How does Eva Herzigova Stay Slim?

Eva Herzigova reportedly weighs about 132 pounds. She is 5'10" (179 cm) tall and has been modeling since she was discovered at sixteen. This month, just shy of her 33rd birthday, she is featured on the cover of the Italian GC Magazine.

Herziogova's secret, as far as dieting goes, is that she doesn't like sweets. She doesn't even like chocolate! But she loves fish, cheese and meat. She says she'll eat anything, but only in small quantities if it is a rich food. Before she started modeling she was very athletic and spent her youth playing basketball, cross-country skiing and gymnastics. When she was interviewed about her exercise regiment a few years ago she said she didn't have time for the gym and that she didn't exercise. That's probably changed since then.

Eva has been married once. It was a short marriage lasting less than two years. At that time she said she wanted a couple of kids. She probably won't be single much longer though she's not in a relationship now.

How Many Pounds in a Stone?

The BBC has some good before and after pictures of people who lost weight in Britian recently.

Here's Lisa. She lost six and a half stone in six months. How many pounds are in a stone, you ask? The British have a strange way of stating their weight. There are 14 pounds to a stone. So Lisa lost 90 pounds in six months. Congrats to Lisa and the other eight successful people pictured there.

See about converting kilograms to pounds here.

Weight Lifting to Get in Shape

This little old lady is 86 years old! She started weight-lifting when she was 72. At that time she was upset she couldn't carry her kitty litter shopping bags home. (We're talking about fifty pound bags of kitty litter.) So she joined the gym, started weight-lifting, and has been doing it regularly ever since.

Now she's as spry as a teenager, though she is a great-grandmother. She's gone on to win about forty trophies in weight-lifting competitions.

Cutting Down on Sodium

Reducing our salt intake and trying to keep it significantly below 2,300 mg per day (for adults) is one of the easiest plans for losing weight. The recommended maximum daily sodium intake is 2,300mg but most people consume more than twice as much.

When we consume too much sodium the kidneys retain a lot more water and this increases blood pressure.

It would surprise some people that most of the sodium we eat doesn't come from salt-shakers. There is a very large amount of sodium in most processed foods. All cured meats (such as bacon, ham and sausage) also have very high levels. Even foods you'd never expect as culprits, such as cottage cheese can contain 1,000mg per cup.

The best way to cut down on sodium is to eat fresh whole foods. Eat lots of vegetables, legumes and fruit. These foods are also high in fiber and low in calories.

OceanPark calls the above photo "the schizophrenia of america". She says, "I think this sums up the paradox of two main messages in contemporary American culture: be impossibly skinny; eat superfatty hamburgers."

I would completely agree.

Sara Evans on Dieting Struggles

Sara Evans lost her baby weight quickly after her second pregnancy. She lost 70 pounds in less than nine months. This was back in 2003 and Evans was featured in Women's World magazine for this feat. Here she said her diet secret was very simple and involved only two rules. She didn't eat unless her stomach was growling and she stopped eating when she was full. Evans, 35, is one of the world's country music superstars. Her work-out plan basically consisted of being onstage for 75 minute shows. Here she'd work up a real sweat. She said she was 'motivated every day to get into those stage clothes at night". And that she was able to get down to a size six and stay there.

That year she also mentioned that she had an incredible fear of getting fat. And that if she overeats she hates herself.

But then she gave birth a third time in October 2005. This time it doesn't look like she's been able to lose all her weight quite as successfully as after the second pregnancy. In the photo shown here, taken in May 2006, she doesn't look as though she would fit into size six. Nevertheless, she looks great and may now feel happy about her current weight, even if it is more than she weighed three years ago.

She recently became the official ambassador for the National Eating Disorders Association. She says she decided to do this after watching a friend battle with an eating disorder. Evans will host a fashion show titled "Fashion for Every Body" in Nashville in September.

We are going to be seeing a lot more of her starting in September as she's also one of the celebrity contestants on Dancing with the Stars.

Update October 13th: Sara Evans is quitting Dancing with the Stars. According to Us Magazine Evans has decided to quit effective immediately for personal reasons. They speculate it is due to an impending divorce with her husband.

Carmen Sells the NV Diet Pill

Carmen Electra has signed on to help sell a new diet pill - NV. You'll soon see Electra on TV promoting this pill.

NV is probably the only diet pill that also claims to be a beauty pill. The marketing people at NxCare, are really pushing it. They say NV is 'the supermodel of diet pills'. They say this pill can promote total outer radiance; it can give you a slimmer, sleeker and more sultry body! not to mention thick hair that shines! and skin that glows! and strong glamorous nails!

Carmen Electra has never been overweight and has always been beautiful. What would she know about 'rapid weight loss pills'? (Note: She does on the other hand have some personal experience with breast implants.) I'd love to know how much she is being paid to promote this product. It must be a lot. NxCare has its origins in pills and potions for bodybuilders. This is their first big foray into diet pills aimed at the female market. Below is a before and after NV picture from their website. NV has already received huge publicity as Carmen Electra is on the cover of the current issue of Life & Style magazine with the blaring headline "The New Diet Pill: A new secret ingredient helps stars lose weight fast without feeling hungry!" and she talks about the pill in the featured article.

Ab Lounge 2 Review

Here's a video clip of a guy reviewing the ab lounge 2. He says he does about 180 crunches a day and hasn't noticed any results yet. He thinks if you can find it at a bargain price than go for it, but he doesn't think it's worth paying the full price for. He gives it five stars out of ten.

I'd be very curious about other people's experience with the ab lounge. They are promoting it heavily on TV infomercials and I get the sense that a lot of people are buying it. But is anyone actively using it and is it working for you?

Consumer Reports reported on a problem with the ab lounge in April. Here's an excerpt from their site:

Problem:
Fingers could get caught in hinges, where they could be crushed, cut, or tips amputated.

Products:
460,000 devices, including the Ab Lounge, Ab Lounge 2, and Ab Lounge Ultimate Exercisers, sold since October 2003 through infomercials, online, by catalog, and at discount department and sporting-goods stores for $100 to $210. Wal-Mart and Dicks Sporting Goods were among the larger retail chains selling the units. The hazard arises when the machine is being opened or folded, not when it's being used. There have been 15 reports of injuries, most of which involved crushed fingers, followed by fingertip amputations, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission's Scott Wolfson.

The exercisers have the name "Ab Lounge" or "Ab Lounge 2" printed on the upper front fabric of the seat. Ab Lounge exercise products with straight brackets that do not fold are not subject to the recall.

What to do:
Stop using the machine and call Fitness Quest, the distributor, at 800-321-9236 for a free repair kit that consists of a bracket to eliminate the hazard. You can also go to www.fitnessquest.com to obtain the kit.

Katie Holmes: In Perfect Shape by January?

Katie Holmes, 27, plans on being back in perfect shape by January. January is when she needs to start filming the new Batman movie sequel.

This gives her lots of time to get back in shape given she didn't gain that much weight during her pregnancy. But she has apparently already started with a strict diet and going to the gym daily. Suri (her daughter) was born only four months ago. Can you imagine going to the gym daily when your baby is only four months old? It helps to have someone else around to do the diapers, laundry, cooking and baby minding.

Apparently Holmes is also doing yoga and has just started kickboxing.

From the current photos, it doesn't look like she has any weight to lose, but I guess she wants to get her body toned and her stomach back to perfect pre-pregnancy shape.

It's very motivating to think she can be back to perfect slimness by January. September is almost here and it makes me want to get going on my failed plan to walk a minimum of 15 miles a week. It's not as ambitious as regular kickboxing and a daily gym workout but I know I could look fantastic by January if I stuck to it. "Fantastic" only by my own relative private standards, of course.

Update October 4th: Here's yesterday's photo of Katie Holmes at a wedding planning meeting. She looks like she's completely succeeded in her goal to lose all the baby weight already. Her wedding with Tom Cruise will likely take place sometime in the next two weeks.

On the other hand, pictures can be so deceiving. Here's a shot of Katie's belly from just a few days ago. Either she is already pregnant again, or she still has not recovered her body completely since the birth of Suri. It's reassuring to know that even a super celebrity cannot get that perfect belly back so quickly.

A Weight Watchers Success Story: Anita

Anita is one person who experienced extreme weight loss success with the help of Weight Watchers. Just before giving birth to her first child she weighed 397 pounds. In the two photos here, she weighs 328 pounds in the before photo. Her height is 5'9". In the after photo she weighs about 180 pounds.

Her weight loss motivation started in earnest after she flew on an airplane and felt humiliated for needing a seat belt extension. She joined Weight Watchers (not for the first time) and managed to get to her goal weight in two years and three months as well as having a second baby during this time.

See more before and after photos as well as the full story here.

A Chocolate Lover Loses 25 Pounds

Amanda, 29, has lost 25 pounds on Weight Watchers. She started her weight loss program in mid May. And she wants to lose a lot more. Here is her before photo at her starting weight of 317 pounds in May. (She's 5'7" tall.)

Amanda has a beautiful one year old baby boy and a wonderful husband. She's moved to a different continent to be with him after meeting him on the Internet many years ago. But things really started to get out of hand with her eating habits. She says she ate a lot of chocolate in private and started to realize she had a problem;

Then all of a sudden things seemed to get out of hand and I felt nervous and I thought I wasn't coping as well as I should be... I ate to make myself feel better. And my choice of comfort food was chocolate! That's all I wanted... fun size bags, big blocks of chocolate you name it I have eaten it. Everytime I went grocery shopping I would always buy myself chocolate and I would sneak it and hide it and eat it when I was alone because I didn't want my husband to see me eating it or anyone else for that matter...I ate it alone, fat and depressed and eating chocolate to try to feel better and in the end all it did was make me feel worse and fatter.

Here's a gorgeous photo of her a few years ago when she weighed 181 pounds. She's going to be there again really soon!

See her inspiring personal weight loss story here.

Cheryl Tiegs Maintains her Figure

Cheryl Tiegs seems to have had no problems retaining her beautiful figure over the years.

Tiegs was the first real supermodel in America. Here we see a picture of her in her heyday, and a second photo of her from the upcoming September issue of W Magazine. Would you believe she is 58 years old in the second photo? She was born in 1947. Her 59th birthday will be on September 25th.

Tiegs was featured on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue on three occasions; in 1970, 1975 and 1983.

Tiegs has been married and divorced four times. She has three children, including twins that she gave birth to at the incredible age of 52. (It's rumored she had the help of infertility treatments and a surrogate mother). Now that the kids are in school, she's returning to the beauty business world and has partnered with Revlon to represent a wig line.

Getting Motivated to Lose Weight

It's so easy to lose weight. Change your diet and exercise more. Right? The problem with this reasoning is it doesn't get to the root of most people's battle with weight loss. We all have a good idea of what we need to do to lose weight. The real problem is -- how to get motivated to go out and actually do it.

There are underlying reasons why we eat the wrong foods and don't exercise enough. And these are personal for each of us. If there was a wise guru out there that we could tap to answer this question; - what do I need to do to find this sustained motivation - than this guru would have a big line-up waiting to see him.

But here we have the next best thing ;-). It's a free oracle that's enjoyed huge respect and reverence for thousands of years. It's called the I Ching.

Here's how it works: Think of a question you would like answered. Be careful and honorable about what you ask. Respect the energies of the macrocosm. You've only got one chance to ask a particular question. The first answer will be the most appropriate one for you.

(Please don't play yet, finish reading the instructions first)


Write your question in the box above (or write it on a piece of paper). Make sure to take the time to actually write down the question. Trust me, you will want to know exactly what you asked when you are analyzing the answer.

Hit the black submit button.

If weight loss is your wish, ask a question that would somehow relate to finding the underlying key to getting unstuck with your motivation. One example would be, "How can I change my life to encourage weight loss?" Or, "What would help me be successful in my weight loss goal?"

Your answer will come up as a number (one of sixty-four hexagrams). Go to this page to get the full answer corresponding to the number. Print out the answer. It will be at least a page long. Study the answer and decipher what it means for you.

There is a second level to this answer based on 'lines'. There are six options. Roll a dice to see which one (in the order presented) is most applicable to you.

The I Ching is also known as "The Book of Changes". Its origin goes back to mythical antiquity and it has occupied the attention of the most eminent scholars of China down to the present day. Carl Jung wrote the foreword for the most popular edition. Here Jung says "For more than thirty years I have interested myself in this oracle technique, or method of exploring the unconscious, for it has seemed to me of uncommon significance."

Was the answer significant for you? I would love to hear any comments below!

Fat Guy Does Shakira

This is the most popular clip on Google Video at the moment. It's a fat guy and his friends mimicking Shakira's Hips Don't Lie video. See the four minute Skakira spoof video clip above.

See the original vide clip here:



How much does Shakira weigh? There are reports on the web that she weighs 106 pounds. She is very petite, at five feet and two inches. Apparently she doesn't eat candy, doesn't smoke or drink alcohol. She also doesn't drink coffee. The name Skakira is Arabic for 'woman full of grace".

Here's the lyrics from Hips Don't Lie:

I never really knew that she could dance like this
She makes a man want to speak Spanish
Como se llama, bonita, mi casa, su casa
Shakira, Shakira

Oh baby when you talk like that
You make a woman go mad
So be wise and keep on
Reading the signs of my body

And I'm on tonight
You know my hips don't lie
And I'm starting to feel it's right
All the attraction, the tension
Don't you see baby, this is perfection

Hey Girl, I can see your body moving
And it's driving me crazy
And I didn't have the slightest idea
Until I saw you dancing

And when you walk up on the dance floor
Nobody cannot ignore the way you move
your body, girl
And everything so unexpected - the way
you right and left it
So you can keep on taking it

Eat Lots of Onions and Live Forever

Thomas Parr was not an overweight man. His diet consisted largely of green cheese, onions, coarse bread, buttermilk or mild ale. He was an agricultural laborer and didn't marry until he was eighty. But then he went on to live a further 72 years!

Apparently his advice was as follows; "Keep your head cool by temperance and your feet warm by exercise. Rise early, go soon to bed, and if you want to be prosperous keep your eyes open and your mouth shut".

Thomas Parr is famous for living so long. He died back in 1635 when he was 152.

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The photo above of an old man (but probably less than half as old as Parr) is by SqueakyMarmot at Flickr.