Motivation to Get Moving

Finding the time and energy to get active can be hard, especially if you've been inactive for a long time. Often, though, the hardest time to be active is a few months into your workout plan, when you think you've got the lazy bug licked. About then, you might start thinking "Oh, I can just take this week off."

Soon enough, this week turns into next week and the week after, and so on.

So every time you're about to give up on exercise, read this 7-step list to yourself. Or better yet, tape it up somewhere (like the bathroom mirror) where you're most likely to read it everyday.

1) People who exercise live longer, on average, than people who don't.

Active people have a lower risk of dying from heart disease and stroke, and they're less likely to get high blood pressure.

2) Exercise can help with health problems like type 2 diabetes (exercise can lower your blood sugar levels) and arthritis (exercise helps reduce joint swelling and pain and improves mobility).

3) Exercise makes you "functionally fit," meaning that it's easier for you to carry groceries, do chores, even go to the mall and shop for new (smaller) clothes!

4) Active people are less depressed, and depressed people often feel better after they start exercising.

5) Exercise can save you money. If you can prevent serious (and costly) medical conditions such as heart disease, cancer, and osteoporosis, you will have more money for your other needs.

6) Exercise is fun! Many of the activities you did for play as a child count as exercise. Dancing fast, walking your dog, bicycling, and gardening all strengthen your heart and lungs.

7) SO GO GET FIT!!! YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Blueberry Muffins-Without the Guilt!

Yes, you can still have a muffin for breakfast--a sweet, delicious, real muffin, not an over-sugared cake in disguise. These mini treats pack in the flavor of fresh blueberries and are loaded with fiber, which adds up to satisfying start to the day.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups unprocessed wheat bran or oat bran

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tablespoons ground flaxseed

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup 1-percent milk or unflavored soymilk

1/3 cup honey

1 ripe medium banana, mashed with a fork

1 large egg

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup fresh blueberries or other berries

Prep Tip: Color, not size, tells you which blueberries are the ripest. Look for berries that are deep purple to blue-black.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly coat 24 nonstick miniature muffin cups with cooking oil spray.

In a medium bowl, combine bran, flour, flaxseed, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside. In another medium bowl or in a blender, combine the milk, honey, banana, egg, olive oil, and vanilla extract until smooth.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, then pour in one-third of the liquid mixture. Stir until smooth. Add remaining liquid mixture and stir just until combined. Add blueberries and stir again, but do not over mix.

Spoon 2 tablespoons of batter into each muffin cup. Bake about 8 minutes, or until the tops spring back when pressed gently. Do not overbake. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from the cups.

Yield: 24 miniature muffins

Serving Tip: Spread the warm halves of each muffin with a little mashed, ripe banana instead of butter.

Nutritional Values:

Fat: 2 g, Carbohydrates: 11 g, Protein: 2 g, Calories: 63 kcal

You can get this and other great recipes at the Biggest Loser Club.

Eat This, Not That, but Save the Flavor

As a doctor, Jeff Levine knows how to make life-saving decisions for his patients. Now, he's doing it for himself by changing his eating (and cooking) habits.

His tip for a delicious, satisfying meal? Keep the most flavorful ingredients, and replace the least flavorful.

Here's how it works:

Instead of lox and bagels, try lox and Wasa bread. All the flavor is in the salmon. So skip the bland bagel and heap that fish on a cracker.

"I can eat five slices of Wasa bread and it adds up to only 100 calories, with very little fat or carbohydrate. I put fat-free cream cheese on the Wasa bread with the onions and lox, and I don't even taste the difference!"

Instead of spaghetti sauce and pasta, try spaghetti sauce and spaghetti squash. All the flavor is in the tomato and garlic of the sauce. So replace the pasta with a high-fiber, filling veggie.

"Half a cup of spaghetti squash has only 23 calories, compared to pasta at 100 calories. I'm a pasta person, and spaghetti squash is a terrific substitute. I want to see if I can sneak it past my kids."

Other flavor-saving ideas from the Biggest Loser Club: Salsa and celery instead of salsa and chips. Tuna on melba toast instead of tuna on white bread.

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