That's Fit Club is our feature devoted to you, the reader. We have all learned so much on our paths to becoming more fit, and now it's time to learn from and inspire each other. That's Fit Club members are constantly working to better themselves. Some are perfect; some are not. But all have health on the mind.

Besides showing you off, we want to reward you for all of your hard work! Adidas is giving gorgeous gym bags to each featured member. To join, please send Fitz your answers to these questions, with a photo of yourself. Time for you to be the motivator!

Name: Mark Allen Church

Age: 42

Occupation: IT Project Manager

How often do you exercise? Most of the time, I train four times a week.

What type of exercise do you do? Cardio and weights twice a week. I also play racquetball and mountain hike once each week.

What gets you to work out, even when you're feeling lazy? Knowing I can avoid the energy drop that comes from missing exercise.

Source

A crash diet at age 19 left Richard Simmons bald, says the fitness guru. Which is, in essence, why he has such crazy, curly hair today. Sound strange? It is.

Simmons said he had 4,000 hair follicles transplanted after his unfortunate hair loss 41 years ago. The result? That massive head of hair he has today.

Simmons' story comes up as part of a larger story featured in USA Today about hair transplants that require the transplantation of only 120 follicles, and not the current standard of 2,000. Hair regeneration therapy is the name of this hairy breakthrough, and Intercytex is the company trying to market it. Studies show 11 of 19 men who have tried the procedure have successfully grown hair six months after treatment.

Source

You might think strapping a tight seat belt over a growing pregnant belly can harm an unborn baby. But not buckling up is what harms fetuses, says a newly-released University of Michigan study concluding that pregnant women who wear seat belts significantly reduce the risk that their babies will die or be seriously hurt in a vehicle crash.

Study findings, published on Wednesday, reveal that the lives of 200 of the roughly 370 fetuses killed each year in U.S. vehicle crashes would be spared if all pregnant women wore seat belts.

"Seat belts absolutely protect the fetus -- and not wearing a belt is a big problem," says study lead Dr. Mark Pearlman. "Every single time they get in a motor vehicle, pregnant women should wear their seat belts without question -- every single time."

It's simple: Seat belts protect moms. And they protect babies, says Pearlman who offers these tips for proper pregnant buckling.

• The lap strap should be placed under the belly as much as possible, across the hips.
  
  

• The shoulder strap should be placed between the breasts, to the side of the belly.
  
  

• Seat belt straps should not go directly across the stomach but should be below the belly button as low they can comfortably go.
  
  

• The seat belt should be snug, not loose.
  
  

Pearlman's study also showed no evidence that air bags are harmful to fetuses. He therefore does not recommend disabling them.

Source

How was your Easter? Mine was good ... but not for my waistline. To say I was surrounded by sugar would be putting it lightly. I was practically drowning in it.

But while I can't change the fact that I probably ate my weigh in Mini-Eggs, I can change what I do in the weeks following the sugar binge. I need rehab -- sugar rehab. Noshtopia recently posted a five-step plan to getting back on track after sugar overload:

• Flush out your system by drinking lots of water
• Eat lots of fresh veggies and a few servings of fruit too.
  
• Have a little bit of protein every two hours.
  
• Do some sort of vigorous activity for at least 1/2 an hour a day.
  
• And for the love of pete, get rid of the sugar in the house. Going cold turkey is the best way to break the habit.

This is good advice any time of the year, but especially after a sugar craze.

Source

Thandie Newton, the actress who has appeared in Crash, Mission Impossible II, ER and many other productions, has admitted that she battled bulimia in her younger years. Newton, now 34, says her troubles began when she was 14 and training for Ballet Exams. She would eat nothing but cottage cheese, and claims this wouldn't raise suspicion in her family because her mother was in the healthcare industry and only kept healthy food in the house anyway. As she get older, abusive and personally shameful relationships further perpetuated her disorder, and she became obsessed with her weight. And she still has scars on her knuckles from making herself throw up to prove it.

Pictures of Newton over the past few years have depicted a frighteningly-thin woman, but I think she's appeared healthier over the past few years. What do you think?

Source