Today I saw a commercial with Queen Latifah walking down a New York City street casually discussing how she is joining the ranks of celebs using the Jenny Craig Diet. Apparently, she is the new spokeswoman.

Kirstie's weight loss didn't really inspire me to want to go on Jenny Craig but watching Vallerie Bertinelli lose weight got my attention. Vallerie "looked" like a real woman before, during and after the transformation. She made weight loss "doable" for me.

Female Asiatic elephants have an average weight of 6,000 lb and males have an average weight of 12,000 lbs.

A circus elephant weighed 14,850 lbs.

African forest elephants weighs 6,000-13,000 lbs...

male African bush elephants weight 8,800-14,000 lbs and the female weighs 5,000-7,700 lb.

If one pound of body fat equals 3,500 calories and I need to lose 100 pounds...

then my "elephant" is that I must burn 350,000 calories to lose 100 pounds of body fat to reach my goal weight of 125 pounds or approximately 1/2 my body weight.

How big is YOUR elephant?

A very audacious claim, no? Considering we are the largest nation in the world what possible reasoning could I have for saying this. How many people reading this eat breakfast every morning? A study done by the National Weight Control Registry found that 80% of people who eat breakfast daily are able to keep their weight controlled for a year and beyond. Many were able to lose 30 pounds over the course of that year.

I'm jus back from walking across half of Sockholm. The whether is nice, not too warm neither too cold, unfortunately this is the Nordics so this perfect whether won't stay for long.

Walking in the morning really gives you an appetiet and I really enjoyed todays bowl of porridge. I don't think many people like porridge but I will give you a great recepie that will change your breakfast habits!

The ultimate finess porridge:

1 dl of porridge oats (prefereble with extra fibre, unless you are sensitive to that)

1 table spoon of sunflower seeds (not roasted or salted)

1 table spoon of "linfrö", trying to find a translation of this into english. It's a small seed approx the size between sunflower seeds and psyllium seeds, brown.

Hi. I'm one of those 'typical' fitness wannabes. You know, I tried running once- my asthma and knee problems stopped that... I had a gym membership- I hate other people being around as I try to figure out how in the world a machine works, and who likes to walk to the gym in the rain?... I've tried healthy eating- but driving by dairy queen everyday became too painful. "Try our blizzard of the month!" well if you insist....

overall, I felt good though. My job is pretty active, I walked a lot between bus stops, and i DO eat my veggies. But then, about a year ago, I got a car. Its amazing how much that killed my feelings of fitness. And over the year, my weight has crept up an unwelcome 10 lbs. I'm a small person with a small frame.. that 10 lbs is NOT welcome.

Ok, what red-blooded male who went to see "300" would not LOVE to look like that? I have the lifting/bodybuilding background, but I am a fatty at the moment. I am at 25-30% (depends on how/who measures it) body fat, and I look terrible. I could really use about a 30 lb fat loss to get down to that look, I think.

I have given myself until Halloween of '07 to do it in. So its April 12 right now, should give me plenty of time, right? Piece of cake, right? Well not for me. Hard for me to lose weight, and as I age (44) it ain't gettin any easier. Plus, its even harder to diet AND maintain muscle mass, so I want to go slow.

I recently found a cheap, healthy and tasty canned meal. It's Armour 3-bean Vegitarian Chili. Normally I don't like Vegitarian food at all, but this chili was so good I didn't even mind.

I don't always have a lot of time to cook so I have trouble getting all the fiber and protein I need. So check out the stats on this chili:
Saturated Fat: 0
Fiber: 24g
Sugars: 8g
Protein: 20g

And the best part, a can is only $.96 at Wal-Mart.

The last bit is difficult to wrap one's head around. Gaining lean muscle mass= less weight loss! The inches are shrinking in spots and growing in others, so I'm on the right track though!