4 great butt exercises

since my half an hour swim in Beijing the last day, I haven't done any exercises!

My Monday noon circuit was canceled and I was too tired to take my dance class on Monday evening. I went for a long slow cold walk with mom on Tuesday evening and I skipped both my classes on Wednesday as I had to stay away from heat and sweating due to some skin treatment I had received in the morning.

I also had a big beef dip sub and garlic fries last night which was a bad bad thing! Since I was still fighting jet-lag and I had false cravings, I also had half a pack of rice crispy squares which is more than 250 cals alone!

I am trying to make up for it in the next couple of days however.

Here are 4 great butt exercises from Raphael.

Enjoy them! http://www.ediets.com/news/article.cfm/2/code_22387/cmi_1909957/

116.4 Lbs at the end of the trip

It was the best feeling when I weighted myself on the last night of the trip in my hotel room in Beijing! I was 116.4Lbs (52.8Kg) and it felt soooooooooooooo good!

Just before this trip I noticed that I have gained about 2.5 Lbs and it made me get more than 50% farther from my weight target!

Mind you, it is always very difficult to have a healthy life style when you travel. The food choices are not the same and the time is not as free for working out for a person like me who wants to sightsee as much as possible in a short time.

I guess extensive amount of walking daily and staying away from cola drinks, skipping bread and pastry during breakfast for sure was a great help to lose some pounds. I had fruits, yogurt and tiny bit granola for breakfast each day. Lunch and dinner were usually greasy and not that healthy.

I hope I can keep up breaking my weight plateau!

on my way to get back on track

As an initial step for getting back on track, after my dance class last night, I came home with a big load of veggies and blanched them for dinner. I was quite full.

I brought the leftover veggies to work for my lunch today. I had a raisin bagel and a cup of home made coffee for breakfast (while driving) and a little bit of French Vanilla Yogurt as my morning snack.

At noon Paula (a colleague of mine) and I headed towards the office gym and sweated like pigs for half an hour on the elliptical machines.

Then I had my veggies leftover for lunch and a juicy pear shortly after that. In a couple of hours I was feeling so dizzy and dreaming about something sweet and loaded with carbs! Gosh, how am I going to survive?

I had one KitKat single (only 40 cals) with my afternoon coffee and 2 tiny little mini-pretzels. Well, it saved me so far and I am over my cravings for carbs and sweets!

Tonight we take mom out for her bday. Her bday is actually next week (on Norooz - March 21) but since I'll be in Beijing next week, we're going to celebrate her 60th bday earlier this year. First we go to her favorite Greek taverna and then head to the Casino! Her bday gift would be some free gambling money from both of us!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Oh! No!

I have gained 2.6 Lbs since the last 2 weeks!

It must be all the sweets and the white rice and additional oil in my dinners as my mom is staying with us and she only cooks Persian dishes which include A LOT of rice! White rice!!!

I should beg her to stop cooking for us! I was so lean when she was away for a year, and I was eating quite healthy... baked chickn breast with Salad, etc.

I feel soooooo bad!

I am so going to lose these nasty 2.6 pounds off my legs and belly! I'll give myself 2 weeks. I'll be having more time next week as I'll be in China and have to work for 2 days only! The rest should be spent on walking and window shopping, working out, swimming, souna, and drinking plenty of water!

Let's see!!!

I'll be performing Madonna's human Nature on April 13th

Woohoo! Among all the students in the dance class, I have been selected to perform with a bunch of instructors on April 13th in one of the clubs in downtown!

I was so excited when my dance instructor told me about it on the phone. "I had my eyes on you for the past little while, and you are by far the best student in the class!", she said.  

On the health/weightloss side, I am trying to add more cardio to my workout routine. It's very hard though! I haven't lost even a gram yet, but I am hoping I get there soon.

Here is also a good read about  "7 secrets of naturally thin people". (link)

Happy reading! :)

Tips from a fitness Pro - Tip No. 7: Consistency

I am thinking about following Anar's running chart. I need to add 2 more cardio days to my weekly routine and I thought following her 8 weeks program should be a great idea to get me out of this platteau. I haven't lost a gram in the past 6 months and it's frustraighting, since my body has got used to the amount of exercises I normally do!

Anyhow, here is the last (and the most important) tip from Raphael:

7. Consistency -- You'll need to be on your nutrition program for most meals. Notice I didn't tell you that you have to be perfect every single meal. If you're consuming 35 meals per week, then a couple of treats during the week will not hurt you. Unlike many, I'm not a big fan of the one "cheat day" per week method. I find that people tend to use it as an excuse to gorge themselves. If you practice not going to extremes, you'll be fine. When you pig out, blood sugar levels can be elevated for seven hours or more. This will absolutely halt your body fat loss and actually backfire. n

This guide can help you more than you realize. Some of it's easy to do, and some of it requires some work on your part. But this is what it takes to begin the process of getting the body you really want. n

Check with your doctor before beginning an exercise program.

Tips from a fitness Pro - Tip No. 6: Slight calorie deficit

Still suffering the Tokyo jetlag but slowly getting over it. I haven't done any exercises in a long while but had my dance class today. We were choreographing Madonna's "Human Nature"... needed lots and lots of attitude while performing...

Here's tip#6 from Raphael:

6. Slight calorie deficit -- After you have found maintenance, simply reduce your calories by 200. Our goal is to have you eating as much as possible while still losing fat and retaining muscle. I don't want you to eat as little as possible because that will only slow the rate of your metabolism and force you to burn muscle for energy. This approach will destroy all chances for a firm body because of muscle loss.

The first week you may lose four to 6 pounds of water. After the first week you should only lose up to 1.5 pounds per week. The goal is to preserve muscle and make your body a metabolic inferno. If you're not losing up to 1.5 pounds per week (it will fluctuate week to week), then reduce calories by another 100. Then monitor your progress after one week.

Tips from a fitness pro - Tip No. 5: Calories and journaling

Am still here in Tokyo. Quite busy in the office and shall wrap up my work before I fly back home tomorrow. I haven't been great (no exercise since I got here) but I haven't been bad either... Had lots of fresh fruit for breakfast and a cup of yogurt each morning. No eggs, no ham, no sussage... I have been ok for lunch, but last night at dinner between some fishy fish and veggie tempura, I chose to have deep fried veggie tempura and a cup of plain cold rice. Cannot wait to get back to my normal healthy life in Vancouver!

Here is the 5th tip from Raphael:

5. Calories and journaling -- I receive lots of e-mails from people telling me that they eat healthy foods but are still unable to lose body fat. In most cases they're consuming too many calories. It doesn't matter how healthy your nutrition program is if you're eating too much.

It's important that you first find maintenance calories. Maintenance represents the amount of food you consume without any change in your weight. This will take some experimentation and some effort but you'll also need to keep a journal and document your meals and total calories.

Sounds like a lot of work? No worries, you only have to do this for a few weeks. After that, you'll have your personal formula for success.

Tips from a fitness pro - Tip No. 4: Timing

I just found out that I have to travel to far east this Sunday for about a week! So, here it is... another interrupt in my healthy routine... another week without my circuit training and pole dancing classes! :(

Here's the forth tip from Raphael:

4. Timing -- I realize four to six meals sounds like a lot but you must keep in mind that the body is always seeking to store fat. If you go long periods without eating (more than five hours), your body begins to sense an emergency and will choose to hold onto stored body fat. In fact, your body would prefer to hold onto fat to accomplish its No. 1 goal of keeping you alive in case of a future famine. To control blood sugar, eat approximately every three hours through the day. When using the most effective nutrient ratios, this helps to control blood sugar, which assists in body-fat loss.

Tips from a fitness pro - Tip No. 3: Ratios

Ok, I am back from my exhausting btrip to Northern Europe. Just because I got there the temprature dropped to -39 and stayed cold during my stay over there! The locals said it hasn't been this cold since the 80s! Ain't I lucky?

taking 6 long flights in less than 5 days and spending numerous hours in the different airports didn't do good to my body either. I took my usual pole-aerobic class on Saturday and it felt even more difficult and my whole body was so soar afterwards!

Anyways, enough with the nagging... let's see what Raphael has to advise us:

3. Ratios -- It's unlikely that you'll get a tight and lean body by consuming 80 percent of your calories from carbohydrates. Ratios can vary a bit but consuming more than 55 percent of your calories from carbohydrates is not ideal for fat loss. Many people do well on extremely low-carbohydrate plans and others on more moderate-carbohydrate intake.

As long as you follow the "no more than 55 percent of calories from carbohydrate" rule, you'll be at a good starting point. Try to learn the basics about protein, carbohydrates and fats and how each impacts your body. I'm asking you to do a little homework, but it will be worth it in the long run.