Editor of Self magazine, Lucy Danziger, has the option of getting a free ride to work every morning. Nevermind the black town car provided by Condé Nast. Insead, Danziger is practicing what she preaches on the pages of her magazine, riding her bike to work most days, according to The New York Times.

The motivation behind this choice is twofold. For one thing, it's active and healthy, which fits right in with Danziger's lifestyle. According to The New York Times, on the morning they caught up with the editor, she'd already run six miles before leaving (on her bike) at 8 a.m.

Additionally, it's a nod to the chilly economic climate. With all of the publications Condé Nast has shut down and the budget cuts they've asked remaining mags to make, it makes perfect sense that employees would find alternate means of transportation. It seems as though Danziger is leading by example, however, can you imagine Anna Wintour doing such a thing?

We learned last month that Jennifer Lopez was training for a triathlon, and now she's sharing more details with Self magazine. As a matter of fact, the diva herself invited Self editor-in-chief Lucy Danziger to come out and train with her and her trainer, Gunnar Peterson.

Lopez is participating in the Nautica Malibu Triathlon on September 14 and is using the race to raise money for Children's Hospital Los Angeles. The race starts with a half mile ocean swim, goes on to an 18 mile out and back bike ride, and ends with a four mile run. And the new mom is ready, spending an hour and a half each day working out in her home gym.

She said she decided to do a triathlon after watching one on TV while eight months pregnant, and credits her high school track background with her "Can do!" attitude. She told Self, "The team was a big part of my life back then and taught me so many things. When I look back on my life and what I'm able to do, it's partly because of that early training. It taught me discipline, how to be committed, about striving to win, stamina, all that good stuff."

Check out the video above to see part of the workout (and Lopez's flat and fabulous abs). And, if you're interested in supporting her cause, you can donate here.

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Self magazine, a popular health and fitness publication for women, ran an article titled "When Weight Gain is a Warning" in their current issue.

If, after you've ruled out the more likely causes -- a hiatus from the gym, a few too many pina coladas, etc. -- the cause of the weight gain remains a mystery, certain health problems may be to blame. The article highlights a few that may be cause for pause.

A 5-POUND GAIN MAY MEAN...

Sleep Apnea. If you're also snoring excessively at night, have been experiencing headaches and feel tired all the time, sleep apnea may be the culprit. How it links to the five pound weight gain is as follows: sleep apnea greatly disrupts sleep, which in turn causes a rise in cortisol levels and the subsequent accumulation of fat. And, if you're not getting much sleep, you're obviously not going to exactly be an animal in the gym (well, maybe a sloth).

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Too tired to exercise? Well, one of the best ways to muster up enough energy to start exercising is to start exercising. A bit of a Catch-22, I realize that, but it's not all too difficult to get around it, either.

Self magazine, citing a journal article published in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, reports that when persistently tired sedentary people casually biked for 30 minutes three times a week for six weeks, they experienced a marked increase (65 percent) in their energy levels.

To overcome your initial exhaustion, do what the people involved in the study did: start off easy. Then, as your energy levels climb, increase the intensity gradually over time. Before long, you'll find that you have plenty of gas left in the tank at the end of each day for a solid workout.

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It's already well into July, and I'm sad to say that the number of cookouts I've been to seems unusually low. One here, one there -- but not too many. Could it be that no one wants to bake in the sun? Or that everyone is "at that age" where other obligations must come first? Or is it that people just aren't feeling the cookout scene as much these days?

I'm sure it doesn't help that there's still been no conclusive determination made on the recent E. coli outbreak. Is it tomatoes? Is it cilantro? Is it hot peppers? No one seems to know for sure, which may explain why people seem a bit hesitant to take too many chances with their food. A smart move, too, since an estimated 76 million Americans suffer from food poisoning each year. And, as you might expect, most of these cases take place in the summer, when the rising temperature creates a party of its own for harmful bacteria.

But if you're determined to keep the summer cookout alive and well (and hope for the same for your guests), make sure you're doing what you can to keep your food safe. Self magazine offers the following tips:

• Marinade your meats in the fridge instead of the countertop, where bacteria can grow.
• Use a meat thermometer to determine if a food is properly cooked, because color isn't always a reliable indicator. 145 degrees for steaks, 160 degrees for burgers, and 165 degrees for chicken.
• Don't place other food on plates that held raw meat, poultry, or seafood. Also be sure to use clean utensils every time.
• Clean your hands thoroughly with soap and water after handling raw meat or poultry, or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer to kill germs.
• Store meat, poultry, eggs, cooked foods, fruits and vegetables, dressings, condiments -- basically, almost everything -- into a cooler as soon as possible to keep it safe.

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I adopted my son a year ago. Since then, I've been consistently amazed at how little time I have for myself nowadays. But it's important to take care of my health, my stress level, and even my appearance. I'm a better and happier person when I care for myself -- and, in turn, that makes me a better mom.

Whether you're a mom like me or if you're just bogged down with work and other commitments, don't forget to take time for yourself. Self Magazine compiled reader tips for taking care of yourself. They're quick, easy, and time-saving tips that help you remember to nurture yourself as much as you care for everyone and everything else in your life. Some of Self's favorite tips are:

• Keep track of the servings of water you drink by putting bangles on one wrist and transferring one bracelet to the other wrist with each water serving. You could employ the same idea with marbles in a glass.
• Find a role model. Whether you pick a professional athlete, a celebrity, or a friend -- finding someone who's fitness ethic you admire will help you stay on track with your own goals.
• Get your zzz's. If you're sleep-deprived (as many of us are) try to take at least one night a week to really catch up. (Disclaimer: If you have insomnia, this isn't a good idea -- a consistent sleep schedule is a healthier plan.)

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Powerstrike Forza is a fitness class taught in New York City, but this is no ordinary class. The moves are all based on Samurai sword techniques and it generates quite a workout. Participants work their arms, legs, glutes, and core muscles. According to the Powerstrike web site, participants can burn around 500 calories per class.

Don't live in NYC? Or don't have the $399 to shell out for the class? (Whew! That's pricey!) Self Magazine shows us how to get the workout at home. Just grab anything that's sturdy and a few feet long (for example: an umbrella or a wiffle bat) and you've got an instant "sword." You can also use a bokken (wooden sword for martial arts training).

Self's slideshow gives you eight different moves to start with.

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Eating healthy at home can be accomplished with relative ease. You prepare the food, so you know what to expect. Do you know exact calorie, fat, carb, and protein counts? Maybe, maybe not. You could always find out by visiting sites like DietDetective.com, but there's not always time for such measures to be taken when you also have nine thousand other things that need to get done before the new episode of Lost comes on. So, in most cases we go by educated guesses. Again, not all that difficult to do when we're the ones making the food.

However, things can become much trickier at restaurants -- especially those where the healthy menu options are limited. To help you along, here are five healthy suggestions from Self magazine that should make your restaurant dining experience both enjyoable and guilt-free.

1. Quiznos - Black & Blue Salad. Go with reduced-fat dressing and only use half of the amount they give you. Also, ask for additional tomatoes and mixed greens.

2. Burger King - Tendergrill Chicken Salad. Lightly drizzle with 1/2 packet of low-fat dressing.

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Being a guy, there is little I know about what foods most women enjoy. Come to think of it, being a guy, there is little I know about all things women enjoy (except for some things, that is -- bom chicka wah wah). Anyway, to help come up with a list of what foods the fairer of the species fixates on, I turned to the popular magazine Self for some answers.

In almost no time, I came across an article about the foods that women crave most, based on a study conducted at Tufts University in Boston. In reading it, I learned that...

31 percent of women report chocolate is their most coveted food

24 percent of women say their strongest desire is for salty snacks

10 percent of women admit they regularly have an urge for ice cream

10 percent of women long for carbs, such as pasta and bread

7 percent of women desire protein-rich foods, such as fish and meat

Now there are two things I must do: 1 - Pat myself on the back for discovering, with the help of this list, that I wasn't nearly as ignorant about women as I thought I was, and 2 - Go bang out some quick sets of bench press, fix a car, punch some dude in the face, and throw a 90mph fastball in order to restore my manliness. Maybe I'll pick up a different magazine while I'm at it. Guns and Ammo sounds good.

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Sometimes the motivation to exercise can come from the desire to be a good role model to your kids. Sometimes it comes from wanting to be able to healthy enough to help take care of your community. And sometimes the motivation comes from ... well, something far less altruistic, like wanting to win a daily prize, plus be entered to win the grand-prize trip for two to Mexico, complete with spa treatments and a basket of beauty products.

For you ladies out there who wouldn't mind putting in the extra effort in the gym this year, the payoff can be some serious and much needed R&R. Sign up for the SELF Challenge: a free, easy-to-follow exercise and healthy eating plan that will help you get your best body ever in just three months! See how it works.

Just as the Self.com website says, the best prize of all will be joining the 1.3 million women who have lost weight and toned up with the SELF Challenge.

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Even with the best of intentions, as well as an admirable amount of effort, the weight sometimes doesn't come off!! Try as you might to get the needle on that scale to budge even the slightest bit, sometimes it's just not having it. This is especially true for people who have already lost quite a bit of weight and are now trying to take off those last ten pounds or so.

To help you shed those stubborn extra pounds, here is a quick tip from an article titled "Scale Stuck?", which appears in this month's edition of Self magazine. I'll be posting one of them a day for the next 10 days.

Hopefully these tips will help you figure out what's causing those pounds to stick around.

Quick Tip #9

Diet Flub: You have too many food options - When you're surrounded by a wide array of foods, your appetite will suddenly seem bigger. This isn't a scientific fact, of course, merely an astute observation. Don't agree? Think about the last time you ate at a buffet style restaurant. Did you eat more than you usually do? Probably. This same logic applies for your kitchen. If your refrigerator is stuffed to its limits with an assortment of foods (especially snack foods), you'll snack more than if you had fewer options from which to choose. According to the article in Self magazine, a study published in the journal Eating Behaviors validates this, stating that dieters who were allowed to eat whatever snack they wanted consumed more calories each week than those who were restricted to one type.

Fix It: Keep one splurge item in the house at a time. Whatever it is you crave the most, go for it -- but only it. For example, if your weakness happens to be Reese's peanut butter cups, avoid having potato chips, cookies, and brownies lying around, too. Chances are, you'll soon grow a bit tired of eating the peanut butter cups all the time, making you less likely to reach for them when you have an urge to nosh. Having other options, such as the aforementioned brownies and cookies, provide you with unhealthy alternatives. As for eating out, your best bet is to avoid buffets altogether, for the wide variety of food choices tend to lead to overindulgence.

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Even with the best of intentions, as well as an admirable amount of effort, the weight sometimes doesn't come off!! Try as you might to get the needle on that scale to budge even the slightest bit, sometimes it's just not having it. This is especially true for people who have already lost quite a bit of weight and are now trying to take off those last ten pounds or so.

To help you shed those stubborn extra pounds, here is a quick tip from an article titled "Scale Stuck?", which appears in this month's edition of Self magazine. I'll be posting one of them a day for the next 10 days.

Hopefully these tips will help you figure out what's causing those pounds to stick around.

Quick Tip #7

Diet Flub: Your wear your comfy clothes - What's wrong with wearing large, baggy clothing? Nothing if you're lounging around the house. Or doing anything else, for that matter. They're your clothes, you can wear whatever you want. BUT, if you're avoiding wearing clothes that fit snugly, you could be missing out on some very obvious clues. Like, oh I don't know, the pants that fit perfectly three months ago are now clinging to you like spandex, or how that favorite polo of yours now looks like a belly shirt. These are obvious signs that you've put on some pounds.

Fix It: Try putting on your jeans once a week. This will help you keep tabs on any sneaky bulge that may be forming around your midsection. The author of the article in Self magazine stridently suggests giving away your larger clothes once you no longer fit in them, helping to ensure that you will not gain the weight back again. You can also avoid wearing clothes that mask what you consider to be your flaws. Granted, nobody wants to flaunt what they may feel somewhat ashamed of, but this can also be used as a motivator to keep you on track. Case in point, I remember reading an article (not in Self, but in a different publication) about a man who felt as though his calf muscles were too small. For years, he would avoid wearing shorts to the gym, even when temperatures reached close to 90 degrees. He hid what he was ashamed of, until one day he decided that he was no longer going to conceal what he considered to be his problem area. From that point forward, he always wore shorts to the gym, knowing full well that people may notice his disproportionately small calves. Instead of allowing his insecurity to hold him back, he instead used it to fuel his workouts. Years later, he finally built his calves up to a point where he was actually proud of the way they looked, so much so that he considered them to be one of the best built parts of his body.

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Even with the best of intentions, as well as an admirable amount of effort, the weight sometimes doesn't come off!! Try as you might to get the needle on that scale to budge even the slightest bit, sometimes it's just not having it. This is especially true for people who have already lost quite a bit of weight and are now trying to take off those last ten pounds or so.

To help you shed those stubborn extra pounds, here is a quick tip from an article titled "Scale Stuck?", which appears in this month's edition of Self magazine. I'll be posting one of them a day for the next 10 days.

Hopefully these tips will help you figure out what's causing those pounds to stick around.

Quick Tip #5

Diet Flub: You're an email addict - This serves as a good example of how advances in technology sometimes cause us to be less physically active. Does this sound like you? You work in an office where most of the people with whom you regularly communicate (be it for work-related stuff or just idle chit-chat) are situated within shouting distance. But, since you can't yell over to them, you either send them an email or an instant message. The problem is, you only burn about 5 calories writing an email, whereas actually getting up and walking over to that person would burn eleven. This may seem insignificant, but multiply that difference of 6 calories by the number of times per week you send that email or IM, and you'll see how a simple stroll across the office can add up to some serious calorie burning.

Fix It: Add some movement to your day. In addition to taking that leisurely stroll over to your co-worker's desk, also try standing while talking on the phone, say the folks at Self magazine. Passing along a mere five messages, on foot, to a co-worker can burn as many as 100 calories per day. All said and done, that equals burning off roughly one pound per month!!

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Even with the best of intentions, as well as an admirable amount of effort, the weight sometimes doesn't come off!! Try as you might to get the needle on that scale to budge even the slightest bit, sometimes it's just not having it. This is especially true for people who have already lost quite a bit of weight and are now trying to take off those last ten pounds or so.

To help you shed those stubborn extra pounds, here is a quick tip from an article titled "Scale Stuck?", which appears in this month's edition of Self magazine. I'll be posting one of them a day for the next 10 days.

Hopefully these tips will help you figure out what's causing those pounds to stick around.

Quick Tip #4

Diet Flub: You never count calories - You're all about portion size, but you never, ever take calorie count into consideration. A four-inch piece of fudge is pretty small, right? I think you see where I'm going with this.

Fix It: Log your food intake. If you know how many calories you've already consumed, you'll be less apt to eat more calories than you should be. According to the article in Self magazine, a study from the University of Birmingham in England confirmed this. Researchers found that women who were asked to write down what they ate for lunch earlier in the day ate less treats later on than women who did not write down what they had eaten. You don't have to go crazy about counting calories (breaking out the scale at a restaurant and whatnot), but you should at least keep them in mind. Logging what you eat will help you do this.

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Even with the best of intentions, as well as an admirable amount of effort, the weight sometimes doesn't come off!! Try as you might to get the needle on that scale to budge even the slightest bit, sometimes it's just not having it. This is especially true for people who have already lost quite a bit of weight and are now trying to take off those last ten pounds or so.

To help you shed those stubborn extra pounds, here is a quick tip from an article titled "Scale Stuck?", which appears in this month's edition of Self magazine. I'll be posting one of them a day for the next 10 days.

Hopefully these tips will help you figure out what's causing those pounds to stick around.

Quick Tip #2

Diet Flub: You work late - Sure, your wallet may be getting fatter as a result of putting in a little O.T., but what's all that added stress and Chinese take-out doing to your waistline? According to the article in Self magazine, a study in the International Journal of Obesity reports that women who worked 40-plus hours a week were more likely to put on some pounds over the course of the year than women who cut out earlier.

Fix It: Take breaks. If you have no choice but to put in those extra hours at the office, take a few times throughout the day to do something that makes you feel good. Something relaxing. Chat with a co-worker, listen to a song, or take a stroll around the office. And most importantly, take some deep breaths. As for keeping your diet in check, plan ahead for long nights at work by preparing a healthy meal you can bring with you, rather than having to resort to ordering out.

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