Happy feet!

GOT MY SKECHERS! Hooray! Really wish they'd have had the white in my size, though. Black ones make my feet look bigger. :-) Did some warm up rocking on them and am off to the treadmill!


Here's an article from Men's Health on belly fat.
"Once You Have Fat, You Can Never Go Back

In gyms, playing fields, beaches, and bedrooms across the country, our bodies are constantly being measured. And in dressing room mirrors and on bathroom scales, we're constantly measuring ourselves. But let's set aside those vanity measurements and concentrate on measuring ourselves by a different set of criteria--the number of fat cells we're carrying.

The average American has about 30 billion fat cells; each of them is filled with greasy substances called lipids. When you pump doughnuts, corn chips, and fried Snickers bars into your system, those fat cells can expand--up to 1,000 times their original size. But a fat cell can get only so big; once it reaches its physical limit, it starts to behave like a long-running sitcom. It creates spin-offs, leaving you with two or more fat cells for the price of one. Only problem: Fat cells have a no-return policy. Once you have a fat cell, you're stuck with it. So as you grow fatter and double the number of fat cells in your body, you also double the difficulty you'll have losing the lipids inside them.

The Badness of Belly Fat
Many of us tend to store fat in our bellies, and that's where the health dangers of excess weight begin. Abdominal fat doesn't just sit there and do nothing; it's active. It functions like a separate organ, releasing substances that can be harmful to your body.

For instance, it releases free fatty acids that impair your ability to break down the hormone insulin (too much insulin in your system can lead to diabetes). Fat also secretes substances that increase your risk of heart attacks and strokes, as well as the stress hormone cortisol (high levels of cortisol are also associated with diabetes and obesity as well as with high blood pressure). Abdominal fat bears the blame for many health problems because it resides within striking distance of your heart, liver, and other organs--pressing on them, feeding them poisons, and messing with their daily function.

Take Back Your Belly!
Now take the person with a six-pack. He's the icon of strength and good health. He's lean; he's strong; he looks good in clothes; he looks good without clothes. Defined abs, in many ways, have defined fitness. But they define something else: They're the hallmark of a person who's in control of his body and, as such, in control of his health.

(Large portion of article edited out because it's aimed at men, about sex and not family friendly! You can read the entire article here.)

Read More About It. Take the Challenge!
If you want to become an Abs Diet expert get the book at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and other nationwide retailers. (Or get the Abs Diet for Women)

* Almost 300 pages of cutting edge research
* 50 exercise illustrations
* Advanced ab exercises
* Dozens of recipes for quick and delicious meals
* Read the success stories from those who transformed their bodies and their lives
* The Abs Diet maintenance plan to take you well past the first 6 weeks
* Read the truth about low-carb diets
* Extra nutrition advice, tons of tips and fun and inspirational stories from Men's Health Editor-in-Chief David Zinczenko"