Valerie Bertinelli on Good Morning America
I am happy to see her succeed at weight loss, but have my doubts as to how successful she will be at KEEPING the weight off once the checks stop from Jenny Craig.
She also gave three exercise tips today, two of which I deeply disagree with:
1. She does crunches everyday. PLEASE know there is not a worse exercise you can do for your neck, shoulders and lower back. They, like cardio, should be abolished. Check out either “The Cardio-Free Diet” or “The 7-Day Energy Surge” for safe alternatives. Just don’t ever perform a crunch again.
2. Tricep Dips off a table, chair or weight bench. They KILL your shoulders and lead to rotator cuff injuries. NEVER perform them.
3. She did mention pushups, which I love, so I want to be fair.
She also gave a recipe for a low calorie soup. If you make soup, like the Heartland Stew in my books, that is fine. But never, EVER eat soup in a restaurant, salad bar or anything like that.
I had not heard that tricep dips were bad for you.. I see them all over the place. I like to work out to DVDs – works best for me – but it is hard to find good just strength training ones – they all mix in cardio. Wondering if you know of any and if you’ve see Chris Freytag’s Two Week Turn Around DVD for strength. She slows things down and uses a lot of balance challenges to make the moves harder. I would really like to find a good strength training video that uses bands. Anyway, thanks for your blog I always learn new things here. (And I still say Valerie’s going to be the exception.) Lisa
Comment by Lisa — October 15, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Lisa:
I did three DVDs a few years ago, one with bands, one with free weights and one with the SPRI Xerdisc. Give my office a call at 773-244-0123 and ask for either one of my assistants, Julie or Kristen, and they can help you determine which one is best for you.
Trust me, the tricep dip is a TERRIBLE, dangerous exercise. Even Diane Sawyer got injured with another trainer performing them.
And I hope Valerie is an exception. She would be the 2-3% who actually do keep the weight off, but I am skeptical.
Jim
Comment by admin — October 17, 2009 at 11:22 am
Jim,
is that true? only 2-3% of people keep the weight off? that is astonishing.
I have kept the majority of my weight off for 5 years (i started at 220 llbs when i was just 25 years old). i have been up and down since, but only by 7-10lbs or so. Since May, I have been watching the calories (about 1100-1200 per day) and exercising and I weighed in today at 140lbs exactly, having been 164 a few months ago.
Jim, i must say, your philosophy of Calorie is KING and consuming 1200 calories has really helped as I was convinced that i could have constant ‘treats’ but work them off in the gym, and clearly that doesnt work unless you have 2 hours a day to commit to working out. So Thank You.
Comment by Davinda — October 22, 2009 at 6:47 am
THANK YOU! I keep saying to women especially, “You cannot ‘out train’ a day diet,” by which I mean you cannot overeat and expect to fix the situation with exercise.
And you must keep the calories down. The average woman only requires 1,600 calories a day, so to lose weight, 1,200 makes total sense.
I am very proud of your accomplishment and hope you are as well.
Jim
Comment by Jim Karas — October 22, 2009 at 6:59 am
I am glad to know that the tricep dip is not a good thing. I will stop immediately. I watch the Fit Channel a lot and I just love Cathe Friedrich’s weight training workouts because they are challenging. She has an assortment for different areas of the body. I also glean some other exercises from other shows. It is good to have a great variety so as not to get bored or do the same things too much.
Comment by Bobbie Navone — October 29, 2009 at 8:59 pm