Hi Jacqueline,

Eating a lot of protein is good for muscle recovery but since you don’t workout anymore and thus don’t put any stress on your muscles I don’t see the need to eat a lot of it. Excess calories will be stored as fat, even if they come from protein sources. Are you really sure you don’t have time for your workouts? Here’s an article that might help: “How to squeeze exercise into your schedule”:
Source: Book “Diet drama” by Nancy Redd

Hi Nicole,

- You can find tons of entire workouts on tumblr if you look around a bit:

• itstheskinny.tumblr.com/workoutlinks
• sweatsalty.tumblr.com/insanity-workout-links
• sweatsalty.tumblr.com/complete-blogilates-workout-videos

- Get outside! Swimming, bicycling, jogging, power walking, rollerblading, skateboarding, racquetball, badminton, tennis, jumping rope, hula hooping, frisbee ect. The possibilities are endless to make the most out of your summer vacation. 

- Why not get a job that requires you to be active? Consider working as a dog walker, babysitter for active kids, car washer… Or start a housecleaning or yard work service. Money is a good motivator to avoid “sitting around and doing nothing” :) 

Hi! Gaining weight off season is ok ; it’s actually the perfect time for you to recharge your batteries, so don’t worry. Follow a cutting program for a few weeks and you’ll be back in shape to rock your spandex!

A cutting program like this one might be a good fit for you: www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jen-rankin-cutting-program.html

If you don’t have access to a gym you can still do lots of cardio and plyometrics (jump squats, jump lunges). 

Hi! It all depends on the type of milk, the amount of sugar/sweeteners added, and the quantity of the other ingredients (fruits, tapioca pearls). Is there a way to know how many grams of fat and sugar you’re getting in each different boba milk tea?

Green tea with no added sugar is fine, but fancy bubble teas are just like starbucks ice-whipped lattes or mega-sized smoothies: more of a 400 calorie dessert to be enjoyed once a week than a beverage to quench your thirst. Plus I guess that these teas must be quite overpriced too.

I understand that there’s a big social pressure in high school to conform to the group of people with whom you socialize. Peer pressure can be extremely strong and seductive. But don’t let the idea that “everyone is doing it” influence your better judgment and common sense. Be true to yourself. Learn how to say no. If you have to buy boba milk tea to fit in with a particular group, these people may not be that cool after all if they don’t accept people making different choices in their group.

Hi! A grilled cheese sandwich is not much healthier than a pb&j sandwich. It contains less sugar but it has more ‘bad fat’ (saturated fat).

A healthier option for lunch could be for example:
- a peanut butter sandwich (without jelly), using whole grain bread and unsweetened/unsalted natural peanut butter. 
- 2 cups of carrots, celery sticks, salad or low sodium soup
- 1 apple 
- water 

If you’re still hungry, you can add one cup of fat-free unsweetened Greek yogurt.

Hi Shelby, 

When attempting to lose fat, it is recommended not to try to lose more than 1 to 2 pounds per week. I don’t know the date of your graduation, but I suppose you have about 16-18 weeks left.

I thus think 25-30 pounds are not to high of a goal but this is going to be a big challenge! Are you up for it? It sounds like you don’t want to go to the gym “I don’t have a lot of time to really go to the gym”. I always say we make time for whatever is important to us. I think it would really help if you can show up at the gym 3 times per week. If  going there takes too long, you can download workout videos and work out at home. 

Hi Juhi, it’s important for you to make the difference between: 
(1) when you’re hungry and you need a break and a real snack and
(2) when you’re stressed and you feel like you need something to chew on to release part of your stress. When I was a student I used to chew on pens a lot. Study stress made me feel like I needed to chew on something. It’s a bit like being a baby who needs a pacifier to calm himself down. It has nothing to do with hunger. 

Here are some tips:
- Keep low calorie vegetables, such as celery sticks or cucumber on hand. It’s very difficult to overeat them (ps: don’t dip them in anything ;). One large stalk (11”-12” long) of celery is 10 calories. Eating 100 calories of celery (10 stalks!) will take you a little while… 

- Chew gum and blow a bubble every 5 minute or so. It can help you relax :)  

- Try chewing sticks like licorice roots or sugar cane stalks to keep you busy masticating and release tension. You can find them in ethnic supermarkets. www.ehow.com/how_6404128_use-chew-sticks.html

- Drink herbal tea (chamomile, lavender) to calm yourself down and focus. 

Hi! Nuts are super healthy (if they’re unsalted of course) but the fact is that you can consume too much of a “good thing.”

Nuts are very calorie dense (high in fat, low in water), so eating large amounts can easily add an extra several hundred calories a day to your diet.

Doctors recommend limiting your intake to about one-fourth of a cup of nuts or seeds per day if you are watching your weight. I personally try to limit myself to 25 almonds per day (but I sometimes eat more :).

When you nibble on nuts, it’s very easy to overeat them: try to include water-rich foods that are less calorically dense like fruits or vegetables when eating nuts. For example, snack on an apple with a few nuts instead of just eating the nuts alone. This can help physically satisfy you without overdoing it calorically.

If you’re trying to lose weight, having your lunch salad topped with walnuts and almonds is okay but nibbling on walnuts and almonds after school is sabotaging your progress. You can go for a cup of unsweetened fat free Greek yogurt instead.

I hope this helps a bit,

xxx

Elise

Hi Adrianna,

Yes, you’re right! This is not a healthy lunch. I don’t care so much about the calories ; the 2 main things that bother me are: 
1- You’re not getting any vegetable or fruit
2- You’re getting a ton of sugar. Peanut butter contains sugar if it’s not all natural peanut butter, jelly is full of it, the protein bar too. Even if the protein bar says there’s no sugar in it there is probably some kind of sweeteners -which are as bad as sugar.

Here are some suggestions of easy meals for lunch (with pics): http://fitnesstreats.tumblr.com/post/13871081367/suggestions-of-easy-meals-for-lunch-3-small

Hi! Here are some exercise suggestions: 

- Push-ups: simple, but one of the best upper body exercises. Try to do them on your toes if you can. If not, slowly build up your strength by doing them on your knees. 

- Cardio kickboxing classes. You can find a lot of whole workout videos on youtube. Here are some suggestions: 
- “Shadowboxer - Knockout Body Extreme” (42 min): they use a weird elastic equipment but you can do the whole lesson with light dumbbells in your hands instead.
- “Billy Blanks’ Tae Bo” (44 min): tae bo was a popular exercise program in the 90tes, and it is still very effective.

PS: I also found this video “Flirty Girl Fitness Ultimate Upper Body Workout” (40 min) but the voice of the girl explaining the exercises kind of annoys me a bit…

Hi Brianna,

Here are a few examples of healthy lunches:
- a whole wheat tortilla filled with one can of tuna, Romaine lettuce, pieces of apple and mustard.
- 1 cup of Greek yogurt (250g) mixed with 3-4 tablespoons of oats and 15 frozen berries. The frozen berries are going to keep the Greek yogurt fresh, and by the time you have to eat lunch they’re not going to be frozen anymore; don’t forget to pack a spoon too! Pack also some cucumber slices aside to get your veggies. 
- 2 sticks of low fat string cheese, 1 to 2 tomatoes (eat them without cutting them, as if they were apples), and 2 pieces of spinach cake
- a green salad with walnuts and a big home made protein bar 
- 2 hard boiled eggs, a chickpea salad made with canned chickpeas and veggies (broccoli, carrots, pickles), 1 kiwi

Avoid: 
- crackers
- any kind of yellow cheese
- any kind of processed meat / sausages

Don’t forget to pack 2 snacks too (one for mid-morning, one for mid-afternoon). Examples of healthy snacks:
- 1 apple and 20 unsalted almonds
- celery sticks (as many as you want) and 2 teaspoons of peanut butter
- 10 strawberries and 20 cashews
- sliced cucumber with hummus
- 2 sticks low fat string cheese
- 3 healthy peanut butter cookies

I hope this helps a bit!

xxx

Elise