I’m noticing all sorts of things, besides the fact that I’m overweight.  I’m worried about gray hair, I’m worried that for some reason I seem to have hair on my face where it doesn’t belong, double chins, crepe paper arms, wrinkles, you name it.  If it is related to aging, I’m stressing about it.

Well, forget growing old gracefully – I’m determined to fight it every step of the way (or at least do something rather than sit and whine.)

So, follow along my journey – I’ll be 40 in September.  But I’m going to start tackling all those things that are making me nervous and see what I can do about looking great well into my 40’s (and 50’s and. . . )  I’lll be tackling one issue per week (maybe more if I have the energy – less if I don’t!) Of course post-baby I’ll be wanting to lose weight – that journey will be detailed on HealthSmartMom.com, all other beauty, fashion, and aging issues will be handled here on Momprovement.

My first step will be hair color – I haven’t been able to color my hair in about 9 months – so I am ready – but instead of picking my regular box – I’m going to do some research on what hair color is best for women over 40.

Anyway, I’m still participating in Weight Watchers – and I’ve lost a total of 6 pounds so far  – officially.  Unofficially I’ve lost well over 10 (I was over 195 when I started, but was down to 191.2 when I joined Weight Watchers.)  I still have quite a ways to go to reach my goal weight of 130.

I had to laugh last night when I was watching The Devil Wears Prada when the assistant said “I’m just a stomach flu away from my goal weight.”  Unfortuneately I’m quite a few flu’s away from my weight, but also, it seems, I tend to gain weight when I’m sick, so maybe the stomach flu isn’t the way for me to go!

So, until next time – I hope you are successful at losing weight without the stomach flu!

You may have seen a whole new slew of advertisements online and on television trying to revamp the poor image of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). They are basically trying to promote this junk food additive as “healthy”.

The advertising campaigns don’t come right out and make the claim that high fructose corn syrup is “health food”, but they do try to get clever and fool people into thinking that it’s not bad for your health. In fact, they make these misleading claims:

“It’s all natural”

“It’s no worse for you than table sugar”

“It’s made from corn”

“It has the same calories as table sugar”

As you can see, these ads are trying to deceive us into thinking that HFCS isn’t so bad after all… I mean, they do say that it’s “all natural” and “made from corn”. These ads are pure sleaze!

In my opinion, these ads are highly immoral. For one, as if our nation, and the world for that matter, wasn’t already suffering an obesity epidemic, as well as skyrocketing degenerative diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Now, they’re trying to make matters worse by fooling innocent people into thinking that high fructose corn syrup is somehow healthy. Meanwhile, as society and our kids get fatter and more unhealthy, they’re lining their pockets with massive profits since HFCS is in the majority of processed food.

As for their claim that HFCS is “no worse for you than sugar”… I’m not even going to discusss any of the science about how HFCS affects the leptin and insulin process in your body, your blood sugar process, appetite levels, etc. Instead, I want to make a more important point:

Who cares if HFCS is “no worse for you than sugar”… because sugar is one of the worst things you can ingest in your body anyway, so it is not even a valid argument!

The point you need to understand is that if you want to be lean and healthy for life, you should be minimizing, or even eliminating all sugar and high fructose corn syrup. In fact, most processed food should be eliminated altogether if you want to be serious about getting lean.

As for their claim that HFCS is “all-natural”… don’t even get me started! It’s just a ridiculous statement to begin with. I don’t care if you call it “natural” or artificial, the bottom line is that it’s a highly processed, refined substance that makes you fat!

So the next time you’re thinking about drinking that can of soda, or eating that candy bar or cupcakes, just think about how that is only going directly against your efforts to lose body fat and can even lead to other health problems in excess.

If you want to lose your stubborn belly fat, check out these strategic workouts and diet tips at Ab Exercise Workouts

Also, learn some of the best tricks to live healthy and enjoy life while also losing body fat at Healthy Fat Loss Tips

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Geary
http://EzineArticles.com/?Beware-of-Junk-Foods-Being-Promoted-As-Health-Food—HFCS-is-Not-Healthy&id=1496917

I’ve actually heard that the stress of trying to lose weight can make one gain weight, and I’d believe it. I was simply pushed over my stress threshold, and resorted back to my comfort eating. Although, interestingly enough, I’ve taken on a new comfort food. Usually it’s just chocolate and Coca-cola. But this time it’s been Hostess cinnamon swirl cakes and crystal light raspberry tea! Go figure!

And my hips haven’t moved since about 3 days after my Core Rhythms review!

But not one to give up just yet, I will start again.

After all, I just drank the last Coke, and I only have 3 snack cakes left!

So, if you’ve started on a weight loss and fitness journey – how’s it going?

Well, I finally tried the Core Rhythms Dance DVD!  Now I don’t want to make my little blog r-rated, but I have to say, the last time my hips moved that much, I ended up pregnant!

The starter set comes with 3 DVD’s, and really no explanation as to which one goes first.  So I tried the Intro to Latin Dance one, but actually what that DVD does is put together the exercise moves into a dance sequence.  So then I popped in the Full Workout DVD, and it starts right off with the warm-up.  No explanation of steps or anything.  There is a help button you can push, so if you’re not a fast learner, keep your remote control handy.

The ladies have a very new (to me) idea of what running in place is, as well as the most hip action in a walk in place that I’ve ever seen.  But to be honest, I loved it.  The music was fun, and swinging my hips all over the place was pretty fun too.  I felt muscles I forgot about right away, and have seen an improvement in my posture after just one time.

I’d recommend getting this DVD, it’s fun, effective, and actually quite motivating. To order your copy, use the following link!

Well, it’s that time again.  Time to try to start to lose all that baby fat again!  I said I would lose weight when my baby was one and I stopped nursing, but, well, life happens, and here it is, my baby is 19 months and I still haven’t started losing weight, that is until today.

Sure, we can all come up with reasons why later would be better, but the truth is, there is no better time to start than right now.

The Starting Point:

Here’s my situation:

• Current weight: 176

• Current height 5 foot 2 inches (I actually don’t expect this to change!)

• Current health status:  I would say on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being great, I’m actually about a 5.  I feel fine on a day to day basis, no major health issues, but I don’t really have much energy at all, and with 3 kids, I need to whip myself in to shape, not just to look good to my husband (who loves me like I am!) and not just to look good in my skinny jeans, but to have the energy to keep up with my kids.

• Current health plan:  I am in the process of giving up drinking Coke, (I say soda, some say pop, actually what I drink is really Coke, the full strength stuff in a 44 ounce styrofoam cup!) and I want to cut out high fructose corn syrup (more on this in a later post).  I am looking into various diet possibilities, and will let you know when I pick one!

• Current exercise plan:  I am going to start walking 3 days a week, and I just borrowed my sisters copy of “Core Rhythms” that I will start using.  Look for my review of that exercise DVD once I get started!

Well, that’s it for today!  That’s where I am now!  Sorry, no picture!  I’ll post it once I can see a difference between by “before” and “after”!

What I like most about Dara Torres is how her life is pretty routine. I read an interview where it was asked how many calories she eats each day. Her answer – she doesn’t count calories – she merely exercises enough to give her the flexibility she needs for her life. This from an athlete disciplined enough to be in the Olympics not once, but FIVE TIMES! Which makes me wonder if we (regular moms) put just a little too much focus on what we eat, instead of what our final goal is.

Sure, I’d like to look better, but is that really my goal? Maybe if I focused more on having more energy for my kids, my husband, and our activities and businesses, then I would eat appropriately. Instead, when I eat to lose weight, I either feel deprived by not eating what I want, or depressed when the weight doesn’t come off fast enough. So, even though I’m no Dara Torres, I can certainly learn from her, maybe not enough for you to see me in the 2012 Olympics, but enough so that my kids see me focus more on them and less on what I eat.