only wired to eat, but they are also wired to store fat, and they will burn muscle and other things before burning fat, so even with exercise it's sometimes an uphill battle to lose fat.

I think the old adage about eating healthy and exercising is always the best advice... fad diets don't work, low-carb diets just make you cranky, and starvation diets make you lose muscle mass and screw up your body in many unexpected ways. You also hear about people doing extreme things like using laxatives to lose weight, and this can only lead to drug addiction and dependency, and also doesn't work!

If you are looking for dieting tips, I highly recommend this great diet system called Strip That Fat, which you can explore here.


Or, for a good article on foods that help you burn fat, take a look at this page: http://www.squidoo.com/food-to-lose-fat

Lose Fat, Maintain Muscle the Smart Way

Lose Fat, Maintain Muscle

Many people are endlessly frustrated with diets that don't work, or are too hard to stick with because they leave you hungry and without engery. Ever tried eliminating carbs from your diet completely in one of those no-carb fad diets? It doesn't really work in the long run, and you walk around totally cranky all the time because the human body needs carbs, and wants them for energy, so it's kind of unnatural to deny them to your body.

The other problem many dieters face is that they deny themselves food, then try to work out and discover they have no energy for it, leaving them tired, cranky, frustrated, and STILL FAT.

One of the biggest mistakes that people make is not addressing the way that diet and exercise work together, and dealing with the relationship between fat and muscle.

The best way to get in shape is to burn fat, maintain muscle, and eat healthy to lose weight, with all of these things done in balance. Muscle maintenance helps you burn fat because it keeps your metabolism hot, so your body will use more calories. It's basic science.

To learn more about how to lose fat, maintain muscle, and combine your diet and workout for an optimal body, take a look at some other info I put together: http://www.squidoo.com/lose-fat-maintain-muscle

Or, to look at a review of a system called Strip That Fat, which gives you thousands of effective diet combinations and realistic advice on how to lose fat and maintain muscle, click here

Strip That Fat: Fabulous Diet Plan

I know many people who have spent a lot of money trying new diet plans or going on Weight Watchers, with mixed results. As a fitness enthusiast, I have always been a healthy eater and enjoy the type of exercise that keeps me in shape, however I know that not everyone is that way. Some people could use a system that lets them eat a variety of things, doesn't deprive them of some of the tastier foods, and doesn't require them to exercise constantly to lose fat. I know of a good system to recommend that provides all of these things. I am an affiliate of this product which means that I will benefit by recommending them, but I would not recommend them if I didn't think it was a great system. It's called Strip That Fat, and I'd hold this up against any of the popular and trendy diet plans out there. It really works, and it's not radical at all... it lets you eat hundreds of different foods in hundreds of different combinations.

Check it out here: Strip That Fat Diet System

Or to read a review of the product, go here: Strip That Fat Diet Review

Be Happy, Be Healthy!!

How to Use Laxatives to Lose Weight

How to Use Laxatives for Weight Loss

This title is a bit misleading, because you're not going to hear me say that you should use laxatives. But I want to get the word out there, and this headline may attract some internet searchers looking for advice on this dangerous practice. Here's the real deal on laxatives... they do NOT work as a weight loss technique. Here's the top 3 reasons:

1. They only strip you system of water in the long run, not calories

2. They can cause a chemical dependency... yes, a drug problem

3. They can damage your long term health by causing constipation, which can result in many other issues with your digestive system.

These are only 3 quick reasons why laxatives are not a good idea, and why you should shy away from this extreme dieting technique. For a more complete article on the use of laxatives for weight loss, including a full description of the side effects, look here: http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-use-laxatives-to-lose-weight

Or, if you are looking for dieting tips, I highly recommend this great diet system called Strip That Fat, which you can explore here.

No matter what you do, be smart and stay safe!

Let's Get Sexy!

Hi everyone! I'm Courtney, and I'm starting this blog so I can write about all kinds of fitness topics. There is so much information out there on the web about fitness, but I'm going to focus on really practical advice that people can follow if they want to get in shape with minimal effort.

See, most people don't like exercise or dieting...they are not fun things to do, and are simply a means to an end. You don't want to eat rice cakes, but you do want to LOOK SEXY in a bathing suit. So any discussion of fitness has to be grounded in the reality of how people motivate themselves. Many people want to just get in shape by doing what comes easy, and doing things they can fit into their regular lives. This is the type of advice that I give.

So that is our goal... find easy things to do so that we can GET SEXY and stay that way.

Also, I'll be debunking several dieting MYTHS that are out there, which are infecting the internet and poisoning the minds of young and old people everywhere. My next post will be on one of these... the subject of using laxatives to lose weight.

Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

For more of my articles and advice, check me out on Squidoo:

http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/Marathon902