10 Reasons You Might Not Be Losing Weight - Part 2

You're mistaking foods that you think are healthy for foods that are actually healthy. 
There are certain foods that have the reputation of being healthy, but often times are not helping to push you toward your weight loss goal. While fruit juice sounds healthy, many times it's not entirely 100 percent juice and contains sugar, too. Salads are healthy in theory, but with added ingredients like cheese, high-fat dressings, and croutons, they can turn into a high-calorie and high-fat meal. Make sure you check out the ingredients before you indulge in a "healthy" food.

Your diet is stressing you out.

Getting on a health kick can feel great and give you a huge boost of energy. But if your regimen is too strict and you're worrying about having time to get to the gym, preparing healthy meals, and not snacking, losing weight is going to be difficult. When you're stressed out, your body produces cortisol, which is the fight-or-flight hormone that increases fat storage. So even though you're working out and eating healthy, if you're too stressed out about your diet or schoolwork, losing weight will be difficult. "I can definitely feel it when I'm stressed out and my body doesn't feel exactly right," says Reagan. "When I'm that stressed, I don't feel well and I know I have to budget my time better or take a little break." Take a step back and evaluate your stress level and adjust your lifestyle accordingly.

You're not sleeping enough.

A lifestyle change is hard to adjust to, so if suddenly you need to fit in an extra hour of working out and an extra hour of preparing healthy meals, it's going to be difficult to still get to bed at a reasonable hour. Getting a good night of sleep is just as important when trying to lose weight as eating healthy and exercising are, so make sure that you're getting your recommended amount of shut eye. Just like being too stressed out, being sleep-deprived promotes the release of cortisol, so you could be retaining fat and not even realizing it.

You're skipping meals. 
While you may temporarily feel good about yourself when you didn't eat your typically huge breakfast, in the long run, skipping meals leads to eating more at other meals or snacking on unhealthy items throughout the day. "Many people who are dieting eat very lightly all day long and then end up binging late on at night," Levine says. "You are much more likely to eat ice cream, chips and cookies at 10pm than you are at 10am, so make sure to frontload your calories so that you don't set yourself up to binge later on at night." Instead of eating like a bird in the morning in hopes of jumpstarting your diet, strive for a filling and healthy breakfast with fruit, protein and fiber, like an egg with whole-wheat toast and an orange. 

You're not counting your liquids as calories.

 
Guzzling a can of coke or a sweetened iced tea seems like it's nothing in the calorie world because it's not solid, but it's important to include all of your beverages in your calorie count throughout the day. People tend to forget about drinks because they only satisfy thirst and not hunger. If you must drink soda, sweetened beverages, or alcohol during your diet, make sure to compensate for these calories by cutting out the same amount of calories in a meal. Or, to make things easier, swap out all drinks for water. This way, you'll stay hydrated and cut calories at the same time.

Sources:

Valerie Berkowitz, registered dietician and author of The Stubborn Fat Fix 
Alyse Levine, registered dietician and nutrition consultant for Livestrong.com

College women from around the country 

READ MORE...

10 Reasons You Might Not Be Losing Weight - Part 1

It's springtime, and with summer just around the corner, you've decided it's finally time to shed a few pounds and get into bikini body shape. You've started hitting the gym regularly, cutting back on your calories, and doing your best to limit your drinking and late-night eating.  Despite all of this, for some reason, you're just not losing the weight you were hoping for. So what gives? Read on to find out the top ten mistakes you might be making when it comes to losing weight, and how you can stop making them. 

You're relying too much on numbers.

 
Sure, the scale seems like the perfect place to start looking when you're hoping to peel off the pounds. On the contrary, however, the scale isn't always an accurate representation of how much weight you've lost. It's important to keep in mind that muscle does weigh more than fat, so if you shed some of the fat but have built muscle in the process, that success won't reflect on the scale. "The scale can devastate the most committed people into thinking they cannot lose weight," says Valerie Berkowitz, a registered dietician and author of The Stubborn Fat Fix. "I've had clients lose three dress sizes but are ready to quit eating healthy because the scale has not budged." Water weight can also affect the results on the scale, so make sure you go to the bathroom before weighing yourself.

 
You're not watching your food intake.

While cutting down calories when dieting is important, it's also important to watch what you're putting into your body. Counting calories that you can consume a day will definitely aid in your weight loss, but it's typically more important to cut out refined sugar and refined carbohydrates in order to get your body moving in a healthy direction. Your body will process these refined foods quickly, so even if you've had a full meal, before you know it, you'll be hungry again and tempted to snack. "When I was in high school and tried to lose a couple pounds, I didn't know that much about dieting, so I thought that just eating less would make me lose weight," says Tabitha, a junior at Southern New Hampshire University. "I was eating white bread and sugary snacks, and I would feel hungry again about a half hour after eating. Instead of the bad carbohydrates, opt for whole grains, Berkowitz says, to keep yourself satisfied for longer and more likely to resist snacking. 

You're not eating enough. 
Sure, drastically reducing your food intake seems like a quick fix to rid yourself of that extra flab you've acquired recently. But while strategies like this will work in the short term, in the long term, they are ineffective for losing weight (not to mention seriously dangerous), says Alyse Levine, registered dietician and the nutrition consultant for Livestrong.com. When you don't feed your body enough, your metabolism slows because your body is trying to adapt to the low food intake. You could end up losing muscle, Levine says, and when you finally do start eating a normal amount again, you'll gain weight back quicker. While it's different for everyone, Levine recommends about a 1200 calorie per day minimum for most women. 
 
You're focusing too much on low fat and non-fat. 
Low fat doesn't always mean the food is good for you, and foods that claim to be low fat typically contain other ingredients to counteract the fat. One of the most common hidden ingredient in low-fat foods is high fructose corn syrup, and while that doesn't add to the fat content, it makes the sugar content go through the roof, which equals lots more calories. "These foods are often times not healthy and are not always low in calories or satiating so you end up eating a lot of them," Levine says. "Even more, they are usually just a source of empty calories with no nutritional value." Make sure you read the ingredients and nutrition label before eating any low or non-fat foods.

You're cutting out fat completely.

 
While too much fat is certainly a bad thing, cutting out fat completely won't help you lose weight. A certain amount of fat is important to have in your diet, and when you cut it out completely, it can leave you still feeling hungry. "Cutting out bad fats can help, but eating healthy fats, like fish, olive oil and coconut can help keep you full and avoid a snack attack." Avoid proceed foods and fats and stick to the healthy fats instead. "I usually stick to a few whole grains and lots of fruits and vegetables during the day," says Reagan, a sophomore at Trinity College. "Then, to fill me up for the night, I'll have salmon or a salad with healthy fats like avocado." 

READ MORE...

10 Ways to Speed Up Your Metabolism - Part 2

6. Stay in your lane: don't crash diet

Most of us are familiar with the South Beach Diet, the Zone Diet, the Cookie Diet, and the Fit-Into-a-Dress-That's-Two-Sizes-Too-Small-by-Saturday Diet. While it may seem intrepid to try each food-fad that comes out, leap-frogging from diet to diet is actually more harmful than helpful.

Fitness is the sum of your nutrition history, and as Ansel explains, "Crash dieting can decrease your metabolism over time." Make sure to start off your day with a good breakfast and don't rely on get-fit-quick schemes or diet pills that can throw your system out of whack. For one healthy and delicious diet, try SELF's Jumpstart Diet.

7. Don't skip out on meals, but don't stockpile them, either

 

Tips on when, what, and how much to eat can be frustratingly variable, but err on the side of consistency. Research by Penn State University, warns that not eating enough can cause the body to enter starvation mode, which slows down metabolism; while on the flipside, Ansel explains that eating too frequently can lead to weight gain.

Ansel and physical trainer, Jumoke Solar, both agree that eating small meals throughout the day with a snack or two in between is just right. "Advice that you need to eat frequently to boost your metabolism has been greatly exaggerated," Karen asserts. "Most people will do fine with three meals and one small (150 calorie) snack a day."

8. Get some extra R&R

Staying up late is practically an unwritten rule in the land of higher education. Whether you pull an all-nighter after staying up late to study, or hit the sack in the early hours of the morning after spending time with friends, you're probably not getting as much sleep as you should. The thing is, missing out on sleep can have greater implications than just grogginess or being cranky.

A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that dieters who snoozed for 5.5 hours a night for two weeks lost the same amount of weight as when they slept for 8.5 hours—but went on to discover that more muscle mass was lost in the 5.5-hour trials. Since muscle is crucial for losing weight and maintaining a healthy metabolism, staying up until the crack of dawn might be undoing your fitness efforts.

9. Get up and go

Jumoke Solar, MS, CPT and Group Exercise Instructor tells her clients to perform some form of exercise on most days—usually five times a week for 30-60 minutes. Getting extra exercise doesn't mean running a 5K marathon: taking a bike ride through the park on a lovely Saturday afternoon and leaving your car back on campus is healthy and fun. If you're in the gym, mix things up instead of sticking to your status quo. Interval training (speeding up and then slowing down) is a good way to surprise your muscles and keep them working hard.

10. Boys will be boys: don't compare yourself to them

It's an old story with a bitter end: your guy friend or brother eats whatever he wants with fewer negative results or embarks on the same fitness regimen as you but has more rapid, noticeable results. Instead of getting frustrated or thinking that you're doing something wrong, remember that men and women are built differently. "Men have faster metabolisms for two reasons," says Karen. "One: they weigh more and two: they have more muscle mass."

Since more muscle equals a speedier metabolism, men are generally pre-wired to have a metabolic rate that differs from that of women—but that's no reason to despair! Stop looking over your shoulder at everyone else at the gym and remember that your body is unique, even if your workout isn't. "I don't think there are any particular exercises that a woman should try," says Jumoke. "The most important thing is that you are safe and consistent." 
 

Sources

U.S. News & World Report, "Sleep Loss Undercuts Weight Loss Efforts" [http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/sleep/articles/2010/10/05/health-buzz-sleep-loss-undercuts-weight-loss-efforts-study-says]

Web M.D., "Make the Most of Your Metabolism" [http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/make-most-your-metabolism?page=3]; "Drinking Water May Speed Weight Loss" [http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20040105/drinking-water-may-speed-weight-loss]

Yoshioka, M. et al., Effects of red pepper added to high-fat and high-carbohydrate meals on energy metabolism and substrate utilization in Japanese women (1998) British Journal of Nutrition 80, 503-510

http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/increase-your-metabolism-start-losing-fat?page=3

Martha Tillman, Director of the South Forty Fitness Center, Washington University in St. Louis

Jumoke Solar, MS, CPT, Group Exercise Instructor, Health & Wellness Presenter

Karen Ansel, MS, RD, CDN; American Dietetic Association Spokesperson, Contributing Editor for Woman's Day Magazine

Photo Sources

Bike.jpg, [http://thenewsouthwest.com/2011/st-gregory-middle-school-students-learn-bike-skills-love-of-riding/]

READ MORE...

10 Ways to Speed Up Your Metabolism - Part 1

Let's face it. Many of us have fallen off of the fitness wagon. Studying, hanging out, and just not being in the mood to get out and exercise, often get in the way of staying in shape. If you're hoping to get back into fighting form for the summer but are finding yourself at a loss when it comes to seeing results, Her Campus has 10 tips for boosting your metabolism. 

We've spoken to health experts in the fields of exercise and nutrition who've dispelled myths about metabolism and have advice on what you can do to boost what you've got.

1. Pump iron

According to Martha Tillman, director of the South Forty Fitness Center at Washington University in St. Louis, and Jumoke Solar, personal trainer and health and wellness presenter, strength training is an excellent way to boost your metabolism. "One pound of muscle burns 5-14 calories a day," says Jumoke. "And your metabolism will burn an extra 25-70 calories a day."

Since muscle burns more calories than fat, focus on building muscle rather than just blasting calories. Don't shy away from the weight rooms on campus just because they're often filled with hulking, grunting, amateur body builders.

2. Spice up your life

 

Since a new food is constantly touted as having magical nutritive powers, you might be a little skeptical about what really works. However, Karen Ansel, MS, RD, CDN and American Dietetic Association Spokesperson notes that there are, in fact, bitter and spicy metabolism-boosting options out there. Ansel mentions that green tea extract and capsaicin in chilies and red pepper have been shown to moderately increase metabolism.

Some studies, such as one published in the British Journal of Nutrition and another in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, noted that adding red pepper to meals boosted metabolism by as much as 20% for about 30 minutes. Since the body expended extra energy cooling itself down, the effect was a noticeable (though short-lived), solution.

3. Chow down on more protein

Ever wonder why protein shakes seem to be popular food staples among bodybuilders? According to Ansel, it's because eating protein may increase metabolism by helping to build muscle. Unlike carbs, protein increases muscle mass, which helps to boost metabolism in conjunction with a strength training routine. Additionally, in an interview with Web M.D., another registered dietitian, Molly Kimball, reported that protein is helpful because it "generally requires about 25% more energy to digest."

Since the body works harder to digest protein than it does other sorts of foods, meals or snacks that are high in protein are often good alternatives to snacks that are only high in calories or carbohydrates. Some high-protein foods include hard-boiled eggs, slices of apples with a two-tablespoon portion of peanut butter, or a handful of almonds.

4. Don't skimp on the fish

Researchers from the University of Western Ontario noted that omega-3 fatty acids found in fish (and flaxseed) oil boosted metabolism by "[decreasing] levels of fat-storage enzymes" in the body.

If you have trouble finding good, fresh fish in your school cafeteria, try looking up a tasty recipe online and preparing your own. Grilled or sautéed fish isn't difficult to prepare (and this is coming from a cooking novice!), and eating more of it might help jumpstart your body's metabolism.

5. Keep a water bottle handy

The "8x8 rule" (8 eight-ounce glasses of water a day) is as popular as the apple-a-day saying, but it's not just talk. In two separate studies, German scientists at the Franz-Volhard Clinical Research Center in Berlin, discovered that drinking 6 to 7 cups of water a day increased metabolic rate by 30% in both men and women, for 30-40 minutes.

While Leslie Bonci, a spokesperson from the American Dietetic Association was quick to clarify that drinking water does not "flush fat" out of the system, the results of the German study noted that "up to 40% of the increase in calorie burning is caused by the body's attempt to heat the ingested water." So if you're a fan of coffee, soda, juice, or tea, make sure to include water in the rotation and keep a water bottle in your purse at all times.

READ MORE...

Your Complete 'Down-There' Grooming Guide - Part 3

Do's & Don'ts of Bikini Waxing:

DO wait until your hair is ¼" long before making an appointment or heating up your own wax kit. This way, the wax has more of the follicle to attach itself to, providing a cleaner removal.

DON'T tan before or after waxing,

DO stick to cotton underwear afterwards. Allowing the area to 'breathe' after a wax will greatly diminish the chance for irritation afterwards.

 

Photo courtesy of thirdage.com

Tweezing

Personally, kudos to anyone that can manually pluck each and every hair they want removed, one at a time. This is not recommended for anything other than the few hairs that remain after a wax or shave. Attempting to do more than that will bring about bleeding, bruising, and possible scarring. Always be sure to sanitize the tweezers in between each use and remember not

to tug at hairs, but pull at the root of the follicle.

 

 

Laser Hair Removal

While many believe laser hair removal is a permanent solution to eliminating pubic hair—it's not! And with that said, at roughly $500 per treatment, it's not exactly the most cost-effective method out there. Here's how it works: after the light from the laser wand reaches the target hair, destroying the me

lanin within the follicle, approximately a week and a half later said hair begins to shed. I've never actually tested this method but 20-year-old Chelsea, from The College of New Jersey, relates the process as convenient if the funds are there. She does confess, however, that she was at first surprised at the numerous restrictions necessary before and after the treatment: no suntan/sunburn four weeks prior, no waxing/tweezing two weeks pri

or, and no bleaching before or after. When it comes to the bikini region, laser hair removal typically takes 4-5 sessions to eliminate the hair from the region.

Photo courtesy of removal-hair-laser.com

 

Electrolysis

• American Electrology Association member and certified professional electrologist, Jeannie M. Bush [link Jeannie M. Bush to www.AmenityElectrolysis.com] explains, "Electrolysis works on all colors of hair, all colors of skin, and all skin types."
• During electrolysis, a thin metal probe slides into the hair follicle, administering electricity to the area that generates the hair.
• Due to the permanent nature of this procedure, one must truly be sure about removing the hair.   More expensive than laser hair removal, electrolysis ranges from $900 to $1700, depending on the number of sessions that will be required.
• As the "only method of permanent hair removal, per the FDA," Bush stresses the importance in choosing a qualified, licensed, and certified electrologist. She believes that when choosing services for grooming the pubic area, it is imperative to look for credentials of the provider. In addition he/she should educate the consumer about the risks and benefits of pubic hair removal.

Photo courtesy of hairremovalsystems101.com]

So here they are:

Pros: To prevent infection, Bush "wears gloves, uses pre-sterilized, pre-packaged probes, and a sterile tweezer." Electrologists are capable of working with the personal needs of each client in order to avoid infection and ingrown hairs.

Cons: While electrolysis is the only method considered permanent by the FDA, there is a small risk for hair re-growth due to hormonal changes that can't be accounted for at the time of the procedure. Also, electrolysis is not guaranteed to be painless for all patients. While some do not respond to treatment, is it worth the $1200?

Trimming with scissors

The most inexpensive method to groom your lady bits, simply tackling the issue with a pair of scissors for a quick trim is easy! In fact, this should be done before any at-home hair removal process. One should always be careful when trimming, going slowly and even utilizing a mirror. When it comes to what kind of scissors, it's best to invest in a small pair that you can find at any local drug store.

From One Woman to Another: How to Deal with Ingrown Hairs:

• Becky Sturm, CEO/Founder of StormSister Spatique: "Waxing lessens ingrowns more than shaving. Wear panties that don't have tight elastic around the legs. A tight elastic band encourages ingrowns by keeping the hair from emerging from the skin. Using a sisal bikini brush (which improves circulation and energy) to exfoliate a couple times a week helps remedy, as does a cream called, Finipil." The brush retails for around $11.00 and the Finipil for roughly $15.00 depending on the size of the container.
• Becca Bijoch, Lola Red PR: "Exfoliate after the wax to prevent ingrown hairs. Also invest in an ingrown hair serum that will keep the area smooth and bump-free." One hair serum that's been recommended by friends and Gisele Bundchen is Princereigns product, which you can find at local pharmacies for $30.00.
• Maddie Edgerton, on Res-Q Advance Ingrown Hair Treatment Pads from Satin Smooth: "It treats ingrown hairs, razor burns and bumps (all of those embarrassing skin irritations) due to waxing, electrolysis, lasers, and shaving. This can be used up for 24 hours after hair removal so you can still have a carefree summer and not have to worry about skin irritation. It's amazing; it literally comes to the rescue and revives skin's natural beauty after hair removal." For only $14.99, it's an affordable preventative.
• The Her Campus Team weighs in on down their grooming habits. 87 team members were surveyed and asked to check which grooming option(s) they used.

 
 

The Her Campus Team shared their preferences, now it's your turn! Leave a comment below on your favorite grooming option and any tips for your fellow collegiettes™.

READ MORE...