That's Fit

Each muscle has a function and the pecs are no different. Watch this quick video and never forget how to work your chest ... even if you're in the desert with Bear Grylls!

Visit Fitzness.com for more training videos, celebrity interviews and delicious low fat recipes!

Welcome to the Good, the Fat and the Hungry. I'm Karla and I have been -- or am -- all those things. Here, I will share with you my lifelong struggle with my weight, and I hope you'll follow along on with my determined attempt to lose nearly 40 pounds. I promise to tell you every win and setback along the way every Tuesday and Friday.

If food is simply supposed to be fuel, then why do I always want premium?

When I first moved to New York, a friend of mine asked me to keep his car while he was away on business. The car was a brand new Mercedes CLS 550. As the proud owner of a two-year-old Honda Accord, I knew driving his car would be a sacrifice, but I agreed, in the name of friendship. OK, so the truth is, I grabbed the keys and ran out the door before he could change his mind. I tooled around New York in this luxurious car for nearly four months, my entire first summer in the city.

Turns out happiness is not remotely related to how far a woman's pelvic bones stick out. In fact, a little chub may make you happier, reports Emerald at Lemondrop.

A recent survey of 3,000 British women by Special K -- the cereal that's supposed to make us so thin 'n happy -- revealed size 14s (about a U.S. 10) rated their general happiness the highest. One-third of the size 14s also reported their loves lives as the best possible. Go gals! Next happiest were British size 12s, followed by size 8s. Least happiest were size 24s (slightly above a U.S. 2X), then size 20s, then size 22s.

I am not into this size zero phenomenon -- it seems genetically impossible to reach for most women and never involves pizza. Here's to plenty of fitness, hydration, stellar safe sex and a couple slices now and then.

This week marked the beginning of, I imagine, thousands of detox diets across North America. It's only natural, really, that after weeks of indulging in more sugar, fat, alcohol and laziness than we do all year that we're looking for ways to cleanse our bodies of our holiday sins and start 2009 off right. But before you rush to the drug store to pick up a detox kit to the tune of $30 or more, keep in mind that leading scientists have declared many so-called detoxes to be a waste of money.

You can save your hard-earned cash with a do-it-yourself detox. It won't be easy -- most experts believe that detoxing requires you to cut out sugar, salt, refined carbs, wheat, dairy, alcohol and caffeine, not to mention drinking lots of water and eating plenty of fruits and veggies -- but doing it yourself is healthier and more economical.

Click here for some more DIY-detoxing tips.

In these tough economic times, almost everyone is on a tight budget. But did you know that you can apply penny-saving principles to calories as well?

I'm not a big believer in tracking calories every day. Currently, I'm on board with the America Takes It Off: Shrink a Size program and trying to lose weight. While I don't plan to count calories every day, I have been using an online tool to count them for now. The practice helps me get a good grip on my eating habits, and it doesn't allow me to pretend I'm doing better than I really am.

I like the idea of banking calories and, in theory, it should work. However, I have a horrible sweet tooth. Like many of my co-workers, I've been trying to minimize sugar in my diet. I splurged on a tiny sugar cookie the other day and had serious sugar cravings for the next 24 hours. So, for me, banking up for a bigger treat is probably a bad idea. How do you think this idea would work for you?

Any time there's a gimmick to a weight loss plan, I immediately get skeptical. Not fair, really. I should read about the plans with an open mind. Call me silly, but I'm jaded after all the crazy diet plans that have been created over the years.

Good Housekeeping has a plan they're calling The Amazing Soup Diet. Basically, they have a seven-day meal plan. You start your week by making a big pot of a basic vegetable soup recipe. Then they give you healthy meal suggestions for breakfast and lunch. For dinner, you add some ingredients to the basic soup to give it some variety. For snacks, you can have a small portion of the basic soup at anytime; you can also snack on raw vegetables.

The Good Housekeeping staffers who tried it are very positive about the plan. I, however, remain a jaded skeptic. I love soup as much as the next person, but that's a lot of soup to eat. More importantly, I think any plan that requires you to eat certain things is a bad idea. To successfully lose weight and maintain the loss, you need to learn healthful eating patterns and establish an exercise routine -- and those habits have to last a lifetime. However, unlike other crazy diet plans, there's nothing in The Amazing Soup Diet that's unhealthful or potentially harmful ... and the soup does sound tasty.

For diet tips that really work, click on the Shrink a Size banner.

If you're a speedy eater, RealAge says you might be headed for a speeding ticket from the food police, which might actually pale in comparison to what else you might get -- fat.

Plowing through your meals can easily lead to extra pounds. If you're already carrying a few, think about your meal speed. Is it fast? If so, you'll want to put on the brakes.

One recent study found two strong predictors of weight gain: One, how much people eat. Two, how fast people eat. Speedy eaters who ate until they were full were three times more likely to be overweight than people who ate at a more leisurely pace.

Need some tips for slowing down? Here they are, right here.

That's Fit Club is our feature devoted to you, the reader! We have all learned so much on our paths to becoming more fit, and now it's time to learn from and inspire each other! That's Fit Club members are constantly working to better themselves. Some are perfect; some are not. But all have health on the mind.

Name: Chuck Marshall

Age: 44

Occupation: Programmer

How often do you exercise? Five to six days a week .

What type of exercise do you do? Body weight strength training and cardio. I like to do intervals, elliptical, rowing, and running (when I'm not injured).

Looking to Shrink a Size in 2009? Look no farther than these five rules for weight loss.

As fabulous as we at That's Fit think this blog is, the truth is there are hundreds of wonderful blogs on healthy living to be seen all over the blogosphere. So in this feature, Fit Links, we'll introduce you to some that have caught our eye.

It sounds laughable but it's true -- Kids who are sensitive to wheat can now get their Play-Doh fix with Soy Doh. But the new product has a sweet smell, which will make it extra hard for you to keep your kids from eating it.

Could organic dieting be ruining your life? Green Daily explains.

What food item costs $15,000 per pound? Slashfood shares some of the craziest food stories from 2008.

Is the New Year's Resolution heading for early failure? Re-motivate yourself with 10 Easy Steps to Healthy Eating from Fit Celeb.

Get off the couch and start running with some advice from Fitsguar.

Ready to Shrink a Size? America Takes It Off will help you on your way.

Used to that guilty feeling you get when you head straight to the bar after work on Fridays? Don't beat yourself up -- apparently, a healthy happy hour habit is actually good for your health.

No, really. According to this article from Women's Health, drinking can lower your risk of heart disease by 25 to 50 percent, it can help improve your memory and it can help you lose weight (if you choose the right drink.)

But, bear in mind, this is moderate drinking we're talking about. Chugging a litre of tequila is not going to help your memory or your waistline (the opposite, in fact, as you might already know), so try to take it easy next time you hit up your local drinking establishment.

Weight loss. At this time of year, those two words are a gold-medal-like goal for many people. But sometimes, weight loss isn't necessarily a good thing.

Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, has lost massive amounts of weight recently ... and not because he wanted to. In recent months, he's been so thin, many people were afraid for his health. Jobs recently sent out an open letter to the Apple community that explains his dramatic weight loss. Jobs is suffering from a hormone imbalance. Jobs said, "The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I've already begun treatment."

Unexplained weight loss can be a sign of many medical issues, such as Jobs' hormone imbalance. If you're experiencing unexplained weight loss, be sure to make an appointment with your doctor ASAP. If, on the other hand, you're on the flip side of the coin and struggling to lose unwanted pounds, check out the America Takes It Off: Shrink a Size program.

As much as I love the grocery store (and I do), it can be a pretty scary place. If you go in hungry, or without a list, you can end up buying a ton of stuff you don't need and probably shouldn't be eating. In fact, you might just load up your cart with some of the worst packaged foods available. Not the way to start off your healthy eating goals for the new year, right?

Of course, knowing what the worst packaged foods are would be helpful, right? Fortunately, the guys behind the Eat This, Not That! books have come out with a supermarket guide in which they list some of the unhealthiest choices available and then, of course, offer suggestions as to what you should have instead.

I'm feeling pretty proud -- I don't buy any of the things on the list. However, that doesn't mean I wasn't surprised at some of the things that made the list. Check out the gallery to see a few that made me think twice about what's in my pantry, and, for more tips on losing weight, click on the badge below. Also, check out this post to see 20 healthy foods that cost less than a dollar -- no excuse for poor food choices now!

America Takes It Off is about shrinking a size, and we're here to challenge you in the new year. So let's get right to it. Let's determine what really matters when you're trying to drop a few, because as simple as the whole calories-in, calories-out thing might seem, losing weight is rarely an easy task. These three tips will surely help matters, though.

• Calories -- Is it important to count them? Not really. What is important is portioning the food on your plate. Divide your plate into four quarters. Fill one quarter with lean chicken or fish, another quarter with a high-fiber carbohydrate like whole-wheat pasta and the other half with veggies and fruit. Use smaller plates too.
• Should you eat fat-free? No way. Go for healthy fats, like those found in nuts, olive oil and avocados. Just limit to no more than 30 percent of your total daily caloric intake.
• Do you need a gym to get fit? Nope. Your own personal space will do just fine. Park your car and walk. Walk around while you talk on the phone. Stand as much as possible. Add short breaks during your work day and walk briskly or do a few strength moves. Just move. And keep at it.

There are more tips where these came from -- you can find them here at AOL Health -- but these are the three we want you to focus on. Starting today, we want you to portion your plates, eat healthy fats and move, move, move. Sound difficult? It might be. That's why it's called a challenge. But we think you can do it. So get to work. Then come back on Wednesday and weigh in with us.