Synopsis!

Or, maybe it should be Review!
I've made it through most of my fitness magazine, and promised that I would comment on how I like it back in this post.

I know it's a little early to commit to something, but I'm in serious like with this magazine.  One part of it that I really like is this section where they give you ways to shave calories off your meals.  A lot of them are kind of obvious, but I dig the obvious.  The obvious gives you easy-to-follow clues and helps make it a snap to be good and be conscious of your moves.  It helps you make sure that the food you're eating is going help, rather than hinder your bottom (line).

Here are a couple of little hints from the article.

• When ordering eggs, order them dry - it'll save you up to 250 calories.  The article says "Chefs often overpour the oil or butter."  That's ridiculous to me.  Lack of precision in restaurant-cooked meals can be crazy.  Meals that were already risky calorie-wise can be easily pushed into the "yikes" category.  Going dry whenever you can is always a good thing.
• Dipping veggies into your guac instead of chips will save you round abouts 220 calories.  And, YUM.  I love me some chips and guac as much as the next guy, but this is a great plan.  When I get the Unwich, I get the Beach Club with the guac.  Veggies with guac = delish.  I'm in.  ESPECIALLY if it saves me over 200 calories.  Holla!
• I'm quoting this one because it's just nuts.  "Order any of Taco Bell's Fresco tacos or burritos instead of a salad.  Save:  510 to 760 calories." Say whaaaaa?!  Okay, I know that they're talking about the mega-salads one can get somewhere like this place I used to work at that has a hot pepper in its slogan.  But still.  The idea that I can stuff my face with TB and it'll be fewer calories than a salad is nutty.  I like it.
• Here's one that I LOVE.  Having a BK cheeseburger instead of a BK veggie burger will save you 110 calories!!  Interesting that what is supposed to be a healthy choice ends up being more of a gut-buster.  I can't help but wonder why, though.  I wonder if it's because the veg is Whopper size and the cheeseburger is small?  Either way, I'm in.  I don't like most veggie burgers anyway, and definitely don't need something Whopper-sized.
• This one caught my eye just because it's interesting, and I'm willing to try it.  The article suggests boiling rice with a tea bag to add extra flavor to it, rather than putting in olive oil (wait - oil instead of butter??  WTF??  ha.).  It suggests jasmine and green tea.  I'm going to try it the next time I make me some rice!  Oh, it apparently saves at least 100 calories.
• One that I'm DEFINITELY going to try:  using a cup of pureed white beans to thicken a soup rather than cream.  It'll save you more than 500 calories a CUP.  I'm so there.  I dig this idea mostly because it means I can eat more soup, and I love that.  :)
• And finally, it suggests re-portioning your plate.  It says that just making sure that you're eating half a plate of veggies could save you 250 to 300 calories at the meal.  That's something that's just crazy easy to be conscious of!  And, something that I'm not really great at, so it's totally something to strive to achieve.

That ended up being a lot more than I was planning on writing about this one little section of the mag!  I guess it had at least a little impact on me, huh?

Some other articles I liked included one that laid out three different circuits to kick calories to the curb fast.  I wouldn't mind bringing that one to work next week when I meet up with the trainer we have and asking him to show me what "hard" and "moderate" etc *actually* mean.  I think it would be really helpful to show that I'm really doing the work correctly.  Again with the obvious.

There's also a pic of the hair that I'm DESPERATE for.  Beach waves, down to the middle of the back, streaky blonde.  LOVE.  Funny that I'm probably going to put that on the fridge instead of a pic of a hot body.  ha.

So, the conclusion is that I'm happy with the mag.  Really happy.  It's pretty great.  I'd recommend it.

Also, I'm attempting to write back to comments, but I'm having trouble - I don't know why blogger won't let me comment any way but as "anonymous."  So, I'm not ignoring y'all, I'm just not able to post.  I'm working on it though!