Weight Loss

The ONLY way to lose weight…

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Forget the B-12 injections, fad diets, miracle drinks, diet pills and quick fix workout plans.  Ask anyone who has successfully lost weight AND kept it off and they will tell you that they ATE LESS and MOVED MORE.  Burning more calories than you consume is the ONLY true scientific way to lose weight.  In reality, this is easier said than done.  So here are some helpful tips that have kept me on track during my weight management journey:

  • I CAN’T out exercise a bad diet – No matter how much I hit the gym, it’s simply too hard to burn off all of the calories of a bad diet.  Think about it, a burger and fries could be around 2,000 calories.  This means 2 hours of high intensity cardiovascular exercise to work it off.  There’s simply not enough time in the day to truly burn off the calories in a bad diet.
  • I CAN use exercise to speed up weight loss – You must burn 3,500 calories more than you consume to legitimately lose 1 pound.  So if you take on a low-calorie diet PLUS burn an extra 400-600 calories per day through an hour of exercise, you will obtain your dream body much sooner!
  • HOW MUCH I eat is more important than WHAT I eat – Look, you can eat too many apples and still be fat.  A calorie, is a calorie is a calorie. If you eat too many calories without burning them off, you WILL gain weight.  Don’t be deceived by healthy foods. Too much of ANY food will still pack on pounds.
  • MAKE yourself love fruits, veggies and water – No matter how much I try, I find it nearly impossible to get my body the nutrition it needs within my daily caloric budget without lots of water, fruits and veggies.  No other foods are as low in calories and high in fiber and vitamins.  Also, the water keeps my metabolism revved up and makes me feel full.

Keep these points in mind and you start your week.  Even a small personal commitment to be more active during the day, eat less or drink more water can make a big impact on your weight management.

I love a good sweat session BUT it MUST go hand in hand with a low-calorie, nutritious diet!

What’s more difficult for you?  Eating less?  Or moving more?

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Workout Reviews & Ratings

PiYo STRENGTH: Pilates/Yoga Fusion Workout

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Last Sunday I finished the course requirements and am now a  certified PiYo STRENGTH Instructor – woop woop!  (That’s me on the right in the back row with my hair lookin’ a mess; long day so don’t judge, hehe).  In addition to teaching my weekly Turbo Kick classes, I plan to now teach a mind/body fitness format.

PiYo is short for “Pilates Yoga.”  It’s a group fitness format available at most major health clubs, especially 24 Hour Fitness and women’s gyms. Long story short – get involved with PiYo.   Here’s why I love it:

  • I have (self diagnosed) ADD – If you also have a limited attention span, you will love PiYo because it’s fast paced.  Throughout the workout you flow swiftly through a variety of yoga poses and Pilates exercises which prevents boredom.
  • I like sweating – If I’m not drenched after a workout, I’m not convinced that the workout was productive.  Because PiYo is fast paced and the moves are challenging, you start breaking a sweat within the first 10 minutes.
  • I dislike awkward situations – PiYo has no spiritual element, it’s solely a mind/body WORK OUT.  I always feel super awkward in traditional yoga classes with serious spiritual cultures and chanting – not my thing.  PiYo has a fun group atmosphere where you can let loose and truly relax.
  • I like to JAM – PiYo is set to music, and not spiritual chanting or anything like that.  I’m talking Top 40 and R&B jamz.  Not only is the music great, but there’s also a dance element to the workout so you can shake your groove thang 😉
  • I need to be more flexible – As you can tell, most of my workouts are high intensity interval training or long cardio sessions.  However, I often skip the stretching and mind/body relaxation that my body needs.  In fact, flexibility is the most overlooked element of fitness!  PiYo lets me work on my flexibility without feeling like I’m wasting time.

And since you’ve been so kind and read to the end, I’ll reward you with some videos of PiYo in action – enjoy 🙂
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDdekLVTIpk&w=560&h=315]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHULk86G-2o&w=560&h=315]

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Inspiration & Motivation, Lifestyle

The Beauty of Balance…living a healthy lifestyle

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To be fit requires only physical strength and endurance, but to be well requires additional elements of mental, emotional and spiritual development.  I don’t know about you, but I often overemphasize the “physical” element of my wellness because it’s more tangible and makes me feel productive.   However, simply relaxing, enjoying life and spending time with the people we love is just as, if not more, important than exercise.   This weekend I focused on the “mental” and “emotional” aspects of my wellness with some good ole’ fashioned friends and family time.

On Friday night, I hosted a ladies’ a book club with my fabulous girlfriends in Dallas.  Positive energy filled the room as we laughed, ate good food, sipped EXCELLENT wine (thanks to my girl Amy Hampton, Founder and Owner of Sociologie Wine) and engaged in heartfelt and inspiring fellowship…

Then on Saturday, my mom and I drove to Lubbock, TX to visit my little sister who is on the varsity dance team at Texas Tech University.   It was a great opportunity to share what’s been on our minds and enjoy the authentic, West Texas culture.  We also went to the Texas Tech football game to watch my lil’ sis cheer and dance on the sidelines.  People have always told me that I’m a lucky charm, and this week I proved them correct.  TX Tech football upset #5 West Virginia.  Yea buddy – GUNS UP, Red Raiders!

While this weekend I didn’t workout as hard as I usually do  (i.e. skipped my 2-hour Saturday Detox) I appreciated the beauty of balance.  As we all start a new week,  I encourage each of you take a moment and reflect upon your overall wellness.

Is there an element of your wellness that you tend to neglect?  

One that you overemphasize?   

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Arms, Cardio, Home Workouts

Wednesday Workout: Sweat, Tone, Sweat!

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Good morning everyone!  Here’s your Wednesday Workout.  I tested this bad boy on Monday night and it’s definitely GRIT by Brit worthy.  The workout requires a stationary bike and 2 light hand weights.  The key is to stay on the bike and cycle for the entire duration of the workout.  It takes about 1 hour to complete and you can expect to burn 500-700 calories.  You can also expect to sculpt some lean sexy arms in the process.  Try it out and let me know how it goes.  Lots of luv, Brit 🙂

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Inspiration & Motivation

4-week Challenge Final Update: Lak’s Top 5 Lessons for Healthy Living

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4-week Shape-up Challenge: Lakshmi’s Final Update

I’ve spent 4 weeks on the Grit by Brit shape-up plan and in the infamous words of Ms. Brit, “I’ve seen some things.” Maybe more accurately, I’ve learned some things – about myself, my habits and my goals:

  1. Success is a commitment – I’ve finally realized that when it comes to my body and my health, achieving a goal does not happen at a finite point in time. It’s a continual commitment. There is a reason that the phrase is “healthy lifestyle,” and not “healthy moment.” Achieving a healthy lifestyle requires commitment to a healthy life. It’s not one of those quick fix wedding boot camps – be intensely committed for 3 weeks, look buff for the big day and then stop once he’s passed you the ring. Being healthy is something that I need to consider every time I want to eat something or be active (or not active).
  2. It takes a village – Hillary Clinton was so right – you can’t do this alone. Get supporters to cheer you on when you’re doing well. And to scold you when you’ve fallen off the wagon. Talking about my healthy life goals reinforced them in my head (the whole “speak it into existence” idea) and helped make those around me accountable for my success, too. No one wants to watch someone fail in health. If you tell people about who you want to be, they will enable success.
  3. My body is smarter than I am – My brain is my worst enemy. It tells me I’m hungry when I’m not. It tells me I need to stop cycling when I shouldn’t. It tells me to not get out of bed when I need to. Turn the brain off. I learned to listen to my body. Am I hungry? Let me ask my energy level and stomach. Can I go further? Let me ask my legs and heart. Sometimes the answer is “Yes, stop! You’ve worked too hard” and other times it’s all “Lakshmi, please, your grandmother could keep going.” Whatever the question, I learned to let my body answer instead of my brain.
  4. I am not perfect – Brit was continually telling me to not be so hard on myself. I find that when I hold myself to the expectation that my healthy behavior must be 100% compliant with the plan, I fail hard. And once I fail, I can’t pick myself back up. I need to lower the expectations of myself and minimize the impact of the failures so that I can get right back on-track.
  5. I am perfect – You all read about how a woman mistook me for being pregnant. My self-esteem after that episode was low. WAY LOW. But then I realized, I am who I am. I am a fertile looking woman, who is great as she is. I have (finally) realized that the whole idea that people come in different sizes isn’t necessarily because they have varying abilities to portion control. Instead, it’s sometimes just because you were handed those genes. I was at the Levi’s store this weekend (amazing transition from genes to jeans) and noticed that all their fits had positive names (Slight, Demi, Bold, Supreme Curve). This taught me my size – no matter what it is – is awesome.

Thanks friends for reading! And thanks Brit for being both my good cop and my bad cop.

Missed one of Lakshmi’s updates?  Catch up on her journey here:

Kick Off, Week 1, Week 2, Week 3

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Inspiration & Motivation

4-week challenge: Sasha O or Prego?

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Lakshmi’s Week 2 Update

Sasha Obama wore this adorable dress to her father’s speech at the DNC. I promptly purchased and wore it Wednesday for a work event. Not going to lie, I felt good in it. It accentuated my waist and was flattering (so I thought). I went to the work event, where the first person I spoke with had met with me a year ago. She said to me, “It’s great to see you again. And I see you have a baby bump.” Pow. All my confidence (I had even posted on Facebook about how great I felt in the dress) just disappeared like that. Unfortunately, there’s something about my body type that causes me to get mistaken for being pregnant all too often (I know, weird). I played the bigger person and instead of socking her in the face I said, “You’d be surprised how often I am mistaken for being pregnant. I must have a pregnant glow. When it does actually happen to me, I’ll be radioactive!” But I can joke all I want. It still really hurts. And when it hurts, I need some carbs. So Brit, I did eat carbs after 4 pm on Wednesday. But can you blame me? I was eating for two (PLEASE NOTE: THAT STATEMENT IS A JOKE).

Really tough to get the workouts in this week. I was in Boston Wed – Thursday AM. And am in Richmond Thursday AM to Friday night. Working a ton – so my options to workout were between the hours of midnight and 4 am. Sooo…I didn’t workout Thursday and Friday. I’ll get back into the groove on Saturday, I promise!

Here’s the dress I wore Wednesday. Isn’t it adorable? (the black and white one). No one mistook Sasha Obama for being prego.

Brit’s Advice for Lakshmi

  • Accentuate the positive – when you reflect on your week, ALWAYS think about everything you did WELL first.  If you start with your “slip ups,” it’s too easy to get discouraged and eventually quit your shape up efforts.
  • Don’t think in absolutes – you will never have a perfect day, so don’t beat yourself up if you sneak a cookie or miss a workout.  Just think about living a “balanced” life and schedule some extra workout time or a super lean meal to compensate for your “slip up”
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Inspiration & Motivation

4-week challenge: Lak’s Week 1 Update

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Hey Gang – Lakshmi has completed her 1st week of the 4-week challenge and is lookin’ mighty fine!  Keep up with her progress and send in your notes of encouragement.  You can see my comments and words of advice throughout her update.  Have a great weekend!  – Brit

SEXY IN BLACK

Week 1 of my Grit by Brit 4-week challenge is almost done. Here are some successes, failures (let’s call them, “opportunities for improvement” – I don’t like the word “failures”) and things I’ve learned. I haven’t lost any weight, but I’m feeling sleeker:

Successes:

  • I rocked the workout schedule. My muscles have been in a constant state of soreness this week (in a good way) – eat a banana to help with soreness
  • Chugging water like woah. I may have had more than 2L a day
  • I managed to follow the ‘no simple carbs after 4 pm’ rule (for the most part)
  • I’ve only been snacking at night. Breakfast and lunch have become my main meals
  • I’ve been watching my food intake. Just being conscious of the food I’m eating is an improvement

Opportunities for Improvement

  • Well on Sunday, I went to dinner. The menu didn’t say my meal came with rice (I ordered specifically because no carbs were listed). But it did. And I ate it
  • I may have gamed the system. Find me around 3:50 pm, you’ll see me downing some carbs in preparation for my 4 pm deadline – this is okay, it’s a start
  • Perchance all my eating decisions weren’t all perfect before 4 pm. I could have made healthier choices, but the new hires at work were training in the office and there was SO MUCH extra food. Eating for free v. eating right…it’s a toss up. Penny pinching won
  • I could have eaten more vegetables. I found myself having more almonds than raw vegetables
  • I’ve hit the 3 drink limit for the week (it was a social week). And I’m going to a wedding this weekend…uh oh

Things I’ve Learned:

  • Make others accountable for your eating decisions. Everyone at work knows I’m on the Grit by Brit plan. So when I’m teased by some delicious snack in the office kitchen, my co-workers intervened with some humiliating comment like “you can’t eat that.” You lose all your dignity, but hopefully you also lose your weight
  • If you eat a big lunch, you don’t need a big dinner. I’m not hungry right now. I can’t believe it
  • Water makes you feel good. I’m finally hydrated!

Questions for Brit

  • Can I eat quinoa after 4 pm? Yes in moderation
  • Do you have any good recommendations for what to eat at night? Nothing, drink water, why do you need fuel to sleep??

Lots of love boo – keep up the good work!

Brit 😉

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Cardio, Home Workouts, Total Body

Where Da Ballers At?

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  • Workout Name: Basketball Court Workout  by Brit
  • Duration: 45 min – 1 hour
  • Calories burned: 400 – 700
  • Commentary: The fact of the matter is pro basketball players have HOT bodies.  Whether you’re a “pro hooper”, “ex-hooper” or “wanna be hooper,” the basketball court is ALWAYS a great place to get a super effective workout.  The workout I’ve put together incorporates many of the drills I did back in my day plus some basics to burn calories and build endurance.  No matter your skill level, you should be able to get through this workout and increase your fitness level in the process.  Change up your routine and try it out.  Let me know how it goes!

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