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When it comes to exercise, it’s hard for someone else to determine whether or not it’s time for a change. Exercise is a personal thing and your workout routine results and problems can only be recognized by you. No matter if you’re a novice to physical fitness or an expert, there’s always wiggle room for change when it comes to your workout routine. Here are 14 signs that you need to switch up your exercise regime ASAP!

About This Episode

If you’re a Mother having problems getting your Baby to latch on when it comes to breastfeeding this bonus episode of Mommy In Chief  is for you. We’ve invited back Doctor Lisette Lugo, to offer advice and resources for Moms who are experiecing complications when it comes to breastfeeding.

About Dr. Lissette Lugo

About This Episode

We are back with a popular topic amongst moms – yes breastfeeding–and its benefits. We invited Doctor Lisette Lugo, founder and managing partner of Every Woman Wellness and obstetric anesthesiologist to clarify the breastfeeding role. Is it truly for every Mom?

About Dr. Lissette Lugo

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Most of us feel off track without our cell phones constantly connected to us, so it only makes sense to keep healthy living apps on your mobile device to keep you on track with your wellness goals. There are countless health and wellness apps — many of them free– for you to choose from whether you have an iPhone, Android, etc.  With so little time on your schedule, it’s a lifesaver to be able to access apps for a quick workout or to log your food intake for the day. So check this app list below to see which you should download next to make your life simpler.

Source: WENN

From ESSENCE

Phaedra Parks is always thinking about her health. She tells People, just because she’s pregnant doesn’t mean she’s eating for two.

“Some people subscribe to the myth, ‘I’m eating for two,’” says Parks. “Well, not really. The other person is half of a pound. I wouldn’t really count that as an individual. It’s obviously a living organism, but something weighing seven pounds doesn’t really allow you to eat two meals. Doctors say you only need an additional 500 calories.”

Parks, who released a workout DVD a few months ago, says she doesn’t find it hard to keep her weight down. “I don’t count calories. I just try to eat organic, healthy food. I eat a lot of small meals per day. If I want something, I try to eat it in moderation if it’s something that’s not good for me. I don’t really have any cravings. The only thing I [craved] during my last pregnancy were oranges. I love citrus fruit.”

Well alright, Phae Phae! You can read about what else Phaedra does to stay in shape while pregnant on ESSENCE.

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It took me a while to warm up to avocado. I distinctly remember my first introduction being someone scooping it out of it’s shell and eating it like ice cream. My face nearly turned as green as the avocado itself.  But after doing some research and learning all the wonderful benefits of this amazing food, it’s become a big part of my diet. And not only does it contribute to a healthy diet, but it can also be used externally in mixtures, moisturizers, and masks to keep hair and skin beautiful. Read it. Try it. Love it. Embrace the avocado! For all the recipes, choose a ripened avocado that has a dark green skin and has give–but not mush–when you press it, for easy mixing. If it’s still bright and has no give, you can set it in a paper bag on your counter and let it ripen for a day or two.

theprayingwoman.com

When “Glee” actress Amber Riley fainted at a red carpet event recently, rumors swirled that her new diet was the cause. Amber took to Twitter after the incident to dispel rumors, saying she would “never starve [herself] to fit clothes.”

The 25-year-old actress, who has recently dropped at least two dress sizes, says that she lost the weight by cutting out fast food and sticking to a new diet and exercise plan.  She said she has always been comfortable with her size but just wanted to be healthier.

Of course being healthy is paramount, but beyond that, does size really matter? It does if you ask the people told to lose weight because they’re obese by BMI standards or the ones that are told they are too skinny and need to put some meat on their bones.

Celebrities are under intense pressure to maintain a certain size because every pound gained or lost is a potential magazine cover story (think about how Jessica Simpson was treated), but this pressure seems to apply to more than just those who are paid for how they look. And without a standard, contentment must be found when looking in your own mirror because feedback from the outside world is often conflicting.

For one, many of us have no idea what size we really wear because sizes vary from store to store. In one shopping trip, one might purchase a pair of jeans in a size 4, 6 and 10 — yet those jeans might all fit the same.

This common experience makes the obsession with size strange because there isn’t a universal way to measure it (no pun intended). Sure there are ballparks, but if you’re looking into buying a weight loss product that promises you’ll drop a size in a week, you’re probably better off just buying a different brand of jeans.

The second issue – especially in the black community – is that some men claim weight is an important factor in choosing women to date, so many women tailor themselves to fit a shallow standard. But one man’s “thick chick” is another’s “overweight neighbor” and one man’s “slim sweetheart” is another’s “too skinny friend.” We’re better off just finding someone who is content with our size rather than trying to fit into one man’s narrow preferences, but some people would rather play shapeshifter.

You can barely watch television these days without seeing Jennifer Hudson, Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey endorsing popular weight loss products. At the same time, gossip sites demanded answers after paparazzi pictures surfaced of Avatar’s Zoe Saldana walking down the street looking too skinny for her skinny jeans.  When the famously thin actress starred in the film Colombiana, she prompted one writer to say, “female action stars have gotten too skinny to throw a believable punch.” (Ouch!)

However, sometimes, the size pressures placed on black women are even tougher than those placed on other cultures. Anyone can shrink their whole body, but on the flipside, the pursuit of video vixen style prominent bosoms, flat abs, and enormous derrieres is a tall order for someone who is not genetically shaped that way.

I’ll never forget the time one of my friend’s showed me her booty booster. I’m not sure what the proper name was for that painful looking contraption, but when she put it on underneath her jeans, it significantly boosted her backside.

“Guys like girls with big butts” she told me with a shrug.

Of course “guys like girls with big boobs” too and that is undoubtedly where the inspiration behind padded push up bras — such as Victoria Secret’s “Miraculous” bra — come from. But who really wants to carry around all that extra material just to give off an illusion and to feel good about themselves? There are an excessive amount of devices created to enhance, diminish, distort, and constrict a woman into looking a particular way, but all that stuff has to come off at some point and you’re left feeling inadequate with what you’ve been given naturally. That’s sad.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to take pride in our appearance, but there is a fine line between a healthy desire to look our best and unhealthy desperation to be a certain size and have certain curves. And with all the images directed at us acting as though only black women are big yet other images saying being skinny and less than curvy is out of style aren’t helping us get any more healthy. Maybe crazy, but not healthy.

Besides, when taking your full potential into consideration and what it is you bring to this world, does the fact that you’re a slim sista or “thicker than a Snicker” really matter anyway?

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From YourTango.com

I know what you’re thinking right now. “Of course, I’m ready for a relationship. It’s what I’ve been waiting so long for! I just need to know how I can get one started!”

Well, I’m certainly not arguing that you want a real relationship. I’m asking if you’re ready for a real relationship. That one’s tough to answer, because it entails really looking at yourself and your beliefs, attitudes and behaviors in a real, open, and honest way. And that’s never easy.

One thing I can tell you is that I’ve been there. I’ve been in that spot where all I could think about was how I so wanted a real relationship, with all of the affection, understanding, support and love that comes with it. And that’s when I asked myself this very same question and I realized that I didn’t like the answer. I had some major changing to do. So how do you know if you’re ready for a relationship before you start one with either the wrong guy or Mr. Right at the wrong time?

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Source:Ontheredcarpet.com

Amber Riley is getting her Jennifer Hudson on. The 26-year-old “Glee” star showed up at the NAACP Image Awards looking slimmer than usual in a blue sequin gown, and she recently let People magazine in on the secret—she’s dropped two dress sizes.

Amber said she started her transformation last July after chronic stomach pains led her to the doctor. It was then that she said, “I decided I was going to make a change and eat healthier,” which included cutting out fast food and other junk that she said “were attacking my stomach.”

Seven months later, she’s gone down two sizes and said “I’m a lot more comfortable in dresses, especially gowns.” She’s also enjoying the perks of new clothes, since her “Glee” costumes had to be reworked for her new figure. “They bought a lot of new clothes for me and we have to take in a lot of my pants and dresses,” she said.

While she’s enjoying her new body, Amber made it a point to say her diet change was about health, not vanity. “I’ve always been comfortable with my size, I just decided it was time to get healthy.”

Kudos to her!

What do you think of Amber’s slim down?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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I can think of a million things I would want to talk about the night I won a SAG Award but my weight would not be one of them. For Octavia Spencer it was. When PEOPLE talked to the Best Supporting Actress Winner Sunday night that seemed to be all that was on her mind—or all they cared to ask.

She told the magazine:

“I am not healthy at this weight. Any time you have too much around the middle, then there is a problem. [And] when you reach a certain weight, you are less valuable.”

I’m not sure if Octavia’s comment was a knock to the entertainment industry or a tactic to ensure more roles for herself down the line; either way, the timing was interesting, and that quote, interestingly, is the one most publications are running to sum up her award-winning night.

Octavia’s made it clear that she doesn’t plan on taking any more backseat stereotypical roles like the one she played in “The Help” and I wonder if the mainstream media’s way of asking about weight is equivalent to the black community’s discussion about race as it relates to her role in Hollywood. The black community at large seems to be saying congratulations, but why did she have to get it this way, referring to her character Minnie Jackson. And the white community, dismissive of the barriers of race in the industry (see Charlize Theron) is using weight to explain why Octavia hasn’t been prominent on the Hollywood scene.

Octavia obviously embodies two of the least-represented types of people in the industry—overweight women and African Americans—but what I would have to liked to see in her post-SAG discussions was more about who she is, and less playing into Hollywood’s anti-plus-size hands. There absolutely isn’t anything wrong with Octavia wanting to lose 15 pounds, as she later stated, and wanting to get healthier but just as there is more to her than her race, there is more to her than her weight. Her comments don’t necessarily challenge the status quo, but rather they validate them by her admission to conform. Octavia shouldn’t be expected to carry the burden of plus-size Hollywood success but what I would hate to see happen after she loses weight is for the attention to still linger on her weight with a smaller figure, much in the way it has for Jennifer Hudson, and continue to overshadow the talent that made her famous in the first place.

At the end of the day, Octavia obviously wants to be a mainstay in the industry and ride her Golden Globe, SAG, and possibly even Oscar success, and I think she knows slimming down can increase her chances of doing so. But I think in the way that she said she will push for better roles that don’t reduce her to black stereotypes, she should also push for interviews and discussions that settle on who she is as an actress and entertainment talent and that don’t pigeonhole her into being the face of overweight, black women in Hollywood.

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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