Eating Well

Today, I'm going to let you all in on a little secret...the secret of how to lose weight. The secret is...(drumroll)... EAT! Counterintuitive, I know, but believe it or not if you want to lose weight you HAVE to eat. Skipping meals is not going to help you, it's just going to hurt you. For example, if you skip breakfast (the most commonly skipped meal, but also the most important!) by the time lunch rolls around you're  going to be so hungry you'll over indulge. The key is to eat 6 SMALL meals a day instead of 3 BIG meals. Constantly fueling your body with healthy foods is going to rev up your metabolism. The key to this is portion control, portion control, portion control. TIP: Dinner plates now a days are HUGE, so if you eat off of your salad plates instead, you'll be less likely to overeat.
 
So, now to Jen's question,what should we eat?  I could go on and on and on about this one, but I'll try to do this Reader's Digest style! For breakfast opt for the egg or a bowl of high fiber cereal with skim milk instead of the bagel with cream cheese. The egg is high in protein and low in calories (1 egg = 70 calories 6 grams of protein), while the cereal is high in fiber which will keep you full longer (Raisin Bran or All Bran are good ones.) Like I mentioned before just be careful when it comes to portions. A serving of Raisin Bran is 1 cup, if you have to break out the measuring cup, go for it! It's really easy to eat more than one serving when it comes to cereal. Snacks should be 120 calories or less if you're trying to lose weight. If you aren't in the habit already, try to get in the habit of checking the nutrition facts of what you eat. Fruits and vegetables are excellent choices for snacks as well as yogurt (Yoplait lights are yummy and only 100 calories!), and string cheese (70-80 calories, Weight Watchers Brand has only 50 calories) Okay, hopefully you're not on information overload. Before I go into too much detail, I'd like to get your input so I take this in the right direction. Like I said before I could go on and on with this one, it's a rather broad topic, so any questions or concerns you guys have about what to eat will help guide me so I can give you the information you want. With that being said, I'll save the rest for another post! Feel free to add any suggestions or tips you have about what meals and snacks work for you!

What's in a name??

For those of you wondering why I chose to title this blog "Feeling Hot, Living Healthy," I want to pose a question to you: When do you feel your "hottest?" Is it after looking through a fashion or beauty magazine, or after watching a movie with a pencil thin leading lady? Or is it after you had a great workout, achieved a personal goal, or ate a healthy meal? It's probably different for everybody, but one thing I've found is that after I sit down with a fashion or beauty magazine I definitely DON'T feel my "hottest." I feel lacking. I know I can't possibly be the only woman  who feels this way. I don't think that society's definition of "HOT" is what we should aspire to. Let's face it, we're all not built to be 5'10", 100 lbs, it's not healthy and it's not realistic. So what is your definition of "hot?" When do you feel your absolute best and comfortable in your own skin? Since I'm asking the question, I'll be the first to answer it. I feel my personal best after I've had a good run, there's nothing in the world like runner's high! What about you?