That's Fit

Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answer. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose two per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Hey Fitz. Yesterday I did two classes in a row - Cardio sculpt and Extreme training, which are both really tough. Two days before that I ran three miles to the gym, did a class and ran three miles home. For the first time in a long time I did not enjoy the exercise one bit. I have been exercising regularly for a long time now - usually I love it. I have been practicing good nutrition habits with the occasional sweet tooth fix, drinking lots of water and STILL the number on the scale is staying the same. I feel like I am on the verge of burning out. I can't seem to lose the flab around my tummy - particularly under my belly button and backs of my thighs, no matter what I do. Plus, short of starving myself and getting very cranky, I don't know how to actually lose the weight. Funny how a number on a machine, the scale, can be so vital to my state of mind. It's ridiculous, really. PLEASE - do you have any advice? Cindy

A. Whoa there Cindy! You need a break! Sounds odd for me to say this, but put your sneakers away and sit the heck down! Fitness is not supposed to make us insane, fitness is supposed to help us maintain our sanity. You are burnt out to the max, and need to just let it go for a while. I'm not suggesting forever, but take at least a week off. I know what you're going through. You already have an elite fitness level, but particular parts of your body are just not responding the way you want them to. You have incredibly high standards for your body. That often leads to frustration. Especially when you're 'starving' and running a million miles a week!

An easy way to lose weight is to include more fruits and vegetables in your diet. Produce is famous for jamming massive amounts of vitamins, nutrients and fiber into very few calories. With most produce, you can consume lots of food for a very low caloric price. More bang for your buck that is!

I ask my personal training clients to try to include at least five meals per week consisting of pure produce. No meat. No grains. Most folks eat at least 21 meals per week, so this five meal plan doesn't deter anyone from getting enough protein. What it does do though, is get them to try new fruits and learn new ways to turn veggies into a meal.

Another benefit to this effort is that by keeping a few meals to just produce, you will more than likely be cutting quite a bit of calories out of the day. Over time, the more you rely on fruits and vegetables for snacks and meals, the more likely you'll be to achieve and maintain your ideal weight.

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.

Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answer. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose two per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Dear Fitz, I want to take one of the BOSU classes at my gym, but I've never done it before and I'll feel like a total dork if I bust my butt on one of those things. Plus I'm a guy. Mostly girls take those classes. Should I bother? Eric.

A. Ahhh! Eric, you are too cute. First of all. The BOSU is a balance tool and is designed to make people wobbly. Until that is, they earn the strength and control to not only stand on top of it, but do some tricks too. Second. You can stand in the back of the classroom if you don't want to be a spectacle. Third. Most people in a BOSU class are too concerned with their own balance to have the time and ability to look at what anyone else is doing.

I just finished reading a feature on Kelly Ripa in Fitness magazine. The focus of the article is on Kelly's new fit body and her favorite workouts. But of course, when it comes to Ripa, we can always expect the unexpected.

Kelly says she wears jeans that are very tight in the butt, because they give her some extra lift. She wants her jeans to smoosh her cheeks together and raise em up. I've never actually thought about jeans that way, but the idea has the capacity to make sense.

Just be careful when you're trying on denim that the jeans squish you up, and don't smoosh you down. Flat fannies are not so hot!

Jeans: one of the most popular clothing items (if not the most popular) in our society today. So it only makes sense to tailor a workout to help you look your absolute best in them. And of course, what helps you look your best in your jeans will help you look your best in everything else too. Nice how that works!

This workout includes toning moves and stretches, along with some recommended cardio to burn off that jiggle. Plus my favorite things to do, which I need to get back into, are lunges. For me they're a really fast and effective way to tighten up that whole area. Other ideas?

Imagine this. You're working at a job that's pretty tough but you're working for a cause that you believe in. You have a boss that's pretty tough on you, and you figure that if you work harder, your boss is sure to notice and let you know that she is impressed. But no matter how hard you work, she never offers you any sort of bonus, or even a word of praise. In fact, she berates you more for not working even harder. Eventually, the lack of recognition gets to you and you have to quit for your own sanity.

Now apply this scenario to dieting. Both the employee and the boss are you. When you work hard at anything, you need some kind of reward to keep going. You need motivation, something to make it all worthwhile. Otherwise you're doomed.

When you're trying to lose weight, it's probably best if you don't reward yourself with a giant slice of double chocolate caramel cake. But how about something calorie-free? Like a manicure? Or a massage? Or a great pair of shoes? Or if you've done really well, an expensive pair of designer jeans that make your new butt look great? You deserve it, you know.

Check here for more inspiration.

I don't know about you but for me, jeans are probably the most prominent part of my wardrobe. I wear them all the time and have probably 25 pairs, though I tend to rotate between my 5 favourites, namely the ones that hug my hips in the right places and make me look my best. We all have a pair or two of jeans that do this, and if you don't, you should.

Good news: you can find jeans that are specifically designed to tuck your tummy, lift your butt and emphasize your curves in all the right places. Plus, you can wear a size lower than normal with them. The person reviewing them says they're comfortable, and though I have never tried them myself, with lycra in the fabric they sound like they definitetly would be.

So what do you think? Have you tried them? If not will you?

What could be more hip and fit than makers one of the most popular names in denim bringing 100% organic cotton jeans to their product line this fall? Well, I'd have to answer: the makers of a notorious denim brand bringing the organic fabric along with recycled buttons, rivets, zippers and natural indigo used to dye some jean styles.

If the rumors are true -- and it looks like they are -- you'll be able to nab a pair of "Levi's Eco" this November at Levi's U.S. stores. This U.S. intro will be apart of a global launch of products made with 100% organic cotton. Beyond the actual jeans, all external packaging is going to be made from either organic fabric or recycled paper and printed with soy-based ink.

Sounds pretty hip-tree-hugging-fit-friendly to me even though I haven't owned a pair of Levi's since I was a kid. My only question now is whether or not they'll be offering them in a forest green or sea-green wash?

via TreeHugger