Work Out Like Lady Gaga

For the last 10 years, celeb trainer Harley Pasternak has worked hard on his ever-evolving 5 Factor philosophy of diet and exercise. And people are listening: Lady Gaga , Eva Mendes , and Mandy Moore are just a few of the celebs who have all turned to him for their fitness needs. The 5 Factor exercise regimen is tailor-made for busy individuals too. When I spoke to Harley last week he told me that all you need is 25 minutes a day; that’s it. If you can do more, great, but he promises that 25 minutes on his plan will give you results. This seems to be counterintuitive to almost everything we’ve heard about weight loss. First 30 minutes was enough, then 45 - now 25? “There is a big difference in training hard and training smart,” says Harley. “And when you combine cardiovascular and resistance training you’ve hit two birds with one stone.” Harley says that resistance training is key because it keeps your metabolism and resting heart rate elevated throughout the workout and beyond. “So even though you’re only doing a five minute cardio warmup, and five-minute cardio cooldown, you’re in your fat burning zone for the entire 25 minute workout.” To get the most out of a 5 Factor workout , focus on two main body parts and the abs - do this every day, for five days a week. And while you should shift the areas of the body you focus on, Harley says that you should always do ab work. To see the moves Harley gives to his celeb clients, read more. Deadlifts . “This is a great exercise for the hamstrings, which a lot of people overlook,” says Harley. “I know women, in particular,  always want to get their abs tight, but deadlifts are great for working the butt.” Reverse incline dumbbell rows . “Quite often, women slouch,” says Harley. “This exercise strengthens the upper back and posture muscles. Better posture makes your abdominals look leaner and tighter and gives you a natural boob lift.” To do this move: Lie facedown on an incline bench, with your chest flat against the elevated pad. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, letting your arms hang down to the floor, palms facing each other. Keeping your chest on the bench and your arms close to your torso, pull both dumbbells up to the sides of your chest. Slowly lower your arms back down and repeat. If you don’t have a bench, try a tipping row instead. Dumbbell side bends . Harley says that side bends are a favorite of Lady Gaga’s because they help keep her love handles tight. Side bends are also a great alternative to sit-ups; just make sure you avoid the common mistakes associated with side bends . Ab rotations . Lady Gaga is big into working her abs and it shows. To increase the difficulty of this exercise, hold a five-pound medicine ball or dumbbell at chest height. Want to see what one of his workouts is like? Then give this 5 Factor workout Harley created for FitSugar readers a try.

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Work Out Like Lady Gaga

Ways to Cut 100 Calories Throughout Your Day

To lose weight, the math is pretty simple: the amount of calories you burn needs to be greater than the amount of calories you eat. If you can shave 100 calories from your daily caloric intake , well then you’re tipping the equation in your favor. Here are some tips for painlessly cutting around 100 calories from your daily meals from breakfast to dinner, including snacks and cooking methods. Source: Jupiter Images View Slideshow ›

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Ways to Cut 100 Calories Throughout Your Day

Do You Chew Gum While Exercising?

My running partner loves to chew gum when we exercise together. She always pops a piece in her mouth before we head out, and of course will offer me one too. So I got in the habit of chewing gum while running, even though it was drilled in my head in my youth that chewing gum and exercising can be dangerous. I have to say, there’s something nice about having minty fresh breath while you’re out for a jog. What about you? Do You Chew Gum While Exercising? Yes, I always chew gum when I work out. Sometimes, it depends on the type of exercise or my mood. Never. I’m not a gum person/I don’t think it’s safe.

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Do You Chew Gum While Exercising?

101 Pounds and Want to Lose 7 More! [Forum]

I am 27 year old 5.4 and I weigh 101.6 pounds I want to lose 7 lbs in 3 weeks. I am burning at least 800-1000 cal when I work out at the gym. I will be working out 4 days a week and I have decided to cut my cal to 800 a day for 2 weeks. Do you think it is possible to get to my goal? i am also taking water pills and maybe laxatives for a couple of weeks. I was hoping all of these things combined will help me to lose the weight. oh and I work out for an hour and a half with my incline on 14 and speed on 3.7 - should I do more to get to my goal of at least 95 - 96 pounds? I also sit in the Sauna for 30 min after each work out. Should I cut my calories down lower maybe to 600? I would really appreciate only honest answers on what I should do to lose this weight, not what I should do to gain. I will maintain my weight afterwards by eating 1200 cal a day and working out 4 days a week but at the same level.

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101 Pounds and Want to Lose 7 More! [Forum]

Not Another Celebrity Cleanse: Salma Hayek’s Cooler Cleanse

You’ve heard about the Lunch Box Diet ; well, now there is the Cooler Cleanse . And this one has some celebrity backing. A veteran of the juice fast cleanse, Salma Hayek has used the regimens for more than a decade to prepare for big events, from walking the red carpet to walking down the aisle. The curvaceous actress paired up with long-time friend and juice master Eric Helms to bring her juice cleanse to the masses. That is, if you live in New York and want to drop $58 a day on fresh-pressed juices. The Cooler Cleanse offers cleanses that last from three to five days, and in FAQ section, the company tells us that “You will consume less than 1,200 calories each day during the 3-Day Cooler Cleanse and the 5-Day Cooler Cleanse.” I have always heard that 1,200 is the minimum number of calories required for the body not to go into starvation mode. The five flavors of juices (a green juice, a grapefruit mint, a red juice with beets and apples, young coconut water, and nut milk sweetened with dates), are all freshly pressed overnight and delivered to clients by 6 a.m. Cooler Cleanse also offers a four-course raw food cleanse at $62 a day - you pay a little bit more to have something to sink your teeth into. Although I am a fan of coconut water and that grapefruit mint mixture sounds tasty, I am not a fan of juice cleanses. But what about you? Would you try Salma’s cleanse?

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Not Another Celebrity Cleanse: Salma Hayek’s Cooler Cleanse

Will Taxing Soda Lead to Weight Loss?

The debate about whether or not junk food should be taxed has gotten interesting. While legislatures evaluate the merits of such proposed hikes, a study has been released that actually lends credence to the idea, predicting that an 18% hike on pop would lead to 5 pounds weight loss per year. Continue reading…

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Will Taxing Soda Lead to Weight Loss?

Food Journals Fail You? Try Sharing With a Group

If you’re trying to lose weight by counting calories and watching your portion sizes, monitoring your daily intake by writing it down in a food journal is really effective. The only problem is, if you’re doing it on your own it can get boring, and you’re more likely to get out of the habit. If you’ve tried food journaling before and never got into it, try food journaling with a group of people. Every night, email your fellow food journalers your daily menu, and they’ll email you theirs. You can share comments and questions, so not only will you learn a lot about proper daily nutrition, but you’ll also get ideas for snacks and meals. I also find that it makes you more accountable for your choices, and less likely to forget to write down that handful of M&Ms, or mid-afternoon mocha muffin. You can update each other on the pounds you’ve lost, which will inspire the entire group to stick with it. Tell me, have any of you tried group food journaling before? Why not start one in the Weight Loss Support Group ?

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Food Journals Fail You? Try Sharing With a Group

The Air Diet: Why Eat When You Can Pretend!

Brace yourself for the silliest fad diet yet — it’s called the Air Diet! A French-created weight loss plan where you consume, well you’ve probably guessed it, nothing at all! The diet was apparently made popular by a Dolce & Gabbana campaign, which featured Madonna and other celebrities holding food up to their mouths, but not eating it. Continue reading…

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The Air Diet: Why Eat When You Can Pretend!

How Do I Work Out My Calorie Requirements? [Forum]

I’m 19 and 7′5. I weigh 156. I don’t really look overweight but i am absolutely in no way in shape. I would like to weigh a little less as well. I bought some exercise videos to do daily and trying to figure out how I can balance out what I eat. I have a very odd schedule right now, so I don’t eat too often. I’m a night nanny, so I am awake all night. I get to sleep at 7am to 3pm, then work out and eat a light meal. Then I’ll eat dinner around 8pm before I have to get ready to go to work again. I haven’t been feeling too well lately and don’t know why that is. How do I know how many calories I need daily?

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How Do I Work Out My Calorie Requirements? [Forum]

[Forum] Serious Body Issues: How Can I Help My Friend?

I basically got an account just so I could get some advice on this problem that I’m having… My best friend is a cutter. Now, I don’t know anything about cutting or depression or anything like that but I know cutting is a serious issue. She started cutting in high school (about five years ago) and she stopped. She went through a lot of crap in high school which made her self-esteem plummet and she suffers from anxiety attacks, and her family has a history of mental conditions. She used to be a gymnist but she stopped gymnastics because of her bad bones in grade nine. And the result of it was bad joints, bones, and large upper arms. The arms is her major problem. Becuase of them, she doesn’t wear short-sleeved shirts, or dresses, or anythign that bares her arms. And her upper arms is where she cuts. I was always friends with her but we became best friends after graduating highschool. That’s when she confided in me her past (she cut, she was a binge eater, was severely depressed and suffered from mental attacks due to her being on improper use of birth control) but she told me that she was over it. And for a little bit, she was. But last winter, she again, got depressed (she doesnt know what the cause was) and made an attempt at suicide, but backed out at the last minute. Then she went through a feeling okay phase. I spent a good summer with her and we had a lot of fun. By the end of summer though she started feeling “fat” again. I’d just like to say that she is five feet tall and weighs less then 110 pounds and believe me, she is petite. Her arms are muscular though due to gymnastics. So I told her to come with me to the gym. I’d been going for the last two years consistently and although I didn’t lose a lot of weight (I wasn’t looking to, anyway), the gym makes me feel good about myself. She agreed and got a gym membership. Every week, while we walked home from the gym together, she would say things like “So it’s been 2/3/4 weeks, and I haven’t lost anything. I might as well give up.” But she kept on going. Then a few months ago she started to tell me that if she didn’t look perfect by the time she was thirty, she would just die. She said she didn’t understand how older people could be “fat” and be okay with themselves. And she said stuff about giving up and why should she bother trying at anything. She would say it jokingly, but it scared me. And then she told me she started cutting. She did it two times in a period of about three months. This was last month, and she hasn’t been cutting since then. I told her that she needs to talk to her psychologist and I’ve told her (the obvious) that cutting is not the solution…And she tells me that since im not a cutter i dont understand what it’s like. She says the cutting she does is not the suicide-type but it’s a release from the pain. She says she would turn to alcohol instead but her father is an alcoholic so she doesnt do it. She tells me that it’s harmless. And…I just DON’T know what to do. I feel like I should tell her family if it’s life-threatening but her cutting isn’t life-threatening. She’s not suicidal anymore (but she may become, again…), and her cutting is just when she’s feeling down and like she says, her way of “dealing.” I’m very frusterated and sad when it comes to her because she always says things like “I’m so fat. I need to lose weight.” She won’t go out with other people because she feels self-conscious. She also is trying to control her binging habits from high school. She mostly has it under control because she is over the severe depression of her past but there are times (like the times she cuts) when she eats and eats. after she eats she gets so angry with herself. And to top it all off, I don’t know what sickness this is but I KNOW THAT IT IS. She takes supplements and vitamins by the bulk. She says they’re natural but I don’t care. She takes about twenty pills a day and I don’t understand WHY. I’m not sure what her family is thinking. They see the bottles of pills but I’m not sure they really know what she’s doing. I love her to death. I don’t deal with any of these problems, I’ve always been healthy and I’m an advocate of the gym and it works for me. I’ve tried helping her in the way that I know works for me. She seems okay (emotionally) these days but I’m sure her problems will come back and her cutting and everything else. Plus her attitude with life and herself is affecting me. I like the way that I am but there are days where I’m bloated and jealous of the girl walking down the street with thin legs and I’ll say it and she’ll look at me and say “yep, you need to lose weight”. The thing is I KNOW i don’t have to lose weight but when your best friend says that you should…It sucks. Actually, just yesterday, we worked out for a good hour and I like to treat myself to steaming or using the sauna after a workout. So we were putting on our bathing suits and (she and I tried out a new gym) when it came down to using the steam room, we had to walk past the pool. We basically had to walk twenty steps to get into the room but she couldnt do it because she was in a bathing suit and couldnt bear the thought of walking past people (mainly, guys) in her suit. So I had to give up the steam room, and left the gym kind of bummed. But I find myself spending a lot of time with her to cheer her up and help her, and I’m not complaining…she and I get along fantastic and she truly does care about me, but I feel like she’s kind of a burden. I absolutely hate to put it that way, but it’s the way that I feel. Sorry for the rambling!!! I just feel like I need to vent. There are a bunch of things in this post and I don’t really know which to focus on so I kind of wrote a whole bunch of everything. Anybody who has advice for me, I would greatly appreciate it.

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[Forum] Serious Body Issues: How Can I Help My Friend?

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