How do you lose 11 lbs in 3 weeks? With Slim & Strong!

For the December Slim & Strong session I offered a 3-week long course. The morning group met 4x a week and the evening group 3x a week. A lot of participants did very well, despite the many holiday parties and increased work load that comes with the end of year. What you may find interesting is that the participants that did 4 workouts a week did no better than the participants that did 3 workouts a week. I always preach to you that the body fat loss is directly linked to your diet and no amount of exercise can undo poor eating habits. The big winners of December really put their mind to cleaning up their act. And, interestingly, the top 2 winners took Slim & Strong for the first time. Goes to show you how motivating a new lifestyle is.

Our first place winner, Yakaira, lost 10.6 lbs in 3 weeks. That’s a lot of weight and the great news is she lost mostly fat and only a little muscle. When I asked what made the difference in the past 3 weeks, she said that she put to use all she learned in my nutrition workshop and stopped eating “like a Dominican”. She used to eat rice, potatoes and spaghetti all together in one meal, so it’s not surprising that once she substituted the starches with vegetables that the weight just dropped off her.

Here are her before and after pictures:

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1st Place: Yakaira

Weight loss: 10.6 lbs

Body fat loss: 2.3%

Muscle lost: 2.3 lbs or 1.9%

Pure fat lost: 8.3 lbs!

Enjoy the $200 shopping spree!

 

 

The 2nd place goes to Sumayyah

She was so dedicated to making every workout. When she missed a morning workout, she would come in the evenings. And, she also cleaned up her diet from the get-go. She eliminated starches and ate lean proteins paired with veggies. The result: 9 lbs in 3 weeks. That shows. Take a look at Sumayyah’s posture as well!

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Weight loss: 8.7 lbs

Body fat loss: .4%

Muscle lost: 4.9 lbs or 4.1%

Pure fat lost: 3.8 lbs

Enjoy your 7 indoor boot camp sessions!

 Another 2nd place goes to Elizabeth, who has been taking Slim & Strong on and off for years. She has steadily been dropping the pounds and looks great.

Weight loss: 5.2 lbs

Body fat loss: 1.7%

Muscle lost: .76 lbs

Pure fat lost 4.4 lbs

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The 3rd prize goes to Mary. Mary, a mother of 4 (yes, we can’t believe that either), has been devoted to working out as hard as she can. Despite the fact that she has a long commute from Staten Island and has 4 kids and a full-time job, she makes the time and shows up every day. She drinks her NutriBullet drinks and does the best squat :-)

Here she is. We don’t have a ‘before’ picture, but she looked just as great before.

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Weight loss: 4 lbs

Body fat loss: 2.4%

.2 lbs of muscle lost

Pure fat lost: 3.4 lbs

Enjoy your 3 indoor boot camp sessions!

 

If you too want to get slim & strong, join us in January. The next session starts January 6th and runs for 4 weeks. You can choose from 2 locations and times: 

6.30am Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays

Complete Body & Spa, 57th & 2nd Ave

 

6.30pm Mondays/Tuesdays/Thursdays

Stepping Out Studios, 26th & 6th Ave

 

Here are the details. The morning sessions is almost full, so sign up soon!

If you can’t commit to the Slim & Strong month, then come to my Nutrition Workshop on January 7th at 6.30pm at Stepping Out Studios on 26th and 6th Ave. In that one hour with me you will learn how your diet alone can create incredible changes for your body and your self esteem. Here are the details. 

 

Leonie lost 33 lbs in 10 weeks. How did she do it?

As you may know, I’m also a Nutritionist and provide private one-on-one consultations. Sometimes I get requests from the other side of the country or the other side of the world. In this case it was Leonie from Vienna, Austria, who had seen something about me on TV and contacted me for a Skype session. We spoke in September and in the past 10 weeks Leonie has dropped 33 lbs and loads of inches. See the incredible difference?

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Of course you want to know how she did it, so here we go:

1. You booked a Skype nutrition session with me in September. What motivated you to do so?

In the past 5-6 years I had gained over 33 pounds. All together I gained 55 lbs in the past 10 years. In the beginning slowly, but then more quickly. After each new diet I put on an additional 10 lbs or so, until the horrible sight of 80 kilos (176 lbs) appeared on the scale and I realized that I weighed more than my boyfriend. I wasn’t myself anymore, but I was clueless about what to do, as nothing seemed to help. Mind you, I ‘m in the public eye frequently, being a writer and a university docent, so looking like a ball had an impact on my career. The idea of the Brooklyn Bridge Boot Camp fascinated me and out of respect for it I decided to trust Ariane on the issue of nutrition. This was on September 18, a new start.

2. What results have you achieved since?

I’ve achieved quite a bit: 33 lbs lost, I have lost 33 inches around my waist and hips. My clothes went from size 42 to 36/38, and I’m living a new lifestyle. I’ve moved away from what I would call a food addiction. I enjoy everything I eat now, especially simple food and spices, after a long period of feeling bad every time I ate.

 3. What changes did you implement both dietary and with regard to your workouts? 

Most significantly, I stopped eating irregularly and all the time: when passing by a bakery with the great aroma of baked goods, or a whole bowl of nuts, when feeling stressed, bored, frustrated or very happy. The dangerous link between mood and food was disconnected, to my great relief. Every morning, I did a workout, no matter what the weather or the time schedule. I wouldn’t say that the change was too hard. I didn’t feel hungry or deprived from food. The hardest was my anxiety about whether I will succeed. After three, four days I started noticing the first good signs, such as not needing sweets, and I experienced euphoria.

4. Tell us about a typical week – what workouts do you do and how do you eat?

I have breakfast, which I didn’t use to have. Three times daily I eat properly – actually, more than before I started this diet. I have a piece of fish or white meat with quite a lot of cooked vegetables and/or salad. In between, there are two snacks, it can be a fruit, ten nuts, or a coffee. Twice a week I ‘cheat’ with a glass of wine or a muffin, a piece of cake on my birthday. I make sure to perform a workout every day, even if it is the 7 minute-routine Ariane gave me, or  before a lecture or catching a plane.

5. You give lectures and travel quite a bit. How do you succeed on the road?

I take with me cut up vegetables, e.g. cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, a bag with hazelnuts, sometimes cottage cheese and a piece of dark bread/pumpernickel, when I know that no shops will be available at the destination. During lectures, I take a break for the snack. In restaurants, I only order and eat dishes prepared without flour and dairy. I have had to return salads with mayonnaise and so-called grilled fish, which was really fried and breaded a few times. Following this system has become my nature now, and it gives me incredible freedom – all my nice new clothes fit and getting dressed is a pleasure.

I posted Leonie’s picture on Facebook the other day and people gave her loads of kudos for looking so great and making amazing progress. Let’s see where Leonie takes this.

If you’re interested in setting up a one-on-one with me, don’t hesitate to contact me. We’ll spend an hour addressing your specific goals, your nutritional needs, your health issues and I’ll teach you all you need to know to create the changes you want. 

Cheers, Ariane

 

Can you boost your mood through food?

Most people crave foods in the Winter that are higher in starches and sugar. Less sunlight can drop our mood and energy and the body’s natural way to raise serotonin levels is by creating cravings for starches and sugar. Serotonin is produced in the gut from carbs. Yes, serotonin is produced in the gut and that’s where the majority of this happy neurotransmitter lives. There are natural ways you can boost your mood and satisfy carb cravings through your diet without putting on the pounds.

I love salads in the Summer time, but in the Winter I want something that warms me, such as stews, hot oatmeal, soups and roasted vegetables. One of the ways I still get my loads of veggies in and feel satisfied is to add warm butternut squash or sweet potatoes to my salad. The combination of warm and cold is perfect and helps fill me up and warm me.

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Here’s my lunch salad from today: A bed of mixed greens, spinach, kale, collard greens with 1/2 avocado and 3 hard-boiled eggs. Topped with a cup of butter

nut squash and a few sweet potato pieces. These are from a bag of frozen veggies that I heated up and topped the salad with. Drizzled it with the champagne pear vinaigrette from Trader Joe’s (No, it doesn’t make you drunk!). You can also add a piece of grilled chicken or salmon on top to boost your protein intake and do without the eggs.

There are many ways to amp up your winter salad. Share with me your favorites so I can get inspired by your ideas!

 

A Thanksgiving Veggie Dish with Incredible Health Benefits

Brussels sprouts have become a new favorite, it seems. I used to hate them as a child for good reason. Steamed without any flavor they’re not very appealing, but if you roast them and season them properly they take on a completely different appeal. 


Brussels sprouts are loaded with glucosinolates, which are potent anti-cancer fighters and they also help in the detoxification of your body. Brussels sprouts are rich in sulfur, which is needed in ample supply to activate the Phase 2 detoxification. They’re also high in Vitamin C and manganese, beta-carotene, and vitamin E. And, even better, the compounds in Brussels are thought to protect our DNA, which can be attacked by toxins from the environment, so load up on these babies on Thanksgiving and beyond and you’ll be actively fighting environmental effects on your body. 

 

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Are you a Diet Perfectionist?

Here’s an email I got today from one of my Detox participants: “Hi Ariane – I’ve fallen off a bit as I’m not eating as cleanly. I’ve stuck with the shakes for breakfast and eating protein and veggies at almost every meal. I still struggle with the “extras” and eating more than I need to. My digestion is fine so that’s good. I’m cleaning up though so feeling good about that. I may do a detox again at some point in the future.”

My response?

Read more

Snack on this: Eggs on bread with Avocado

Real food is better than snacks or bars when it comes to satisfying a craving or balancing your blood sugar. When you’re hungry, your goal should always be blood sugar control. If you eat too many carbs, your blood sugar spikes and puts your body into fat storage mode. If you eat too little protein, you’ll be hungry a lot. If you skimp on fat you’ll want to eat more food to make up for the lack of flavor and satiation.

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Need a Quickie? Try this Fat-Blasting Boot Camp Routine!

There you are: stranded in your hotel room, at your friend’s place for the weekend or just too lazy to shuffle to the gym. You need a quick workout so your muscles don’t turn to mush and you know you’ll feel better if you crank out just a few minutes of fat-blasting moves. Here’s my quickie boot camp routine to the rescue. These moves are taken from my Brooklyn Bridge Boot Camp DVD. If you need the full hour, you can order it here. 

 

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October Slim & Strong Winners: 3.5% body fat lost!

The October participants of Slim & Strong buckled down on their eating (and drinking!). I know for a fact that two of the top participants decided to lay off the booze for a few weeks. And, it actually worked because alcohol calories cannot be used for energy. They go pretty much straight into fat storage, so please don’t drink a beer before your next boot camp workout. It’s not going to fuel you! :-)

Monica took home 1st place: 

 Weight loss: 8.4 lbs

Body fat loss: 3.5%

Muscle lost 1.71 lbs or 1.7%

6.7 lbs of pure fat lost

Congrats to your $200 shopping spree at City Sports!

The next NutriBullet Detox starts November 7th! Look and feel fab by Thanksgiving!

The next NutriBullet Detox starts November 7th, 2013. 
If you’re ready to get your body back on track, then join our 21-Day Nutribullet Detox. You can participate remotely or you can opt to take indoor or outdoor boot camp classes in addition to your Detox program. It ends right before Thanksgiving – just in time to look and feel amazing when you meet your family. Past participants have lost up to 20 lbs in 3 weeks, and up to 5% body fat loss. That’s a lot when you look at this:

Are you numbing yourself?

Today I received a great ‘Daily Om‘ email. Why so great? It gets to the core issue that addresses overeating. How often have you reached for a candy bar or a cookie because you felt upset about something? How often do you seek distraction from taking care of the things you really should be tackling already? We all use ‘exit strategies’ to get away from it all once in a while. However, if these strategies become frequent or permanent, they can cause issues: Weight gain from overeating, financial issues from overspending, lack of social interaction because of Internet or TV addiction. You know your own exit strategy best. Make sure it stays a temporary outlet and doesn’t cause you more issues over time. 
 
I wanted to share this email with you because it very simply sheds light on this issue. 
 
Numbing yourself prevents you from confronting your issues and keeps you from ever finding resolution or peace.