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Saturday "Smart Swap!": Save Loco Taco Calories

Sherry — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:07:35 +0000

Save crazy calories with this week’s swap at two Mexican style eateries … if you order the Crispy Chicken Crisper tacos at Chili’s, you’ll be taking in nearly 2,000 calories! As the name implies, the tacos are made with crispy fried chicken which ratchets up the exact calorie count to 1,990 and over 100 grams of fat.

Stop instead at Baja Fresh and order their Original Baja Chicken tacos and cut your calories down to 630 and you get three of them (same as the Crisper tacos!). That’s savings of 1,330 calories! ¡Aye caramba!

Saturday “Smart Swap!”: Save Loco Taco Calories originally appeared on About.com Weight Loss on Saturday, March 13th, 2010 at 03:36:18.

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Saturday "Smart Swap!": Save Loco Taco Calories

Sherry — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:07:35 +0000

Saturday “Smart Swap!”: Save Loco Taco Calories originally appeared on About.com Weight Loss on Saturday, March 13th, 2010 at 03:36:18.

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Tax Time Tips

Sherry — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:07:35 +0000

If your fees for a weight-loss program are considered medical expenses, you may be able to write them off on your taxes! A weight-loss program prescribed by a doctor in order to treat a specific medical condition (i.e., obesity, diabetes) is required.

While OTC diet products do not qualify for the break, if your doctor prescribes a special food or beverage you may be able to deduct the extra cost (if it is more than the cost of your normal food expenses).

You can only deduct these or any other kind of medical expenses if you itemize and the expenses are greater than 7.5% of your AGI (adjusted gross income).

For a list of qualifying expenses, see IRS publication 502 at irs.gov or talk to your accountant.

Tax Time Tips originally appeared on About.com Weight Loss on Saturday, March 13th, 2010 at 00:28:39.

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Tax Time Tips

Sherry — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:07:35 +0000

You can only deduct these or any other kind of medical expenses if you itemize and the expenses are greater than 7.5% of your AGI (adjusted gross income).

For a list of qualifying expenses, see IRS publication 502 at irs.gov or talk to your accountant.

Tax Time Tips originally appeared on About.com Weight Loss on Saturday, March 13th, 2010 at 00:28:39.

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3 Ways to Do Assisted Pull-Ups

Sherry — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:07:35 +0000

Since pull-ups and chin-ups are two of the best ways to work on your upper body strength and thereby stimulate your metabolism I thought I’d explain how anyone regardless of how strong they are can complete a set of pull-ups.

If you’ve tried and you’re not able to complete a body weight pull-up here are 3 ways to do them with some assistance:

1. Monster Bands
These big rubber bands come in all sorts of resistances with the thickest ones giving you the most help. All you do with these are loop one end around the pull-up bar and then loop the other side around your knee(s).

2. Pull-Up Revolution
This device is brand new and will be out in May 2010. One end of the strap attaches to the pull-up bar and the other end has a loop for your foot. You can adjust the assistance by adding or subtracting the amount of bands.

3. The Gravitron/Assisted Chin-Dip Machine
You may have seen this really tall piece of equipment at your gym and not have known what it is. Although this piece is my least favorite of the 3 options since it does not force you to stabilize on your own, it is nevertheless still a great alternative. With the Gravitron all you do is simply adjust the weight stack to provide you with the added resistance you are looking for.

I hope these 3 ways of allowing you to complete pull-ups and chin-ups have given you some new motivation to try this powerful upper body exercise!

3 Ways to Do Assisted Pull-Ups

Sherry — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:07:35 +0000

If you’ve tried and you’re not able to complete a body weight pull-up here are 3 ways to do them with some assistance:

I hope these 3 ways of allowing you to complete pull-ups and chin-ups have given you some new motivation to try this powerful upper body exercise!

Overweight and Cognitive Skills

Sherry — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:07:34 +0000

As the baby-boomers are aging we are doing almost everything we can to keep our youth but it continually boils down to taking care of ourselves by watching our weight and eating in a healthy way. This isn’t just about looking good anymore (although that’s always a plus!) it’s about our cognitive skills too.
Anna Dahl, doctoral student at the School of Health Sciences, Jönköping, published an article in the Journal of Gerontology, and states “that being overweight or obese in mid-life also negatively affects memory and thinking skills independent of dementia. Moreover, these skills decline more rapidly in old age among those who were overweight or obese in mid-life… The steeper decline in memory and thinking skills observed among individuals who were overweight or obese in mid-life, cannot be explained in our study by an increased prevalence of cardiovascular diseases. There are probably other mechanisms that explain this link.”

Still other studies conflict with this but overall it’s still best to have a healthy weight to prevent all the other numerous diseases and health conditions that are associated with being overweight.

Overweight and Cognitive Skills

Sherry — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:07:34 +0000

Eggs can Make Weight Loss Easier!

Sherry — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:05:45 +0000

Cereal, again? Make the switch to eggs in the a.m.!

Researchers at Louisiana State University found people who ate two eggs each morning lost 65% more weight than those who ate a bagel breakfast with the same number of calories despite the fact that both groups followed a reduced-calorie diet.

The egg eaters reported feeling fuller and ate fewer calories throughout the day, so try adding eggs to your daily menu.

Concerned about cholesterol? Put your fears at bay: The egg-eating group’s cholesterol levels did not go up.

Related Reading: Breakfast and Weight Loss

Eggs can Make Weight Loss Easier! originally appeared on About.com Weight Loss on Friday, March 12th, 2010 at 03:14:04.

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The Lost Answer to Exercising?

Sherry — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:05:45 +0000

This week I'm at the largest fitness convention in the world and during these past few days I've been speaking with some of the top people in the fitness field. We've been sharing ideas, talking about the latest research, and brainstorming to come up with even better ways of helping our clients succeed at reaching their goals.

There is one question, though, that has been brought up every year now for the past decade that no one has seemed to figure out. Everyone in the fitness industry is searching for the right answer to getting more people to exercise than the current member base. The strange thing is that although every year more and more additional health clubs are opened the number of people actually exercising remains at about 13% of the total US population.

Malcolm Gladwell, the keynote speaker at IHRSA, said that he believes the answer is to reframe exercise as something that is socially fun to do. I'm not quite sure if that is the answer but it may be a start to getting people to use fitness as a way to lose weight and enjoy the myriad of health benefits that accompany it.

I'd really like to hear your opinion, so if you're someone who isn't currently exercising please comment on why you don't and what would get you to begin!