Does This Photo Make You Uncomfortable?

Here we have a paparazzi photo of Victoria's Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whitely and an unnamed boney friend (probably a fellow model) splitting a salad at Bar Pitti in New York's West Village. One or both of them is washing it down with a diet Coke. If I had draw you a picture of anorexia, it would be pretty close to this. Is this a good image for people to see?

"Managed Anorexia" Isn't A Joke

On the one hand, it shows the deprivation models put themselves through to be thin enough to model, belying models and actresses' constant assertions that they eat healthy and normal, or even decadent, diets. For instance, Hungtington-Whitely told Maxim this past month that "eating" is her guilty pleasure. "I just don't stop doing it," she said. "I love eating really bad, bad, things, like roast dinners and chocolate bread and butter pudding." And salads and diet Coke.

On the other hand, if either woman is actually suffering from an eating disorder, calling attention to it like I am doing now is only going to make matters worse. Everything I've read about eating disorders says that making an issue out of how little someone's eating is not going to help them at all. So basically, I think that this image is good for the general public, but bad for the women in it. Especially the one on the right. I worry in her general direction. I'm probably only contributing to the problem, but I think these things need to be discussed.

"Mommyrexia" Sounds A Lot Like Regular Anorexia

Then again, maybe there were saving up room so each of them could have a huge slice of chocolate cheesecake for dessert, and all this worry is over nothing. That's not a nutritionally complete meal, but everyone needs a crap meal once in a while, right? For my own peace of mind, I'm going to go ahead and assume that's what they are doing here. But I'm probably wrong. What say you, Internet?

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5 mind tricks with weight-loss benefits

By Nicci Micco, M.S., editor-at-large for EatingWell Magazine

"Dieting" is a drag. Yes, I talk about losing weight. All. The. Time. So I certainly don't mean to imply that embarking on a effort to shed pounds can't feel empowering and exciting; I'm simply saying that weight-loss tactics that focus on how much you're cutting back—the sort of behavior I'd refer to "dieting"—isn't all that fun. So, while I'm a huge proponent of keeping a food diary to lose weight—research shows that it works—not everyone agrees that it's a worthy use of time. (What else works for weight loss? Discover the 4 Secrets of Skinny People). Even thinking how to cut calories can, to some, feel like a total waste of brain space. And so, for you, my friends, I offer these simple mind tricks for getting slim:

Use smaller plates. As serving sizes have gotten bigger, so have plate sizes. The result: Appropriately sized portions look puny. Put your food on smaller dishes and your drinks in smaller glasses to help you feel satisfied on less food.

Fill half your plate with vegetables, as the United States Department of Agriculture's new MyPlate—which replaces the Food Pyramid—suggests. (Divide the other half into whole grains and a lean source of protein). Vegetables generally are loaded with fiber, which helps keep you feeling full.

Related: 8 Secret-Weapon Foods for Weight Loss
7 Foods That Do the Weight-Loss Work for You

Eat with chopsticks, which allow you to pick up only a small amount of food at a time, so you slow down.Savoring every bite of your meal can help you recognize when you're full—before it's too late.

Reach for water-rich foods. Foods with that contain lots of water—think soups, salads, cucumbers and watermelon—help you feel full and satisfied on fewer calories. Starting a meal off with these foods can help prevent you going overboard on higher-calorie foods later. For example, research out of Penn State shows that having a first-course salad can reduce overall calorie intake at a meal by up to 12 percent. In another study, people who started lunch with vegetable soup ended up eating 20 percent less than those who skipped the soup. Try these recipes for Soups and Salads to Help You Lose Weight.

Eat at a table. (And sit in a chair). Have you ever had dinner while unloading the dishwasher? Um, guilty. Not a great plan if you're trying to lose weight, as multitasking at meals often leads to forgetting you've even eaten. Case in point: A recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that playing solitaire while eating dampened participants' memories of their lunch (and made them feel less full), which, in turn, may have caused them to eat 125 calories more when they snacked later on.

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4 Tips to Stop Yo-Yo Dieting for Good

By: Kenrya Rankin

Last spring you reached your goal weight and celebrated by hitting the beach in a bikini. Then your job got stressful, you had trouble finding time to work out, and your cruise vacation had a round-the-clock all-you-can-eat buffet. Now when you step on the scale, you realize there's no way you're going to fit into the dress you bought for your friend's wedding next month unless you start dieting...again.

We're betting that this scenario sounds all too familiar. Yo-yo dieting -- or weight cycling, as experts call it -- is practically a national pastime. An estimated 54 percent of people in the United States arecurrently trying to shed pounds, fueling a $59-billion-a-year industry of supplements, books, and packaged foods that promote weight loss, according to Marketdata Enterprises, a marketing research group. But our efforts don't stick. Most of us will regain almost all of what we lost, according to research, which is why the typical dieter tries a new plan four times a year. "We have this mentality that a diet is something to go on and then get off as quickly as possible," says FITNESS advisory board member Madelyn Fernstrom, PhD, founding director of the University of Pittsburgh's Weight Management Center. "But lasting weight lossrequires making lifestyle changes that will work long-term."

Here top experts spill the success secrets that will help you balance the scale for good.

Tip #1: Soothe Without Food

You've got a looming deadline at work, your in-laws are coming to town, and the house is a mess. Before you know it, you've demolished an entire bag of chips while freaking out over your to-do list. "Stress eating can quickly turn into a binge: We don't register what we're munching on because the food's going down so fast," says Martin Binks, PhD, assistant consulting professor at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. Make a list of calming strategies that don't involve reaching for the cookie jar, Binks suggests. When you feel overwhelmed, consult your list and pick out something you can do in the next 10 minutes. Go for a quick walk or post a Facebook status update. Either will distract you long enough for your stress levels to come down.

Tip #2: Change Your Goals

There will always be a reunion, wedding, or vacation to slim down for. But once the big event has come and gone, what will keep you from splurging on dessert every night? "With special-occasion weight loss, it's all about dropping pounds quickly," Fernstrom says. Do this too often and you may find that it's even harder to lose than before. "Constant crash dieting causes your body to cling to the calories you do eat because it's not sure when it's going to get more," she explains. Rather than keep the pounds off just long enough to impress strangers on your vacation, think about rewarding long-term achievements. Maybe you want to train for your first half-marathon or get in shape to hike the Grand Canyon. Setting a big new goal each time you check one off your list will keep you headed in the right direction.

Tip #3: Scale Back

Yes, the point of dieting is to ditch pounds, but focusing solely on calories in and calories out can make it hard to stick to your plan if you aren't seeing results. "Even if you're doing everything right, your weight can fluctuate based on the time of day or how hydrated you are," says Evelyn Tribole, RD, coauthor of Intuitive Eating. In fact, research shows that women who fixate on counting calories and restricting their food intake report more stress and have higher levels of cortisol, which is linked to overeating. "Instead of obsessing about every morsel, think about how eating right and exercising make you feel," Tribole says. "Do you have more energy? Are you able to keep up with your kids?" If you take the time to notice the positive effects of each healthy behavior -- whether it's pushing away from the table before you clean your plate or biking for 30 minutes a day -- it's easier to motivate yourself to stay on track.

Tip #4: Share Your Meals

Studies show that tracking what you eat every day can help you lose up to twice as much weight as people who wing it. But forget the pen and paper. Social-networking Web sites like TweetWhatYouEat.comand FoodFeed.us upgrade old-school food diaries and give you something a journal can't: a virtual support group. "It's much easier to pass up the piece of cake when you know that other people are going to hold you accountable," Fernstrom says. Plus, your online pep squad will provide you with the support you need to stay on track.

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9 Fast-Food Beverages to Avoid

by Brynn Mannino

We recently created a list of " Fast-Food Items You Should Never Eat," but stacked burgers, extra-large sandwiches and loaded platters only account for some of the fast-food calories you're likely to consume. Often, it's your drink selection that turns a meal from a small indulgence into a caloric nightmare. Not only are the extra-large sodas dreadful for your waistline—a 64-oz soda from KFC, for example, can have as many as 850 calories—but specialty drinks, from White Castle's chocolate shake to Subway's iced tea, are also shockingly caloric. Find out which are some of the worst diet-derailing drinks around, so you know what to steer clear of on your next trip through the drive-thru.

White Castle: Chocolate Shake

Calories: 1350
Despite being served in whopping 44-oz. portions, this ice cream drink offered in the Cincinnati area (yes, White Castle changes its ingredients by region), may sound relatively innocent. But slurp on this: You're better off eating 10 original sliders, which have the same amount of calories, but nearly four times less saturated fat.

Love sliders? Check out the 10 best mini-burgers across the country.

Wendy's: Caramel Frosty Shake

Calories: 1020
Made with the chain's signature Vanilla Frosty mix, this flavor ups the ante with caramel sauce and whipped cream, costing you as many calories as three (yes, three!) Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers.

Burger King: Strawberry Shake

Calories: 930
Thanks to milk, strawberry syrup, numerous miscellaneous ingredients (none of which include fresh strawberries), and the sheer volume of this 30-oz. beverage, sipping a large strawberry shake from the BK Lounge is akin to eating almost three Whopper JR.'s!

See eight secret fast-food items you can order "off menu."

Applebee's: Decadent Shakes

Calories: 890 to 940
No matter what flavor (OREO, mango or banana) you choose when ordering a 20-oz. ice cream shake from this popular restaurant, rest assured you'll get your calories' worth. In fact, you'll get more than if you had ordered a 12-oz. rib eye (one of the fattiest cuts of beef around).

Red Lobster: The Traditional Lobsterita

Calories: 890
Despite serving fish, which is traditionally thought of as a leaner option, Red Lobster certainly doesn't shy away from high-calorie menu items, like their signature 24-oz. frozen margarita (made with Sauza Gold Tequila margarita mix), boasting as many calories as two orders of fried flounder.

Check out 10 foods that can help you sleep.

Dunkin' Donuts: Vanilla Bean Coolatta

Calories: 860
Don't let the word "Coolatta" (and all its light and refreshing connotations) fool you. When you sip on a large serving of this 32-oz. slush drink, you might as well have eaten more than two of the restaurant's Boston Kreme Donuts.

Jamba Juice: Peanut Butter Moo'd

Calories: 770
To be fair, this drink's very name (ahem, "Moo") warns of indulgence. Boasting calcium-packed yogurt, bananas and chunky peanut butter, this 24-oz. smoothie does have some nutritional value, but not enough to account for nearly half your daily calorie consumption.

Make your own smoothie at home with these super-simple recipes.

Dairy Queen: Strawberry Lemonade Chiller

Calories: 740
Even if you pass on the ice cream at the popular shake shack, tread carefully! This 31-oz. mix of lemonade, frozen strawberries and sugar has as many calories as most medium-size DQ malts, made with soft-serve ice cream.

Subway: Sweetened Tea

Calories: 310-620
Needless to say, we doubt the 245-pounds-thinner Subway spokesman, Jared, would approve of the hoagie hub's 40-oz. brewed tea option. The refreshment has more calories than its 6-in. Meatball Marinara sub, and only 10 calories less than a foot-long Subway Club.

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Bodybuilding Exercise Success – Know Your Muscles Really Well

Bodybuilding Exercise Success – Know Your Muscles Really Well

By understanding a little more about the muscles you are using, you will start to recognize just how your bodybuilding exercises make the difference.

The smart thing abou this is that you will understand better how to leverage your exercises to make much better use of them

So, as you can guess from this, it's not just about knowing the complicated and often almost unpronouncable Latin names of the muscles.

"Latin is a language, that's dead as dead can be – it killed the ancient Romans, and now it's killing me" – inscription inside my latin dictionary, circa 1967!

It's also about their primary functions, how they operate in the different sequences of activity and perhaps just as important where bodybuilding exercises are concerned, their counter uses as well. Their secondary uses that are so vital in how our bodies work.

What are counter uses? (I feel sure that there is a technical name for these, but this will serve the purpose). Well, often a muscle, or muscle group, will be used to manage and balance the use of another, enabling complete control of movement.

By understanding this fully, you will appreciate much better how you can utilize this capacity of many, if not the majority of muscles, to be tested during the bodybuilding exercises you plan to use.

Of course, the main goal in each set of exercises you do is to challenge each major muscles primary function and what will need to be done to give them the additional strength, tone and growth that will be your primary goal.

The bodybuilding exercises that you pitch for each series of repetitions in each muscle area, will have the focus of improving their performance. If the outcome were less than that you might wonder why it was worth the bother in the first place.

Absolutely right. And that remains the goal. By using your bodybuilding exercise to also focus, through understanding all the muscles in the group and their function, even as you exercise you will feel each muscle tested.

This will significantly add to your motivation, through that understanding, to deliver the bodybuilding exercise as well as possible, safe in the knowledge that you are doing yourself more good than you thought, especially when you expected just one major target muscle to be your goal.

How to find out more? Well, good bodybuilding books will enable you to recognize the major muscles groups. If you want to delve even further, checkout Wikipedia (where else!), with some well chosen keywords such as bodybuilding exercises, muscles etc.

Understand what bodybuilding exercises will give it strength and makes all the muscles in that group are worked for an even distribution of strength.

Working one arm more than the other could make the appearance seem lopsided.

 

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Bodybuilding Exercise Program

Good posture is a vital aspect to any quality exercise routine. Therefore if you have very poor posture, exercises that will help align your posture are a must. A lot of bodybuilding programs don't include exercises that specifically target your posture, because many bodybuilders have naturally good posture. A good posture also has the ability to make you look better because it allows you to hold yourself better.

It is also imperative when undertaking bodybuilding exercises that you learn how to correctly stabilize your shoulders in order to avoid injury. If your shoulders are not stabilized and held properly you could cause yourself injury which will get in the way of any bodybuilding program. Using the wrong technique when bodybuilding could cause you an injury and live you life in pain.

As well, core stability is key to performing bodybuilding exercise. Core stability assists you in protecting your lower back. Increasing your core stability will allow you to not only relieve pre-existing back pain, but to also prevent lower back injury from your workout. If you are doing bodybuilding workouts and you find that you have pain, it likely means that you are not using the proper technique. As many bodybuilding programs are designed for those who are already in shape and have a large amount of muscle mass, they don't have to worry about causing themselves a lower back injury. However, if you are lacking a stable core, you'll need to change that before you can begin a bodybuilding program in earnest as a the lacking of a stable core could have you running the risk of injuring yourself.

Your bodybuilding exercise program should also have a focus on flexibility. Flexibility is a must throughout your entire body, your lower and upper body included. Engaging in flexibility exercises before you begin to work out by using stretches along with exercises created for your specific body type that will provide you with maximum flexibility. If you don't stretch or are stiff before you start bodybuilding, you could cause yourself serious injury.

You may discover that there are parts of your body that are further along in terms of development than others. This is normal, however, it will need to be improved. You'll need to develop a bodybuilding exercise program that puts focus on each of your muscles equally, in order to make sure than none are more developed than others. Overdeveloping parts of your body will force those parts to work harder and will lead to injury. This will also cause your overall progress to slow.

Overall conditioning is another key that you will need to add to your bodybuilding exercise program. Conditioning means that you will need to add cardiovascular exercises to your routine. Despite cardio exercises not helping you "bulk up", it works out your hearts and lungs which will gratly benefit your overall health. This will also help keep you from injuring yourself while you work on muscle building.

If you are looking to put together a bodybuilding exercise program and are planning on adding bulk and muscle mass there are some things that you should research and study up on. The optimal program is one that assists you in adding to your core stability, improves your posture and flexibility and adds to your overall conditioning. An impressive physique is great, but without utilizing the proper techniques for your body types, the results will, in the end, let you down.

 

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