The Reality of Health and Weight Loss

It depends. Fun answer, right? :)

Well, every individual burns calories at a different weight. If a marathon runner and a couch potato both did all of those exercises, a marathon runner might not burn more than 50 calories, if that, whereas the couch potato might burn MORE than 100!

Basically, the more in shape you are, the more efficient your body becomes at burning calories, and the less you burn. 

Best bet? Buy a heart rate monitor! Most of them have built in calorie counters.

Oh absolutely! I have tons of advice for you. I’ll break it down in steps, because I love lists like I love fresh Farmer’s market fruit. (read: an obsessive kind of love)

1. Check out my FAQ page to check out calorie intake estimators (how many calories you should eat/day to lose weight) and other snazzy calculators.
2. Read through the “Answered Questions” page to read answers to questions you may have, like ‘What are some good at-home cardio workouts?’ or “What are the pros and cons of calorie counting?”
3. You also want to check out the resources over at The Mayo Clinic and Prevention. They have a lot of information about losing weight/getting healthy!

Good luck!

Vegetarian blogs are godsend. They have the best recipes.

My go-to ones are the recipes that make good leftovers and/or take five minutes or less to make. (AKA: Both of these recipes)

Smoothies are also great meal/snack replacements depending on how much you drink!

Bakeries are so delicious. I feel your pain.

Ever thought about carrying around almonds with you? Trail mix, too. Nuts are ridiculously healthy, naturally travel-sized, great for weight loss, and they’re just overall amazing.

Also, if you find yourself hungry at a bakery, why not eat a sandwich with some freshly baked whole-wheat bread? Complex carbs are the best kind of carbs! And it also helps if the sandwich itself is healthy.

Basically, eat healthy foods before/during work so you don’t find yourself hungry around the pastries! 

Good luck on resisting the temptation!

I thank you and your French.

You people make my day, everyday.

Thank you so much!! I really love what I do, and this blog means a lot to me.

Best wishes to you in the New Year as well! :)

Great question! Here’s some non-pricey reward ideas:

• At-home spa day. Reward yourself with an at-home manicure, pedicure, and day of relaxation! Play your favorite relaxing music, drink tea, and don’t do any work all day long. (Or at least for a few hours!) Read a book, soak in the tub, and enjoy!
• Television/movie marathon! Rent some DVDs from your local library, and spend some time vegging out on the couch. 
• Yoga Day. Find a free yoga routine on the internet, and go do some yoga at a local park during a beautiful day! Recharge your batteries with some namaste fun.

Oh my goodness, there are so many wonderful pro-health blogs out there! Here are my favorites:

• Matchstickmolly is freaking hilarious. And she has a lot of great information! You should check out her “Matchstick challenges” as well. 
• Believe to Achieve is the place for all things motivation. And this blog posts reaaaallly pretty, colorful quotes. They make up like 80% of all my favorited posts.
• Fit Villains is awesome because it’s run by a sassy personal trainer who gives out great advice and posts some really interesting articles. 
• Healthy is Fabulous because of all the scrumptious photos of delicious food.
• Fleur Meets Fitness. Fleur is a living, breathing success story! She’s inspiring in so many different ways, and her blog is awesome.

Oooh, good question.

PROS AND CONS OF CALORIE COUNTING:

Pros:

• Using LoseIt.com, one of my favorite calorie counters, helped me lose 20lbs. I wasn’t losing weight until I started using that website. And it’s free! It really helps keep me accountable, and, from personal experience, it works.
• Creating a calorie deficit is essential for weight loss. If you aren’t burning more than you’re eating, you won’t lose weight. So does a calorie counter help you measure your daily intake? Yes. Does it work for everyone? No.
• You can use a calorie counter for a few days to measure how many calories you’re eating on a daily basis- sometimes people grossly overestimate or underestimate how many calories they’re eating, so a calorie counter can help you figure out if your current diet is helping/hindering your weight loss.
• There are some neat iPod calorie counters that have neat barcode scanners that make counting calories easy! My favorite is “Daily Burn Tracker”, but you have to pay extra for the barcode scanner.
• Some calorie counters (like “Daily Burn Tracker”) actually tell you how much of each essential vitamin and mineral you’re getting, and how much you should be getting. This is a great tool to help improve your overall health, and can help you spot deficiencies in your diet!

Cons:

• Calorie counters aren’t a good long-term solution. It may not be realistic for some people to use calorie counters more than a few weeks.
• Calorie counters may cause some people to become obsessive about what they’re eating.

Conclusion:

Calorie counters worked for me, so I would recommend them to everyone trying to lose weight!

Go check out all the different kinds. I would suggest LoseIt.com (which is free) and “Daily Burn Tracker” for the iPod (which is free except for certain features like the barcode scanner).

They are great tools that yield wonderful results if used correctly and actually can yield reliable results.

Also, calories are in food. They are units of food energy. Read more about calories here.

There’s no concrete evidence that exercising on an empty stomach helps weight loss.

In fact, it’s better to eat before a workout so you can work harder and burn more calories!

Some good advice:

The closer to your workout, the more you want to focus on eating carbohydrates rather than fat or protein. Carbohydrates are digested in the small intestines, whereas fat and protein are broken down in the stomach. This means cramping and indigestion are more likely when you work out with a belly full of fat- or protein-rich foods.

Best pre-workout snacks:

• Bananas. Potassium = perfect energy boost! Also prevents cramping.
• Bagel and jam
• Greek Yogurt

Thanks so much! :)