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You are so vain…. The last 5 – 10 pounds

 

You probably think this post is about you!  Well it is!  It’s about you tapping into the power of vanity!

Sailing in St. Barts after an Insanity Workout

When you spell check my name in google or any word processor, it tries to auto correct my name to “Vain.” Some people who know me probably think it’s a technical freudian slip of some sort…..

If you consider and look at the definition of the word closely – “Having or showing an excessively high opinion of one’s appearance, abilities, or worth.” I think everyone could learn to be a little vain! Could you imagine all your friends having confidence about their own appearance – there would be less jealously, cattiness, and low self esteem. Could you imagine if people thought they had extraordinary abilities they could share with one another? What about folks out there having high self worth for themselves – could you imagine how much negativity in the world would change to being positive?

Vanity is about loving yourself ultimately. Your health and wellness is your number one priority. Don’t feel guilty about spending time on yourself. It’s ok, it’s not selfish! Go ahead, LOOK IN THE MIRROR, BE VAIN and LOVE YOURSELF!

The workouts I am about to share with you will make you feel really good. Not just from the endorphins you get from getting your heart pumping, but from the muscles you will be keeping and building while you sculpt your physique!

These workouts are not designed for someone who wants to stay just moderately fit, this is for the next level. The vanity level, I call it. It’s about being the best you can be.

If you are just a few inches or pounds away from shaping the muscles you want and have been working out hard. I’d strongly suggest looking at your diet, first. If your diet is pretty clean (i.e. no processed foods, all whole foods, not too much sugar) , then these workouts will do just the trick to reshape your body. These workouts are based on circuit & high intensity training which are the most effective workout to target belly fat.

This is the order I’d suggest checking these out (hard to hardest!)….

 

Gabby Reece 360

Gabby Reece doing a 360 move with a stability ball

I found her site after I read Force of Nature by her husband Laird Hamilton. The book was incredible and made me fall in love with his drive, ambition, and commitment to fitness. I was searching for more info about Laird and I found “Gabby Daily”, her previous site. She shares free tutorials and videos almost daily on circuit training. It’s amazing because even though she and her husband are amazing athletes, her approach on fitness is something we all can follow. She meets with a group of regular women in either California or Hawaii depending where she is and completes the circuits with them.

 

Jillian Michaels Book “Making the Cut”

This is my go to book when I am looking to shape up fast....

This might be one of my favorite programs. It’s for only 30 days and has about 10 different workouts and sequences you’ll be able to use in your fitness tool box forever! I’ve completed this program about 5 times in the last 2 years. I always start doing it before a big event or vacation that I want to look my best for. It’s really fail proof. I have all the workouts already listed on spreadsheets that I print and take to the gym. I now know all the moves by heart. I’ve lost about 3-4 pounds in a month while still maintaining my muscle mass on this program which is great for my height and weight. I don’t follow her recipes – but I do follow her advice on what types of food are good for my metabolism and how many calories to eat. This an extremely important part of the program, knowing your BMR (Basil Metabolic Rate) – how many calories you burn at rest. If you eat more than you burn off, you won’t see progress. Click here for a sample workout from this program – Making The Cut – Day 1 and Day 2

 

Insanity

My game face in the early morning, need to get mentally focused for Insanity Max Interval Circuit
Insanity on my iPad at our home gym.... It can go with me anywhere, it's fail proof for any excuse not to workout

Oooooo Shaun T – I’m so glad he exists. I’ve had more fun doing these workouts at home, than any other exercise video I’ve tried. This is the extreme of body weight and interval training with no weights or equipment needed! I can take it anywhere! Last Summer in St. Barts I remember waking up and doing it in the living room of our villa – It’s an amazing full body workout with high intensity drills like mountain climbers, knee tuck jumps, jumping lunges, air kicks, boxing, and lots of moves while you hold your core in plank position. I rotate between the 3 hardest & longest videos – Max Interval Circuit, MayPlyo, and iCardio Conditioning. These are all just under an hour.

 

Body Rock TV

All I can say is WOW

Insanity Style Workouts for Free! – This is a new discovery for me and I am more excited than ever about these free workouts from this amazing girl named Zuzana. Her short interval workouts are extremely intense – check out her abs focused workout from 5/31. It’s Insanity for free! She includes detailed pictures of each exercise. She uses an interval timer device that is a small clock that breaks up your workouts into specific time segments, similar to the time intervals like in the videos of Insanity or P90x. When you are really trying to reduce the last few pounds of fat, it’s important not to over train. Doing more high intensity “work” in an smaller interval of time will reap more benefits than trying to increase your workout time and exercise at a lower intensity. Do as many reps as you can in the allotted timeframe. It’s not about how long you workout it is about how much “work” you perform in the allotted time.

 

Couple of other things to consider when it comes to Vanity Pounds….

1. Check your salt intake – make sure it low enough so you aren’t hiding your muscles under water weight (less than 300-800 mg a day)
2. Drink water like it is going out of style – I probably drink 80-100 ounces a day
3. Eat lots, I mean lots of vegetables
4. And last but not least…..No alcohol

Keep your liver free and clear of alcohol if you are trying to lose vanity pounds. Your liver is the organ responsible for eliminating fat from your body! You want it functioning at it's optimum level!

If you’ve tried any of these workouts or have tips on how to take your workout to the next level – Food Babe readers want to know! Share your recommendations/tips/experiences below by leaving a comment and checking out Food Babe’s Face Book Page.

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19 responses to “You are so vain…. The last 5 – 10 pounds

    1. Thanks Riddhi! These workouts really do the trick! Today I only had 30 mins to workout – so I kept my heart rate btw 160-185 and ran sprints on the treadmill like the devil. I kept my heart rate monitor on for about an hour after my workout – my heart rate stayed elevated, meaning I kept burning calories long after my workout! Incredible to see this science in action!

  1. Hi FoodBabe, thanks so much for all the great info, especially the link to BodyRock, what an amazing site! Good luck to you, will be following your blog!

    1. Hey Sabine! Welcome to the site! I’m glad to hear you like Body Rock. Zuzana’s incredible!

  2. Hey Food Babe!!
    you are a rockstar girl! once my hamstring is pain-free, i’m trying your interval/hill treadmill workout. love your blog and will be following it for sure!!!

    1. Awe! You are too sweet Mary! I did this workout today before hot yoga again … it really kicks your a$$! Hope your hamstring gets better soon!

  3. Pst. I know you have veggies on the mind all the time and generally that is a wonderful thing but it is actually basal metabolic rate, not basil metabolic rate. Funny slip though!

  4. Pure Barre! It’s changed my life. That and yoga.. especially Charleston Power Yoga (hot power vinyasa flow) detox to the maxx!!

  5. I love your website! Thanks for all the tips. Just wanted to say be careful telling people it’s okay to take between 300-80g sodium/day followed by drinking a lot of water. I work as a nurse in an ICU and have seen lots of people have seizures because their sodium levels are critically low due to low
    Sodium intake and over hydration. Just want to make sure no one sues you over something 🙂 I completely agree with the low sodium intake idea. Just think for the general “uneducated” public this might be a little low.

    1. In fact, sodium may need to be increased for folks who are exercising, even at low intensities (including walking) in hot weather or those to are exercising at moderate-high intensity in temperate weather (especially high salt sweaters as indicated by collection of white salty film on the skin). This is extremely dangerous, especially at the level of water intake she’s suggesting along with the intensity of the videos she’s promoting. These things are wont to happen when someone without a degree in anything even remotely related to human nutrition decides to blog about human nutrition.

  6. Just discovered your blog – I love it! I gained a lot of weight while nursing my second little boy and went up to 195 (I’m 5’6). I’m now down to 158 and going on vacation in 2 1/2 weeks – I’ve been reading your tips and working hard! Still trying to get rid of some cellulite and flab and sometimes I get a little discouraged but reading your posts totally inspired me. Thanks!

    Kristine

  7. Hey! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could get a captcha plugin for my comment form?
    I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having difficulty finding one?
    Thanks a lot!

    1. But…basil is tastier. I would like to metabolize some basil right now, along with some tomato and mozzarella. 😉

  8. It looks like there is some confusion here about the function of the liver in removing fat from the body. Fatty acids are broken down to units of acetyl CoA via beta-oxidation in mitochondria. Essentially, the acetyl CoA is an intermediate in metabolic pathways that eventually lead to the production of carbon dioxide, dihydrogen monoxide, and energy in the form of ATP/heat. That is how one ‘gets rid’ of fat. This can occur in any tissue that contains mitochondria, which is most any tissue (minus blood cells). The tissue that contains the most mitochondria is skeletal muscle. The liver can store lipids, but that can lead to NAFLD-related cirrhosis which is detrimental to health. The role of the liver in lipid handling is the uptake of chylomicrons from the gut via the lymph and LDL cholesterol via the blood. The liver is a ‘re-packaging’ center of sorts and actually is the site of cholesterol synthesis (both LDL and HDL). The liver both removes and adds lipids to the blood. You are correct that alcohol (ethanol) will inhibit fatty acid oxidation but I don’t think you actually knew why. It will also inhibit metabolism of carbohydrates and amino acids because it is a toxin and must quickly be converted acetylaldehyde for excretion which happens primarily in the liver. If you drink so excessively that your liver is cirrhotic, you have bigger problems than 5 vanity pounds.

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