Cancel Out Candy Calories

Cancel out those bite sized sweets with these calorie burning exercises that tone your calves, butt, shoulders, chest, and abs.

Cancel out candy calories in 3 easy-to-do-anywhere moves:

TRY: Mountain Climber
- Start in plank position (hands and toes on floor, back straight, abs tightened).
- Bring right knee to chest and tap toe on floor, straighten leg.
- Repeat with left knee.
- Do for 3 minutes.

Burn off: 70 calories, or 13 pieces of candy corn.


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TRY: Power Jump
- Stand with feet 6 inches apart.
- Squat, then push up, leaping forward and as high as you can.
- Repeat, jumping to the left, back and to the right.
- Do 25 rounds.


Burn off: 80 calories, or two Snickers Minis.


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TRY: High March
- Extend arms while holding a candy filled pumpkin.
- March in place, bringing knees up as high as you can for 2 minutes (without spilling candy;)).

- Rest 1 minute.
- Do 3 sets.

Burn off: 40 calories, or one mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.

10 Ways To Drop 10 Pounds

This easy guide will help you melt pounds gradually by changing your lifestyle, not banishing the fun from your life. Find out how to boost your metabolism, beat bloat, and more.

1. The "Protein" Way
Get 25 % of your calories from low fat protein.

Why try it: Protein will keep you fuller longer. When people cut calories, they tend to eat salad. Soon after, they are starving.

Action Plan
Add lean protein to meals and snacks. Aim for 90 grams a day and 1,400 calories total. A lot of people think protein means chicken, meat, or fish. But some of the best choices are dairy foods, beans, and nuts.

Your Protein Cheat Sheet:
- Roasted chicken breast (3 ounces): 26g protein, 140 calories, 3g fat

- Beef sirloin (3 ounces, trimmed of fat): 22g protein, 177 calories, 9g fat

- Cottage cheese, 1% fat (4.4 ounces): 15g protein, 89 calories, 1g fat

- Kidney beans (1/2 cup): 7g protein, 108 calories, 1g fat

- Cheddar cheese (1 ounce): 7g protein, 114 calories, 9g fat

- Almonds (1 ounce, about 22 nuts): 6g protein, 169 calories, 15g fatEgg,

- Hard-boiled: 6g protein, 78 calories, 5g fat

- Yogurt, Dannon Light & Fit (6 ounces): 5g protein, 60 calories, 0g fat

2. The "Three Change" Way
Ban 3 high calorie foods.

Why try it: Most likely there's a high cal coffee drink, hunk of bread, or piece of cheese in your day.

Action Plan:
Cut out these foods-
- Creamy, syrupy coffee drinks: A grande (16-ounce) low fat caramel macchiato has 240 calories and 7 grams of fat. Trade it for a tall skinny mocha (90 calories, 0g fat) and save 150 calories.
- Half a bagel: A typical bagel packs 300 to 400 calories. Lose half and cut 150 to 200 calories.
- One slice of cheese: Swap the cheddar on your sandwich for mustard and save 111 calories and 9 grams of fat.

3. The "Eat Breakfast" Way
Consume 300 calories at breakfast and your daily total will be about 100 fewer calories.

Why try it:

People who eat a morning bowl of cereal are less likely to become overweight than those who pass up their a.m. meal. Breakfast skippers tend to overeat at lunch because they're famished. They're also more likely to snack on high cal food all day, and justify it by saying, 'I didn't have breakfast.

Action Plan:
Try a rotation of these three healthy starts, which contain between 200 and 300 calories each.

- Power cereal: A bowl of high protein cereal or oatmeal (6 to 7 grams of protein per serving and no more than 200 calories), such as Kashi GoLean Crunch, with a half cup of fat free milk
- Egg sandwich: A toasted whole wheat muffin with one scrambled egg and half a slice of melted American cheese
- Yogurt parfait: A container of fat free yogurt with a half cup of berries and an ounce of almonds

4. The "Smart Snack" Way
Break up with the office vending machine. Bring a healthy treat from home instead.

Why try it:

You can still take a 3 p.m. snack break.

Action Plan:
Limit your afternoon nosh to 150 calories.

Here's what to eat for a:
- Chocolate fix: Try a 100-calorie pack of CocoaVia.
- Filling fix: Eat two cups of air popped popcorn (62 calories).
- Crunch fix: Have one cup of raw veggies (carrots and celery) with 2 tablespoons hummus (80 calories).
- Healthy fix: Munch an apple with an ounce of low fat cheese, such as one Laughing Cow Light cheese wedge (130 calories).

5. The "Eat More" Way
You can have as much as 30 to 35 grams of fiber every day.

Why try it:

You won't feel hungry. Fiber is the indigestible component of whole grains, fruits, nuts, beans, and vegetables. Because you can't digest the fiber, it will fill you up on its bulk with no calories.

Action Plan:
Keep total calories to 1,400 to 1,600, and get 35 grams of fiber a day from such foods as:
- Gnu Foods flavor & fiber bar: 12g fiber, 130 calories, 3g fat
- Fiber One cereal (1/2 cup): 14g fiber, 60 calories, 1g fat
- Pear (one medium): 4g fiber, 51 calories, 0g fat
- Raspberries (1/2 cup): 4g fiber, 32 calories, 1g fat
- Baked potato (one small, with skin): 3g fiber, 134 calories, 0g fat
- Whole grain bread (one slice): 2g fiber, 69 calories, 1g fat

6. The "Eat Three Fewer Bites Per Day" Way
A little bit of portion control can add up to a lot of weight loss.

Why try it:

Obese patients given a plate and cereal bowl marked for portion size were almost four times more likely to have lost at least 5 percent of their body weight after six months, a study found.

Action Plan:
Leave 3 generous bites of your breakfast muffin, lunch pizza, and steak dinner on your plate and you'll save between 50 and 75 calories at each meal.

7. The "Burn Fat" Way
Blast more calories in less time and fire up your metabolism with interval training.

Why try it:

Adding several short bursts of high intensity exercise to your walking routine can burn up to 100 calories more in the same amount of time. Doing challenging exercise also boosts your metabolism.

Action Plan:
Kick up your workout with this routine:
- Alternate walking at moderate intensity for 3 minutes with speed walking for 2 minutes.

- Do this for 30 minutes, then add 5 minutes of moderate walking at the end.
- Try it 5 times a week and you'll burn 500 more calories weekly than you would with a moderate walking routine.

8. The "Beat Bloat" Way
Sometimes feeling 10 pounds lighter is as good as losing it.

Why try it:

The foods that make you bloated- refined carbs, such as pizza, pasta, and white bread have empty calories. When they get stored in the body they attach to water. The more of them you eat, the more water you hold on to.

Action Plan:
- Trade white bread for whole grain.
- Trade white rice for brown.
- Trade crackers for fruit and yogurt.
- Eat a small meal before an important event; a large one can cause bloat.

- Go easy on the salt: High sodium foods can make your stomach pooch.

- And drink lots of water. Your body works more efficiently when hydrated.

9. The "Eat Your Favorite Foods" Way
When dining out, don't order the "healthy" choice if it's not what you want. Otherwise, you may end up eating more than if you'd just had some of what you craved.

Why try it:

Healthy food has calories, but we tend not to count them.

Action Plan:
Restaurant meals are higher in calories than home cooked ones. Dine out once a week (including takeout) instead of 3 times.

10. The "Sleep More" Way
People who get fewer than 7 hours of sleep at night have higher BMIs than those who get enough rest.

Why try it:

It's possible that just by sleeping more, you'll start to lose weight. First, lack of sleep spikes your levels of cortisol, the stress hormone that signals your system to hold on to fat for survival. Second, a well rested brain equals more energy for making smart lifestyle choices, such as having soup and salad for lunch instead of chicken fingers. You'll have fewer cravings for rich, fatty foods when you aren't sleep deprived.

Action Plan:
Turn off the TV and the computer and go to bed already! :)

10 Habits for a Stronger Heart

The smartest plan for attacking a heart attack is, of course, preventing one from ever happening. Choose at least three of the following strategies and make them a habit. The closer to the top, the more you reduce your risk of heart disease.

1. Drink Five Glasses of Water a Day

People who drink that many 8 ounce glasses are 54 % less likely to have a fatal heart attack than those who drink 2 or fewer glasses a day. Researchers say the water dilutes the blood, making it less likely to clot.

2. Convince Your Partner to Stop Smoking

Nonsmoking spouses of smoking partners face a 92 % increase in their risk of heart attack. Breathing secondhand smoke boosts bad cholesterol levels, decreases good cholesterol, and increases your blood's tendency to clot.

3. Work Out for 30 Minutes, 4 Times a Week

Middle aged people who exercise vigorously for 2 or more hours cumulatively per week have 60% less risk of heart attack than inactive people do.

4. Lose 10 to 20 Pounds

If you're overweight, dropping 10 to 20 pounds lowers your risk of dying from a heart attack. A 10 year study found that overweight people had heart attacks 8.2 years earlier than normal weight victims.

5. Switch from Coffee to Tea

A recent study found that people who drink 3 cups of tea a day have half the risk of heart attack of those who don't drink tea at all. Potent antioxidants, called flavonoids, provide a protective effect.

6. Eat Salmon on Saturday, Tuna on Tuesday

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health say that eating fish at least twice a week lowers heart disease risk by more than 30 %. The magic ingredient is the omega 3 fatty acids.

7. Ask Your Doctor About Vitamin E and Aspirin

Men who take both, cut the plaque in clogged arteries by more than 80 %, according to a recent University of Pennsylvania study.

8. Eat a Cup of Total Corn Flakes for Breakfast

This cereal contains one of the highest concentrations of folate (675 micrograms) of any cereal. Taking in that much folic acid daily cuts your risk of cardiovascular disease by 13 %, according to researchers.

9. Count to 10

Creating a 10 second buffer before reacting to a stressful situation may be enough to cool you down. People who respond with anger are 3 times more likely to have heart disease and 5 times more likely to have a heart attack before turning 55.

10. Eat Watermelon

It contains about 40 % more lycopene than is found in raw tomatoes, and a new study shows that your body absorbs it at higher levels due to the melon's high water content. Half a wedge can boost heart disease prevention by 30 %.

Now go ahead make your choice!

Outsmart Your Appetite

With diet traps lurking around every dinner table and pantry shelf, it's easy to overeat. Here's how to navigate the danger zones without gaining a pound.

Sidestep These Diet Traps:

You work out regularly, and you watch what you eat, so why do you have to lie down to button your skinny jeans?
Things around you, from the candles on your dining room table to those super cute dessert plates, are setting you up to overindulge. "But if you understand the external forces that make you buy and eat more, you can avoid the pitfalls," says Brian Wansink, PhD, a FITNESS advisory board member and the author of Mindless
Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think.

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Diet Trap: Eating Slowly
Mom's been telling you for years to stop shoveling in your food, and you know that this bad habit makes you consume more calories. But eating too slowly can also backfire. Research shows that the longer a meal lasts, the likelier we are to reach for a third glass of wine or dinner roll. "Just sitting at the table means a greater chance of nibbling on something, even if you're not hungry," says Sasha Loring, a psychotherapist and mindfulness teacher at Duke Integrative Medicine.

Sidestep It: A meal should last 45 minutes, just long enough for you to enjoy it, but not so much that you'll overeat.

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Diet Trap: Low Fat Labels
When a food (even chips or cookies) is labeled low-fat, we think it's healthy and tend to go overboard, research shows.

Sidestep It: Look at the serving and portion size. Bonus in smaller packages provide a stopping point, so you can decide whether you want to keep eating. If you think you've downed an entire serving, you're more likely to feel satisfied.

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Diet Trap: Meals in Front of the TV
Time to Fess Up... How many times this week did you dine under the influence of TV?
Kids in a University of Toronto study who ate in front of the tube consumed, on average, 228 more calories than those who didn't. "If you're distracted during a meal, you'll enjoy your food less and lose track of how much you're eating," says Bonnie Taub-Dix, RD, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.

Sidestep It: Can't give up a night watching your favorite shows like The Bachelorette or So You Think You Can Dance?... (my personal favs) Then DVR them and consider it your after dinner treat.

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Diet Trap: Too Many Choices
Research suggests that a plate holding a variety of foods heightens our senses and turns on our taste buds. "Take away the choice and our senses get numbed, making a tray of the same type of muffin look less appealing," says Wansink.

Sidestep It: To help you say no to the bagels and doughnuts at your next meeting, bring a snack of your own, or pick a spot at the table where you'll have to leave your chair to take one. You'll be more likely to think twice about it, since you'd attract attention to yourself getting up.

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Diet Trap: Color
Ever wondered why lots of fast food joints use red in their stores and logos? It's because red is a stimulating color and it just may increase your appetite.

Sidestep It: In your kitchen, go for blue, which experts believe suppresses hunger. "Blue is a soothing, calming color that can subconsciously help you slow down and enjoy your meal," says Taub-Dix. Not ready for robin's-egg walls? Use blue place mats, or arrange a bouquet of hydrangeas as a centerpiece.

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Diet Trap: Family Style Dinners
A serving bowl of fluffy mashed potatoes on the table is just begging you to take a second (or third) helping. Instead, put a full portion on your plate at the beginning of the meal and leave the rest on the kitchen counter... you're more likely to eat less this way.

Sidestep It: Make it harder to pig out. Put the leftovers in the freezer immediately after you serve a meal. Since it takes more effort to defrost a food, you are less likely to dip into it all week.

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Diet Trap: Mouthwatering Aromas
Can't gather the willpower to keep walking past the bakery once you get a whiff of chocolate chip cookies? Studies show that simply smelling a food can increase appetite and stimulate salivation, which will make you eat more if you do indulge.

Sidestep It: Distract yourself so you won't follow your nose. Take out your cell phone and check voice mail or send a few texts when you walk by that yummy smelling cafe.

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Diet Trap: Wining While Dining
Keep the bottle on the table while you eat and you're more likely to refill your glass (100 calories or more a pour).

Sidestep It: Leave the bottle on the counter or in the refrigerator during dinner, and use tall glasses. People in one study poured 28 percent more into short, wide glasses than they did into tall, narrow ones, even though both glasses held the same amount.

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Diet Trap: Group Outings
Hitting your favorite restaurant with friends? The celebratory atmosphere means you're more likely to let your dietary guard down. Typically, when you eat with another person, you consume 35 percent more than you would alone, and the amount you eat increases as much as 10 percent with each additional person at the table.

Sidestep It: Sit next to the smartest eater, sharing with her or reaching for the same foods she does.

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Diet Trap: Cute Dessert Plates
Those plates you got as a housewarming gift could be upping your sweets intake. In one study, people were asked to rate brownies served on dessert plates, paper plates, and napkins. Although they were all from the same batch, those on real plates were rated "excellent" compared with "nothing special" for those on napkins.

Why? Our taste buds are led by our imagination. We figure that the dessert on the pretty plate is more likely to be delicious and if we expect a food to taste good, it will. And of course, the tastier it is, the more we eat.

Sidestep It: Put your fine china away and use your tableware that is not as nice.

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Diet Trap: Buying in Bulk
It may be better for your budget, but loading up at a Sams can sabotage your diet if you're not careful. In one study, people who were given large packages of spaghetti, sauce, and meat typically prepared 23 percent more (around 150 extra calories) than those given medium-size ones. "Big packages make you think that your portions can be bigger too," says Wansink.

Sidestep It: When you're unpacking your groceries, separate the contents of giant value packs into several smaller containers.

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Diet Trap: In-Your-Face Goodies
If candy is in a clear container rather than an opaque one, we'll eat 22 percent more, research shows. "When we see something delicious, the pancreas secretes insulin, which lowers our blood sugar and makes us feel hungry," says Wansink.

Sidestep It: Keep treats under cover. Hide your favorite snacks at the bottom of the fridge or in a drawer. If it's not right there in front of you, You are less likely to reach for it.

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Diet Trap: Mood Lighting
You may be tempted to dim the overhead lights before you sit down to dine with your sweetie, but studies show that it may spur your appetite. "Soft lighting calms you down, making you more comfortable and uninhibited," says Wansink.

The result? You reach for that monster size serving of fettuccine Alfredo and pile on extra Parmesan. But too bright lights are also bad news. They stimulate your senses and can cause you to eat faster and feel rushed.

Sidestep It: Ditch the candlelit meals and the bright fluorescent lights, and find a happy medium.

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Diet Trap: Icy Temperatures
Restaurants and theaters often keep thermostats low. That's not good for your waistline, because your body needs to eat more to stay warm. In hot temps, you'll drink more liquids and eat less.

Sidestep It: Set your thermostat between 68 and 75 degrees and bring a jacket when you go out to eat or to the movies.

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Diet Trap: Easy Access
Are you more likely to indulge in a slice of chocolate cake if 1) you have to bake it from scratch or 2) if it's sitting on your kitchen counter? It's a no brainer. We're lazy when it comes to snacks.

Sidestep It: Avoid buying treats at the grocery store. This way, if your sweet tooth hits, you have to get out of the house and go get some, which is sometimes more trouble than it's worth and you'll pass up on eating sweets.

Now Get To Side Stepin'!

Abs of Steel

Sculpting a Sexier Stomach

Add one of these killer abs exercises to your workout and tone your tummy and lose your love handles for good.

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Lying Leg Raise
Targets: Abs, lower back, hips

-Lie face up on floor with legs together and extended, holding ball with both hands, arms extended overhead with elbows next to ears.
-Engage abs and lift both legs straight up toward ceiling.
-Slowly lower legs, keeping them straight and together, until about 12 inches away from floor; lift back up.







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Medicine Ball Tap
Targets: Arms, obliques, abs

-Stand with feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, abs engaged and back about 2 feet away from a wall, holding ball with arms extended at chest height in front of you.
-Bend arms slightly and rotate torso to right until ball taps wall behind you.
-Rotate back through center and to left; tap wall with ball.
-Alternate sides.





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Intermediate: Plank Swipe
Targets: Abs, obliques, back, hips, and glutes

-Get into plank position and stack left foot on top of right heel.
-Keeping back and legs straight and abs engaged, lift left foot slightly, then kick left leg out to side. Return to stacked position.
-Switch legs






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Ball Crunch
-Lie face up on a stability ball, knees bent 90 degrees, feet on floor.
-Put hands behind head with elbows out to sides and crunch up, then lower.






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Hip Raise
-Lie face up on floor with heels on ball, legs extended, arms by sides.
-Lift hips, forming a diagonal line from heels to shoulders. Hold for 1 count; lower.





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Back Extension
-Lie face down on ball, knees bent and feet on wall behind you, toes on floor.
-Bend elbows by sides, bringing fists in front of shoulders. Lift upper body; lower.






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Arm/Leg Reach
-Start on all fours. Slowly extend left arm and right leg at the same time until both are parallel to floor; hold for 1 second. Return to start.
-Switch sides and repeat to complete 1 rep.


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Pilates Roll-Up
-Lie back with legs straight and arms extended above head next to ears.
-Bring arms forward, tilt chin down, and slowly curl upper body up, reaching hands to toes.




~Choose your favorite 2-4 exercises and try to do 15-20 reps 2-3 times, 3 times a week.~


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Cardio for Killer Abs:
To get show off abs fast, do at least 3 - 30 minute cardio sessions per week.
Choose activities that specifically target core muscles.
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Best machines (500 to 600 calories an hour):
Treadmill (run/walk hills)
Elliptical trainer with movable handles
Rowing machine
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Do 10 minutes of each machine, moving quickly from one exercise to the next so your core muscles are constantly challenged.
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Best classes (350 to 650 calories an hour):
Indoor Group Cycling
Kickboxing
Core Based Classes
Bosu Classes
Most Dance classes
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Best outdoor activities (300 to 450 calories an hour):
Tennis
Kayaking
Volleyball

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You should now be on your way to a slimmer, sexier You!!

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Two Components

There are two basic components to being physically healthy: Exercise and Nutrition.

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Exercise- One of the most important things you can do is to make exercise part of your daily routine. If exercising isn't challenging, you will quickly get bored and you won't receive the maximum benefits from it. Therefore the best way to keep yourself interested is to constantly try out different things and change up your workout.

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Cardiovascular activities (anything that gets your heart rate up) is what trims body fat. Depending on your age and health condition, you want your heart rate to get up during physical activity. 60-85% of your maximum heart rate should be your goal 3-5 times a week, for 20-60 minutes (excluding warm-ups) to maximize your health benefits, including losing weight. Besides the strain and injuries that can result, the heart is simply working too fast for any benefit, and your body cannot replenish oxygen that quickly when you go above 85%. At the same time, you don't get much benefit when exercising below 60%, although it is a good place to start for beginners.

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You can find that range by taking 220 - your age = your maximum heart rate (MHR)

Then take that number and multiply it by .6 to get 60% of your MHR, and then multiply that same number by .85 to get 85% of your MHR.

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For example: 220 - 26 (my age) = 194

194 x 0.6 = 116

194 x 0.85 = 165

So, my target heart rate is between 116-165 bpm (beats per minute)

Since I am healthy and pretty in shape, I try to stay near the upper range during my workouts.

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Examples of Cardiovascular activities:

Fast Walking

Jogging

Running

Ellipticals

Bike riding

Rowing

Jumping Rope

Playing basketball, soccer, etc.

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Nutrition- I believe that you can eat anything you want if you control your portion sizes. Eat that pizza that you want, just only eat 1-2 pieces and eat a healthy salad to go along with it. When you eat about every 3 hours, it keeps your metabolism going. So, try eating 5-6 times a day.

1) Breakfast / 2) Snack / 3) Lunch / 4) Snack / 5) Dinner / 6) Snack (if needed)

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It is very important to have healthy, low calorie snacks, not meal size snacks. A good energy, pick-me-up snack is a mixture of a protein and a carbohydrate.

Examples of healthy snacks are:
Apple slices with peanut butter
Raisins
Nuts
Grapes
Applesauce
Low-fat yogurt with fruit
Unbuttered and unsalted popcorn
Broccoli, carrots, and/or cherry tomatoes with dip
Low or reduced-fat string cheese
Baked whole-grain tortilla chips with salsa
Unsalted pretzels
Whole-grain cereal with low-fat milk
Trail mix
Fiber bars
Bananas
Cottage cheese and fruit

In 'Trim and Tone' I will be giving advice on healthy eating and dieting, sample workout regimes... basically anything that will help us stay healthy and get in shape.