How to Lose 10 Pounds for Spring

For some of us, the mantra lately has been “blizzards and booze”. This winter has been one of the ugliest on record for much of the country. Who wants to venture out to the gym, let alone out on the bike, when there’s five inches of snow coming down and more on the way? Cabin fever isn’t the only side effect this year’s rotten weather and soon it will be time to face the music. Are you ready for your warm-weather clothes? If those jeans you got last Christmas are feeling more like spandex than denim, try the GearCrave waist therapy treatment and make an early attack on that winter weight we’re all in denial about. This plan should be a huge help til the weather gets good enough to go back to the gym on a regular basis.

The great spring thaw is coming soon, but the idea of shedding those cold weather layers fills some of us with dread. Here’s our six-point attack plan (not six-pack, drunk ass!) to get you started trading winter flab for springtime abs:

1. Beer Strike! Why should Hollywood writers get all the fun? We’re going on strike, too. No more beer until last year’s jeans can fit the way they did when we first put them on. And holding your breath to get ‘em on doesn’t count. Even lite beer contributes too many calories when you’re trying to get back into shape. Dump the booze for six weeks and see how great you start to look.

2. Morning Mash-Up. Put on your favorite mash-up mix to get the adrenaline going and do three sets of 25-40 crunches each alternated with three sets of 15-25 pushups. For these we recommend the Perfect Pushup for better ergonomics and a unique spin on and old classic exercise routine.

3. Let Your Feet Do the Walking. Park farther away from work and hoof it. You can also try an old trick those harried medical students know all too well–take the stairs everywhere you can and forget the elevator. Doctors in residency training working insane shifts with no time to work in a trip to the gym use this one all the time.

4. Night Work. Buy yourself some ten pound hand weights and do low-weight/high repetition curls. Try 20-30 curls and do four or five sets and see how you feel. You’ll scoff at that low weight…at first. Throw in a set of 30 crunches in between each set and suddenly that workout doesn’t feel so easy, does it? Once you start getting the hang of that one, we recommend throwing a few pushups into the mix, too. Try for 20 minutes nonstop in the evening to start and see where you go from there.

5. Dump The Crappy Carbs. Are you still eating white bread, potatoes, and popcorn? Dump these starchy flab-builders in favor of colored vegetables and fruit. If it’s white, don’t bother eating it for six weeks. That goes for bananas, too.

(photo courtesy Stacy Braswell)

6. Black Coffee. If you are a flavored latte drinker, treat these just like beer and give it a rest for six weeks. The calories you dump today are the inches you’ll lose tomorrow.

Do all six things on the list for six weeks. By the time your little routine has started to plateau, the weather will be nice enough to start heading back to the gym for real, and several pounds lighter besides! The headstart is just what you need to ease back into that more active lifestyle you’ve been promising yourself.