I think I’m starting to gain weight … I feel it …

A little secret: I am a bit vain - just a tiny bit - and I cannot cannot imagine putting on a few extra pounds …That’s it … I am going to go on a diet… and resume my workouts effective tonight! ‘cuz tonight tonight tonight….I’m gonna make it right …tonight tonight tonight…ohh!

HAPPY MONDAY!:)

An israeli health and beauty spa is now offering a new service for its customers - a snake massage. The treatment comprises of six non-venomous serpents massaging the client’s aching muscles and stiff joints.

I cannot believe some people are willing to pay $70 for a few snakes to crawl all over their body! Who in their right mind would even think about doing that? Barak believes that physical contact with the reptiles can be a soothing experience? how so? I always thought that peeing after holding it in for 4 hours is one of the greatest feelings in this world and the only relation to a soothing feeling is the fact that just reading about it makes me wanna go in my pants!

Located in northern israel, Ada Barak’s spa uses California and Florida king snakes, corn snakes and milk snakes for the massage.

“I’m actually afraid of snakes, but the therapeutic effects are really good,” said one customer. [via msnbc]

*shivering!* Should I dare try it this summer when I go!? Not for a million dollars!

Okay, I’ve been neglecting my body for sometime now…too cruel… I’ve been eating nothing but junk ever since Ramadan ended…I have not worked out regularly in…I don’t even remember. I have not jogged in a few months…to make a long story short, I’ve been slacking and I’m not liking it one bit. I need to tone and firm up…SO my goal for the next few months is to work out regularly for a final result of something hotter than this:

How possible is that? Very. Unlike all other times, this time I am very determined! Really. I am.

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So as I was having my lunch (salad, chicken sandwich, fries, 2 bags of chips) earlier today, I took the Beauty Personality quiz …I never liked quizzes that are supposed to measure aspects of your personality …I think they’re way off most of the time…but, once in a while, they’re fun to take…here is what I got:

I am a trendsetter - this time, it’s right on target.

My beauty personality suggests that beauty products are the highlight of my life…from trying a new lip gloss to experimenting with colorful eye makeup and hair hues. Partially true. I’m obsessed with lip gloss and eye make-up but don’t not so much into all that hair coloring/highlighting stuff. based on my results, I should ‘look for the latest skincare technology, shades of the season, and high-tech styling products.’ cool, apparently, I’m daring enough to try the latest, making me ‘the envy of those who wish they were as confident.’ hmm O.K… What did I say about those quizzes earlier? Anyway, I’ve been meaning to go to Ulta and Sephora for the past few weeks, but my weekends have been absolutely horrible the past months… Perhaps I can jog to Ulta this weekend.

I got my Fitness Magazine - November 2006 issue - (which is strange, since I have not received my October issue yet!) in the mail on Saturday, and I just got the chance to read through it …on the first few pages it reads: You Asked. Do Models Eat? Do they work out?

** umm, ever heard of airbrushing?**

This issue’s cover model is Daniella Van Grass…her favorite butt shaper is Squats, although she ‘absolutely hates them, they really work.’ It is also important to note that she doesn’t ‘obsess over a little post-pregnancy cellulite and a few stretch marks … Afterall, her ‘body created a person!’

In the meantime, A British television station plans to screen a documentary featuring women who volunteer to slim down to super thin sizes. Britain’s Channel 4 will show “Super-Skinny Me: The Race to Size Zero” early next year, as a group of female journalists film their attempts to drop to a size 2, equivalent to a U.S. size 00. (Read on …)

How unique! I wouldn’t be offended if I got one of those for a gift. My derriere could use one …heck, this is the least I can do for it …imagine sitting on it 8 hours… a day not to mention the motionless yet streneous 2.5+ hours it gets in traffic? The least I can do is give it 45 minutes of special TLC!  And yes! I think I know what I am getting Lilian for her birthday next month. 

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Gifts for Mother’s Day were quite safe once–perfume, flowers, a card. Now, Mother’s Day is dangerous territory for men, since one of the trendy gifts for women this year is a butt facial. It was described in a story about spa treatments in Thursday’s At Play section of the Tribune. “Cheeky doesn’t even cover it,” said the story. “Yes, it’s a facial for your bum, complete with a honey-infused mask and oil massage.” (I’m crediting At Play because I don’t want anyone to think it was my big idea, which it wasn’t. (Read on …)

FAT! so FAT … I ate too much at lunch! Is this what happens when you have a healthy breakfast? you pig out at lunch? I thought breakfast - being the most important meal in the day - is supposed to last you well throughout the day! no?

(I could use one!) But this cost way less…. Justmove.org is a website from the American Heart Association which can serve as your personal fitness center, giving you all the personal feedback you need!

You can create your exercise diary and customize it to match your personal preference. Each time you exercise, you enter the activity and how long you did it. The site then updates you on how you’re doing and encourages you to reward yourself when you reach certain milestones. For example, for each milestone reached, you get to pig out in return.

So not only does justmove.org give you the extra push you need to keep going, it provides very useful exercise and nutrition information, sample workout routines and healthy eating plans.

By the way, jumping rope gives you a just as good - if not better - workout than the treadmill! and it’s a lot more fun!

In an ideal world, you’d steer clear of greasy, high-fat takeout and pack yourself a perfectly balanced lunch to bring to work every day of the week. In the real world, brown bagging can be an extra hassle that you can’t always handle. Telle me about it … every night I get lazy preparing tomorrow’s lunch and end up opting for some extremely unhealthy -not to mention close to disgusting - lunch! anyway, thanks to fitness magazine, below is our guide to the healthiest sandwiches, soups, and salads at our favorite grab-and-go lunch spots - provided one is near you!

Cosi

Best Salad: Shanghai Chicken Salad with Low-Fat Ginger Soy Dressing
295 calories
11 g fat, saturated fat amount unavailable
675 mg sodium
6 g fiber
27 g protein
Best Sandwich: Hummus & Fresh Veggies
432 calories
8 g fat, saturated fat amount unavailable
1,128 mg sodium
8 g fiber
13 g protein
Best Soup: Chicken Noodle, regular size
116 calories
4 g fat, saturated fat amount unavailable
818 mg sodium
1 g fiber
10 g protein
Worst Overall: Tuna Melt sandwich
1,012 calories
60 g fat, saturated amount fat unavailable
1,948 mg sodium
4 g fiber
64 g protein
Takeout Tip: Yes, the bread comes free with your soup or salad, but spring for an apple or bag of baby carrots instead. Each slice of Cosi’s famous bread adds 265 calories and 740 mg sodium to your meal (Read on …)

Sexy media a siren call to promiscuity?  I could’ve told you this without any studies! but it’s always good to have ’scientific’ data backing up your ‘claim.’

Notice the mention of parents not talking to their kids about sex? I guess it’s not only in China and Arab countries…

Sexually charged music, magazines, TV and movies push youngsters into intercourse at an earlier age, perhaps by acting as kind of virtual peer that tells them everyone else is doing it, a study said Monday.

“This is the first time we’ve shown that the more kids are exposed to sex in media the earlier they have sex,” said Jane Brown of the University of North Carolina, chief author of the report.

Previous research had been limited to television, said the study which looked at 1,017 adolescents when they were aged 12 to 14 and again two years later. They were checked on their exposure during the two years to 264 items — movies, TV shows, music and magazines — which were analyzed for their sexual content.

In general it found that the highest exposure levels led to more sexual activity, with white teens in the group 2.2 times more likely to have had intercourse at ages 14 to 16 than similar youngsters who had the least exposure.

The effect was not as pronounced for blacks, the study said, perhaps because the black youngsters in the study were already more sexually experienced than the whites were when the research began and thus were less influenced by media exposure over the two-year period.

The teenage pregnancy rate in the United States is three to 10 times higher than that found in other industrialized nations, making that and exposure to sexually transmitted infections a major public health concern, the study said. (Read on …)

According to a recent UCLA study, dieting can cause chronic stress! The problem? Not getting enough of vitamins B6, B12 and folate -nutrients that affect mood. Too little of these can make you prone to depression and mood swings, explains Marlene Schwartz, Ph.D of the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders.

AHA! So that explains Maryam’s attitude every time she decides to go on a diet!

The thought of this month being a different month, a month in which I will resume my workouts, give it all I can and the continued determination of ‘just doing it’  are just not working. I can’t recall the last time I stepped on the treadmill or went for an outdoor jog! What will it take for me to resume my workouts and keep in consistent (it’s not like I’ve been so good with my workouts all my life and just suddenly fell out … but I used to jog, run and do other targetted workouts 3 days a week.)

What should be my motivation?! my inspiration?!

A few days ago, I decided to give up Soda…I don’t drink too much of it to begin with but when I do, it has always been diet.  Effective 3 days ago, no more soda!