women on wine (& 1 on tequila) searching for life’s answers!

You guessed it .. we have come up with a new feature for Where’s My DAMN Answer?

Where’s my DAMN tip? will be a monthly feature where we get a handful of “tips” from people that “know a thing or two” … or maybe from people who “don’t know a thing or two”.  Basically - think of it as that little section in “Real Simple” magazine … but more REAL and more SIMPLE

Our first handful of tips is of course fitness related because it’s the first of the year and OMG we all need to work off that Christmas dinner.  After all … it’s a new year … so why not make it a new YOU too?

It’s a New Year - Time for a New you … again? - by Tami Lindahl (certified personal trainer)

Well, it’s 2010 and a new year, it must be time for a new year’s resolution, right? Time to take that extra weight off….ARRHH… not again…didn’t we do this weight loss thing last year? Why is it that we vow to eat right and exercise in January but by mid February, we are back to out old ways? I would guess that it’s because we don’t really know exactly what we should be doing, or how to change the way we eat in such a way that we are satisfied so that we stick to it. We’ve also been told things through the years about how to lose weight, true or false, we’ve believed them. I thought, in the spirit or new years resolutions, I’d dispel a few myths…

1. Eating a low fat diet or omitting fat from your diet will help us lose fat. Bzzzt, (that’s my buzzer sound)… wrong. Eating fat can actually aid you in your weight loss efforts. Yes, I said it …help you in your weight loss efforts. First of all, eating fat helps your absorb nutrients; which is important because if you are lacking nutrients your body thinks you are starving and you crave more food. Second, starting your meals with a little fat helps you feel full sooner. The key here is choosing the right fats. I’m not talking about fried foods or donuts; I’m talking about healthy fats like olive oil, nuts and avocado.
2. Cardio is the best form of exercise for fast weight loss...Bzzzt, wrong again.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely important, but you absolutely need to include resistance or weight bearing exercises. Why? Muscle dictates your metabolism. The more lean muscle you have, the more revved up your calorie burning abilities are. Don’t panic, as a woman, you won’t bulk up (that’s another myth). You should do both, and don’t forget to stretch when your done!
3. Eating fewer calories will take the weight off. Bzzzt, not for long… Yes, eating few calories will take weight off initially, but, the minute you begin to eat again the weight comes back, with company. The reason is that when you starve yourself, you lose muscle and not fat. You go into a fat storage mode and you body “eats” the muscle. Losing muscle is the last thing you want to see go because lean muscles are what keep your metabolism working most efficiently. Eat the foods that keep you in a fat burning zone so you never have to starve again.