Showing posts with label fitness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fitness. Show all posts
6/25/10
Why is it so hard to lose the last 5 pounds?
This is the last question in a series of "5 key questions about weight loss" from Time magazine. You can read the previous ones listed below:
- Why does it get hard to lose weight as you age?
- What kind of exercise is best for me?
- Why doesn't exercise help you lose weight?
- Do diet sodas make you gain weight?
The last question in the 5 key questions is "Why is it so hard to lose those last 5 to 10 pounds?"
Time's answer is that the bigger you are, the more calories you burn. Therefore, with the more weight you lose, the fewer calories you are burning and the more you have to work to burn the calories.
That answer is true, for sure, but there is more to the story. In my opinion, there are a few combined reasons why those last few pounds are hard to lose.
First off, you do burn fewer calories as you get smaller. You burn less through living, and also less in your activities. For example, if I am 5'4 and weigh 140lbs, my basal metabolic rate would be around 1452. This means that even if I were to stay in bed all day long and mope about, I would burn 1452 calories throughout the day just by being alive. Things like hair and nail growth, breathing, heart beating, etc, all take calories in order to function, so I would burn 1452. Now if I were that same 5'4 female, but I lost weight and now weigh 115, my BMR would be around 1343. Even though my body still needs to do all the things that it did before, because it is smaller now it burns less energy through these processes. So that approximately 110 calories per day won't be a deal breaker, but equates to around one pound a month that you were losing before that you aren't losing now.
The second part of this is that your calories burned during exercise change as you lose weight. Just like your body expends less energy by simply living, it also expends less energy through exercise, because you aren't moving as much weight. For example, a 155 pound person running 5.2 mph (11.5 minute miles) for an hour would burn around 633 calories. That same person, once they lost some weight and got down to 130 pounds would burn around 530 calories doing the exact same exercise at the same speed. Again, this 100 calorie difference isn't going to be a make or break difference, but if you combine these two ideas, you are burning 200 calories less per day, which would have been a pound of weight loss every 17-18 days that you aren't having now.
The third part of this equation is that people often try to lose the last 5-10 pounds by starving off, which is not only unhealthy, but also not effective. If you are a fan of Jillian Michaels and read her books or listen to her podcasts at all, you'll know this information already, but bear with me. For someone that is drastically overweight, your body wants to get rid of the excess weight. Therefore, if you are overweight and cut down to 1200 calories per day and exercise, you'll lose weight because your body will dive into the fat stores that you have and burn them for energy. On the other hand, if you are near your healthy weight for your body, your body doesn't want to get rid of that extra fat. There hasn't always been a grocery store every mile, so our bodies have evolved to store fat for a little extra energy when food is scarcer. With a few extra pounds on you, your body is happy because it has a little safety net. So if you start to starve yourself in order to get rid of those last few pounds, your body is really going to think food is scarce, and hold onto those fat stores like there is no tomorrow. Physiologically speaking, we don't need muscle in the same vital way that we need fat, so if your body fears that it is starving it will begin to burn up your expendable muscle tissue, and hold onto the fat to keep you functioning.
All that being said to point out that as you approach the last 5-10 pound realm, you need to eat! I've heard Jillian Michaels say multiple times that to lose those last few pounds the best thing to do is to eat around your BMR level (you can calculate that here) and make the calorie deficit through exercise alone so that you won't end up starving your body.
The final part of the 5-10 pound equation is setting realistic goals. Sometimes, people have trouble losing those last 5-10 pounds because they have set their goals at an unrealistic number for their height, build, or age (here is a chart that shows a range for each height). If your goal is unrealistic, you are going to feel like a constant failure as you struggle to starve yourself thinner (see #3 above). Often times, I've heard people say that as you approach your goal weight, it is better to weigh yourself less and focus more on your body composition and how you feel/look in your clothes. It can get very discouraging and unhealthy to focus so much on a number, so just try to see how you are feeling and if you really even need to lose those last few pounds.
I hope you have enjoyed my take on Time's answers to the 5 key questions about weight loss. Leave me a comment if you have any more questions, as I would love to answer them! I know this site is mostly about healthy life choices relating to food, but often times weight loss does go hand in hand with working toward a healthy lifestyle, so I wanted to touch on that aspect as well.
6/23/10
Diet Sodas and Weight Gain
You can find the answers to the previous questions at Why does it get harder to lose weight as I get older, Which kind of exercise is best for me, and Why doesn't exercise help you lose weight?
The fourth question in the time series is "Can Diet Sodas actually make you gain weight?"
Ah, the age old (or at least as long as aspartame has been around) question. I'm going to temporarily ignore the fact that Diet Soda is up there as one of the last "real foods" that you can eat. We all know that Diet Soda is not good for you, so instead I am going to focus merely on the weight loss aspect of this, since that is the theme of the key questions. You can read more about my feelings on artificial sweeteners at Work On It Wednesday - Artificial Sweeteners.
Time's answer to this question is pretty good. Basically the gist of it is that artificial sweeteners do two things - 1) make you desensitized to sweetness, since the artificial sweeteners is about 100 times sweeter than natural sweeteners, and 2) make you crave more sweet foods, since you are not getting the calories that your body expects from the artificial sweeteners.
In 2005 the University of Texas at San Antonio conducted a study that suggested that there is a 41% increase in the risk of being overweight for each can or bottle of diet soft drinks that a person consumes each day. That is crazy! That means for someone that drinks one can a day of Diet Coke (which is a fairly low amount in the world of Diet Coke drinkers), your risk increases by 41%, but for a person that drinks two Diet Cokes a day, the risk goes up by 82%! On the other hand, regular soft drinkers' risk for obesity was hovering around 30% per can they drink per day.
According to Dr. Katz of the Oprah show, animal research that has been done on artificial sweeteners suggest that eating sweet foods causes your body to expect a rush in calories (energy). Since artificial sweeteners do not contain those calories, the brain begins to lose the ability to judge how much you have eaten overall, and thus you begin to overeat and gain weight (this study was done on rats).
Another aspect of the whole debate is that often times people who are drinking Diet Cokes are also eating other unhealthy foods - like diet cookies, low fat, processed, junk. All of these foods contain similar artificial and "replacement" ingredients, so your body is not getting the satisfaction of the calories and nutrients it needs. Like we talked about in "Why I am reducing my grain consumption..." eating these processed (often times very high in carbohydrate) foods can leave you with cyclical cravings which make you always want more. Pair that with the fact that often times processed sweets are much sweeter than the sweet foods found in nature (compare a twinkie to an apple), and you can see how all of the processed foods, including but not limited to diet sodas, can cause your body to be desensitized to the sweetness and begin to expect more. This, going hand in hand with the other information, can definitely cause overeating in a desire to satiate those sweet cravings.
I personally have found all of these things to be true. When I drink more diet soda, I have worse sugar cravings. I also have worse cravings for diet sodas during times that I crave more unhealthy foods, so it does become a cycle. I truly believe in the addictive power of diet sodas. Not only do I love the caffeine (which you can still get from healthier choices, like organic coffee), but something about the sweetness is very hard for me to turn down. The biggest factors that I think of when I am trying to resist the urge of a Diet Coke is that I drink less water when we have Cokes in the house, since I am replacing my water sipping with Coke sipping, and also that I do have terribly, unbelievably strong sweet cravings when I drink it. Overall, I don't have a huge sweet tooth, but when I eat artificial sweeteners, it ignites in me a sweet tooth that is powerfully strong. This begins a cycle of carb cravings, which leave me feeling awful. So as I've heard many trainers and dietitians say, when you are thinking of indulging in something (a brownie sundae, skipping a work out, a diet coke, or whatever), think of the long term effect. For me, the long term effect is feeling sluggish, lethargic, and constantly dealing with cravings for at least a day, sometimes two, so the Diet Coke is not usually worth it.
6/21/10
Why does it get harder to lose weight?
This is the third question in a series of key questions about weight loss, based off the March Time Article. Although for the most part I like the Time answers, they don't go nearly as in depth as they should have, so I am extrapolating on the answers, and providing a little more detail. You can read the first two questions, Why doesn't exercise help you lose weight and Which kind of exercise is best for me.
The third question in the series is Why does it get harder to lose weight the older I get?
Time says that there are a couple factors involved in making weight loss harder as we age. The first is that we lose muscle mass as we get older, the second is that our metabolisms slow down, and finally we are more likely to be less active.
I’ve heard conflicting reports about metabolism slowing down. On the one hand, according to MSN article about Slow Burn, as we age the mitochondria in our cells slow down, which causes our bodies to convert nutrients to power at a slower rate. This would definitely imply that our natural base metabolic rate slows down, but it seems that that is only half of the story.
Going hand in hand with metabolism slowing down is the loss of muscle mass that often occurs as we age. Each pound of muscle in our bodies burn about 7-10 calories per day, which sounds like a paltry amount, but is basically a powerhouse compared to the pound of fat which burns about 2-3 calories per day. All that to say that since we do lose muscle mass as age, if you do not do any kind of activities to combat the muscle loss it will cause your metabolism to slow down. However, this is not something that you are powerless to change. Many people say “I have a slow metabolism” but often times that is simply because of the choices that they are making, not so much a reflection of genetics. Although it is debatable how much of an influence your genetics have over your body and weight, at the end of the day blaming your body solely on genetics takes away your power in the situation. Anyone can lose weight (except maybe some people with metabolic disorders or other health problems – in which case you should visit a doctor who can help to deal with those issues, and then you could be on your way to weight loss). My end point is that we are not powerless to combat a slowing metabolism. It will naturally slow down from muscle loss as you get older, but by continuing to be active, do strength and resistance training, and eat healthy foods you do have the power to influence how much that affects your life.
Lastly, Time says that often people are less active as they get older, which is the third factor in making weight loss harder. This can be very true, and I think as we get older we tend to substitute more sedentary activities for our previous active ones (going to the movies or a show versus hiking). We are also less inclined to do thing “out of the box” as we get older, such as biking to work, walking to the grocery store, etc. This doesn’t mean that we can’t do these things, simply that most people don’t. Just like in the previous “reason” this is entirely in your control, and becoming less active doesn’t have to be your story.
The only thing that Time left out that I do think is important to at least acknowledge is the fact that as women get older they tend to put weight on in different places than they may have before. Having more estrogen in your body causes you to store weight in your hips and thighs, while having more testosterone in your body causes you to store weight in your midsection. As women go through menopause, their estrogen levels change, which often causes weight gain in the midsection. Again, this isn’t something that can’t be combated, but it is just simply something that women need to be aware as they approach that time in their lives.
At the end of the day, I think that the answer that Time gave and that I agree with is that often time people have more trouble losing weight as they get older because they are less active and do not work out as much. I believe this is a hopeful answer, because it puts you in the driver’s seat as to how much you are willing to accept this as your case, and how much you want to change your situation!
6/18/10
Which Kind of Exercise Is Best for Me?
This is the second key question being answered in a series of posts responding to Time Magazine’s Article about questions about weight loss. You can read the first one over at “Why Exercise Doesn’t Help You Lose Weight.”
The second question that was asked of the Time article was “Which is better for my health – more frequent sessions of moderate activity or less frequent sessions of intense activity?”
Time basically said that from an obesity standpoint, it doesn’t really matter. Some exercise is better than none, so assuming that the alternative is to not exercise at all, frequent, moderate session are okay. Time states that there have been studies done that show that women who were previously sedentary saw the benefits of heart healthiness when they began walking, even if it was just 10 minutes a day.
I’m going to disagree, but only because I believe that you can push yourself to do more than maybe even you think you can do. I do not think that you should say “well, benefits are there when I walk 10 minutes a day, so I’m going to go for a 10 minute stroll.” You’re selling yourself short there, in terms of both weight loss and healthiness. There has been a huge movement in the country to do little bits of exercise here and there – take the steps, park farther away from the store, etc. While I agree these things are fine to do, they aren’t going to make mind-blowing changes to your healthiness or weight. I have heard before that you burn about 25 calories walking up 5 flights of stairs. This would mean that you would have to walk up a significant number of stairs before you would really see any sort of true calorie burn. Again, I’m not advising that you take the elevator up to your 2nd floor office, but I’m just saying that parking farther from the store and walking up the stairs simply isn’t enough.
I am also a big proponent of high intensity interval training (HIIT), which I wrote more about in the post, High Intensity Interval Training. HIIT is great for those of us that do not want to spend hours upon hours logging away miles on the treadmill, or for those that are exceptionally busy (ie everyone). The idea is that you are pushing yourself extremely hard for interval bursts throughout your workout followed by recovery times –and by doing this you are pushing yourself to a limit that you wouldn’t normally be able to sustain. For example, I normally run about 6.7 – 7.0 miles per hour, or around an 8:30 – 9:00 mile. I can sustain this pace for 4 – 5 miles, and probably more but I get pretty bored after that amount of running. When I do HIIT, I normally run my intervals at 9.0 mph, and my recovery periods at 6.0 – 6.5. This allows me to average out at a 7.5 – 7.7 mph pace, or around a 7:45-8:00 minute mile. I can run an 8 minute mile, but I cannot sustain the pace as well as I can when I am doing HIIT.
My biggest beef with the Time answer was not that it told people to start slow and walk for 10 minutes. It is fine to start slow and all, but the article it made it sound as though walking for 10 minutes is really all you need to do, and I disagree wholeheartedly with that. The US government advises that people should aim to get around 30 minutes of moderate exercise daily. This will maximize heart benefits and provide the protection again some chronic diseases. I’m going to throw it out there though – if you are just starting out on an exercise program, you may not be able to do 30 minutes of exercise, and HIIT may not be for you. The key is to start out slow, which the Time article covered. You don’t want to dive right in and then end up hurt. If what you are able to do right now is walk for 10 minutes, then do it, and maybe tomorrow try to walk for 11 minutes. Gradually build up in your amount of time, and then you can work on walking faster or incorporating intervals once you have a base of fitness. Just don’t sell yourself short. You can walk for more than 10 minutes eventually, and you should set your goals on being able to accomplish more and more. As one doctor put it, “some is better than none. More is better than some. Too much is difficult to get.” I will say that you can definitely over train and get too much of one type of exercise, but overall our bodies were made to be moved around and worked. It is only within the last 100 years that we have become a more sedentary population, so your body will definitely thank you if you give it the exercise that it wants, and push it to new limits.
And I don’t think that anyone’s ultimate and final limit is 10 minutes a day.
6/17/10
Why Doesn't Exercise Help You Lose Weight?
Time magazine had an article back in March about weight loss and exercise. The article was answering "5 key questions about weight loss," and had some interesting ideas that I wanted to share with you all. I know that typically on Just Add Lauren, I talk mostly about eating real, whole foods. However, this is because the diet journey that I am moving on is more a process for me than the fitness one. I have always been athletic and active, and now is no exception. I definitely do not want to give the impression that I do not work out, because I work out on average about 4 hours a week, sometimes more depending on how motivated I am. I say this not to make anyone feel guilty or to praise myself, but just to simply state that I think that a well rounded, healthy lifestyle incorporates real foods and some form of exercise. For me, the real food aspect of it is a bit more difficult than the fitness aspect, so that is why I write mostly about that.
Moving on…
I’m going to be working through these questions one by one in a series of posts, so look for my take on the rest of the questions that were asked in the coming days.
The first question that was asked in the Time article was “Why doesn’t exercise help you to lose weight?”
Time responded by saying that often times when a person works out, they tend to compensate for the calories they burn during a workout by eating more. In addition, people can often “reward” themselves for being active by eating a treat. They also said that people that work out can replace the fat they have on their bodies with muscle, which is more dense than fat and therefore can cause them to stay the same weight or even gain weight.
I agree with aspects of this answer. I think there can be certain people who will eat more because they know that they have worked out, and so they reward themselves with a good dessert or snack. For many people, though, I know that exercise just makes them hungrier. When I run, I find that I am absolutely famished about 45 minutes after I am finished running. The best way to combat this hunger is to eat something after your workout, but before that wave of starvation hits you. My advice would be to eat something with a combination of carbs and protein. I like a few (like 8-10) almonds, a slice of fruit, or eggs (or a mixture of more than one of these). Also good would be a slice of bread with nut butter, or a fruit with nut butter. I would definitely not reward yourself with something sweet after a workout, since this will cause the series of ups and downs that I talked about in Why I'm Reducing My Grain Consumption, and 5 Reasons Why You Should Too.
The other part of this that I wanted to talk about was the whole “muscle weighs more than fat” argument. Seriously, I am so tired of hearing this argument. First off, muscle does not weigh more than fat. One pound of muscle weighs the exact same one pound as one pound of fat. Muscle is simply denser – meaning that for the same amount of space that it is taking up, muscle will weigh more. However, usually people have to very consciously and purposefully try to gain muscle. It doesn’t usually just happen – especially to someone who is cutting calories and trying to lose weight. I am a member of the weight loss site, Sparkpeople, and I often visit their message boards. I will see people write on there that they have worked out for two weeks, and have gained 5 pounds. Others will respond “it is probably muscle, since muscle weighs more than fat.” Argh! You all know that I’m a huge Jillian Michaels fan. I listen to her podcasts while I run, she said one time on a podcast that over the course of a season of the Biggest Loser, she has had contestant put on about 11 pounds of muscle. That is over the course of 4-5 months, and working out about 8-10 hours a day with a world-class trainer, and eating very carefully! Water weight does fluctuate wildly (especially in women) and can cause temporary weight gain, but chances are if you have put on some weight recently, it is either a) you are eating too many calories for the amount that you are burning or b) you are retaining water, which can be blamed on a variety of different factors.
Ok, end rant about the muscle weighing more than fat issue, and getting back to the original question.
Exercise can make you not lose weight for all the reasons listed above, and beginning an exercise program definitely makes you muscles retain water for a period of time. If you are just starting out on an exercise regime, give it at least a month, maybe closer to 6-8 weeks before you get discouraged or say that you aren’t seeing any progress. Although exercise all by itself will not be the magic bullet in making you lose weight, it is certainly part of a well rounded lifestyle and is extremely important in things such as mood lifting, helps you sleep better, lowers your risk of some diseases, etc. You should not see exercise as the key to being able to eat whatever you want, whenever you want, but you definitely should see it as one part of an overall healthy lifestyle.
Exercise can make you not lose weight for all the reasons listed above, and beginning an exercise program definitely makes you muscles retain water for a period of time. If you are just starting out on an exercise regime, give it at least a month, maybe closer to 6-8 weeks before you get discouraged or say that you aren’t seeing any progress. Although exercise all by itself will not be the magic bullet in making you lose weight, it is certainly part of a well rounded lifestyle and is extremely important in things such as mood lifting, helps you sleep better, lowers your risk of some diseases, etc. You should not see exercise as the key to being able to eat whatever you want, whenever you want, but you definitely should see it as one part of an overall healthy lifestyle.
5/18/10
Try It Out Tuesday Introduction
Over the course of the next few months, we're going to be adding a series to the blog called "Try It Out Tuesday," which, along with Work On It Wednesday is all about adding new things to your life and trying out new steps to take to work towards a healthier you.
I will have a post each Tuesday with some information on a food (or food group) that I am going to be trying to work on adding into my diet for the week. This could range from things as broad as dairy products (which would actually be a real struggle for me) or as specifically as something like pomegranates (how the heck do you eat them?!)
Whereas Work On It Wednesday is about all sorts of things in life - stress management, fitness, nutrition, time management, etc., Try It Out Tuesday is going to focus solely on food (yuuum!) and incorporating new foods or food groups to my overall diet.
Personally, I am really working towards cleaning up my diet and focusing on getting the most nutrient rich foods that I possibly can while still staying in a healthy calorie range for my height and age. I'm not a total believer in the idea of eating super fat items like lard, so I would consider this a fairly moderate nutritional make over - although as you all know from my ideas on the definitions of healthy, I do aim to eventually be more open to more "fattening" foods). But for now, you can just call me Middle Of The Road Lauren. ☺ Regardless, I am a firm believer in baby steps and making small changes towards greater good, so I am working toward implementing more nutritious foods in my diet, and really trying out new food options, particularly since summer is just around the corner and there should be a plethora of available choices!
I would love for you to join me in Try It Out Tuesday. I want to hear about the changes you've made to your diet, whether you think they have had any effect on you, the changes you are still wanting to make, etc. How are you incorporating Try It Out Tuesday into your diet?
5/12/10
Work On It Wednesday
(I, for one, am working on getting new graphics...please bear with me!)
Well, I think you (meaning I) can. So each Wednesday, I am going to make that a point - to make a conscious effort to change just one thing about my life or work towards a goal. Whether that be nutritional, environmental, fitness related, or just lifestyle in general, there are many parts of my life that could use improving, so I am going to work on it step by step. I am a very goal oriented person, and I function better when I set out with a specific idea of what I want to do in my mind, so I think that by setting those small stepping stone goals, I can work towards where I really want to be in my life. I discussed in my post about the definitions of healthy, I think life is all about making baby steps towards our ultimate goal. There are few people that can set a goal and then achieve it within days (or weeks, or whatever). And personally, the times that I have set goals and in one great leap achieved them, it meant that I was not setting myself high enough standards. So this series is going to be the opposite - my ultimate goal is to live in a completely green, healthy, environmental friendly, organic way. Certainly, I am not there yet (see the gluttonous pile of Redi-Whip I put on my Angel Food Cake), but I am working towards that goal with baby steps, and it is a journey.
I would love for you to join me on this journey. Part of what I envisioned for Just Add Lauren is a blog where we can come together and share our paths towards a healthier (and thus happier) lifestyle. I want your feedback, your changes, your comments, everything! Let me know what you are doing to improve your life, and I will likewise share what I am doing to improve mine!
4/21/10
High Intensity Interval Training
If you aren't familiar with the idea of HIIT, here's some background info from Wikipedia. The idea behind HIIT is that you do a short burst of all out effort, followed by a recovery time. By working out in this pattern of burst/recovery, you are able to elevate your heart rate and keep it elevated at a rate that you wouldn't normally be able to sustain. HIIT is a great workout for people with busy lives (ie everyone) because the high level of exertion from the workout allows you to work out for a shorter period of time and still gain the same, if not more, benefit than a "slow and steady" pace. With a HIIT workout, you really should only be able to workout for 20-30 minutes because of the amount of effort that you are putting into your workout. Theoretically, if you are doing a HIIT for 45-60 minutes or longer, you aren't really doing it right, as you should be putting "maximum effort" into the high intensity parts of your workout, which you would not be able to sustain for that long of a period of time.
Another benefit of HIIT is the exercise post oxygen consumption (EPOC), which is a fancy way of saying that after the workout your metabolism stays elevated for a period of up to 24 -48 hours, which can also really help if you are trying to lose weight and tone up.
I recently listened to a pod cast by Jillian Michaels where she discussed with a listener a plan for a HIIT workout. Her advice was to do a sort of pyramid workout - 30 second sprint, 30 second recovery, 45 second sprint, 45 second recovery, 1 minute sprint, 1 minute recovery, etc all the way up to 1:30 sprint, 1:30 recovery, and then work your way back down in increments of :15 seconds. I tried this the other day, and I have to say it was a pretty tough workout. I consider myself to be in decent shape, and I workout pretty consistently, even doing HIIT workouts fairly regularly, and I still couldn't do it. Maybe I just picked a sprint pace that was too hard or a recovery pace that was too fast (I was on a treadmill) but I only got up to 1:15, and then I had to go back to :30 without working my way back down.
A note for those that want to give this a try - HIIT is really for people that are already in decent shape but who want an aerobic workout where they will not lose as much muscle mass. You should be able to do 20-30 minutes of cardio already. It is not for beginners, and if you have any pain or trouble breathing you should slow down and/or take a break from your workout. Consult your doctor before starting any kind of fitness program to make sure that you are physically healthy enough for the strain of working out.
4/11/10
Hoping to Make the Cut
Back in the winter time (I'm maintaining that it is spring, even though the weather outside is not really agreeing with me), I started a journey to try and slim down a bit. I've never really been overweight, and I'm certainly not saying that I was heavy to begin with, but I'd been battling the same 5 or so pounds for a while and never really feeling super great about myself. So I set out to lose around 10-15 pounds. I started in November, and my goal was to reach where I wanted to be by the time my husband came home from his deployment in February. Needless to say, it wasn't the best time of the year to start this process, but I made it and reached my goal and felt pretty good. But alas, I feel as though I am not quite finished. Although I haven't really gained any weight back since my husband came home (aside from 1-2 pounds that sometimes appears after our occasional pizza nights!) I would really like to lose between 5-10 more pounds. So, on Thursday I ordered two new books to help me out, and I'm ready to get started..once they get here, that is! I've been a big fan of Jillian Micheals' for years (I know that's a controversial opinion, but maybe that will be another topic for another post), so I ordered my very own copy of her two latest books, Making the Cut and Master Your Metabolism. Master Your Metabolism isn't really a workout book, it is more just about nutrition and diet, but I got it because a)Amazon gave me a good deal when I ordered them both at one time, and b) I just really like books about nutrition.
Making the Cut, however, is a workout book from what I have heard and read. It's supposed to be for people with those pesky "last 10 pounds" to lose, and I'm hoping it will help me lose those, and also tone up or get more "shredded" as Jillian says (although I find that to be a rather scary term). I'm super excited to get started on them, and I'll be updating you every so often on my progress!
You can click on the picture of the book to bring you to the ordering page on Amazon if you would like to join me!
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