When you walk into an Italian restaurant, here is what you need to know.

The first thing you need to watch out for is the tremendous portions they tend to give so be AWARE of this.

Also, sauces and side dishes can ruin a completely healthy entree selection so it’s really important that before you “shoot the sh*t” with your friends and family that you focus on what you are going to order. Once that’s over, then you can relax, get distracted, enjoy good conversation, good food and let your hair down.

By the way, as I’m writing this fox 5 (I have it on in the backround) just said that portion sizes in  restaurants are typically 2-3 times what they should be.

That’s God awful not to mention that we are usually eating are biggest meal in the evening – another obstacle to overcome. Ok – done with that mini-rant…moving on…

Plan of Attack

Bread: Avoid at all costs…Ask you waiter to not bring it to the table or ask for some grilled veggies to start instead.

Appetizer: Salad with balsamic  dressing on the side (dip your fork in it – saves calories) or split an anti-pasto salad with a friend – it’s loaded with protein or even a vegetable antipasto! A cup of Minestrone soup is another good starter (if ya need a starter)

Entree: Always eat half – share it with a friend and save calories and $$$.You can also ask your waiter from the get-go to bring out half and wrap up the other half so you are not tempted – this is key!

Dessert/Coffee: Don’t need it – it’s habit…go for seasonal fruit or decaf tea with lemon (lemon is great for the skin by the way)

Drink/Alcohol: Nurse ONE drink if you must. Wine is preferred here. If you really do like your drink and are bored with wine or just wanna save calories but want something different, go to amazon.com and buy the book Skinny Bitch - they have some really cool recipes for low-cal alcohol choices.

Order This

Chicken Cacciatore – Chicken breast sauteed in a white wine sauce with onions, tomatoes and marinara sauce (red sauce is much better then white)

Chicken Marsala – chicken breast in a brown sauce with mushrooms. (love it)

Shrimp Paradiso – Shrimp and asparagus in a white white sauce with lemon, tomatoes and saffron.

Chicken Toscana – Chicken in a white wine sauce with roasted red peppers, fontina cheese and asparagus.

Forget This

Pasta – Try hard to avoid pasta in the evening cuz we really don’t need all the carbs and it’s super easy to overeat or slurp down 500 calories of a side dish of pasta (trust me – I’ve done this plenty of times)

Pizza – hands up if you think processed carbs, loads of sodium and saturated fat is gonna get you an awesome figure and picture perfect health…anyone? anyone? Bueller? Bueller? If you must, split the pizza with a friend and ask for little or no cheese and light on the oil. Veggie pizza with grilled chicken is a much better choice.

Family Style – order your own individual menu – it’s better to stick with that than having a melting pot of different kinds of food on your plate. You’re more likely to control portions and eventually lose your desire to eat if ya stick with one thing as opposed to a million different flavors.

Lasagna, Fettuccine Alfredo, Linguine with Italian Sausage – The 3 WORST choices…

I really want your feedback on this one. What are some of your favorite healthy Italian dishes? Also, what are some of your biggest obstacles when you eat Italian. Leave a comment below cuz I want to know.

Check out our fitness solution that will get you the toned body you want here

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) has been proven to be more effective at burning fat than steady state cardio. This is simply a FACT…

Now I am not saying never to do some light cardio. I mean, we do light steady state cardio as well as short 30 second bursts of higher intensity cardio training at boot camp and I actually just got back from a 25 minute light jog outside cuz the weather was just so nice and I just did my HIIT training yesterday.

I’m just saying that to totally be and feel fit, you don’t wanna be able to sprint but be unable to jog for 20 minutes or vice-versa right? You wanna feel like you can do it all..at least I do.

Variety is not only the spice of life but it’s great when you are trying to lose fat and tone up cuz the body is always doing something different.

Moving to my point…

I think people still don’t understand the importance of high intensity interval cardio so before I give you my 10 minute cardio solution that you do just about anywhere, I want to turn your attention to the animal kingdom

Look How Lean That Cheetah Is!

By Lean I mean – low levels of body fat and totally toned and sculpted right?

Look How Lean That Horse Is – Super defined!

These 2 pictures are reminders that the leanest animals on the planet are the ones that can sprint very fast for short periods of time and the same hold true for people – the folks with the lowest levels of body fat incorporate some form of HIIT during the week as well as resistance training.

Here’s the good news…

Sure HIIT is hard but it takes a lot less time (a real big excuse for most of us including me) and the results you can achieve make it super worth it..

My 10 minute Animal Kingdom Cardio Routine

*** This can be done during your 10 minute office break, in the morning before breakfast, on an elliptical or bike in your home or simply on the street  or in a park (flat or up a hill).

Round 1: 30 second run at 25% all out effort / 30 seconds recover (walk)

Round 2: 30 second run at 50% all out effort / 30 seconds recover (walk)

Round 3: 30 second run at 75% all out effort / 30 seconds recover (walk)

Round 4: 30 second run at 100% all out effort / 30 seconds recover (walk)

Round 5: 30 second run at 100% all out effort / 30 seconds recover (walk)

Round 6: 30 second run at 100% all out effort / 30 seconds recover (walk)

Round 7: 30 second run at 100% all out effort / 30 seconds recover (walk)

Round 8: 30 second run at 75% all out effort / 30 seconds recover (walk)

Round 9: 30 second run at 50% all out effort / 30 seconds recover (walk)

Round 10: 30 second run at 25% all out effort / 30 seconds recover (walk)

Hope ya liked that blog post…and feel free to click the “like button” or leave a comment below

I’m very curious how I can serve you better, provide useful content, create more value for you and ultimately lead you to your best body ever so do me a big favor…

In the comments section below, I want you to ask me your most pressing FITNESS and NUTRITION /DIET questions.

I’m gonna answer every one of them by either replying directly to you or putting your concern/question/comment on our “project list”.

Whether you are a member of Fit Figure Boot Camp or you just enjoy this blog, I still wanna hear from you ok and 1 more thing…

So go ahead with any fitness or nutrition questions you got by leaving a comment here on this blog which will help others.

Ya wanna search for foods that contain the “healthy” fats also known as the monounsaturated fats. This type of dietary fat helps burn off body fat. NICE!

Eat Avocados

This fruit will help keep fat off the midsection. Add to salads, use as spreads on sandwiches or have on the side of your grilled chicken burrito.

Grab Dark Chocolate

Look for 60-70% cacao in the ingredients for maximum benefits. It’s a little bitter but I like it – just a warning. Just remember to observe portion control and be smart.

Snack on almonds

Proven in studies to burn fat around the middle. Have a handful as one of your 2-3 snacks a day. These are super easy to carry around and one of my favorite snacks to munch on when I’m on-the-go…

Cool Belly Exercise – The Russian Twist

Sit so your body forms a “V” shape, with lower legs crossed and lifted (heels on floor if you’re  a beginner). Hold a medicine ball or dumbbell between both hands. Move left and right touching ball to each side of the floor while maintaining that V shape. 15-20 reps on each side will do it!

If ya liked this blog post, click the little “Like Button” on the top or bottom of this article. Your friends will thank ya…it looks like this

Searching for a fitness boot camp in Scarsdale? >>> Click Here Now

One of the most commonly asked questions I get is…

“How do I add more shape to my tush?”

If you have a tush that is flat or you have a booty that needs shape and tone then…

Make sure add a few of these exercises to your weekly workout routine and within a few weeks you should see a dramatic change…

One quick note:

Cardio burns fat but it’s not going to get you a shapely, tight and toned tush so add these to your arsenal…

And if you’re in our boot camp, this is a gentle reminder how good these are!

Booty Building Exercise #1 – Dumbbell Squats

Place your feet wider than shoulder-width apart and turn toes slightly out. Hold a dumbbell in each hand or one heavier one in both hands and. Inhale as you squat down (leading with your tush) and keep your core tight and your chin slightly up. Exhale as your press up through your heels and return to a standing position…(if ya really wanna feel it and keep the tension on the legs, only come up 80% of the way up). Do 15-20 reps or count for time for 30-60 seconds.

Booty Building Exercise #2 – Dumbbell Reverse Lunge

Stand with feet together and a dumbbell in each hand at your sides. Inhale as you lunge backward with 1 leg. Exhale as you push off with your lunging heel and return to the starting position. Do 12-15 reps or 30 seconds on each side.

Booty Building Exercise #3 – Step Up Lunges

This is the same as number #2 except you are stepping up on a chair or box or bench. This one really gets the tush big time.

So what’s your favorite booty building exercise? Leave a comment…I gotta know…

The definition of “creative visualization” is defined as: the practice of seeking to affect the outer world via changing one’s thoughts.

In other words, go there in the MIND and you will go there in the BODY.

In the most well known study on creative visualization, Russian scientists compared 4 groups of Olympic athletes in terms of their training schedules.

Group 1 was 100% physical training

Group 2 was 75% physical and 25% mental

Group 3 was 50/50

Group 4 was only 25% physical but 75% mental training, in other words they were visualizing finishing the race of lifting the weight mostly in their minds. This was how they “trained”.

Can you guess which group performed the best?

Group 4! The group that trained mostly in their minds. The Russians discovered that MENTAL images can act as a prelude to muscular impulses.

The power of the human mind!

Be Aware Of Your Thoughts – They Are Like Waves

For those who know me well…there’s a joke where people say, “Mitch, are you there?” – that’s because I spend a great deal of my waking hours in what can be described as hyper-focused thought – basically I’m a day dreamer…and I think that’s a good thing except when driving.

I pay careful attention to my thoughts cuz I know what you think about you bring about.

I pay careful attention to life’s subtle signs so I stay on my path and I want you to do the same when it comes to your body, your weight loss and your health…

Try This Awesome Visualization Technique Right Now

Close your eyes now and for just 2 minutes everyday for the next week. I suggest after today you do this within the first 30 minutes of waking while you are calm and the world hasn’t started bugging you yet. I did my visualization technique for creating Fit Figure Boot Camp for 2 minutes while sitting down in the shower everyday for 9 months – maybe TMI….but we move on….

The point is to visual in detail how you wanna look. By that I mean your dream body. I want to focus on that picture of yourself for the entire 2 minutes.

Can you see yourself in the skinny jeans?

Can you see yourself eating all sorts of good fooods?

Can you see your refrigerator loaded like a Trader Joe’s?

Can you feel the hand on your shoulder of your friend who is complimenting you on how awesome you look?

If you’re like me, chances are it’s gonna be hard to stay with that POSITIVE thought and those positive images for more than 20 seconds. Your mind will wonder to other thoughts, your mind will make excuses why you aren’t feeling as good as you should, you may even have a thought where you are explaining to your friend why you’ve been cheating on your diet.

It’s amazing once we get quiet, how much we notice our mind racing with crazy thoughts – some that even sabotage our dreams…

I’ll SEE it when I BELIEVE it…(not the other way around)

Visualization Has Changed My Life In Many Ways… Any Techniques That Have Worked For You?

Leave a Comment Below – I read all of them.

you don’t want to diet, you don’t want to eat foods you hate and you certainly don’t wanna think too hard about food every single day like 4-6 times a day.

But, like me, I’m sure you want to choose foods or WAYS of eating that are gonna help you lose fat, drop weight, get you lean and have tons of energy.

I have a little secret I wanna share with you and when I experimented with this 2 years ago, this is ALL I did and I lost 11 pounds in 5 weeks. It was sooooooooo easy!

All I did was choose low glycemic indexed carbs for dinner…

That’s it…so all I need ya to do is give you a super-quick refresher on the glycemic index and you should drop 1-2 pounds a week…

Long story short, the glycemic index measures how FAST or SLOW a particular food raises your blood sugar levels

You want to choose carbs that are LOW on the GI Index because these foods release energy slow and steady giving you constant and sustained energy.

Those high GI foods gives you a huge burst of energy by raising your blood sugar levels up super high but it  doesn’t last long….

and as we know…what goes up, must come down.

That’s really bad cuz it causes you to have low energy levels and hunger.                                                              

What’s sucks is that you may not be really hungry, but your body is searching for food to raise it’s blood sugar back up to a normal level.

This increase in calories from food is what causes not only weight gain and an unhealthy body, but can easily lead to obesity and diabetes. Hope this makes sense!

Now obviously, these low GI carbs are the kinds of carbs you wanna lean towards all the time, but all I did was avoid them at dinner.

Why dinner Mitch? Why is this the most important time to avoid them?

For 2 main reasons.

First, we all tend to overeat at night and second…

We are less active after 8pm and the last thing you need is a shot of energy from high GI carbs before bed. The easiest way to gain serious weight, especially around the waist is to eat a big dinner with a lot of high GI carbs and then hit the couch, watch T.V. and then go to bed. That’s a blueprint for heavy.

Think about it like this…your body needs energy during the day when you are active both physically and mentally…as the day progresses you need less energy cuz you’re winding down right?

If you drove your car around all day on almost empty, and the red light was on over bridges and through tunnels and on your way to meetings and picking up the kids or whatever, then you got home after a long day and filled your car up with gas just so you could park it, would that make any sense to you?

I hope not LOL…cuz it makes ZERO sense…

Without further ado…here are my favorite low GI Carbs to have with dinner

(and remember, don’t forget your protein like salmon, halibut, sirloin, tuna, skinless chicken, egg beaters, egg whites, lean ham, lean veal, 90% lean ground beef or turkey)

- basmati rice (long grain, wild)

- asparagus – my favorite side veggie!!!

- bell peppers

- broccoli…classic “get fit quick” dish with grilled chicken.

- cabbage

- cauliflower

- celery

- cucumbers

- eggplant

- lettuce…think salads with your choice of protein ***

- peas, snow peas…love baked chicken with BBQ sauce and snow peas

-mushrooms

- spinach…love lean sirloin with side of spinach

-zucchini

-tomatoes…love like 3-5 scrambled egg whites (1 yolk) with slices of Jersey tomatoes!

- small sweet potato

I hope this was helpful. We love doing these blog posts for you. If you have any questions or comments you’d like to share with me, leave a comment below. I read everyone of them.

Wanna Know What My Favorite Salsa Is And Where To Get It?

Click here to view the embedded video.

So What’s Your Favorite Salsa? I’d Love To Hear Your Comments Below

What it all comes to down to is syngery

I love that word don’t you?

The Definition: The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual.

I hope that was helpful and thanks for tuning in!

And by the way, if you have any questions, just leave a comment below

]]> http://rethinkingweightloss.com/2010/07/29/the-fitness-triangle/feed/ 0 http://rethinkingweightloss.com/2010/07/24/41-ways-to-lose-your-love-handles/ http://rethinkingweightloss.com/2010/07/24/41-ways-to-lose-your-love-handles/#comments Sat, 24 Jul 2010 04:15:42 +0000 Mitch http://rethinkingweightloss.com/?p=1317

1. Keep a food diary (so important and yet 80% of people on a program don’t wanna do this)

2. Do not weigh yourself everyday. Once a week at MOST. I like twice a month.

Read more on 41 Ways To Lose Your Love Handles…

1. Keep a food diary (so important and yet 80% of people on a program don’t wanna do this)

2. Do not weigh yourself everyday. Once a week at MOST. I like twice a month.

3. Have green tea everyday

4. Drink extra water everyday

5. Chicken and fish over red meat

6. Eat breakfast

7. Eat breakfast – yey I said it twice!

8. Be patient

9. Visualize everyday what you wanna look and feel like. Don’t underestimate this technique. All successful people use the power of visualization

10. Use a clothes motivator like a pair of jeans that you can’t fit into right now. Take those out of the closet and hang them in a place where you can see them everyday. Ya gotta see your goals

11. Be-Do-Have

This is from a great book called “Conversations With God”…the author says in life, in order to get or give birth to what we want we have to follow the “Be-Do-Have” principle. Go read that book – it’s awesome.

12. Start taking vitamins

13. Snack 2-3 times a day

14. Add protein in every meal and in most snacks when possible

15. Eat at home more

16. Share dinner with a friend

17. Get rid of bread and butter at the dinner table

18. No desserts for 2 weeks

19. Eliminate soda

20. Workout 1 more day each week

21. Hang out with other people with similar goals for 30 days

22. Believe in yourself

23. Remember that it’s not just about your “look”, it’s about your health and life expectancy. WOW!

24. Eat only half your dinner and take the other half home in a doggie bag.

25. Avoid alcohol or greatly reduce.

26. Do 100 jumping jacks twice a day for 30 days

27. Lift heavier weights so put down the 3’s and 5’s and pick up the 8’s and 10’s or more…we all know by know that adding lean muscle tone to a body not only skyrockets your metabolism ALL DAY LONG but causes the body to change shape giving you that lean, toned sexy body.

28. Go into your refrigerator and your pantry right now and throw out all crap. You have 20 minutes and then come back and read the rest of this. GO-GO-GO!

29. Stop starving yourself and eat! Extreme dieting can cause body fat storage.

30. Tell your best friend that you really wanna lose the love handles and have her help you stay on track.

31. Make a bet with your best friend that every time he or she sees you eating something bad, you have to cough up 10 bucks!

32.  Don’t eat after 9pm…ANYTHING

33. Make your weekends ACTIVE weekends. Try walks, hikes, zoos, biking, swimming as opposed to window shopping at the mall, nothing, movies, or driving long distances to a friends house to get out of the car and eat.

34. Every morning wake up and say “today I’m 1 more step toward my goal…thank you for another day”

35. Do not eating anything that says the words “high fructose corn syrup” on the label

36. Do some oblique stomach exercises. Here’s one for ya…

Starting position:

End Position

37. Go shopping at healthy stores like Mrs. Greens or Trader Joe’s.

38. Enjoy the journey, not the destination.

39. Eat and drink off of smaller plates and smaller cups

40. Don’t consume any calories from liquid for 30 days. Have all your calories coming from whole foods like lean proteins, fruits, veggies, and healthy fats.

41. Stick with only low Glycemic Index carbohydrates.

Well, there ya have it…41 Ways To Lose Your Love Handles

Anything I left out? Let me know in the comments section below so we can discuss.

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