That's Fit

Most women are familiar with body scrubs, even if they don't use them. Scrubs are designed to get rid of dead skin and rough patches, leaving you with skin that's smoother, healthier-looking, and more radiant.

However, certain types of scrubs are great for your body, but not your face -- and vice versa. Additionally, if you're working on a particularly dry, scaly area of skin, like your elbows or your heels, you need a whole other level of scrubby goodness to get the desired effect.

Check out the gallery to get schooled in Body Scrubs 101. There's a little homework involved in the form of DIY scrubs, but don't worry -- a successfully scrubbed post-bath body is all you need to get an A!

Why is it so hard to change? The exact reasons are different for everybody but one thing is certain: we all spend a lot of time falling into very similar traps.

The best way to avoid them? Face them head on:

• Expecting too much/Not expecting enough People who are good at change can see both the short term and long term accurately -- they know what they can do in the next 30 days and in the next 3 months. Be honest and realistic with yourself when setting goals.
  
• Letting others bring you down Those around you might not mean to drag you into the dumps, but seeing you working so hard and being successful could be reminding them of their own short-comings. Refuse to let the negative energy of others affect your positive momentum.
• Self-sabotage You might not mean to bring yourself down, either, but all too often we do just that to ourselves. Look deep to see if there are reasons, like fear, that you might be wrecking your own plans.

Thanks to Natural Health magazine.

There's been all kinds of stories circulating around lately on what a ridiculously huge amount of calories Olympic athlete Michael Phelps consumes every day while still managing to be totally ripped and toned. Talk about efficient calorie-burning! But you don't have to be on a crazy athletic training schedule and headed for the Olympics to learn how to burn calories better (although that certainly helps, I'm sure!), just try these 5 tips:

• Eat breakfast
• Tune in to your body's hunger cues
• Drink plenty of water
• Encourage healthy bacteria (take probiotics, eat yogurt)
  
• Go heavy on the spices (cayenne pepper, paprika, chili peppers)

This weekend my son and I are going on a vacation. While we're staying in a cabin, we'll be spending most of our time outdoors -- at the beach, sand dunes, nature trails, and hiking paths. Both my son and I love to explore and check out what nature has to offer. A new web portal, Andy Camper, is all about outdoor adventures for kids.

The site offers dozens of how-to videos for kids; from geocaching to watching the stars. The site aims to get kids excited about the outdoors and to reconnect them with nature through fun, engaging ideas and activities.

My son is really into bugs right now (except spiders... they freak him out). Tonight, we're going to make this cool water viewer to help us look for bugs and other critters in the lake this weekend. Check it out! You're sure to find fun activities for you and your kids whether you're heading out on a special outdoor adventure, or just want to do some exploring in your own backyard.

When one decides to stop eating meat, it's easy enough to turn to vegetarian recipes. However, many people aren't willing to give up meat in their meals, but would be willing to cut back.

The problem with this is that using half the amount of meat but not changing up the way you look at your meal can leave you feeling hungry -- if meat is still the main dish, but you're eating less, you won't feel satisfied.

Fortunately, The New York Times had a great article on how to eat less meat without feeling like you're missing out. Seven suggestions are made -- for the whole thing, click here, or check out our gallery to get a quick overview. And remember, you don't have to be a vegetarian to give vegetables the starring role in your dish!

How often have you seen an ad or read about a new makeup trend in a magazine, only to think, "That looks great on her, but I'd never pull that off with my skin tone?" While it's true that some trends look best on women of particular ages or with certain skin tones, if there's a trend that intrigues you, there's probably a way to make it work for you.

Click through the gallery to see how Fitnessmagazine.com tailored five current makeup trends for specific skin tones -- you might find your new favorite look!

Every season brings with it new trends and styles, and changing up your wardrobe is a great way to welcome in the new season. However, one thing I find myself telling people again and again is that no matter how hot a trend is, if it doesn't work for you, don't spend your money on it.

And so, I'm here to walk you through some of this season's trends but also tell you how women of different shapes and sizes might want to incorporate those into their wardrobes.

For anyone who's lost a lot of weight and needs motivation to keep it off or for anyone who currently needs to lose a lot of weight but doesn't know where to start, this list of inspirational and rational thoughts might just be what you were looking for. It's not from a doctor, so as the author says ... you should take it with a grain of salt.

But that said, it is from someone who has lost over 100 pounds on their own, someone who's been there, done that. With over 100 personal thoughts listed, I can't share them all ... but I will list a few of my favorites:

Some people experience it more than others, but I think most of us have gone through it at some point in our lives: that frustrating inability to get a deep breath when you're really nervous or anxious about something. This article I came across was published awhile ago, but it's got a great set of tips (complete with stick man illustrations!) on how to "reboot" your lungs and get over that annoying shallow breathing pattern we sometimes get stuck in.

If nervous breathing happens to you often how do you deal with it?

I am a life-long night owl. When I was in school, I loved summertime because it meant that I could stay up later without having to drag myself out of bed in the morning, still half-asleep and dreaming of settling back in between my comfortable covers. It's not that I wanted to stay up late partying, it's just that I get a major burst of energy around 10pm and often can't fall asleep until well after midnight. It's like torture on days when I have to get up at 6am to get to work.

Life would definitely be easier if I were a morning person. Recently Rigel Gregg posted some tips on getting up earlier and Francesca Clarke at DIY Life also wrote about an article that offers 24 tips for becoming an early-riser. One of the suggestions that Francesca highlights is heading outside as soon as you get up as it will help you feel more awake. Some of the other tips in the piece include sleeping with the windows open for fresh air and planning events in the morning so that you have to get up.

Are you a reformed night owl? How did you teach yourself to get up earlier?

Your doctor should be the last person you're embarrassed to talk to about health issues, including advice and help with losing weight, but that doesn't mean it always works that way. Some people actually find their doctor the hardest to approach about their weight, instead of the easiest. Maybe it's something about the guilt -- deep down I think we all want to get a good "grade" at our doctors visits and bringing up the fact that we're overweight feels like we're pointing out a mistake that otherwise might sneak by unnoticed (but believe me, your doctor notices, whether he/she says something or not).

So, if you feel you need to lose weight, make a goal for yourself that you'll ask at least one question of your doctor the next time you go. There are some good tips and pointers here if you need ideas, such as asking if they have any pamphlets or brochures in the office and having the doctor or one of the nurses take your measurements.

"You don't get a second chance to make a first impression." One of the great truths of life! And although first impressions aren't the "end all and be all" necessarily, they sometimes can be so it never hurts to make sure yours is always a good one. Try following these tips:

• Avoid trying to make yourself sound impressive, and instead focus on the other person and encourage them to talk about themselves.
• Try not to appear to anxious, even if you are really nervous. Calm restless or twitching legs and don't talk too fast.
• Fake a good mood if you have to. It's always good to genuinely be yourself, but make it the best version of yourself possible. If you're in a bad mood the other person may think you're always that way.
• It's all in the eyes. Make eye contact, and do it for just slightly longer than the conventional 1 second.
• Sync up your movements and pace of speaking with theirs -- we attract those who are most like us.
• Be flattering, but don't overdo it. People love to be complimented, but it works best when they don't think you pass 'em out to just anybody.
• If you do make a bad first impression it is possible to recover, sometimes, by showing your sense of humor and self-awareness. Comments like "I wasn't myself earlier" and "I see you met my evil twin" can go a long way.

I love fruit and vegetables, especially when they're fresh, but shopping for them can be more complicated than it looks. We've all seen the jokes where somebody's in the produce department of the grocery store trying to look like they know what they're doing thumping away on a large melon, meanwhile having no idea what they're doing or why. Well here's an article that sums up the basics on some of the best summer fruits you'll find at the store or the farmer's market (watermelon, peaches, cantaloupe, and cherries) and gives you the low-down on what to look for and how to find and buy the very best.

And for the record, there's no knocking or thumping suggested.

There are some things in life that are strangely difficult to do considering how commonplace they are in our everyday lives: massages for example. Given how wonderful they are to receive, and the fact that they have great health benefits like stress relief and improved circulation, it's amazing so many of us are so uncomfortable giving them. Think about it: if you and your spouse each learned how to give good massages you could each get one every day for free! That's how it works in theory anyway...

Here's an online step-by-step set of instructions, complete with a video to help make learning the process easier. I think this is an awesome thing to know how to do well, but I'd like to see something on "how to give a great back massage in 5 minutes or less," because my big problem is that my arms and hands just get so tired!


Via Lifehacker

Rookies and old pros alike often make serious mistakes when it comes to preparing and training for a marathon, and surprisingly they're often the same mistakes. Rookies make them because they don't know any better, and the pros make them because they're competitive spirit gets in the way and clouds their judgment. So no matter where you fall on the experience scale, if you're getting ready to run a marathon this summer make sure you're not making these common mistakes:

• Not allowing enough time to train/having a bad plan
• Overtraining
• Dehydration
• Bad shoes
• Forgetting to prepare mentally
• Not researching the cousre
• Disrespecting the race
• Eating too much at once
• Trying something new
• Letting the adrenaline rush take over
• Lack of experience