April 20, 2008

bikini club - week 4

Here is your drill for week 4:


It goes without saying that everything we have done so far stays the same, even if you don't see it on the drill. With this I mean, you are still not allowed to eat dessert during the week, and can only have something on Sunday. You are drinking water and tea. And having at least two snacks a day.

Moving on, most of you complained about your tummy not being as flat as you would like, and I hear you. Luckily after 3 weeks of bikini club, we all have already seen some encouraging results.

We'll keep on concentrating on a better diet, which for this week translates into: LESS FAT.

We have been more careful about selecting our foods, but now I want you to start reading labels. Not every single time, I don't want you obsessing, but definitely for every new food you want to introduce to your diet, and every time you are not sure about the nutritional value of any food.

Less fat means switch to low-fat or fat-free versions of the current whole-fat food you're eating. Milk, cream cheese, yogurt... anything.

We all know to stay away from trans-fat but I want you to keep your saturated fat content down as well. We'll get more technical later on, but for now just try to keep it at a minimum.

Even though this might sounds like a contradiction, it isn't: start taking fish oil supplements, the "good fat". This past Wednesday I gave you a list to pick some good and safe supplements from, here it is again. And of course, if you can and if you like it, eat more fresh fish. Here's more information on the benefits of fish oil supplements (and also a word of caution about any possible interactions with some other medications).

Now, let me show you what a flat tummy diet looks like: the abs diet bullseye. It shows you the food you should eat more of, and less of. Feel free to follow it or to use it as a reference point, as we continue in our journey, because it is a great diet. Definitely you can start by practicing avoiding food from their EAT RARELY list: no bacon, no bagels, no cakes, no cookies, no soft drinks (sigh), no beer, no margarine, no jelly, no white flour (sigh), no creamy soups, no ribs, no fried vegetables...

And going forward, no more eating after your last snack. The ideal would be no more eating after 8 PM. No more "middle of the night fridge raid". If it's midnight, and you feel you have to open that fridge and have some food, Stop! Take a deep breath, say to yourself that you won't keep jeopardizing your bikini body, then open the fridge, grab a bottle of water, and drink as much as you can. Put the bottle back and go to bed! If you find that the fridge is stronger than your will power, at least at night, you may be suffering from Night Eating Syndrome, and maybe you need to try different tactics to defeat it.

Keep up the good work girls! Try to be constant, don't skip days you should be exercising and your body will just look better and better. But, as promised, we need to step it up a bit, and going forward, we'll need to exercise 4 days a week! We'll keep the time to 20 minutes per session, but you know it will increase soon... What's important is that you can do it! :)

This week we'll take care of the neck and decollete region, by dedicating them some extra pampering time. You can treat the area with a scrub first, and then spend a good 5-10 minutes massaging a moisturizer on it. If you have one, use an exfoliator.

Next we'll have a nice body scrub, since it's been a while.

And on Friday, I would like you to pick up a new habit, if you can: have your armpits waxed. Shaving is ok, but of all the body parts we shave, the armpits look so much better when you wax them. And if you wax, you don't have to worry about it for weeks.

It's time to pick a first reward, for sticking with this plan for a month. Think of something you want to treat yourself to, and post it in the comments. Come May, we all go shopping! :)


Dee said...

First, I have to comment on the Abs Diet Bullseye.. In the eat often section, it says pizza... How weird is that?? Pizza will help us have a flat tummy? I don't buy it.

Secondly, my reward. I will treat myself to a (not so) expensive skinny black jeans :))) I've been waiting for this one. And maybe some new high-heels.

Katy said...

This week I did great until Thursday night then I lost my motivation a little bit. So my main goal this week will to maintain the same enthusiasm through out the week.

I was wondering if there is any drugstore arm pit waxing kits that you know of? I've never heard of waxing my arm pits before but I'll go for it :)

NY Spender said...

Hi Dee,
good point about the pizza, but if you read their EAT RARELY it says white flour, so the pizza you can have is whole wheat pizza.

Great choice on the skinny jeans! I just recently bought a pair, and I love them!

Hi Katy,
it's ok, motivation will come and go, and it's something you have to work on every day. Work on it to make it stay today, but keep working on it tomorrow and the day after.

As for waxing your own armpits... hmm, are you sure Katy? Unless you are really comfortable with it, I would suggest a salon for the first time. You can use any wax that's for the body, I like Nad's.

And what's your reward? :)

Anonymous said...

Dear girls,

Just remember that low-fat or fat-free doesn't always mean better for you. Often times low-fat or fat-free foods have more calories and sugar to make up the taste. Just FYI.

JustLo said...

I did really good last week... except Saturday. Went out with grilfriends and ate some bad food and drank too much alcohol. But I'm back on track!

My reward will be a nice professional 1-hour massage.