Holiday Cookie Recipes for Dieters

Let's face it--the winter holidays season in the United States is all music, decorations and food. The good stuff: honey-glazed ham, candied yams, mashed potatoes and gravy, and cookies, cakes, pies, candy and fudge! It's a dieter's nightmare, especially dieters like me who just can't do without sweet treats. Well, it used to be.

Thanks to the vigilance of people who love sweets and healthy eating, we can have our (diet) cake and eat it, too. Here are some great cookie and treat recipes I have stumbled upon and tested in preparation for a healthier holiday season and beyond. Enjoy.

The 2-Ingredient Cookie
Ever since I tried this recipe a couple months ago, I make it at least once a week. It's so healthy, in fact, that I sometimes make them for breakfast. Yeah, cookies for breakfast. As a dieter, did you ever think you could have cookies for breakfast? You can find this cookie all over the Internet, but The Burlap Bag has a really great photo and easy instructions for making about a dozen cookies. You can optionally add in raisins, nuts, or other fixins'. I love them with raisins, but my husband wasn't happy until I threw in some white chocolate chips to sweeten them up. My kids love them either way.

By adding in about 50 raisins, you're looking at a recipe that only has about 42 calories and half a gram of fat per cookie. Each has about 9 grams of carbohydrates and 2.8 grams of fiber, so they're great for people with diabetes, too. (Source: MyFitnessPal Recipe Box)

Skinny Chunky Monkey Cookies
Six Sisters' Stuff offers a great Skinny Chunky Monkey Cookie that, in the end, tastes like a chocolate-peanut butter version of the 2-Ingredient Cookie above. It's all the healthy goodness that will satisfy any chocolate craving. Making about 18 cookies, each cookie is about 80 calories with only 2 grams of fat and 11 grams of carbohydrates. These values, derived from the MyFitnessPal Recipe Box, differ from those posted on the Six Sisters' Stuff blog, because they divvy this recipe up into 30 cookies. It's up to you how you want to make them.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookie
If you like peanut butter cookies, but need to cut out enriched flour for whatever reason, Celebrating Family has a delicious recipe for Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies. This recipe yielded about 18 cookies for me and I ate probably half of the batch. If you like peanut butter cookies, try not to make these more than once a month. You're looking at 129 calories, 7 grams of fat and 14 grams of carbohydrates per cookie.

You can reduce calories, fat and carbohydrates a bit by swapping out the egg for a mashed banana. Be aware, however, that you will taste the banana, so you won't get that traditional peanut butter cookie taste. You can also swap out the sugar and use Splenda to cut out some carbs, but this version was a bit crumbly and dry. It just depends on what is worth it to you. Just swapping in Splenda reduces the calories to 89, fat to 7 grams and carbs to 4 grams per cookie. (Source: MyFitnessPal Recipe Box)

Flourless Brownies
Did I mention that I'm a chocoholic? Well, I am, and I can down and entire batch of brownies. Seriously. I've done it. Of course, now that I'm eating healthier and exercising to lose weight, I can't do those sorts of things anymore. So, I am so excited to have stumbled upon Homemade Mommy's Flourless Brownies recipe.

These brownies are really good. And you know what? I didn't even let them sit for the required 5 hours. It was more like a torturous half hour before I started cutting in. I made my brownies with honey instead of syrup because that's the sweetener I have around my house, but I have a feeling you'll like these treats no matter which sweetener you choose.
Making about eight brownies, this recipe is great for after-dinner family desserts. Each brownie is 155 calories, 5 grams of fat and 32 grams of carbohydrates. (Source: MyFitnessPal Recipe Box)

How to Tighten Loose Abdominal Skin

That unsightly, sagging abdominal skin may keep you from fully appreciating the fact that you have reached your ideal weight. Whether you've lost weight too quickly or are dealing with a postpartum pooch, you may be wondering if your stomach will ever be beach worthy. The answer has a lot to do with genetics and time, but there are a few tips and tricks you can use to tighten that loose abdominal skin.

Is It Fat or Skin?
It's important to first confirm that you're dealing with actual excess skin and not additional, soft body fat. Mark Sisson, fitness author and founder of Primal Nutrition, believes that most cases of loose skin are really just stubborn patches of residual body fat. He states that if the loose skin is more than a few millimeters, this is likely this case. If you can grab a fistful of loose skin, you're dealing with body fat. In this case, you need to keep working at reducing your body fat percentage with a combination of healthy eating and exercise.

Give It Some Time
If you really are dealing with excess skin, give your body some time to return to its former shape. Postpartum women should consider that it took almost 10 months for their stomachs to stretch during pregnancy, so the prospect of returning to normal in a few weeks may be unrealistic. Likewise, anyone concerned with loose abdominal skin should consider how long their skin was stretched. Fitness and lifestyle coach Charlene Johnson says that it could take up to a year after losing weight for skin to tighten up.

Improve Elasticity of Your Skin
Your genetics play a major role in the elasticity of your skin, and this characteristic is the key to tightening loose skin. Keeping yourself hydrated and eating a healthy diet with an appropriate amount of protein can help your skin regain some elasticity. Also, skip sun tanning, harsh detergents and other skin irritants. You can also try a regiment of exfoliation and moisturizing to nourish your skin. Don't skip on stomach crunches and other abdominal exercises, which can help your skin flex and regain its shape.

Learn About Wraps and Other Treatments
If you're looking for a quick fix, some body wraps and other treatments may be able to help, however, these results are usually temporary. Body wraps, usually a 45- to 60-minute chemical treatment applied to the skin under a material wrapped taught around the midsection, reduces inches and tightens skin by pulling fluid out. Once the skin rehydrates, the inches and sag will return. Belly binding treatments, used for centuries for various medical reasons, take place over the course of weeks. During this treatment, a person can use a special wrap or girdle to hold skin in a position that allows it to shrink and reattach to muscle. If it works for you, this is a permanent fix.

The Best Running Shoes for Beginner Runners

Anyone interested in weight loss or general fitness can benefit from incorporating running into their exercise regimen. The faster you move and the more you weigh, the more calories you burn. But, running can be hard on your body. Be prepared to invest in one important piece of equipment before you hit the pavement: A quality pair of running shoes.

Why Shoes Are Important
While running, your feet may slam into the pavement with enough force to injure your feet, knees, back and leg muscles. Your everyday tennis shoes may be great for walking, but probably won't provide the cushion and support you need for running. The right running shoes support the arch of your foot and help keep your feet and ankles appropriately positioned during your run. As a beginning runner, it is especially important to find shoes that assist your form.

Look at Your Feet
Before you can choose the right shoe, you need to familiarize yourself with your feet and running style. One of the first things you should do is get a gait analysis at a local fitness shoe store, preferably one that specializes in running shoes. During this analysis, you'll obtain measurements for your foot length, width and arch height. You'll also try out a few pairs of shoes while you run to determine your pronation (how much or little your foot rolls inward) and other running style characteristics. If you don't have access to a gait analysis, you can obtain some information yourself. Wet the bottom of your foot and make a footprint on a flat surface. Based on the size of the band connecting your heel to the front of your foot, you an determine the size of your arch. A wider band means a lower arch, or flat foot.

Types of Shoes
Based on the physical characteristics of your feet and how you run, you can choose from stability, motion-control, neutral-cushioned, trail, or performance-training shoes. Approximately 70 percent of people can benefit from stability shoes, which keep the foot from rolling inward toward the arch, or overpronating. Those who have severe overpronation, such as flat-footed individuals, where they land on the outside of their heel, but roll inward hard need motion-control shoes for additional support. Runners who don't have this problem and, in face, land in the middle of their heels and roll to the middle of their toes can use a neutral-cushioned shoe. These shoes absorb shock over a larger area. Trail shoes are designed for grass, dirt and other soft surfaces. Reserve performance-training shoes for races. Since they are lightweight, you'll pick up speed, but you lose out on cushioning.

Customizing Your Shoes
Despite your gait analysis and choosing a shoe that felt great in the store, they could cause some minor discomforts for you when you actually get to running in them. For example, you may feel some abrasion on the top of your foot or the heel slides up and down. Rather than returning the shoes, there are a few tricks you can use to customize your shoes. You can try lacing around any tender spots on the top of your foot rather than over them. If necessary, you can use two shorter laces in each shoe for the top and bottom three eyelets only.

Sources
Runners World: How Many Calories Are You Really Burning?
Runners World: The Best Running Shoe for You
Women's Running: The Beginner's Guide to Running Shoes
Active: How to Pick the Right Running Shoes
Active: What Is Gait Analysis?
Active: Customize Your Shoes With These Tricks

Workout like a Soldier: Basic Military Training Exercise

Whether enlisting in the Army, Navy, Marines or Air Force, a potential soldier's physical fitness is evaluated and enhanced through various workout programs. Even those who simply want to be as fit as a soldier can transform their bodies into combat machines by completing military workouts. Just be aware that military fitness has different goals with a combination of exercises that build strength, flexibility and stamina.

Keep Military Time
Military life means early morning workouts, so prepare to be an early bird. Basic training workouts begin around 5:00 a.m. In basic training, recruits run a few laps, stretch, and perform a series of calisthenics, such as pushups and jumping jacks. You'll also need to work in pull-ups, sit ups, lunges, running and other exercises that challenge all of the major muscle groups. That's not to say that you're daily workouts are over. Soldiers often work their bodies at different intervals during the day.

The Ruck March
The Ruck March, according to Military.com, requires fast-paced walking carrying at least 45 pounds. As if extra weight wasn't enough, this hike happens off-road on rough terrain. Adding weight and picking up the pace means you'll burn more calories. Walking on loose dirt, grass, sand, gravel and other uneven surfaces requires more balance and use of additional muscles. If you want to be soldier-fit, you'll have to dig in and put your body to the test.

The 2-Mile Army Run
Endurance is an important component of military fitness, which is why Army recruits must complete a 2-mile run in at least 13 minutes for men and 15.5 minutes for women. At a steady pace, that's a speed of 6-9 mph, depending on age and gender. Military.com suggests a 6-week training plan for beginners to even become fit enough to begin training for the 2-mile run. It recommends using a treadmill. Machines that offer programmed workouts and manual speed control can help you incrementally improve your fitness.

Combine Your Workouts
Military conditioning uses a combination of cardiovascular, flexibility and resistance training. Accomplish this mix through circuit training, wherein you perform a series of exercises in immediate succession. Don't take a break between exercises; just move from one exercise to the next until the entire series is complete. Most military circuit training programs are 20-30 minutes and combine exercises such as pullups, situps, jogging in place, bicep curls, jumping jacks, bench presses, and dips. You may do each exercise for one or two minutes, or until you reach your limit. Just put in the time.

When you feel like your arms or legs will break, the sweat is burning your eyes and you hear that voice telling you can't do anymore, just remember that your mind will give in long before your body does. Buck up, soldier. You can do it.

How to Lose Pounds Fast

It is possible to lose 22 pounds fast through a combination of diet, exercise, and rest? Although "fast" as in a week may not be healthy, it could mean 30 days or three months. The "fast" you aim for should be a decision you make in consultation with your doctor to ensure you do not injure yourself in the process. Whatever you decide, achieving this weight-loss goal requires commitment.
How to Lose a Pound
Before you can lose 22 pounds, you have to understand how to lose one. Your individual body requires a certain number of calories per day to provide the energy to walk to the bus stop, sit at your desk, vacuum the floor, digest food, and other tasks. The American Cancer Society and other health-related websites offer free online Daily Caloric Needs calculators to help you estimate what your body needs. Meeting this calorie intake every day will maintain your current weight. If you want to lose weight, you need to have a calorie deficit. Since 3,500 calories equals one pound, you need to reduce your weekly calorie intake by that amount to lose one pound in that week. That's 500 calories a day. To lose weight faster, you'll need a higher calorie deficit.

 

Eat the Right Foods
One way to create a calorie deficit is to change your eating habits. Instead of cakes and candies, choose healthy fruits and snacks that are lower in calories. For example, a Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar has 210 calories, but a medium apple has only 100 calories. To help control cravings and keep your metabolism going, add in healthy mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks. When you're putting food on your plate, stick to whole foods and make sure at least half of your plate is vegetables. Finally, drink more water and less soda. Sweetened drinks offer no nutritional value, only extra calories.

Get Your Heart Pumping
While you can lose a pound a week eating 500 fewer calories a day, you could deprive yourself. If you leave yourself hungry, you may set yourself up for failure. Instead, add cardiovascular exercise to your weight-loss plan. Choose from activities such as walking, running, swimming, tennis, or dancing for 30 to 60 minutes a day. You can get the same benefits by spreading your exercise time out into three 10-minute or 20-minute sessions. Consider that, according to the WebMD Fit-O-Meter, a 150-pound person can burn about 50 calories walking briskly or dancing for 10 minutes, or almost 70 calories swimming in that time. If that person takes two 10-minute walks throughout the day, dancing with the dog for 10 minutes after lunch and swimming for 20-minutes before dinner, that's almost 300 calories burned. If you add that to the calories saved by switching out that candy bar for an apple and eliminated one soda, you have created a 500 calorie deficit for the day.

Build Lean Muscle
Studies show a combination of cardio and resistance training is best for reducing body fat. Lean muscle uses more energy, burning more calories when at rest. By working in at least two resistance training sessions per week, you can help build your body's muscle mass, which, in turn, can help you burn more calories. Of course, if you're looking to lose weight fast, you'll want to work in resistance training more than twice a week, while still giving your body an opportunity to rest and heal.

Seven Easy Lifestyle Changes for Weight Loss and Wellness

So you've just finished another fad diet and exercise program with little or no weight loss, fat loss or waistline reduction. Don't give up. Weight management and better health take a lifetime commitment. Don't set yourself up to crash and burn with promises of fast results and drastic changes. Instead, improve your health one easy lifestyle change at a time and see long-term results.

Stop taking the elevator. Pretend that Archimedes never invented that pesky lift for animals and gladiators at the Coliseum. Whether you're in your office building, the doctor's office or any other multi-level structure, forget that the elevator exists and find the stairs. Consider that, according to WebMD Fit-O-Meter, a 140-pound person will burn about six calories standing in an elevator for five minutes, but 42 calories walking up stairs in the same amount of time. That's seven times the calories burned. Start with one or two flights of stairs and gradually work your way up, up, up until you never need an elevator again.

Feed the garbage can. Remember how your mother insisted you eat every bite on your plate? Now is a good time to rebel. Learn to leave food on your plate or in the package every time you eat to help prevent so that you don't overeat. At breakfast, lunch and dinner, save five bites of food for the trash can. If you're eating an apple, leave five bites on the core. Eating a bag of chips? Leave five whole chips in the bag. You get the idea. By allowing yourself to waste food, you are not compelled to overeat just because you have food in front of you.

Go for distance. According to Harvard Medical School studies, walking at least 30 minutes per day reduces the risk of coronary artery disease, heart attack and stroke. Study after study supports additional benefits of walking, including weight loss and reduced risk for high blood pressure and diabetes. Add steps to your day by parking further away from the office or by printing to the furthest printer. Stop driving short distances (less than a mile) to the store or park. WebMD Fit-O-Meter indicates that walking at work for 5 minutes burns 16 calories for a 140-pound person. That same person can walk at 2.5 mph for 15 minutes and burn 48 calories. All of those steps add up throughout the day to help you achieve your weight-loss goals.

See through your drink. Swap out your soda and sweetened teas for clear drinks: water, club soda, seltzer, mineral water, and unsweetened tea. Unsweetened coffee is acceptable, too, in moderation. No sugar, even in your coffee?! It's up to you, but you should consider that a single sugar packet contains 15 calories and 4 grams of carbohydrates with no nutritional value. You can do it. Start off by replacing your sweetened lunch drink with unsweetened ice tea flavored with lemon. Then, replace your dinner soda with a glass of ice water and have some unsweetened herbal tea before bed. Change your beverage tastes one drink at a time until you're totally off the sugary stuff.

Add Small Snacks. Small mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks can help manage hunger so that you don't overeat at meals. Consider adding in a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack, such as an apple or some nuts. Just stay away from the vending machine, which usually offers up high-calorie snacks with little nutritional value.

Use Your Hand as a Guide. Proper diet and nutrition is not only about what you eat, but how much you eat. When portioning your food, don't eat any portion larger than your hand. If you have to splurge, eat extra vegetables. Better Homes and Gardens suggests that your hand can help you estimate a cup of beverage, soup, salad and cereal. Meat should be about the size of your palm. If you need to add butter, peanut butter or another fat, you should limit it to half of your thumb.

Stick a Fork in the Couch. There's no excuse to just sit there because you want to watch TV or play on your smartphone. Get up off the couch. Consider this: A 140-pound person sitting and watching TV for about an hour burns about 32 calories according to the WebMD Fit-O-Meter. If that same person stands to watch TV, they'll burn 38 calories. If they walk on the treadmill at 3 mph, they will triple that calorie burn, and a stair-step machine will burn 286 calories.

Burn Off Candy Calories in an Hour or Less

An afternoon pinch of hunger has you staring at the shiny, colorful wrappers inside a vending machine. You know you shouldn't. But your mouth is watering. You know you should just turn around and walk away. But it's just one candy bar, so it's not a big deal. Or is it?

If this internal conversation usually ends with you forking over your cash and dignity for 90 seconds of flavorful, emotional gratification, you may need a fresh perspective. For such a small amount of pleasure, you are setting yourself up for extra physical activity just to keep that snack from setting up a permanent residence on your thighs and stomach. Before making your final decision, consider the value of gratification versus the cost in exercise. What will it take to burn off the calories from some vending machine staples in one hour?

Three Musketeers Candy Bar
The commercials imply that this candy bar is light by showing it floating out of a woman's purse, but a Three Musketeers candy bar packs 240 calories that will weigh you down if you don't work it off. The WebMD Fit-O-Meter indicates it will take a 45-minute brisk walk (3 mph) for a 210-pound man to make up for this sweet treat, and a little more than an hour for a 140-pound woman.

Butterfinger
If you answered the sweet call of a Butterfinger, expect to shake your hips for about an hour to keep this candy bar from sticking to more than your teeth. WebMD Fit-O-Meter suggests the 210-pound man will need to dance for about 40 minutes and the 140-pound woman for about 60 minutes to burn the 270 calories in this Bart Simpson-approved snack.

Strawberry Pop-Tarts
Stop. Before you punch in the code for this snack, step away from the vending machine. The package hopes you'll choose to live in denial when you see there is only 190 calories per serving. Look closer. Yeah, that's for one pastry. Each package contains two. If you fall for this trick, you have 380 calories to burn. You better pull out the bicycle for this one. Expect to pedal at about 10 mph for 40 minutes to an hour to make up for this slip up.

Lay's Classic Potato Chips
Just 15 Lay's Classic Potato Chips have 160 calories. Chances are your vending machine bag has 1.5 of those servings. Go ahead and do the math: 240 calories. Burning that many calories is no walk in the park. In fact, you might want to pick up the pace and run about 5 mph for 20 to 30 minutes to earn forgiveness for this sin.

Welch's Fruit Snacks
You may think that just because this snack isn't covered in chocolate or fried in oil it's a better option. In the 2.25-oz. package, you'll eat 260 total calories. It'll take 30 to 45 minutes of leisurely swimming to pretend like these gummy snacks never crossed your lips.

Fiber One Oats & Chocolate Bar
While a Fiber One bar is probably not the worst snack you can get out of the vending machine, eating it means you still have an extra 140 calories to burn. It'll take 10-15 minutes of moderately paced jumping jacks. If you really must get something, the Fiber One Oats and Chocolate Bar may be the least of all the evils calling your name from behind that glass.

Sample the Tony Horton 10-Minute Workout

Fitness enthusiasts and beginners short on time appreciate Tony Horton's series of 10-minute exercises. The creator of the P90X workout program designed these short workouts to maximize results. Using high-intensity interval training, these workouts combine cardio, yoga and resistance training to achieve weight loss and muscle toning in less time. Here are a few of the exercises included in the 10-minute exercise program. Choose five exercises, spend a minute on each and then repeat the series for a total of 10 minutes.

Push-up Sidearm Balance
Start in the push-up position with feet spread apart. Complete a push-up and then turn your whole body to the side as you stretch your arm up. Return your hand to the floor to resume the push-up position. Do another push-up and repeat the motion turning to the other side. This exercise flexes your core and strengthens your arms and shoulders.

Freeze Spring
For this cardio exercise, run in place. Periodically stop running and lift a leg up. It should form a 90-degree angle at the knee. Hold the position for a few moments, and then run in place again. Alternate legs as you repeat the exercise. In addition to getting your heart rate up, this exercise will help with balance and strengthening your hip muscles.

Crunchy Frog
Sit on the floor with your knees bent. Wrap your arms around them and lean back slightly so that you are balanced on your buttocks. Stretch your legs out in front of you as you extend your arms out to your sides at shoulder height. Then, bring your arms and legs back together, but do not grab your knees. Repeat this motion for one minute. This exercise will strengthen your hip flexors, core and back.

Hook Uppercut
Get ready for some more cardio with these boxing moves. Assume the boxing start position with your left leg forward and your fists in front of you, shoulder height. Swing your left fist across the front as you slightly twist your body. Your left foot should turn during this motion. This is the hook. Follow that with your right fist swinging up in front of you as your body pivots on your right foot. This is the uppercut. Repeat both punches for 30 second and then switch sides for 30 seconds to get your heart pumping.

Flying Elbows
Another boxing move gets you swinging your elbows. Use the same start position as the Hook Uppercut. Swing your left elbow across the front of your body, twisting your body as your turn your left foot in. Then, swing your right elbow down in front of you as you step back with both feet, pivoting your body at the same time. Between these two swings, you should move your feet and turn your body in a fluid motion. Repeat this motion series for 30 seconds and then switch sides.

Sidearm Crunch
On the floor, turn your body sideways, balancing on your straight left arm and leg. Stretch your right arm over your head and keep your right foot off the ground. Pull your right arm down and and your right leg up, tightening your obliques with each crunch. Repeat for 30 seconds and then switch to the other side. In addition to your core, this exercise will help tone your arms and legs.