You Do Not Have To Be Rich to Lose Weight

J Hud before and after

It is that time of year again: New Year's Resolutions. The most popular one tends to be lose weight or get fit (or some variation of those two). How do you get motivated to actually follow through with your health goals?

It is easy to get motivated by your favorite celebrities (I mean, Miranda Lambert looks fantastic, right?). When you see a celebrity suddenly drop 30 pounds, it is easy to assume she finally gave in to the pressures of Hollywood. However, when you take a look at how the stars achieved their body transformations, you realize they have two resources in much higher quantities than us "normal" people. They have more money and the luxury of free time.

The Price of Fit
Living an unhealthy life seems so attractive: no calories or carbs to track and no exercise plan to adopt. Not only is being unhealthy easier than being healthy, but it is also CHEAPER. However, diet may be the biggest contributor to weight loss. Dr. Shawn Talbott, a nutritional biochemist, says that weight loss is about 75% diet and 25% exercise. How much does it cost to address this 75%?


According to Harvard Magazine, it costs about $550 more per year per person to buy healthy food. Broken down by day, this does not seem monstrous, but for many American families, that change in budget can be a barrier to a healthy lifestyle. Foods like fresh fruits and vegetables cost more to produce than bread and processed food, making them more expensive to purchase. Take a step back and look at this on a micro level. Need a quick lunch at McDonald's? You can get two McChickens for $2.00 plus tax or a healthier Grilled Southwest Chicken Salad for almost $6.00. These savings add up over the course of a year. Whether you are making your own meals or eating out, healthy food is just more expensive. Period.

In addition to the costs of a healthy diet, there are costs associated with fitness as well. The most obvious way to begin a fit life is to join a gym, but gym membership costs can be overwhelming. Even if you can find a gym with a low monthly fee around $20, sign-up or yearly fees can be upwards of $100 per membership. If you decide to go the more convenient route by working out at home, equipment and workout videos can still put you in the whole for hundreds of dollars (plus where do you put all that stuff?).

Making Time

Miranda Lambert Before and After

For some, investing money in healthier food and exercise may not be the issue; instead, it may be making the time to work on the last 25% of losing weight, which is exercise.

To lose one pound, you have to take in 3,500 fewer calories, burn that same amount, or a combination of the two. Running a marathon can burn about 2,600 calories...and marathons take hours. This fact points back to the fact that diet makes the biggest difference in weight. However, a combination of diet and exercise is the most effective plan, so incorporating fitness in a weight loss plan is crucial.

How do you make exercise more manageable? Divide the 3,500 calories by seven days and you need a calorie-torching session of 500 calories per day. This could take 30 minutes to an hour per day, depending on the workout. Making the time for these workouts tends to be the toughest part of a lifestyle change.

Besides the workout time, another element of time makes it tough to shed the pounds. Being patient while you lose weight is also a struggle. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say it is healthy to only lose one to two pounds per week. If you have 20 pounds to lose, that could be about five months of slow progress to hit your goal. Patience is key. When you see these body transformations from your favorite celebrities, keep in mind that the before and after photos are probably months apart.

Adele Before and After

Fit Like You Are Famous
Some women are lucky enough to be at a place in life where they can afford to be healthy and have the time to implement a solid plan. What if you are not one of those lucky ones? What if you have a pretty strict budget and not a lot of extra time to spare throughout the week? Here are some tips and tricks to make the most of the resources this year to achieve rock star results.

Diet:

• Do you have any food sensitivities? About 90% of the population has at least one food sensitivity. One of the easiest and most effective ways to cut out food that could be contributing to your weight gain is to find out which foods need to be cut. Food sensitivity testing is becoming more and more popular, and you can find doctors in your area that will administer the test.

• Track your intake. There are dozens of great apps for your smart phone that track calories, carbs and exercise. Not only does this allow you to see how you treat your body during the week, but it also allows you to be aware of the nutritional facts of your favorite foods and activities. Two great apps are MyFitnessPal and Daily Carb.
•  HIIT, or high intensity interval training, is a good way to maximize your workout time because it burns more fat. During a HIIT session, you have short bursts of intense activity that are followed by brief moments of rest. Examples of HIIT workouts are Zumba and boxing.
• Although the accountability of gyms and fitness classes help one keep a resolution, there are many resources available that help you workout for free. YouTube has a plethora of free videos, from yoga to Zumba. Create your own playlist and workout at home (here's my favorite)!
• Watch and research gym promotions to try out a gym in your area. Since gyms are so competitive, you may even be able to negotiate a good rate or a free trial.
• Try various dieting strategies to see what works for you. Some people find success by counting Weight Watchers points while others lose those last few pounds by limiting carb intake. Do your research, plan your meals, and try different diets.
• EAT BREAKFAST. Jump start your metabolism by ensuring you eat the most important meal of the day.
• Swap unhealthy snacks with healthy ones. Do you tend to munch on chips at 2 in the afternoon? Pack peanuts instead and eat those when you get a mid-day hunger.
• Eat less. Many people overeat because they tend to put more food on their plate than they need. Start with small portions because it makes you think before you get seconds.

Whether you have a big reveal with a big name sponsor like Jennifer Hudson or you quietly see steady progress over the next year, make the necessary lifestyle changes to be a better, more fit you! Money and time may be limited, but you can make the most of what you do have.

Creating New PhotoShop Actions

One of my favorite aspects of photography is playing with Photoshop Actions. Depending on the location, tone and event, Actions have the ability to make a portrait impactful. One of the elements all of my favorite portraits share is a strong "look."

As a photographer, it is hard to find your "look." At this stage - the stage of constantly learning and growing - I am still playing with the effects in Photoshop. To start learning, I found great tutorials on Pinterest (one of which is to the left). Then, after I learned how the different layers affected the images and which effects I enjoyed the most, I created my own Actions.

The top photo of me (thank you, self-timer) has three Actions I have used this year.

• Autumn Wine was used for a couples/baby announcement session at a winery (it has a vintage feel)
• Navy was used for a toddler's outdoor session (it softens the colors)
• Xmas Navy was used for indoor Christmas portraits (it is cool and more nostalgic).

Scroll to the very bottom of this article to find all three, free for you to use and enjoy!

How do you create your own Actions? I did not know either, but found the answer on Google. Below are the steps taken directly from the Adobe website.

Record an action

When you create a new action, the commands and tools you use are added to the action until you stop recording.

To guard against mistakes, work in a copy: at the beginning of the action before applying other commands, record the File > Save A Copy command (Illustrator) or record the File > Save As command and select As A Copy (Photoshop). Alternatively, in Photoshop you can click the New Snapshot button on the History panel to make a snapshot of the image before recording the action.  

Open a file. 
In the Actions panel, click the Create New Action button , or choose New Action from the Actions panel menu. 
Enter an action name, select an action set, and set additional options:


Function Key
Assigns a keyboard shortcut to the action. You can choose any combination of a function key, the Ctrl key (Windows) or Command key (Mac OS), and the Shift key (for example, Ctrl+Shift+F3), with these exceptions: In Windows, you cannot use the F1 key, nor can you use F4 or F6 with the Ctrl key.
Note:
If you assign an action the same shortcut that is used for a command, the shortcut will apply the action rather than the command.


Color
Assigns a color for display in Button mode.
Click Begin Recording. The Begin Recording button in the Actions panel turns red .
Note: When recording the Save As command, do not change the filename. If you enter a new filename, that new name is recorded and used each time you run the action. Before saving, if you navigate to a different folder, you can specify a different location without having to specify a filename.
Perform the operations and commands you want to record.
Not all tasks in actions can be recorded directly; however, you can insert most nonrecordable tasks using commands in the Actions panel menu. 




To stop recording, either click the Stop Playing/Recording button, or choose Stop Recording from the Actions panel menu. (In Photoshop, you can also press the Esc key.)

To resume recording in the same action, choose Start Recording from the Actions panel menu
To download the actions used in this article, visit:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2u_ADyNG4nbaHBSM01NOEpoZjQ/view?usp=sharing

Bandwagon Culture: Get Over Yourself and Let It Roll On

Every year, in any sport, there tends to be a team that makes a comeback. This team is the underdog, a fan favorite and advances into the post-season. What should be an exciting revitalization of a fanbase tends to get tempered by self-proclaimed die-hard fans calling "bandwagon" on their fair-weathered peers. Annoyance creates friction and hostility within a fanbase. What should happen, however, is to feel annoyed (you can't control your emotions, after all)...then move on. The benefits of a successful season far outweigh the brief bandwagon annoyance.

Bandwagon Fan: Defined

Do a little research on the bandwagon phenomenon, and you will find thousands of articles. Urban Dictionary's first definition is, "When someone adopts a popular point of view for the primary purpose of recognition and/or acceptance of others." This is a generic definition that can be applied to anything from a group project to a fashion trend. Scroll down the page, though, and you will find the more widely known definition:

Humans are emotional. I understand why loyal fans get upset when bandwagon fans appear out of thin air. Compare it to music for a minute. You find an amazing underground band. Months later, that band has a hit song that gets played on the radio about every hour, ruining the novelty of your favorite song. Your little secret has been revealed and abused, and you feel sore and annoyed about it. Sports fans have that same reaction when they spend countless hours cheering and studying their favorite team, only to have everybody and their Granny cheering for a suddenly successful franchise.

The Bandwagon Bad Rep

Writers have been marveling at the bandwagon effect for years. Bill Simmons, an ESPN writer, created rules for real sports fans, such as rooting for the "home" team and only wearing jerseys that represent real players. A second ESPN writer, Patrick Hruby, decided to define the different types of bandwagon fans. Stargazers are fans who only care about the non-sports related events (was that Jason Sudakis at the game?) and 'Dog Groomers who routinely root for the underdog, no matter who the team is (of which there are a few each year in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament).

But is there real harm in a bandwagon effect? Sometimes I get annoyed by customers who go on for several minutes about a political or religious point that differs from mine, but because my relationship with them is the most important part of my visit, I let it go. I have that annoyance, but I do not act on it. No harm done. Every day, we have annoyances that must be brushed off to save our sanity, our energy, possibly our jobs. You know, for the greater good and all.

 

Bandwagoner Benefits

What if these die-hard fans brushed the annoyance of bandwagoners off? What if they let it go for the greater good? Let me explain what I mean by greater good, because let me tell you, there are many benefits as a result of a winning season.

According to Freakanomics, if a college team can improve its season by five wins versus the previous season, alumni athletic donations can increase by 28% and applications increase by 5%. Both of these facts are attractive because they help fund other collegiate sports and bring in more money, through enrollment, for academic scholarship and campus renovations. You may not agree with the insane amount that college football and basketball make in their contracts, but it cannot be denied that a winning coach and his winning team help the university overall. The extent in which a collegiate team help a university is up for debate.

For professional teams, the economic benefits are even more widespread. Fans spend money to get to and from the stadium, to eat and stay overnight in the area, and fans who do not attend the games tend to flock local bars to cheer on their team there. Furthermore, when a team wins, there is a positive psychological effect on the fans and community. The Boston Globe researched this phenomenon to put science to something all fans feel when their team is winning: a bond with strangers, sense of community and common topics and events to share with others. 

The last and most important reason fans should get over bandwagon fans is because YOUR TEAM IS WINNING. Instead of worrying about shaming the bandwagon on social media, you should enjoy the ride your team is providing. Sure, that was a zinger that may have stung and embarrassed some kid, but ignore the annoyance if at all possible.

Let the Bandwagon Roll On

My beef is not with the annoyance die-hard fans feel when a bandwagon rolls through town; rather, I am tired of die-hard fans who cannot get past their own annoyance to enjoy the rush a winning season brings. If bandwagon fans appear, that must mean your favorite team is doing well and you can proudly wear that old Royals sweatshirt in public to the cheers of complete strangers. Enjoy it and get over yourself.

About Shiny Objects

Shiny Objects is a fun side-project that allows me to practice writing, photography and marketing by following up on random thoughts that occasionally pop up.

A wise Pin on Pinterest (oh, and John C. Maxwell) once said, "Dreams don't work unless you do." Another pin (and Scott Belsky) said, "It's not about the ideas. It's about making those ideas happen." Both of these quotes exemplify why I created this blog; in order to follow my dreams of being a better, more established writer, I need to just start doing it.

Coming up with a title to a new writing venture is much harder than it seems. I started this blog with the title, "Grumble," but I knew that was temporary. The tone of that word did not live up to the goal of the blog, so I recently changed it to, "Shiny Objects." 

I hope you enjoy the material seen here! If you want more scattered musings, be sure to visit my official Pinterest Page or follow me on Twitter.

The Dog Runner

Three weeks ago, the vet told me Guinness was overweight. Now, I am not oblivious to his BIF (also known as gunt), but I just refer to him as thick.

Last night, my dress told me I was overweight. In fact, I had to stop at a Kohl's between a wedding ceremony and its reception to get a more forgiving dress.

Kohl's was very accommodating, both in the store and on Twitter!

Action is now required. New day, new week, new routine! This morning Guinny weighed in at 21 lbs and I at 134 lbs. We jogged half a mile in 6:40. Nothing to brag about, but it is a start!

We are tracking our progress on the Runkeeper App.

Up to this point, poor Jameson is left out, you say. No worries; he jogged with us! He is the best runner of the three of us, by far. He will be a great trainer. I also realized if I run on the sidewalks instead of the W&OD, the boys are not as distracted and apt to pee every two feet.

Upon the return of our first jog, Bret said, "It is a little late to start running." Sure, that is a valid point. Less daylight, cooler temps and wonderful television shows on the DVR make getting outside less desirable. However, for seven minutes a day, I think we can make the investment. Our BIFs and gunts depend on it.