That's Fit

Last night, I watched in both horror and hysterics as Bear Grylls, one of my past Celebrity Fitzness Report interview guests, devoured "too many" worms in Zambia -- which left him with an atrocious case of diarrhea. Imagine that!!! He cooked and ate a few big, gooey, spiny worms that he found on a tree, then continued to groan in agony throughout the rest of the show due to his "killer diarrhea." The guy is a combination of handsome, athletic, daring, brilliant, and accidentally hysterical all at the same time.

If you've never seen Bear's show Man vs. Wild on Discovery Channel, it's about time you check it out. Bear was a survival expert in the British Special Air Services (21 SAS). He's an elite adventurer and stops at nothing to teach us how to survive if we ever happen to get stranded in the wild. A part of survival is finding safe and energy-filled food sources. Normally I find this disgusting; typically I watch much of Man vs. Wild with my eyes under my blanket. Lately though, I've been peeking out, because Bear's facial expressions in response to his nasty food choices are side-splitting.

Watching him climb up waterfalls and run through the brush agonizing over diarrhea was priceless. My husband and I squirmed as he ate the worms, giggled as Bear grimaced while chewing on them, and then rolled in laughter as he suffered through his tummy troubles.

I'm taking my weight -- which at the moment is 135 -- and I'm multiplying it by 12. My answer: 1,620. That's the average number of daily calories I should consume to maintain my weight. Interesting.

Without knowing it, I must have been eating 1,620 calories each day for a good chunk of time. I know this because my weight has been keeping pretty stable. It could also be that I'm eating more and burning some of my calories with exercise, which is then delivering me back to that same 1,620 mark.

This simple formula, courtesy of Discovery Health and EatingWell.com, can also help me figure out how to lose a few pounds.

To produce a weight loss at the safe rate of one to two pounds per week, all I need to do is subtract calories from my daily total. For one pound, I should shed 500 calories per day. For two pounds, I should ditch 1,000. That would leave me with daily totals of either 1,160 or 620 calories which tells me something: This won't work for me.

Anything under 1,200 calories per day leaves little room for proper nutrition so if I really want to lose weight, I should reset my number to 1,200. It's still less than my maintenance number which means I'll still lose weight.

Want to take a stab at this simple formula? Tell us what you find out.

In my December interview with Oprah Winfrey's health expert, Dr. Oz, I harassed him about not doing real pull-ups with a bar. (He was using the Gravitron). I gave him a bit of a ration, detailed in his Celebrity Fitzness Report interview, and he promised to get a bar and start doing them. He was very inspired viewing this video of Anthony Field of The Wiggles performing an amazing pull-up routine. So, I emailed Dr. Oz some links on where to get pull-up bars etc. and harassed him only a teeny bit more.

Well, Friday I randomly sent him an email asking "how are the pull-ups coming"? His awesome response was that he just filmed an Oprah show and demonstrated 21 pull-ups on air! Hooray for Dr. Oz! The show will air tomorrow, Tuesday February 5th and I'm looking forward to it. I'm so proud of him!

That's right! The most powerful woman on television, Ms. Oprah Winfrey, will soon have even more power and presence on the tube. Teaming up with Discovery Communications who owns, Discovery, Animal Planet, TLC and more...OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. will launch in 2009.

A press release from Discovery Communications states, "The new multi-platform media venture will be designed to entertain, inform and inspire people to live their best lives. OWN will debut in 2009 in more than 70 million homes, on what is currently the Discovery Health Channel. The venture will also include the award-winning digital platform, Oprah.com."

Curious to know how celebrities squeeze fitness into their daily lives? Want to know the secrets of the stars? Bi-weekly our That's Fit fitness expert Fitz sits down with the celebs we want to know more about, and digs out their great and not-so-great methods to staying healthy

My guests this week are a bit dear to my heart, as they share the same passion for fighting as I do. Doug Anderson, a highly decorated Iraqi war veteran from New Jersey traveled across the world with Jimmy Smith, a young Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter. Their journey had them test their skills against locals and various fighting styles, often styles they had never seen before. Always exciting, often painful, and always real....the Discovery Channel's Fight Quest stars went on an adventure of a lifetime and returned home with bruises and scars to show for it.

Fitz: Most folks dread the thought of even verbal confrontation. You guys volunteered to go fight a bunch of unknowns from around the world, many of which were yielding weapons you didn't know how to use! What scares you?

Doug: I was shot at in Iraq and had bombs explode 100 yards from me while there. None of that stuff ever scared me. But fighting like we did on this show was different. In Iraq I was part of a team; on Fight Quest I was alone. If I failed.....the onus was on me. I was always most nervous right before each fight, but I'd lose those nerves as soon as I got hit. It made me want to go running face-first into the other guys fist. Just to get it over with!

Jimmy: What scares me is not putting my best foot forward. It's OK to lose to someone better than me, but I hated the idea of losing to someone because I was fatigued or didn't put forth my best effort. As far as nerves go, you can't kill what's inside you. It's best to use those nerves to make you react; make you sharper.

Curious to know how celebrities squeeze fitness into their daily lives? Want to know the secrets of the stars? Bi-weekly our That's Fit fitness expert Fitz sits down with the celebs we want to know more about, and digs out their great and not-so-great methods to staying healthy

My guest this week is the very excellent athlete and adventurer Will Gadd. Starring on Discovery Channel's Fearless Planet, Will guides us through the world's most spectacular natural wonders to teach us how these land formations were created. The show is really so gripping that as I lay sick and exhausted in bed a few weeks ago, I refused to fall asleep. I couldn't miss his journey through and lesson about the Sahara. (No.....I don't have TiVo.Yes, I know I'm a nerd.) I was wishing this show was around when I was back in school learning about geography. If it was.....I think I would have actually been interested in the subject and learned all of the things I was supposed to learn back then. Totally entertaining!

From Canmore, Alberta, Will has won every major ice-climbing competition in the world and holds the distance world record in paragliding. He's one of the most successful outdoor sports athletes in the world, as well as an award-winning film-maker and writer. He has flown his para-glider over the Grand Canyon, climbed icebergs in the North Atlantic, won the X Games, written a best-selling outdoor instructional book and regularly writes for the New York Times and other international magazines and newspapers.

As I interviewed Will, we giggled a lot as he was totally down to earth (when not hanging from it). He's a new Daddy and considers that his most exciting, yet rewarding adventure. He's also the real deal when it comes to healthy living. He has some especially unique insight on food, which I think we could all learn from.

Fitz: You're the ultimate outdoor sports guy....in amazing shape. You're world renowned for excellence in ice climbing, mountain climbing, paragliding, kayaking , caving and skiing; a bit of a lunatic. How did you get started with all of this?

Will: I actually began my escapades in utero. My Mom was hitting the mountains while pregnant with me. My Dad's a climber too. I grew up with it.

Fitz: What does your wife think about you dangling upside-down from ice all the time?

Will: She totally gets it. She's (Kim Csizmazia) also a champion ice climber.

Fitz: That would probably help! And now you have a daughter?

Kinda yes. Kinda no. Dr. Oz recently became worried about all of the plastic he and his family of six were using while drinking tons of bottled water. Instead, he became creative and ordered some vodka infusion jugs that are handmade from 100% recycled glass. The bottles are fairly large and quite pretty. He fills the jugs with both water and some sort of fruit slices like lemon or lime.

The jugs end up looking like a decorative piece, and because they're gorgeous...end up reminding his four children to drink lots of water. Since he's such a fan of the jugs, Dr. Oz told me he was going to give them out as gifts this year. I wonder if his buddy Oprah received one for Christmas.

Curious to know how celebrities squeeze fitness into their daily lives? Want to know the secrets of the stars? Bi-weekly our That's Fit fitness expert Fitz sits down with the celebs we want to know more about, and digs out their great and not-so-great methods to staying healthy.

I'm thrilled to death about my guest this week, Dr. Mehmet Oz., vice chair of surgery and professor of cardiac surgery at Columbia University. I, along with millions of others met Dr. Oz a couple of years ago when he started appearing on the Oprah Winfrey show as her health expert. Kind of like the way she introduced Dr. Phil; except that Dr. Oz is truly brilliant in a non-subjective kind of way, easy on the eyes, and easy to understand.

I've been teaching fitness for almost two decades and have earned a Master's Degree in Exercise and Sports Sciences. I'm always hungry for new and relevant information. Rarely I find it. But, Dr. Oz always teaches me something new. He breaks highly advanced medical concepts down, so that everyone can understand them and how they affect our lives.

Dr. Oz is a major force in the push for real deal, gimmick-free healthy living. Mehmet is one of Oprah's favorite things, and a host of his own talk show on the Oprah and Friends radio network. He has a series on the Discovery Health Channel called You:Staying Young. He also happens to have best selling books out: You:Staying Young and You:On a Diet. I'd like to shrink down small and run around in his brain for a while to absorb all that he has to offer; either that or be his apprentice for a week. Since I probably can't do that, I invited him for an interview. Enjoy it. I did!

Fitz: How did you make the transition from cardiologist to wellness guru?

Dr. Oz: I spent the first few years of my career doing general medicine; you have to learn all other aspects of being a doctor before becoming a cardiologist. I got a great education on how the entire body works. Medicine is somewhat of a narcissistic profession, and I've spent a lot of my life keeping myself healthy. I saw the lifestyle mistakes others were making which led them to me, and I started to feel kind of guilty for not sharing what I knew about health and fitness. The stuff I've been pursuing my whole life! I lettered in eleven sports; everything from water polo to football. I love how you feel after working out; there's a lot to learn in life from pushing your body.

Fitz: How old are you?

Dr. Oz: I'm 47.

Fitz: Do you have children?

Dr. Oz: I have four kids. Ages twenty-one, seventeen, thirteen, and eight.

I just spoke to the health expert for the Oprah Winfrey show, Dr. Oz, as I'll be featuring him in an upcoming Celebrity Fitzness Report. Fortunately for all of us, we spoke for almost an hour and the man filled my brain up with so much great information that I'll be sharing it with you for a long time to come.

Dr. Oz's tips for staying fit over the holidays:

1. Never walk around a holiday party with both hands full; one with a drink and one with food. Keep a hand free to greet people and you'll cut lots of calories.

Need a challenge for the upcoming year? Then consider this one -- the National Body Challenge 2008, sponsored by Discovery Health. It's a free, comprehensive fitness and weight-loss challenge that provides the tools and inspiration for getting in shape, shedding those extra pounds, and adopting a healthier lifestyle. Who couldn't use that kind of motivation?

Mark your calendar for December 27, 2007 -- that's when you can register online -- and get ready to access online and television tools beginning January 5, 2008. The challenge lasts for eight weeks -- it ends March 2, 2008 -- and in that amount of time, anything is possible.

Once registered, participants will establish their goals and create customized plans to suit their needs. It all starts with a weigh in -- either online or at one of four mall kick-off celebrations, taking place at Alderwood Mall, Seattle, WA; Woodfield Mall, Schaumburg, IL; Columbia Mall, Columbia, MD; and Short Hills Mall, Short Hills, NJ.

Here's what you get if you sign up, besides a kick in the pants to make good on your health goals: Free access to online customized meal plans with more than 1,000 nutritional recipes, a personalized weight and activity tracker, extensive information from doctors and health and fitness experts, a free eight-week membership to Bally Total Fitness (restrictions may apply), a weekly newsletter, and more.

Ready to give it a go? Click here to get started. What have you got to lose, besides a few pounds?

Curious to know how celebrities squeeze fitness into their daily lives? Want to know the secrets of the stars? Bi-weekly our That's Fit fitness expert Fitz sits down with the celebs we want to know more about, and digs out their great and not-so-great methods to staying healthy.

This week I'm featuring one of the coolest guys in the world. A real life action hero who actually couldn't answer some of my questions, because he's been sworn to military secrecy. I love it! Bear Grylls is the star of Man vs. Wild on the Discovery Channel.

Bear was a survival expert in the British Special Air Services (21 SAS). He's obsessed with adventure as well as breaking rules and records. Bear is a brilliant outdoors man, built like a guy movie producers choose for their action flicks, and handsome enough to make girls want to watch him eat zebra guts. A fantastic combination for television.

To shoot each episode of Man vs. Wild, 33 year old, Bear gets dumped out of a helicopter in to the wildest most extreme regions in the world where tourists are likely to become stranded. He then gets to work trying to teach our sorry butts how to escape eminent doom. On Man vs. Wild, Bear has: thrown himself into both quicksand and an ice lake to demonstrate exit strategies, hidden from a sandstorm inside of a camel he'd previously gutted, and chowed down on everything from elephant dung to goat testicles. All for our benefit.

While interviewing Bear, I started the conversation off by telling him that I love the show, but spend half of the run time covering my eyes and ears. He didn't seem surprised. I often inquired about why he is willing to go to such extremes. He also didn't seem phased; unlike you and I....hiding inside of a camel doesn't seem appalling to him. The man is the real deal. He takes his job seriously and is literally willing to do anything to survive. I think I'm inviting Bear to vacation with me from now on.

Fitz: How did you get into this whole survival thing?

Bear: I was a survival expert in the Royal Marines. We had a tight unit and I loved it. I served twice.

Fitz: What kind of exciting missions did you go on in the military?

Bear: I can't tell you much, it's all kind of hush-hush! But in one of my unfortunate incidents, I broke my back in three places during a free-falling parachute accident in Africa.

Fitz: Ouch! I'm impressed that you recovered and came back for more. What kind of kid were you?

Bear: Oh God! I was always dirty and causing lots of trouble. Kind of like I am now.

Fitz: How did you end up with your own show on Discovery Channel?

Bear: I had done a television series about the French Foreign Legion in the UK. The people from Discovery Channel invited me to do Man vs Wild. They had to ask three times, because the first two times I told them no. I felt like they wanted some 'smart guy' and I was not what they were looking for.

Just in time for the holiday feasts that await us, Discovery Health offers this brief video clip with a few tips for the season -- and for everyday weight control too.

One: Never enter a food environment hungry, especially at holiday time.

Two: When preparing dishes, be sure to include plenty of fruits and vegetables as appetizers, side dishes, and desserts.

Three: Get rid of left-overs. Send your guests home with your extra goodies. They'll appreciate the kind gesture, and you'll appreciate the saved calories and bonus space in your fridge.

What quick tips and tricks do you have for ensuring your holiday is a healthy one?

Bear Grylls (at right) used to be a more cuddly bear. The athletic star of Discovery Channel's Man vs. Wild recently revealed to me that he used to be quite overweight. After completing his service to the British Special Forces and getting married, Bear gained two and half stone! Not familiar with stones? Well, each of the British survival expert's extra stones equal a whopping 14 pounds! That's quite a lot. 35 pounds to be exact.

Bear is ripped now. How did he make the transformation? He decided to! Bear says that he just was sick of being a loaf and changed his ways. He also was suffering from back pain. (He broke his back during a free-falling parachuting accident). To stay in shape for his adventures and remain pain free, Bear trains three hours a day. He varies his workouts with: martial arts, running, climbing, yoga, swimming, pull-ups, push-ups and more. When he's not eating all sorts of disgusting live and dead animals to demonstrate survival skills, Bear avoids meat and dairy. He feasts on fruits, veggies, and whole grains.

The guy knows what it's like to be out of shape, and has decided that's not the way he wants his life to be. His training is not 'easy' for him, but it's something he feels passionate about. Bear is not chubby at all anymore. In fact, his ripped. What a lucky lady his wife is to get to cuddle up with that Bear.

Never a dull moment with Bear Grylls. The star of Discovery Channel's Man vs. Wild and I spoke last week during a long interview in which he will be featured in an upcoming Celebrity Fitzness Report. Definitely 45 of the most interesting minutes in my life. I can't imagine anyone having more incredible tales.

Bear told me about visiting the Sahara Desert in Africa and enduring the extreme temperatures, highs of 130 and lows of 20 degrees ferenheit. What he didn't tell me is what I saw last night while watching his show. He was given a camel from some local tribesmen that he met on his journey, and showed how to skin it to make a blanket (which he slept with later that night). Fun! He also demonstrated how to remove the water reservoirs from the camels humps in order to drink. Tasty! But wait ...there's more!

I know. Isn't this a disgusting topic? Blech. How do I know this information you wonder? Well, a few days ago I had the luxury of speaking with one of the coolest men on television, Discovery Channel's Man vs. Wild star, Bear Grylls. Bear travels to the wildest locations around the world and teaches survival skills. So, just in case you get stranded in Antarctica some day......you'll know what to do.

Bear's complete interview will be featured in an upcoming Celebrity Fitzness Report here on ThatsFit.com, but in the interim I thought I'd share this fun information with you. A huge part of surviving in the wild is knowing what to eat and what not to eat. Bear discriminates against poisonous things, not disgusting things. Apparently neither should we.

This season he feasted on goat testicles. He was presented with them by some nomadic tribesman and contrary to Bear's initial projections, they did not taste like hard boiled eggs..................