Recently I was pretty lucky to be sent a complimentary Gymboss digital interval timer to use and I thought I’d write my thoughts and comments on using it. If you’d like to see what it is, you can learn more on their website. Click here for Gymboss.

I was a little nervous at first that it may be a little too complicated for me to use or too bulky to really carry around with me, but as soon as I opened it, gave the short instructions a quick read I found it to be really pretty simple, and being lightweight it easily can clip on to your shirt or a belt loop. The clip may also work for attaching to any home workout gear if you have it, such as a treadmill. Another bonus is it came with the AAA battery it required, so that was a nice surprise also!

The timer has three simple to use buttons, a “Next” a “Change” button and a “Start Button”. To use it for timing intervals, you simply press the Next Buttons and the Change buttons to move from each various setting on the screen. It doesn’t have a lot of complicated settings, just the number of minutes or seconds you want it to count, the number of times you want it to repeat each interval, and then what type of alarm you want to go off (such as a high beep, low beep, or vibration). The timer also has a stop watch feature, which I can’t wait to use on my kids…they for some reason love it when you time them for stuff and they need to “race the clock”.

Now, those of you who are new to exercising and working out might be a little confused as to what an interval timer is and exactly what you would use it for to get in shape. How does it help you to exercise?

If you’re just getting started in working out and taking a walk around the neighborhood is enough of a challenge, then that is great that you are starting to exercise, but you probably don’t need an interval timer for working out. If you’re a longtime LoseFree reader however and have been working out on a regular basis, then this might be something handy to use when exercising, especially if you always liked the idea of a personal trainer but never had one.

When you hire a personal trainer, they usually make you do certain activities for either a certain duration of time or for a certain number of times. For example, you might walk on the treadmill to warm up for five minutes minutes, then quicken the pace for another five, then sprint for five more. With an interval timer, you can set it off to go off every five minutes, which enables you to focus on your workout – without having to worry about counting time or minutes. You can also use it to help you with a number of other activities, such as Tabata Intervals, weight lifting, timing your speeds, and more.

I don’t think an interval timer is an absolute necessity for working out, especially if you’re just getting started. But if you’re serious about getting in shape and training, it can certainly be a useful little gadget for anyone looking to save money and be their own personal trainer.

As a double bonus, I’ve found I can set it as a timer for cooking also, which makes eating healthier a lot easier, too! (I have an old stove from the 1950′s, so I never had a kitchen timer – until now!) I’m sure there are many other little uses I’ll find it helpful for in the upcoming weeks.

If it’s something you think would be helpful for your workouts, you can check it out for yourself here. If not, well, at least you know what a digital interval timer is and how one can be used for workouts!

Why would you want to track what you eat each day?

See What Foods You Like: Many people struggle coming up with their own diet plan because they think you have to try all new foods or eat things you don’t like. But if you have a food diary, it gets a lot easier to plan a diet, because you can find the things you do like to eat, and then just make a suitable, healthier substitution.

Track Your Mood: The foods you eat can have a huge role in what kind of mood you are in, so it’s nice to see a pattern if you for example eat starchy or sugary foods and then become a grouch – it gives you all the more motivation!

Track Sensitivities: More and more people are finding out they may have food allergies. If you have any chronic or recurring symptoms such as nasal congestion, ear infections, stomach cramping or pain, headaches, dry skin, rashes, acne and others it could actually be related to food. A food diary to print out can help make it much easier to track these types of things.

Assess Your Current Eating Habits: Many of us think we are eating healthy foods, only to find out upon closer inspection that we may not really be keeping up on it as well as we originally thought. It will also help you pinpoint any times of the days that you are more likely to suffer a “snack attack” so you can have healthy snacks prepared rather than grabbing something more convenient and less healthy for you.

Click Here to Download Our Printable Food Diary Sheet.
(Note: It Will Open in a New Window so you can save it and still read the instructions below)

How to Use This Food Diary

To use this food diary, simply download the food diary and print it out. Then start tracking the foods you eat for 1 week. Each section is divided into morning, afternoon, and evening and has a section for notes. You can also write notes, such as “felt energetic” or “felt lethargic” or “didn’t sleep well” or “have really dry skin”. If you’re the calorie counting type, you can also track calories in that section.

Make sure you don’t forget to track the drinks you have, and of course write down everything. If you eat a certain brand of food, you may also want to keep note of that brand, since different brands all have different ingredients.

Once you have finished a week of tracking everything you’ve eaten, look at where your strengths and weaknesses are. Maybe you are skipping breakfast for example and instead eating too much at lunch. Or maybe you notice that you seem to be eating more carbs and grains than vegetables. Whatever the case may be, having a food diary is definitely a great way to see these types of trends and know what to do differently next week.

Make sure you save your pages when finished for any upcoming doctor’s appointments – often times diet records can help your doctor help you better as well.

Do you find it helpful to keep track of all of the foods you eat for a week? If you’ve ever used a printable food diary chart, share your comments about the experience below!

Ever since I started eating a healthier diet, I’ve been able to pay more attention to my cravings. Most of us just go through life thinking nothing of when the urge to eat a certain food strikes us – but it’s also a way of your body telling you something.

I’ve written a lot about how sugar is addictive – and as you know eating a lot of starchy/sugary foods can often cause those cravings to intensify. This is because eating sugar and starchy foods (ie: white bread) can cause your blood glucose levels to change, and is often responsible for sways in how we feel during the day, going from being tired to wired. Your body craves sugar because it wants it for your blood glucose levels to get back on the right track – though we often eat too much sugar which causes it to go back out of synch.

Sugar’s just one example though. Some people crave things like bread not for the sugar, but possibly because wheat is a decent source of magnesium, which can help with everything from absorption of calcium to how your body deals with the toxins we’re exposed to day in and day out. I have some new feelings about wheat (it may not actually be good for you at all!) but some research may suggest that a craving could also signal an intolerance.

There are other things as well – take pica, for example, a condition which causes people to want to eat non-food items such as dirt, pencils or paint chips. This is usually attributed to an iron deficiency, most common amongst pregnant women as well as children.

So many diets are all about controlling and overcoming cravings – but the solution is not to suppress these cravings – it’s to research and see what, if any, possible dietary issues could be causing them.

Here’s some tips on trying to pinpoint the cause of your craving:

Identify Your Craving: If you’re craving a single food, then it’s easy to say “Oh, I’m craving an apple”. But if you’re craving something that includes multiple ingredients, such as a cheeseburger, then you’ll want to think about what it is of that you are wanting the most. Is it the bun and the meat? The ketchup flavor? The cheese? Maybe it is a little bit of everything – or maybe there’s something specific about it.

List the Ingredients and Nutrients in the Foods You Crave: If you’re asking the question of why we crave certain things, the best place to start is to know what the nutritional properties of the food you are craving are. Every food we eat has different nutritional value or a potential clue into what your body needs. This doesn’t always mean you should eat the thing you want – for example, some believe that those who constantly crave milk may actually have an intolerance to it to some degree. But when you make a list of these things, you can help identify which things are found in the foods your body wants, which can then make you decide what is going to help you.

Research the Food & It’s Nutrients: Thankfully the internet has tons of information on any food you can think of. Type in any food and its health benefits or its nutritional value and you should be able to find some information on it. Obviously, you are going to want to make sure that your research is accurate – so don’t just stop at the first few pages you find in your search results. Dig a little deeper. You may even want to add the word “deficiency” to the food you are searching and see if anything comes up.

Discuss Your Findings With Your Doctor: The occasional craving for a food shouldn’t be too much cause of concern. However, if you’re constantly craving sweets or starches or anything else for that matter, there’s likely a good reason why. Maybe your blood sugar needs to be more regulated, maybe you are deficient in another mineral or vitamin. While it’d be nice if we knew what all this meant in a big picture, most of us haven’t spent years researching food and how it affects our health. Doctors can’t help you determine what is wrong unless they see proof, pattern, and understand the role of diet in health (and what they know about that may even be outdated) – but at the very least they can help you identify any major potential problems such as thyroid disorders, diabetes, food intolerance, and more which could be causing some problems for you and do need professional medical treatment.

Consider Emotional Factors: For some, foods can also mean an emotional attachment – perhaps ice cream is your “comfort food”. But have you ever considered why? If you as a kid and all the way through adulthood were given ice cream anytime something went wrong, then it could possibly be due to habit and environment. But, again, some foods may be a result in a deficiency (or in some cases too much) of a certain nutrient.

Obviously, this is something that a lot more research needs to be conducted on – I’m not a doctor nor a professional nutrition expert by any means. But the next time you have a craving for something – be it sugar or a cheeseburger, rather than fight that craving, take it as a cue from your body that your diet might be missing something. You shouldn’t try to stop food cravings – instead take a look at why they’re there in the first place.

Recently I have been debating about switching to a gluten free diet however – and while discussing it with a friend decided that it would be silly to try and start it now, before the holidays.

But then I thought more and more about how sometimes I really do feel like I have a gluten intolerance (go down the checklist symptoms and I think I have almost all of them!) and as I looked around at the foods in my house I thought, if I can’t eat this stuff and it is causing my body distress, why wait?

And so, two weeks before Christmas, two weeks of holiday parties, family celebrations, and all that tasty food (resisting those appetizers is not easy!) I decided to start on the gluten free diet.

If I’ve been quiet around here it’s mostly because I’ve been doing a lot of research – not to mention completely learning how to cook again! Gluten intolerance means you can’t eat any wheat, barley, or rye – or anything made with these products – which means just about everything you’re used to no longer applies.

But I couldn’t wait to start the new diet. And I’m honestly so glad that I didn’t. I feel better than I did when I completely gave up sugar the first time – and while if you don’t have a gluten intolerance it likely won’t maje that significant of a difference for you – it does show that you shouldn’t wait to be more healthier.

If you’re waiting until next year to lose weight, or waiting until after xyz time – don’t. I know it’s hard to think about missing out on a lot of foods over the holidays – but you’re missing out on something much more important – your health.

Losefree.com is going to go through some big changes over the next few weeks and I will be completely updating my free ebook that so many of you have already read. While the common principles of combining foods together and cutting out sugar will still apply, I’ll be emphasizing some new things and nutritional discoveries I’ve made over the past few weeks that will hopefully make your weight loss journey an even more successful one!

I hope you all have a great holiday – and if you’re putting off losing weight or staying in shape, you don’t have to wait until next year – you can start right now to living a better and healthier life!

Most of you are likely somewhat familiar with what acupuncture is, even though you may or may not have tried it. Used for centuries as an ancient Chinese form of medication, acupuncture is the process of inserting needles into the body in certain points and energy channels which is believed to help alleviate certain signs and symptoms. Because poking yourself with needles could potentially get pretty dangerous, it’s recommended that you only use licensed and well established acupuncture clinics to ensure your own personal safety.

To the best of my knowledge, there are no reputable sources or studies which have proven or even suggested that acupuncture could work for weight loss. In the few studies that were done which yielded inconclusive results, subjects also exercised and dieted, which that in itself could be responsible for the outcome. Obviously, a much larger trial group and study with various groups would need to be conducted in order to have a better idea of whether or not acupuncture for losing weight works or not. Ideally you would need a control group of people who only receive acupuncture, a group which only diets and exercises, and a group which receives both in order to have a better understanding of the role of acupuncture and your weight.

Because there is really no conclusive or scientific evidence that shows acupuncture will help you lose weight, then really all you can do is to speak with a practitioner who is experienced in it to see what they think and to assess you as a candidate. Most would agree that while you can certainly try acupuncture to help you, it is likely not a wonder cure or a miracle that will instantly make you skinny. After all, they are only targeting certain different energy channels which relate to how you eat and what your body does with the food – they are not doing anything that would melt the pounds off instantly.

For most, it is probably best to just stick to the boring old routine of trying to lose weight on your own through the tried and proven conventional methods of eating right and staying active. Granted, it’s no quick and easy solution, but in the long run at least you will know you can expect to see solid results and you won’t be spending a lot of money on acupuncture sessions that may end up being a total waste of time and money. Though it sure would be interesting to see if some acupuncture practitioners have any experience or thoughts on this to share!

Now, I’m not saying you need to completely deprive yourself – but you’ve got to be careful, or you could easily start consuming an extra few thousand calories every time you go to a party!

If you want to try to lose or maintain weight during the holidays seasons and avoid over eating, here’s some tips:

Avoid Alcohol: I stopped drinking completely a few years ago when I started having kids. There’s a lot of empty calories in alcoholic beverages, and unfortunately many people have a hard time stopping at just one drink. So what I do is just avoid it all together.

Eat a Little of Everything: I can understand wanting to try a little bit of everything – but the key here is a “little”.  Take bite sized portions of everything. Want a piece of pie? That’s fine, but eat about 1/3 of a slice instead of a giant slice and skip the whipped cream (oh, okay, have about a 1/2 teaspoon of it!) By controlling the amount you eat you can still indulge a little without worrying about all the extra fat and calories.

Don’t Go Anywhere Hungry: If you’re hungry, it’s going to be very hard to resist the urge to eat just about everything in site and eat more than what is actually necessary.  Before going to a dinner party for example, have a very light dinner to help take some of the edge off before you get there.

Say No:  When I was a kid, my grandma was world renowned for making us eat, even when you couldn’t even move from eating so much. “Eat, Eat, Eat!” While it’s hard to tell someone you can’t possibly eat anymore, you can do it – just explain you’re leaving room for dessert or that it was so delicious, maybe you could take a little bit home with you.

Don’t Hang Out Where the Food Is: If you stand near a buffet table or sit in front of a plate of veggies, chances are you are going to just munch away without even realizing it. Make it a point to sit as far away as possible from all those foods so you’re not tempted to just snack away.

Chew Sugar Free Gum: When you feel full, have a stick of sugar free gum. Having something in your mouth will help you resist the urge to eat anything else.

Exercise: With so much temptation and great foods, the most important thing is to make sure you stick to your regular exercise routine. You may even want to try to adding in an extra day to workout or while hanging out at holiday gatherings get others around you involved in something that can help you burn calories – such as cleaning up the dishes, going for a walk, a game of family football, or getting the family to play Wii or something of the sort.

Don’t Give Up: If you do slip up, don’t get upset about it – just resolve to do better and get right back on track. One day of overeating isn’t going to ruin you for good – but if you do it everyday for a month it’s going to be harder to get back on track.

Have a great holiday!

How to Get Ripped No Matter Your Genetics

You’ve put your time in the gym, tried the ab machine, bought the total gym and you’re still not seeing the results that you want. Why is it that some of your friends, who never seem to workout are able to be in such great shape while you have to struggle? The bad news is that some of it really is genetics, the good news is that even if your genetics aren’t perfect, you can still get ripped.

Here’s how:

1. Substitute Interval Training for Long Distance Cardio. Experts say that interval training is at least, if not more effective than long distance cardio. Not to mention it saves time. Instead of going for an hour long run, do 8 sets of 30 second sprints with 1 minute of rest in between. It will take much time, but it’s much more of a challenge!

2. For Gaining Muscle, Do Less Reps and More Weight, For Toning, More Reps and Less Weight. Depending on what your seeking to accomplish, your workout plan is going to be different. If your trying to put on muscle, your going to want to do less repetitions and more weight. If you’re trying to tone up your body and give yourself more definition, do more repetitions with less weight. Knowing what you’re trying to accomplish is critical for getting the best results.

3. Try Swimming. Have you ever seen a hardcore swimmer who doesn’t look good?  Swimming is an amazing exercise that works all of your muscles and burns a tremendous amount of calories. Make sure to swim in a certified pool where there’s a lifeguard present at all times.

4. Nutrition, Nutrition, Nutrition. A poor diet can sabotage even the most perfect workout plan. To get ripped, make sure you eat a balanced diet of whole wheat bread, vegetables, fruits, lean meat, and some dairy products. If you’re trying to lose weight, count your calories and take in 500 calories less per day to lose 1 pound of fat per week.

5. Keep at it and Don’t Worry about Relapses. Keep working out and eating right, even when you’re not feeling motivated. You will have up days and down days, but the important thing is to keep going until you complete your goals. Also, don’t worry about the occasional relapse. Just get right back into your diet and workout after you had temporarily dropped it and soon you will get to the point where you can go on a binge every once in awhile without losing your six pack abs. When you finally reach your goals and look back at your journey, you will know it was worth it.

The absolute first thing you need to do is really think about what you already eat every single day. Make a list of the foods you eat all week. (See our Free Printable Food Diary if you need help). For example, let’s say Monday you skipped breakfast, ate a cheeseburger and fries for lunch, had a couple of candy bars from the holiday for a snack and then for dinner decided on a good old pot roast with mashed potatoes and green beans with a slice of cheesecake for dessert. Then on Tuesday you had a muffin for breakfast and a turkey sandwich for lunch and then for dinner burritos and for snacks ate some things like granola bars and a bowl of ice cream.

These are just some examples of a “regular unhealthy diet” but you get the point…You want to keep track of every single thing you eat for about a week before you even start dieting.  You might also want to take note of portion sizes – did you eat a minature bite sized candy bar or was it the king sized version? (

Once you have your list made up next week (if you only keep track of it for two or three days that’s okay) you’ll be ready to start thinking of what you can do for customizing and transforming your regular diet into foods that are actually healthy instead.

Here’s the key thing you need to remember when building your own diet plan:

Substitute Unhealthy Foods you Eat With Healthier Alternatives That You Like

Make a list of the healthy foods you like to eat, and then look for healthier substututes for everything else. Here are some ideas for you to consider:

Switch to the Organic Version: There are likely organic versions of the foods you already eat that don’t have all of the chemical fillers and high sugar content that the processed version has. Bake and cook from scratch when possible.

Switch Your Milk: Consider going to a raw and organic type of milk, or try an almond milk or coconut milk instead. Many people are amazed at how better they feel after giving up dairy, so it’s something to consider. If you can’t stand to part with real milk, use organic when possible.

Make Your Own Yogurt: Yogurts at the stores are filled with sugars and corn syrup and all kinds of things that aren’t really top healthy. Try to make your own plain yogurt and then sweeten it naturally with fruit and your favorite non sugar sweetener or look for natural brands. Coconut Yogurt is also very good.

Substitute White Bread with Whole Grain Bread: Read labels and see what’s actually in your bread. If you see “Bleached Wheat Flour” or “High Fructose Corn Syrup” find another bread you like that is really whole grain. If you have the patience, try baking your own breads so you know exactly what is in them, or buy only freshly made organic loaves

Grill and Bake Foods, Don’t Fry Them: If you eat a lot of fried foods you are getting many more calories than you actually need, and these fats are often trans fats which are really bad for you. Baked chicken is just as good as fried chicken. If you like breading on something, try making your own with whole wheat bread crumbs/flour and then coating it on with a tiny bit of olive oil or an egg white and bake it.

Buy Organic Meats: Meat is a personal choice as to whether you eat it regularly or not. If you do eat meat, choose naturally lean meats such as organic grass fed beef and poultry. Look for eggs that are naturally higher in Omega 3 Fatty Acids.

Use the Right Fats: Stay away from all fats that are partially hydrogenated. Use safflower, sunflower, and almond oil for cooking, and olive oil for salads. Eat foods that are high in Omega 3 Fatty Acids, such as flax seed, walnuts, and others. For salad dressing substitutes, consider using oranges or salsa, for mayonnaise use avocado.

Eat More Veggies: You really can’t eat too many veggies. Have them for snacks, add them to every meal you eat. Drink veggie juice if you have to (making your own juice is fun!). See the best vegetables for dieting for more ways to eat more veggies and which ones are good choices.

These are just a couple of ideas of easy ways to change your diet into a healthier one without making gigantic sacrifices but still cutting out a considerable amount of calories and unhealthy foods without actually counting each and every one. You can make your own custom diet pretty easily – and just starting to look for little substitutions that you can make is the best place to start!

What foods have you found healthier substitutes for? Share them in the comments below.

It’s not easy to resist Halloween candy, especially if you’ve always been one who is naturally drawn to sugar. So what can you do?

Here are some ideas for a healthy Halloween:

1. Get Rid of the Candy: No one wants to get rid of the candy, but it’s probably the most effective thing to do. Friends of mine take most of their kid’s candy and send it over to friends and family who are in the army and stationed overseas, which is always eagerly and well received by the soldiers who hadn’t had any candy for months, maybe even years. Check with other local organizations around you – you might be surprised what you can find to get rid of it.

2. Don’t Buy Candy: If you have trick or treaters coming to your house, try to skip getting the candy, because you’ll be just as likely to want some if you have a big bowl of it sitting there. Give out healthy halloween snacks instead, such as popcorn balls, apples, or juice boxes. (Juice boxes are always nice because a lot of trick or treaters get thirsty or its a nice thing for moms to pack in their lunch). There’s no rule that says you have to give out food items either – my kids have gotten a toothbrush and travel sized toothpaste and glow sticks and been just as thrilled with that.

3. Snack Responsibly Before Parties: If you’ll be going to a Halloween party of event, you’ll want to make sure that you eat a very healthy and satisfying dinner before you go – this way you won’t be tempted to eat all of the snacks and will likely eat much less than if you went hungry. Try to stay away from the sugary goodies and make sure you go for the veggies and proteins.

4. Remember Halloween Safety: In today’s world you can never be too careful so remember the basic rules and remind your kids of them if you have kids – wear reflective tape, cross streets carefully, carry a flashlight, don’t wear clothes that are cumbersome or you could trip on and never go to a neighborhood you don’t live in or are not familiar in. If you don’t see other trick or treaters, it’s probably best to stay away.

5. Don’t Give Up: If you find yourself eating peanut butter cups. don’t despair. If need be, allow yourself one, and then stop and get right back on track. One little slip up isn’t going to cause major disaster and it’s no reason to give up entirely. Just concentrate as much as possible on exercising and sticking to the healthy diet.

These are just a few tips to help you have a great holiday. And if you’re still in need of a costume, check out some of my last minute costume ideas. (Hey, you might as well dress up, you only get away with it once a year!)

And if you need more ideas for healthy snacks or what to give to your trick or treaters, don’t forget to check out last year’s Halloween post: Healthy Halloween Snacks for Kids.

Have a Happy Healthy Halloween everyone!

For starters, there is a huge difference in quality and price between models of various ab rockers. Nearly all of them are flimsy (marketed as “lightweight”) and require assembly.They range in price anywhere from $25.95 for the super cheap, uncomfortable and flimsy to $199 for slightly less flimsy and uncomfortable.

Here is the one that is priced at $25.95 from Amazon:

And here is the one at $199:

If you read the reviews of these two machines you’ll notice that quite a few people are dissatisfied with both.

Why would so many people be dissatisfied with these products? Well, it comes down to two things: 1. You can’t spot treat fat and 2. Not all exercise equipment works for everyone. Because many people don’t realize these two important things, there’s a lot of room for people to feel like they’ve been ripped off.

First, let’s talk about spot treating fat. Repeat After Me: You Cannot Spot Treat Fat. Spot treating refers to when you just want to work out one part of your body.  Maybe you just want to lose belly fat, or arm fat, or whatever area of your body is bothering you. But it doesn’t work. Because no matter what you do to build muscle strength, it’s not going to burn fat in just your problem areas. The manufacturers of workout equipment should certainly know this – but they don’t want you to know this. They want you to think that if you buy their equipment its going to magically transform your body and help you get the results you want. But sadly this just simply isn’t the case.

If you want nice looking abs, then you need a healthy diet and you need to do aerobic exercise three times a week for at least 30 minutes. And after that aerobic exercise, then you need to do those ab strengthening exercises. With an ab rocker, you’ll likely need to do about 50 reps every single day before you start seeing any gradual improvement – and so a lot of people are going to give up after a week or two.

The other important thing to consider is that everybody has a different and unique body shape. So while any exercise machine will claim that it’s so easy to use that anyone can do it – that doesn’t always mean anybody should use it. Someone who is 5 feet and 3 inches tall is going to have a much more different experience than someone who is 5 feet and 9 inches tall. And what can happen from this could result in you accidentally hurting your neck and back muscles. And if you’re hurt, guess what? You’re not going to be able to exercise, and you’re going to have even more trouble losing weight.

This isn’t to say that the Ab Rocker doesn’t work at all or would be a complete waste of money. But you’ve got to also eat right and do aerobics and then make sure that the ab rocker you use is the right one for your body size/shape. And you’ll also need to do this pretty consistently for about three to six weeks before you even start to think you might see a difference.

Belly fat is stubborn, and it’s hard to get rid of for most people. If you’re like me and have three kids, you may never actually get rid of it all, no matter how much you weigh. But if you continue to eat healthy and exercise the right way (aerobics plus muscle strength building) then you have a much better chance of success than hoping a piece of exercise equipment like an ab rocker that you see on a late night infomercial is going to magically transform your body.