The Alternative Press

If you want to look good in your bikini this summer or just feel good enough to just sleep naked tonight, you have to address your food and exercise regime. You must ensure that you are putting the pieces of the weight loss puzzle together.  Don’t waste your time trying to figure out whether diet or exercise is more important. You can’t bake a cake without eggs, flour, sugar and a bunch of other ingredients that come together to make it happen in the oven. Same goes for your body ~ you need a recipe for getting the results you want.

There is a great youtube video that takes the cake. In 3 minutes, Craig Ballantyne demonstrates a 43 calorie burn during an uphill treadmill sprint. In those three minutes, his partner Brad Pilon, stood nearby and consumed over 1,000 calories worth of pizza and soda. Wow! So what is the point you ask? It is the food you eat that matters most. In my opinion, it makes up for about 80 % of the cake.

So if you think you can eat whatever you want as long as you get to the gym and increase your exercise, it ain’t happening!  A proper diet is crucial to your weight loss success and looking good naked. I’ll go out on a limb and say you need to Cook Naked in order to look good naked.

Here are 5 common mistakes that are frequently made and that you want to avoid if you have any intention of rockin’ that swim suit this summer.  

Crash Diets. Waiting until the week before vacation to implement a crash diet is not the way to reach your goals. Lose the fake stuff and get real. Give yourself time to make healthy eating changes to your diet. Get rid of fried foods, sugar and anything white. Make greens the bulk of your diet and include beans, nuts, seeds, and fruit.

Drink Your Calories. For God Sake, don't drink your calories. A glass of wine (or 2) ,  and your specialty blended coffees drink like Caramel Mocha Frappucino Lattes with extra cream are packed with as much calories as a small meal, so why not just eat a meal?

Pour it On. Healthy food choices can easily be infiltrated by unhealthy sauces or dressings drenched on top. Do not pour that crap on. Pay attention to portions because even healthy dippers like peanut butter or hummus could pack on extra calories by mindless consuming of extra servings.

Take the Weekends Off. Treating yourself to a less healthy meal on the weekend should not be enough to knock you off the weight loss wagon, however it is important to understand that weight loss through healthy eating is a 24/7 commitment. Every meal is an opportunity to improve your health, but you have to seize the opportunity. Take advantage of extra time on the weekend for food shopping and preparing healthy snacks and meals for your busy work week ahead. This will insure success.

Eat CRAP! There is no excuse for not knowing what the frig' you are eating.  Crap consumes supermarket shelves and I admit it can be damn confusing. Be forewarned that when you eat crap, you feel like crap. Unless you are a nutritionist, scientist, consult the textbooks, you are in deep trouble in the food store. Blatant lies are everywhere with false information about what is healthy. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you are most likely eating garbage.  The only place for garbage is in the trash, not in your healthy, sexy body. Keep it simple and follow the naked rules. Eat food with no label and as close to it’s source as possible as often as possible.