This is a question I get asked a lot as someone who has lost 40 pounds in 50 days – “How many calories should I eat to lose weight?” The answer to this question is relatively simple and can be answered with a variety of daily needs calculators found all over the internet. The Self calculator is one of my favorites, but there is also the MyPyramid.gov way to go about it as well.

The simple and obvious answer is that you should take in less than you burn each day. (The calculators can help you figure this out). For my personal diet, I keep my daily intake below 1500 calories, but it is definitely different for every person. This is why using the calculators is so important. Don’t just try one, give a couple of them a try so that you can see if there are any differences. The JillianMichaels.com plan has a good personalized plan that you could try. Another thing that is important when considering your daily caloric intake is how much exercise or activity you are doing each day. You have to feed your body the right vitamins and minerals in order for it to operate properly.

Sometimes, people might try a VLCD (Very Low Calorie Diet) to jump start their weight loss but it is not recommended for long term or for someone who only has a few pounds to lose. VLCDs are diets that are 800 calories or below per day. These types of diets used to have to be done with medical supervision but now they are available to just about anyone at an affordable price. The concern with VLCDs is that you will regain the weight back once you begin eating normally. Yes, this will happen if you revert to your old ways, but if you go through some behavior change while you are losing weight, you can work to keep this from happening.

Another way to jump start weight loss is through cleansing which is also very low calorie but meant to be done for short term, though some cleansing can last for months by experienced cleansers. I cleanse from time to time for a couple of days just to get myself back on track or whenever I need a boost. I like the Lemonade Diet Cleanse for this purpose.

Also remember it is not just about calories. You want to make sure you are giving your body what it needs. Do your research and know YOUR body. “How many calories should I eat to lose weight?” is ultimately a question that you and your doctor should discuss in order for you to determine which plan will work best for YOU.

Congratulations to Japan who won against the US with penalty kicks in the Women’s World Cup final. After scoring early, the US was caught with a goal from Japan. After staying tied the remainder of the match, the US scored first in extra time. Then Japan came back one more time to tie it up. Once penalty kicks started, everything sort of fell apart for the US team. They missed their first two shots and Japan got a couple in on the US team. When everything was counted up, the nation of Japan was elated to have a victorious team.

Notable mentions on the US team were Alex Morgan who had an amazing goal. The youngest and fastest on the team, she will be around for many more years. Then there is Wabbach…with her amazing head. The second US goal was a kick from Morgan to Wabbach who headed it in perfectly.

No matter who you routed for, both teams played with a tremendous amount of heart. Thanks for putting on a great match! Japan wins over USA and the country who has been in such pain for the last year can finally enjoy some celebration.

Here is the Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition Salmon Burger recipe from Episode 2 featuring Alex. It is part of the California Institute for Health and Longevity’s Extreme Makeover Weight Loss recipe series. So tasty AND healthy!

Ingredients:

1 lb of salmon filet, cut into 4-inch pieces 1 tablespoon cilantro leaves (fresh) 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce 1/2 teasp. garlic paste Read the rest of this entry »

If you are wondering What time does Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition come on tonight, I have your answer. Tonight, June 6 at 10 Eastern/9:00 Central on ABC, Extreme Makeover Weight Loss will feature the story of Alex who is 260 pounds overweight at 23 years old. Alex is going to try to lose weight to fulfill his mother’s last wish for him to get healthy. His mother died of cancer when he was in high school.

Chris Powell, personal trainer and transformation guru for the morbidly obese, will be facilitating Alex’s weight loss. Chris has a very interesting plan when he gets Alex to join the Army! Well, that is one way to drop weight!

Tune in tonight for Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition and then come back to BurnFatClub.com for the recap and follow up. We will have the recipes and resources they mention posted!

The Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition ABC Episode 1 proved to be as motivational as all of the previews suggested! Here is a recap so you can get up to speed for the season.

The premise of the show is based on Chris Powell (cutey!), a personal trainer and motivator who helps individuals to lose weight over one year. He basically brings people to LA for the first month for what he calls his “Boot Camp” and then monitors them for one year. He sets goals for every 90 days and if the contestants reach their goals, he offers prizes or something to motivate them for the next 90 days. Chris Powell has specialized in helping the morbidly obese and says that thousands have asked for his help.

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Leann Rimes’ Weight Loss does have some people worried that she is taking it too far. Fitness has a unique way of changing people’s lives, whether it makes them feel reassured about themselves, or just gives them that ‘I feel good’ feeling. Leann Rimes is an example of a celebrity who felt ‘not-so-celebrity’ about herself because of how fat she thought she was, and ultimately because of how conscious she felt because of that. Although she never let critics get to her, she did realize that she had to change her health lifestyle and lose some weight. Working with a partner (her husband), she came to change her physique and lose a ton of fat, making a great transformation that most people are too lazy to endure.

Her diet consists of a vital tool that most people forget in theirs: not eating crap! It’s often the most overlooked part of a diet, but most people either forgo or forget it, continuing to eat junk food and drink high sugar juices with high caloric intake that provide very little nutritious value (instead try Mango). It may seem obvious, but this is very counter-productive and should be avoided at all costs. For some celebrities like Beyonce, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, they opted for cleansing which cut out anything bad for them.

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Of every diet you’ve heard of, The Lemonade Diet is one you probably know very little about. It is a short period, cleansing diet that takes the course of several days (approx.. a month). The purpose of the diet is to detoxify the body of its various impurities that carry a large cause in the contraction of some sicknesses/diseases (e.g. skin irritation, oily foreheads, physical emaciation, etc.) And while on this lemonade diet, your body relies solely on the energy of lemonade, with the nutritious juice it offers, so as to alleviate these contaminants in your body; losing weight is a byproduct of that.

The diet’s key ingredients are cayenne pepper, lemon juice extracts (of course), and syrup (maple). There are virtually no carbohydrates involved during the period of the lemonade diet, so you’ll be looking at a mixture of these three ingredients for about 30 days.

In addition to this part of the diet, you’ll ascribe to salt water everyday, as well as laxative tea; all to ensure that there is proper cleansing of the body (as mentioned above).

The essence of this diet relies upon the cleansing of bodily toxins to allow the digestive tract to rest (so it won’t work as hard). This leads to the expenditure or “burning” of stored fatty acids, without decreasing any somatic or central insulin levels (in non-medical terms, you’re perfectly safe losing weight under this diet). Speaking of insulin, this diet is not recommended for those who are diabetics, as lemon juice extracts may lead to high level acidosis/ketosis and cause other health problems.

There is also the lemonade diet in pill form which makes the whole process much easier to do than the lemonade cleanse Beyonce or Ashton Kutcher did.

There are hundreds of diets out there from low-carb to high fat diets to the much-rumored Jennifer Aniston baby food diet. According to her trainer Tracey Anderson, Jen has lost 7 lbs in a short week by just following a “baby pureed regimen.”

Very interesting, how can you get started on the you ask yourself?

To get started on the baby food diet, you’ll need to replace all except one of your meals with baby food. During the day, when you feel that you’re starving, just finish a jar of baby food. The diet amounts to about only a thousand calories a day, and because of the pureed extract, it is very effective at providing nutritional value while shedding your additional weight. To ensure that the diet actually works, you should rely on ‘real’ baby food and not other household variants of it.

Is it really that healthy?

Although the diet might seem a bit barbaric, especially by the fact that grown adults are fulfilling their daily nutrition with chunks of baby food, the diet does seem to regulate one’s caloric intake very well.

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The “Biggest Loser” winner Olivia Ward has received a $250,000 prize for losing almost half of her weight. She started out with the weight of 261, suffering from various diseases due to her condition. She ended at 132 pounds and no health problems at all after winning the eleventh season of “Biggest Loser”.

The other two contestants who qualified into the final also did incredibly well, one of them losing 120 pounds, while the other 116 pounds. Hannah Curlee, Olivia’s sister, was in second place making this the first time that a team was both first and second. Olivia and Hannah were very supportive of each other and you could see them saying “I love you” over and over again during the final weigh in.

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The Dancing With the Stars 2011 season has just ended and it has been a season of thrills, spills, pain and pleasure with Hines Ward and Kim Johnson taking the top prize.  It didn’t start out that way when the new line-up of stars was announced, the cast seemed somewhat underwhelming though all the usual fields were covered. However, we did know that Kristie Alley wanted to shed some pounds and she sure did. But did you know that Kim Johnson has also been promoting a Lemonade Diet pill to lose weight? She certainly looks trimmer than previous seasons!

There were the sports stars with wrestler Chris Jericho paired with Cheryl Burke, boxer Sugar Ray Lenorad and his partner Anna Trebunskaya and Football player Hines Ward and his partner Kym Johnson.

Both Radio and Television Talk shows were represented by Mike Cathwood being paired with Lacy Schwimmer and Wendy Willams set to dance with Tony Dovaloni.  The ever present models were represented by Petra Nemcova dancing with Demetri Chaplain, and Play Boy bunny Kendra Wilkinson matched with Louie Van Amstrel.  Rapper Romeo finally made an appearance paired with Chelsie Hightower and the ever present Disney star this season was Chelsea Cane who danced with Mark Ballas.

Of course no dancing stars program would be the same without the older movie and television stars and this season we would see the Karate Kid Ralph Macchio take on a whole new role and the 61 year old Kristie Alley who stated she wanted to dance some excess weight off.

However, by the end of the second show, what looked to be a lack luster cast was already surprising many viewers with Ralph Macchio taking an early lead and Kristie Alley showing that being overweight and over 40 didn’t mean she still didn’t have some smooth moves. Even the sports figures started out strong with Hines Ward and his partner Kym Johnson lighting up the dance floor.

Of course there were a few bad dances right from the start with neither Mike Cathwood’s charming smile nor his partner Lacy Schwimmers upbeat moves being able to overcome the radio hosts two left feet. And Wendy Williams may be able to talk up a storm but, her dancing left her to be the second one cut from the line-up in week three.

While the leader board changed almost weekly right from the beginning it was clear to see that Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas, and Hines Ward and Kym Johnson were clearly the teams to watch.  While Kristie alley and Ralph Macchio never failed to show that they still had what it took week after week.

There were few surprises in those who went home with Sugar Ray losing out in week 4, Followed by the super sweet model Petra, then Chris Jericho, followed by Kendra Willinson in week 7.  Week 8 was somewhat a surprise when Romeo was eliminated as an injury to Ralph Macchios ACL left him in last place and rapidly losing ground.  However, after week 9 the three remaining teams were Kristie and Maks, Chelsea and Mark, and Hines and Kym Johnson despite a serious neck injury that she was still wearing a neck brace during rehearsals in the finals.

The finals started out with a neck and neck contest between Chelsea and Hines both tying with 59 points out of 60 paying tribute to the talent of their partners Mark Ballas and Kym Johnson who really stepped up the choreography. But, it was really Kristie Alley and Maks who won the hearts of the audience with their tenacity showing they couldn’t be counted out of the competition.  When all was said and done it was Hines Ward and Kim Johnson (who looked super hot and is a spokesperson for THIS lemonade diet) who took home the mirror ball trophy with Kristie Alley and her partner earning second place and Chelsea Kane coming in third. Kirstie Alley did win the weight loss prize though as her sexy curves were looking HOT for the last show. It all boiled down to the final audience vote and thus ended the closest competition ever to be held on Dancing With the Stars 2011.

I took a few minutes tonight to check out Kirstie Alley Dancing with the Stars and I have to say that I’m impressed.

Love her or hate her, there are a few things that you have to respect when it comes to Kristie and what she has accomplished on this year’s show.

First of all, we all know that she has had major struggles with her weight.  She openly admits that she has had problems with weight for a long time. If you check out some of her pictures, you can see that she has gone up and down over the years.

So, the point is that she was not slim and trim when she started the show.  She was certainly not as athletic as many of the other competitors but she hung in there and gave it her all.

Now, we are approaching the final few couples and Kirstie is still in the mix.  Tonight, she kind of blew me away as she performed some moves that the average “big girl” could not really do.  Even the judges were impressed with the lifts and spins that she pulled off.

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Yup, he did it, there was a Hines Ward P90X plug on DTWS (Dancing with the Stars) last night! Another one comes out in support of the best workout video on the planet! Hines admitted that he does P90X on the popular dance show in response to reaction to his hot dancin’ bod. Beachbody P90X coaches all over the Internet were thrilled to hear Hines say he uses the ultra popular and successful workout video.

Hines is the Steeler favorite to win the show this season with his partner, Kym Johnson. Kym Johnson also is promoting a diet plan, her lemonade diet pill that she has been endorsing for over a year to keep her lean and trim dancer’s body.  Hines and Kim are in the top 5 and tonight we find out if they are in the top 4.

The Hines Ward p90X plug will surely give the company a big boost. Here’s to hoping Hines and Kim go all the way!

The Kim Johnson Diet has been lighting up the Internet since she and Hines Ward have been lighting up the dance floor on Dancing With the Stars (DWTS). It is actually Kym Johnson with a “Y” but it seems no one is catching on to the correct spelling of her name lately. But the Kim Johnson lemonade diet or master cleanse diet pill  is definitely catching on!

Kym started to use the lemonade diet pill over a year ago. It is very similar to the Beyonce lemonade diet or master cleanse diet except with the pill, you don’t have to drink all those glasses of lemonade that Beyonce had to go through. Instead, the Kim Johnson lemonade diet puts all of the ingredients, lemonade, cayenne pepper, grade B maple syrup into an easy to take pill. Also, you get to eat some healthy vegetables so you aren’t starving yourself like Beyonce did. For the lemonade diet pill, the proof is in it’s endorser, Kim Johnson. Kim says she started to use it to keep lean and trim and seeing her on DWTS with Hines looking smoking hot shows that this stuff works.

The Kim Johnson diet, I hope that she continues to win with Hines so we can enjoy the view on TV for a bit longer!

Tune in right here Monday night (May 9, 2011) for all of the DWTS Episode 8 after show talk with HineKym fans! Foxtrot and Jive are on the ticket and we know they are going to nail it with Kym’s hot body and the Hines sexy, sweet smile.

Those judges better watch out! All of those terrible towels in the audience will attack if they feel that their Steeler gets robbed of what he is due, which is total victory and nothing less. I think the foxtrot and Jive definitely fit Hines personality and Kym, as usual, will be Smokin’ in some hot number!

In the meantime, see what Kym Johnson promotes for her keeping her figure lean and trim…the Kym Johnson lemonade diet plan!

According to ABC.com, here is what went down.

“Hines & Kim It’s good, cheesy fun as Hines and Kym skip through their fabulous Foxtrot. Bruno says the team was beaming throughout the dance. Carrie Ann thinks Hines is a guy’s guy and doesn’t try to hide it. Len agrees that it’s a joyful experience to watch them dance. 9-9-10 from the judges gives them a total of 28. As usual, Hines is all smiles after this one.

Hines had never done the Jive, let alone an Instant Jive to “Chantilly Lace.” Bruno says that despite the happy feet he had on display, Hines did a fine job with just 20 minutes prep time. Carrie Ann and Len know the Jive is a tough routine. They both feel Hines and Kym did the dance justice. 9-9-8 from the judges gives them a total of 26 for this dance and 54 for the night.”

All of the attention Kim Johnson has been getting with Hines surely has the Internet buzzing about her lemonade diet pill she promotes. Tune in Tuesday night to see who gets sent home!

The Suunto T6c Triathlon Pack gives you accurate speed, distances and altitude for running and cycling and cadence for cycling. The pack includes the Suunto t6c in black, Foot POD, Road Bike POD, Cadence POD and Memory Belt which records heart rate while swimming.

It is like having an entire exercise science training laboratory following your every step, climb, and stroke!  At the end of your workouts, get a complete analysis so you know everything you did, where you can improve, and where you can gain that little bit of extra edge you need. Basically, the Suunto t6c is like a heart rate monitor on steroids and I want one!