Before and After

Heyyyyyy 😀 How are ya?? I’m bueno over here- today has been oozing of productivity (taxes done!!) and full of befores and afters.

Before:

bella

After:

bella

Bella needed that haircut!

To make her feel special too, Viesa got her nails trimmed and a paisley bandana 😉

vies

Before:

bfast cookie

Bfast cookie! With chocolate chips, goji berries and maca

After:

fast cookie

It was kind of tasty 😉 My friend (who did our taxes) liked her bfast cookie, too. She’s allergic to banana, so I used organic plain yogurt and extra Stevia.

Before:

juice

Operation “Get my skin back” is in full effect 🙂

After:

juice (2)

Cullen juice!

Come here Edward….

edward  (Source)

Heh heh 😉

Well I’m off to pick up my rental car from being fixed, hit up some weights and then train clients.

Hope you’re having a great day <3

xoxo,

Gina

Something to talk about: The “fluff” in women’s magazines:

mags

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE women’s fitness magazines and celeb gossip, but the amount of fluff you have to skip through is kind of ridiculous. Fitness Mags are full of advertisements for diet pills and fat burning supplements, which I find contradictory when you’re trying to educate readers on how to get healthy. “Here’s how to lose weight the right way… oh, wait, just take this pill instead.” Doesn’t make any sense, but on the other hand, they have to pay the bills somehow and fruits and veggies don’t have very fierce advertising campaigns. Some of the info in magazines is 100% garbage, too, (“Get a 6-pack in 2 weeks!”) so you really have to take everything with a huge grain of sea salt. Anyone else feel the same way?? Which magazines do you read every month? I always get Runners World (even though running and I are seeing other people right now), Women’s Health (Lea Michele is in this month’s!), SELF and Glamour. I’ll occasionally buy Oxygen and Fitness, too 🙂

PS. How stoked is everyone for Sex and the City 2?!? AHHHHHHH

Zumba song of the day: “Alejandro” by Lady Gaga (perfect for a cool down)

Post Navigation:

96 Comments

  1. Heather (Heather's Dish) on May 25, 2010 at 4:00 pm

    I totally agree…it’s hard to take fitness mags seriously when they are so contradictory. I DO love People and US Weekly though…that’s where I got to get my fluff 🙂

  2. Mary (A Merry Life) on May 25, 2010 at 4:02 pm

    I think fitness magazines send a lot of contradictory messages. I understand they need to sell advertising to keep putting the magazine out, but the ads don’t match up to the content. For someone just starting to read them that can be confusing and they can be led down a bad path quickly.

    That being said, I love Oxygen, Fitness, and SELF.

  3. Laury @ thefitnessriot on May 25, 2010 at 4:02 pm

    Ugh I stopped subscribing to a lot of those mags a while ago because of that very reason!

    Forget Sex & The City (jk?)….I am DYING for Eclipse…about to re-read the book to get ready 🙂 Oh, Edward….so friggin’ dreamy!

    Alejandro is one of my favs!

  4. Melissa Cari @ Miles for Markets on May 25, 2010 at 4:03 pm

    I completely agree regarding the magazines. I know they do it to sell them, but its frustrating to see how contradictory they are. I guess all we can hope for is that people DO read the *real* information inside, even if they’re just buying it for the six pack abs in two weeks 🙂

  5. Nicole @ Geek Turned Athlete on May 25, 2010 at 4:08 pm

    I always think the same thing when I flip through those magazines!! It is so annoying! I always get runners world and triathlete magazine. I haven’t had time to read them lately though. I’m about 3 months behind! Sometimes I buy Fitness, but I don’t like all the ads for pills like you said!

  6. allison @ livingoneday on May 25, 2010 at 4:09 pm

    i love buying trash mags for the airplane. something about just vegging out with one is perfect. but i agree – there is quite a lot of fluff in there. i never look at advertisements, unless they are particularly catchy. so hopefully other people who are smart enough to buy the fitness mags are smart enough to skip the ads too 🙂 viessy is SO gorgeous. she always looks like shes fresh from the salon

  7. angie on May 25, 2010 at 4:09 pm

    I read everything. I do get really annoyed when it comes to the ads and pill popping ads. That is not a good message to be sending esp since alot of younger girls read these mags too. I just read the articles then give to my base gym. I am at the point where i dont subby to them anymore because all i feel like a pay for is the ads. which is annoying.

    I am BEYOND EXCITED for SATC2…since we have a down day i am hitting up the matinee with a bag of nuts and licorice bites. Love it! I am dying to see what kind of “threat” Aidan is going to bring….2 more days!

  8. Emily on May 25, 2010 at 4:09 pm

    I wonder what the most popular magazine is, by the readers of your blog?

    I read Self, Eating Well & Lucky 🙂

  9. McPinks on May 25, 2010 at 4:11 pm

    I have always wondered the same thing – I regularly buy SELF, SHAPE & Womens Health.

    Ohhh I also made a breakfast cookie for the first time a few weeks ago and it “rocked my face off” – very filling! I make them at least 2 times a week now! – Thanks! 🙂

  10. kate on May 25, 2010 at 4:12 pm

    Im on an anti-magazine crusade right now. Im so tired of mixed messages that say Love Your Body + then next to it, How to Lose 10 Lbs in 3 Days! Its so ridiculous!

  11. Susan on May 25, 2010 at 4:16 pm

    I love reading magazines and I subscribe to Self, Shape, Women’s Health, Oxygen, Oprah, Good Housekeeping ( what am I like!!!just love reading magazines when I’m feeling lazy or need a bit of motivation or just want to chill). Would you believe it’s so much cheaper for me to get a subscription from the States to buy these magazines than to buy them in a store here in Ireland.

  12. Susan on May 25, 2010 at 4:17 pm

    Forgot to say I also subscribe to Glamour

  13. Laura J. on May 25, 2010 at 4:20 pm

    I really enjoy Oxygen magazine. It’s really the only fitness magazine I buy now (and I used to buy them ALL!). I like their approach on fitness and clean eating (they have amazing recipes!!) but my only gripe with them tho is that while they promote fitness and clean eating, literally EVERY. SINGLE. AD. in their magazine is for a diet supplement. It’s ridiculous. I’ve never seen any other fitness magazine with so many diet pill advertisements. It just seems so contradictory of what the claim to be about. I mean why not throw in a Maybelline or Nike ad?! Other than that tho I think they have some great workouts and nutrition info. Honestly between Oxygen and your (awesome) bloggy I’ve got all the info and resources I need to live a healthy life! 🙂

  14. Jackie (Army Wife) on May 25, 2010 at 4:21 pm

    Oprah is my bible of choice. Can’t wait for Sex and the City 2, I want to take the husband with me but he’s being a baby and refusing. A deployment got him out of seeing the first movie and now he has no excuses!

  15. Laura J. on May 25, 2010 at 4:22 pm

    Oh and I’m literally antsy with anticipation for Sex and the City 2!! AAA! Every time it comes on my husband groans b/c he knows that’s the movie I’m picking to see on my birthday. Bahaha 🙂

  16. Jessica @ How Sweet on May 25, 2010 at 4:23 pm

    I can’t wait for SATC – going tomorrow! SO EXCITED!

  17. Jenn (Jenn's Menu and Lifestyle Blog) on May 25, 2010 at 4:26 pm

    Awww, your furbabies look so cute!! We just got one of our cats shaved a few weeks ago, he looks pissed now, lol.

    Edward Cullen.. sighhhhhhhhhhh, be still my heart. 😀

    Jenn

  18. janetha on May 25, 2010 at 4:34 pm

    love the puppies! and the B&A of the cookie cracked me up 🙂

  19. Allison @ Food For Healing on May 25, 2010 at 4:34 pm

    aw pretty bella.

    i’m thinking about taking another Zumba workshop, hopefully once i take it ill be ready to start regular classes. It is so much fun. i would love to teach it one day too.

  20. Ilana on May 25, 2010 at 4:36 pm

    When it comes to commercial publications like magazines, they primarily exist to make money. I think we’ve become a culture that is incredibility reliant on popular media and we tend to take it way more seriously than we should. Magazines need money, these advertisers have what they need, we buy the magazines and advertisers benefit. Its economic symbiosis. The viewing public, in my opinion, needs to take that into consideration when reading mags.

  21. Emily N on May 25, 2010 at 4:37 pm

    I read Shape, Women’s Health, Glamour, Allure, Lucky, and Fitness every month. Wow….typing it all out made me realize that it’s slightly shameful. I do realize that you have to take each article with a grain of salt, and I really do, but I consider the mags more entertainment and inspiration than scientific sources. I have a kinda stressful job so I usually hit up Barnes and Nobles or the library on my lunch break once a week to leaf through all of those mags……pure relaxation.

    PS SOOO excited for SC II. I’m going on Friday at 3PM with my colleagues.

  22. Erin on May 25, 2010 at 4:48 pm

    I never buy magazines but do flip through them sometimes. There are some great, interesting, informative articles out there. But there’s also a lot of crap that promotes a negative self-image and spreads potentially damaging information and thoughts to women. A friend of mine used to work for a NY fashion magazine and hated having to write stories about the “magic weight loss secret” or how so-and-so celebrity lost all her baby weight in 2 weeks because it was unrealistic. But that’s what sells mags.

  23. Michelle on May 25, 2010 at 4:48 pm

    I always that was dumb that fitness magazines have a bold article on the front promoting healthy weight loss, and then you open it and there is an article for the latest diet pill. I still buy em anyway. I usually buy Muscle and Fitness Hers, Oxygen, clean eating magazine, and Vegetarian Times.

  24. Katheryn on May 25, 2010 at 4:50 pm

    I hate the fluff in magazines. I read Runner’s World, Shape, Clean Eating, Parents, and sometimes a Cooking Light.

  25. Tina on May 25, 2010 at 4:51 pm

    I don’t read any magazines anymore. 1 because I don’t have the time and 2 because they frustrate me for the lack of real info. I would much rather read blogs like yours instead. 😉

    Mmmm…Edward.

  26. Michelle @ Give Me the Almond Butter on May 25, 2010 at 4:52 pm

    I read Women’s Health, Shape, Cosmo, Glamour, Runner’s World and Architectural Digest. One of these is not like the other 😉 hehe. I was actually noticing how they were giving your tips on how to be healthy and on the opposite page there was an advertisement for a diet pill. Ugh. Oh well, you just have to figure out what to skip over I guess.

  27. Nicole @ Making Good Choices on May 25, 2010 at 4:54 pm

    I feel like the ads have gotten so much worse lately. The ads in SELF and SHAPE are on every other page! It’s just so ridiculous, especially what they are of (like you said). I try not to look at them.

  28. Lindsey @ Foodie on the Rocks on May 25, 2010 at 4:57 pm

    totally on the same page as tina. i actually cancelled my subscription to shape last year because i didn’t want to read the lose 5 lbs in 5 days articles anymore! the only one i read now is my beloved climbing magazine, aptly named Climbing 🙂 and you can always catch me reading the goss mags in the check out line 😉

  29. Jessica on May 25, 2010 at 4:59 pm

    Where do you get your glass straws?
    Thanks

    • Fitnessista on May 25, 2010 at 5:25 pm

      glass dharma 🙂

  30. Nicole on May 25, 2010 at 5:05 pm

    Your babies are so cute!! Funny how you should bring up magazines. I swear I have at least 6 or 7 subscriptions. I told myself yesterday I will not renew any of them. I am so sick of them. So tired of the false advertising. I might keep People but it is soo expensive. 🙂

  31. Johanna B on May 25, 2010 at 5:13 pm

    I don’t read Women’s Health. If I wanted a glamour magazine I’d buy Glamour. I do read Outside, Backpacker, Runner’s World, and I still subscribe to Shape although I may not renew it this year and I find myself picking up Fitness. I ignore the diet pill ads. I’d be willing to pay more for a magazine that didn’t print the ads for products which are no good.

  32. Kari on May 25, 2010 at 5:14 pm

    I was just at the grocery store over lunch and noticed all the “health” magazines, one of which had a claim that they had a diet that would make you lose 22 lbs in a week. If that’s health, I don’t know what I’ve been learning all these years…

  33. Retta @ RunRettaRun on May 25, 2010 at 5:18 pm

    I’ve always loved Fitness but got really turned off last year when I noticed all the diet pill ads. It’s ridic. I’m hoping for a Women’s Running mag subscription next!

    Ummm Perez Hilton is my must check website everyday. 🙂

  34. christina cadden on May 25, 2010 at 5:25 pm

    All that food looks good!

  35. LisaG on May 25, 2010 at 5:34 pm

    Loving the pup pics. I read shape, fitness, womens health, self, cooking light, eating well, and architectural digest. Sometimes I buy the trashy ones like ok, us, etc. I get sick of all the ads but just try to skip over them.

  36. Shannon on May 25, 2010 at 5:36 pm

    aww, lovely furcut! I love love love Clean Eating magaine – great recipes! It always seems to arrive right when I could use a shot of motivation 🙂 I also get People and The Economist – I have a split personality, haha

  37. Jenn on May 25, 2010 at 5:39 pm

    I subscribe to Runner’s World, Shape, Women’s Health and Town & Country. RW is a top quality publication. No fluff, solid research-based information, motivating stories of running success, and all around good advice and pure love for the sport.

    I’m growing increasingly frustrated with mags like Self, Shape, Fitness, etc. when it becomes all about advertising, particularly within articles. For instance – page after page of drugstore product reviews, perfumes, beauty products, etc. It’s trash. RW is great, Women’s Health is decent, and the others are just good for passing time.

    I always laugh at the magazines my mother subscribes to, such as Redbook. The cover will typically have some “walk off 20 lbs!” attraction, and then off to the side “delicious oreo cupcakes your family will love!” Um, what exactly is the message here?

    Magazines aside, what are your fav books on health & fitness?

  38. Jenny on May 25, 2010 at 5:48 pm

    I get Self and Shape. Beyond the airbrushing and general ad-nonsense, I really like to read the magazines! It’s pretty hard to be realistic when you see these “perfect” bodies but you have to remember that it’s not real!

  39. Karly (Becoming My Best Self) on May 25, 2010 at 5:58 pm

    I agree with you on the fluff/trash in magazines now. I have given up on buying US Weekly or In Touch because I just find the articles so ridiculous in what they claim, such as stuff like “New Celebrity Mom Loses All Baby Weight in 1 Week.” Reading these kind of things is not helpful for anyone, and especially not helpful for people who are trying to lose weight and lead a healthy lifestyle. It puts unrealistic expectations in people’s heads and will most likely make them feel defeated.

    I do subscribe to Shape and Self because I find that for the most part their articles and features are positive, uplifting, and have a balanced perspective. Every now and then they do feature an article that I shake my head at or they get caught for airbrushing the cover model, but for the most part they are a good read and provide entertainment and interesting information for my long commute home. 🙂

    P.S. Love your puppies!

  40. shelly on May 25, 2010 at 6:06 pm

    I was recently introduced to SELF and really like it… but I agree with you about the ads and fluff. It sends such a mixed message especially to young girls.

  41. Lauren @ eater not a runner on May 25, 2010 at 6:35 pm

    I totally agree! I get Health (most of which is junk) and Runner’s World (which is awesome).

  42. Kailey (SnackFace) on May 25, 2010 at 6:50 pm

    You know I love my magazines, and I totally understand the advertising side. However, I’d love to see more variety in fitness mags like Shape and Self. They always have “how I lost XX pounds and got healthy,” but what about the flip side of that? How about “I gained XX pounds and got healthy!” Why not! I realize that doesn’t speak to the majority of the audience, but I still think something like that would be a healthy change! The ads for pills and such, though…I ignore those!

    I have nothing negative to say about my beloved Glamour… LOVE

    • Fitnessista on May 25, 2010 at 8:01 pm

      that’s a great point
      i’m just excited for when YOUR magazine comes out 😉

  43. Sonia @ Master of Her Romaine on May 25, 2010 at 6:56 pm

    awww the pups! Too cute!
    I love to read Vogue, Marie Claire, Women’s AND Men’s Health Mag- They both have great info, haha! But I agree about the badvertising- I don’t want to see Jillian promoting her pills in the middle of “99 finds under $20” hehe.
    I also like SELF- did you know that if you get Netflix you can do free SELF workouts via the computer?! I just did a bikini body one- it was great!!

    Also I have an unrelated question for you- did you ever keep using that skin brush? Where did you get it??

    • Fitnessista on May 25, 2010 at 8:01 pm

      yup i still use it! you can find them at most health food stores

  44. Jill@MySoCalledHealthLife on May 25, 2010 at 7:43 pm

    Cute pups!

    As far as fitness mags, I love women’s health, but I get fitness for free for some reason and it is almost pure bs. I tend to flip through once and throw it out.

  45. Liza on May 25, 2010 at 7:46 pm

    Aww, your doggies look very happy 🙂

    I’m definitely excited for Sex & The City 2 to come out!! My best friends and I decided we’d wear heels when we go out to watch it together. 😉

  46. Julie @ Pickley Pear on May 25, 2010 at 7:52 pm

    I read TOO MANY magazines. Women’s Health, Health, Fitness, Shape, Self, and Experience (the mag from Lifetime Fitness). I love them all!

    Your pups are so adorable!

  47. Mary @ What's Cookin' with Mary on May 25, 2010 at 8:01 pm

    I loooooooooove pics of your puppers! They’re SO freakin cute, I swear I never get sick of them. Makes me smile everytime.

    • Fitnessista on May 25, 2010 at 8:14 pm

      they say thank you 🙂

  48. Jen on May 25, 2010 at 8:18 pm

    To be honest, I barely notice the ads. I just flip right over those. I love Shape Magazine and have been a subscriber for about 10 years. I love their realistic approach to health and fitness. I also love how each magazine is jam pack full of new cardio workouts and total body routines 🙂

  49. Chelsea @ One Healthy Munchkin on May 25, 2010 at 8:21 pm

    Not only are the ads contradictory, but sometimes I’m also really disappointed by the actual content of fitness magazines. Shouldn’t they be more focused on helping people get healthy, rather than telling them how they can drop a size in one week? It just contributes to the whole body size obsession and negative body images.

    That being said, I still read fitness mags like a fiend! 😀 I love Women’s Health and Glamour. Glamour tends to really impress me with how they handle health and body image issues.

  50. fittingbackin on May 25, 2010 at 8:38 pm

    haha LOVE all of the before & afters! Especially pupper – look at that cut! 🙂

    Um, yes – magazines are slightly annoying. I subscribe to Fitness, Shape, Self and Glamour – they’re so ad-packed though – I prefer blogs!

Leave a Comment





This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.