Week 10: Lose the Baby Weight

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Welcome to week 10 of the Lose the Baby Weight Challenge. This week's assignment includes adding some interval training to your routine and rethinking some reputedly healthy foods. Have a great week!

Exercise: Interval Training

During this workout you will be doing bouts of cardio segments interspersed with bouts of strength training. You will need a clock or timer to help you keep time. The cardio segments will be 30 seconds while the repetitions for the strength training will be 15 seconds. Do this circuit one time through. If you're still feeling good at the end of one round, by all means, do two!

Here's the summary. Check out the full workout description.

Strength

• Biceps curls
• Shoulder presses
• Triceps extensions
• Chest press
• Bent over rows
• Bent over flies
• Squats
• Single leg lunges (15 each side before switching to cardio)
• Deadlifts

Jog in place, high knee march, jumping jacks, jump invisible rope, football runs.

Abs

Perform these all together without a cardio interval. Make sure your heart rate has come down before going to the floor for abs.

• Double knee tuck
• Double knee tuck with arms swim
• Single alternating knees
• Straight leg alternating
• Pretzels (one set of 10 each)

Diet: Beware the Nutrition Bar

Consider the breakfast bar/diet bar/protein shake habit. Did you know these foods were originally designed for endurance athletes who need easily digestible food with high levels of carbohydrates? They've turned into a booming business because normal people see these super-athletes eating or promoting the bars and figure its good for them, too! Not so.

It takes 30 seconds at eat a food bar, but these products can contain as many as 350 calories and 45 grams of carbs each. While we're on the topic, let's mention Gatorade. Again: Designed by for college football players in Florida during the summer, not regular folks doing moderate indoor exercise for 45 minutes. If you drink it while exercising, you'll wind up replacing all the calories you lost. Read The Nutrition Bar Trap to get the skinny on some of the most popular bars. In the meantime, stick with water, fruit, and a multivitamin.

Attitude: Real Rewards

We often reward ourselves with food … for every rough week survived, each achievement, birthday, girls' night out, Friday night, etc. Start being aware of all the ways you use food to celebrate and reward yourself, then replace food something else that makes you feel good—like painting your nails or buying a new book. Read on for more thoughts and suggestions on appropriate rewards.

Extra Credit

Set a weight-loss goal for this week (say, one to two pounds) and write down a reward or cut out a picture of a reward you will give yourself. Will it be a massage, a new shirt, maybe a new workout top, or a new song for your iPod? Choose your goal and reward yourself when you achieve it!