Exclusive Interview with Farrah Abraham

In an exclusive interview with SkinnyTwinkie.com, the reality TV star Farrah Abraham talks about her healthy habits that have helped her stay in such great shape.

SkinnyTwinkie.com: In the last year you have created Mom&Me Italian Hot Pepper sauce, released your books “My Teenage Dream Ended” and “Passy Perfume“, all while being a full-time mom to your beautiful daughter, Sophia. With everything you are busy doing, how do you stay in such great shape?

Farrah Abraham: Great question with one easy, low key simple answer: “at home workouts”. A little example of this is on my YouTube channel & at sixpackshortcut’s YouTube channel. I have a gym in my house but in all honesty I just get bored looking at the equipment. I’d rather it be about the core and fit in time before my shower or right before bed.

SkinnyTwinkie.com: Do you have a favorite workout? If so, what is it and why is it your favorite?

Farrah Abraham: My favorite workout move is “V ups” as well “V core” and “V sit”. I felt after I had my daughter my tummy is the one part of my body I will consistently have to have keep up on, and these quick moves keep me looking summer bikini ready all year long. Just look online at last weeks bikini pictures; dead of winter in Florida but I still had my bikini body ready with no pressure.

SkinnyTwinkie.com: As a Culinary Professional, what advice can you give others to create healthier meals in the kitchen?

Farrah Abraham: It’s amazing to be a professional chef and not be the statistic of a regular chef; being overweight and looking forward to health problems in the future. A quick tip for creating healthy meals at home [is to] start at the grocery store and buy mostly raw items. This will give you more nutrition and less cooking time. I believe in a couple [of] specific reminders; Don’t Count Calories, Do not eat right before bed, and eat while sitting up straight.
If you’re not counting calories, then you get to pay attention to keeping meals looking tiny and delicious! If you’re not eating right before bed, you will be prompted to eat your most important meal of the day, “Breakfast” and make it count! Hint: a good bowl of berries & oatmeal will do the trick! Lastly, if you’re slumped over when you’re eating, your head and your stomach won’t be able to connect properly to let you know you have eaten way too much. I think there have been many times we can count, where we stand up and feel like we’re too full to move or need to go buy bigger pants – Watch for these little tips!

SkinnyTwinkie.com: A lot of people struggle with eating a healthy breakfast. Do you have a particular go-to meal in the morning?

Farrah Abraham: I kind of touched on this, but oatmeal is really healthy for your morning. You can make it different every morning with add-ins such as berries, nuts, or yogurt.

SkinnyTwinkie.com: How have you been able to incorporate a healthy lifestyle for your daughter?

Farrah Abraham: Sophia gets prime gourmet baby food, as I like to call it. I make sure that Sophia gets all five food groups a day and that’s my main goal. But I am quite proud that Sophia loves brussel sprouts. I like to make candied brussel sprouts for her & they’re all gone :)

SkinnyTwinkie.com: Is Sophia a picky eater? If so, how have you been able to get her to eat her veggies?!

Farrah Abraham: I think all toddlers can be picky eaters, but it’s a parent’s job to help them grow out of that close mindedness. Start with small steps by blending some veggies up in the blender and mixing them with a fruit dip and take their favorite berries and dip it in, or if you have a meatball lover make your own meatball mix with blended veggies. I have hundreds of tricks for getting Sophia to widen her palette. After all, when I went to college, that’s what I had to practice myself, all the time, even when some things truly tasted unappealing.

SkinnyTwinkie.com: Any health tips you would like to share to help other busy moms?

Farrah Abraham: The only tip needed is [to] pre-make meals, as well [as] make family portions to last a couple days. Cooking every day can really hold up a businesswoman. So set an evening or morning to knock out some meals ahead of time so it’s possible to run around all week if needed.

Thank you Farrah for sharing your fitness and nutrition tips with us!

Make it Happen

Farrah proves that exercising and eating healthy are possible for those of us that are super busy (aren’t we all?) and still want to stay in great shape all year long. I hope all of her health tips will help you stay focused and motivated to make your health goals happen!

Remember: Summer bodies are earned in the Winter! ;)

Image Credit: Farrah and Sophia

Feel free to follow us, however you like: Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram

Tags: Celebrity, Farrah Abraham, Fitness, Health, Nutrition, reality star

Jillian Michaels Understands Other Mom’s Weight Loss Struggles

Jillian Michaels is famous for being the tough personal trainer yelling at contestants on The Biggest Loser to help them reach their weight loss goals. Now, as a new mom to a newborn son and to an adopted two year old girl from Haiti, Jillian is finally realizing how hard it is to follow her own advice.

Put Yourself First?

“Telling moms ‘You need to put yourself first’?” Jillian Michaels said, rolling her eyes. “It’s impossible to put yourself first when your a mom.”

Jillian admitted to the Daily Mail that she hasn’t been to the gym for two weeks, or since her newborn was born (which her partner gave birth to, not Jillian) .

Jillian Understands…

It’s safe to say that Jillian finally understands how difficult it may be for a new mom to hit the gym and lose weight – which is something she just couldn’t grasp in the past. This is great, since she will be able to relate better to her clients that are parents.

Of course, we all know that Jillian will get back into an exercise routine sooner rather than later and she will now be able to say, “I’m a mom. If I can find time to exercise, so can you!”. Truth is, she’ll be right. It may take some major adjustments when you add a little one into your life, but that doesn’t mean you give up on exercising and eating healthy. Give yourself time to adjust to your new schedule, and just make it happen!

How do you think Jillian will change (if at all) as a trainer now that she is a new Mom of two?

Image Credit: dailymail.co.uk

Feel free to follow us, however you like: Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest

Tags: Celebrity, Fitness, Health, Jillian Michaels, New Mom, Parenting, Weight Loss

Did Snooki Safely Lose Weight?

Snooki (AKA Nicole Polizzi) from the popular reality TV show, Jersey Shore, is one of the many stars who have recently lost a lot of weight. For the 4’9″ reality star, her 15 pound weight loss is a substantial difference! Snooki now weighs in at 98 pounds and many want to know how they too can shed some excess weight.

How Snooki Lost 15 Pounds

Snooki weighs in at 98 pounds (which isn’t bad considering her height) and the rumor mill was in overdrive trying to figure out the secret to her recent weight loss. Luckily, Snooki let her 4 million plus followers on Twitter in on her little weight loss secret.

Snooki wrote on her Twitter page “Glad to hear reports that say I look good =) but it’s not because of HCG! Thanks @Zantrex!”

There you have it! Snooki has had the help of the diet pill Zantrex to help her reach her goal weight. I’ve also read recently that according to recently that Snooki also credits alcohol and becoming a gym rat to her weight loss success. Yikes. While the rest of Hollywood is providing their congrats to Snooki, I’m going to take this opportunity to warn my readers against the dangers of poor diet, alcohol, and dangerous weight loss pills mixed with gym time.

Yes, Snooki lost weight and looks great, but you can do better than that. You can create a healthy lifestyle that will last longer than the latest Hollywood fad diet.

Is Zantrex Safe?

Let’s face it. Zantrex is a diet pill. You know how I feel about those, right? With that aside, is Zantrex any different? Is it safe? I did some research and the short answer is: No, Zantrex is not safe. It may help with quick weight loss but it just doesn’t provide a long term solution to weight loss, which is what you really want, right? Diet pills are just the “easy” way out, so I understand why it seems to appealing.

For long term weight loss and health, focus on healthy eating and drinking habits and avoid those dangerous diet pills, no matter which favorite starlet is promoting the product.

Feel free to follow us, however you like: Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest

Image Credit: SkinnyvsCurvy.com

Tags: Celebrity, Snooki

How Jennifer Hudson Lost 80 Pounds

Do you want to know how your favorite Diva lost 80 pounds? Jennifer Hudson was able to lose the extra weight when she focused on her diet, through Weight Watchers, and hired a Personal Trainer to help her get started with an exercise routine. Bottom Line: Diet and Exercise.

“It’s all about self-motivation because at the end of the day, you can have all the trainers and all the money in the world, but if you don’t have that mindset, it’s not possible.” – Jennifer Hudson on Oprah

Jennifer Hudson’s Diet

For Jennifer Hudson, it all started with Weight Watchers, which is basically a support group for those who want to calorie count their way into their skinny jeans.

The great thing about Weight Watchers is that you don’t have to buy a specific brand of food to participate in their program (such as the Special K diet or Slim•Fast), though, they do sell their own Weight Watchers products in the grocery stores. Another positive thing about Weight Watchers is that the program doesn’t completely eliminate an entire food group, such as all carbohydrates or all fruit. Other diets are just not as practical.

A couple of concerns about the Weight Watchers program is that dieters are allowed to eat as much fruit as they want. This may sounds like a wonderful thing, but all foods, including fruit, have their limitations. For those who truly want to lose weight, and unlimited amount of sugar is not ideal, even if the sugar is coming from a healthy source such as a piece of fruit.

Weight Watchers is a glorified calorie counting program that costs you money every month. You don’t need to pay a company to find out how many calories you should be eating. It’s common enough that it’s found free throughout the internet. For a free support group, let your family and friends know about your healthy weight loss goals and have them help support you with your efforts. Again, I just don’t think you need to pay for that.

If Jennifer Hudson found success with Weight Watchers, why not you? Something to consider. She was approached by this company and was offered millions of dollars to endorse their product. Trust me, I am sure that would motivate anyone to lose the extra pounds that they wanted to lose anyways.

Jennifer Hudson’s Exercise Routine

In addition to Weight Watchers diet plan, Jennifer Hudson hired a Celebrity Personal Trainer, Harley Pasternak, to help her start an exercise program that would work for her.

Harley started Jennifer with a 25 minute circuit training routine that included cardio, shoulder presses, lunges, sit ups, and ab exercises for five days a week. As Jennifer progressed, she worked her way up to a 50 minute routine. In addition to a traditional style workout with her trainer, Jennifer also gets in at least 25 minutes of cardio every day.

Jennifer tries to keep her cardio workouts fun, so she will enjoy playing some basketball or even jump roping. You don’t have to be in a gym on an exercise machine to burn calories and lose weight!

I am proud of Jennifer Hudson for learning how to eat well and starting an exercise program to help her become healthy. Yeah, she lost weight – but even if you aren’t trying to lose weight, it’s important for your health to eat right and exercise on a regular basis.

Feel free to follow us, however you like: Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest

Image Credits: jenniferhudsonweightlossx.com

Tags: Celebrity, Harley Pasternak, Health, Jennifer Hudson, personal trainer, Weight Loss, Weight Watchers

Mariah Carey Reveals Her 70 Pound Weight Loss

The talented Mariah Carey recently revealed to the world how she lost 70 pounds after having her twins just six months ago. See the picture below? That’s a picture of her after she had twins! Continue reading to find out how Mariah Carey was able to lose 70 pounds!

Losing 70 Pounds 

Mariah Carey had a very difficult pregnancy caring twins and gained excess weight from having edema. The first week after Mariah Carey had her twins, she lost 40 pounds in just water weight. After that, she lost 30 pounds of “baby weight” in three months.

How Mariah Carey Lost 70 Pounds

Mariah stuck to 1,500 calories a day (which is very reasonable) and once she was able, she started to workout three times a week.

Mariah didn’t lose her weight completely by herself. Jenny, formerly known as Jenny Craig, approached Mariah Carey to help her lose weight. Mariah Carey ended up as the new Brand Ambassador of the Jenny diet plan.

After three months of sticking to this regime, Mariah Carey was able to lose “at least 30 pounds”. Mariah doesn’t know how much she weighs exactly, since she is focused more on being more healthy. Now, Mariah boasts a flat stomach, toned legs, and easily fits into her size 6 clothes. Not bad for a 42 year old mother of 6 month old twins!

 ”I’m proud of how hard I worked to get my body back…I had to do this for me.” – Mariah Carey

I am not going to specifically endorse the Jenny diet plan, I’ll leave that to Mariah Carey. The reason I wanted to write about Mariah Carey’s weight loss is because (1) I wanted to give everyone an example that age doesn’t matter (as much as people think it does) when it comes to weight loss. Mariah Carey is in her 40′s, and she was able to lose 30 pounds in 3 months. (2) I also wanted to point out that Mariah was able to lose weight, get back into shape, after having twins! A women’s body gains weight and gets stretched out enough with one baby, but can you imagine trying to get back into shape after having twins?

“The whole point of this is not just like, ‘Oh, hey, look at me and my weight loss, I’m fantastic.’ It’s really health, I learned it when I became helpless and felt so vulnerable like never before in my life.” – Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey was able to lose weight without starving herself or living at the gym.  Mariah focused on creating a healthy lifestyle that would work for her.

Do you need to go on the new Jenny diet plan? Not necessarily. If you are able to, I suggest hiring a Certified Personal Trainer and/or a Licensed Nutritionist to help you reach your goals. Otherwise, you can still figure out how many calories you need to eat each day to lose weight, and start an exercise regime. I suggest looking at our archived articles to find out what to eat and how to start an exercise program.

Feel free to follow us, however you like: Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest

Image Credit: PRNewsFoto/Jenny Craig

Tags: Celebrity, Mariah Carey, Weight Loss