pic of the week: exactly where I want to be and what I want to be doing right now

summer: bring it

For more inspirational pics check out my weheartit.

motivation: sweat pants

Good reason to lose weight:

So you can wear sweat pants and sandals and look like this:

Not this:

Motivated yet? I just put down my fork... to laugh my ass off without stabbing myself in the eye!

totally off topic

She is like the definition of hot mess. All this inspires me to do is take a bath outside, and re-watch Fight Club.

balsamic mushroom heaven

Lunch last week. I got it at a restaurant in Seoul, but it would be so easy to do at home, and you could alter it to be less greasy. It's mushrooms stuffed with balsamic vinegar and garlic, broiled in the oven, topped with greens, lettuce, tomatoes, Parmesan and a little olive oil. (I would have gone easier on the olive oil...)

Mushrooms are very filling to me, so I could eat just this for lunch and be satisfied.

Mushrooms: 30
Balsamic: 10
Garlic: 10
Lettuce: It's freaking lettuce! It's got like 2 calories! Don't count it!
Tomatoes: 10
Parmesan: 25
1/2 tablespoon olive oil: 60
Total: 145 cal

pic of the week: best idea eva!

How have I not thought of this idea yet? Let me do a quick calorie total.

Rice cakes: 70
Peanut butter: 95
Banana slices: 70
Strawberry jam: 40

= Awesome 275 cal lunch!

For more healthy food ideas and inspiring pics check out my wehearit. Stay skinny!

pic of the week

gimme gimme, want want

For more awesome inspiration, check out my weheartit.

heart it

I have recently fallen in love with weheartit and started my own page skinnydancing. It's a service that let's you grab any image you like from the web, categorize it and it maintains the link back to the original page. So in theory, ownership and photo credit are maintained. It's stupid easy to use. Check it out if you like to collect and share images. I use it to share images that inspire me in my weight loss, and just images that inspire me. My current sets are:

thin inspiration
ballet (yeah, I know I have a thing about legwarmers)
photography (just stuff that inspires me in general)
food (great low-cal food photos that link back to the recipes)

and my personal favorite, goal, which is a set of photos that represent where I personally want to be body and fashion-wise in a year. Except this, which is exactly where I want to be and what I want to be doing and what I want to look like this summer:

Look ma, no tan lines!

Check it out, let me know what you think, and start sharing images that inspire you. Stay skinny!

top five reasons you need to go to a ballet class right now

Ballet is absolutely at the core of my body's transformation. It's something I work at and something I work for. It's an incredible source of inspiration and power, and here are the top five reasons why:

1. Nothing, not a bathing suit, not looking at yourself naked, nothing gives you a better assessment of where your fit situation is right now (and how far you've got to go) than a leotard and a pair of pink tights.

2. Every class you will get stronger, more flexible, more capable of the positions, and more toned. Some people see results faster than others, but you will notice progress in EVERY class.

3. Unless you're a dancer, ice skater or horseback rider you have crap posture. And crap posture means you stand with your belly poked out. Don't believe me? Go to a mirror, look at your profile, and try tucking your butt under and rolling your pelvis forward. Wow, makes a difference, huh?

4. Experience the joy of movement. Think about sprinters and skateboarders and how much fun they have just moving around in space. This simple joy is denied to a lot of un-fit people. Ballet gives you grace, balance and a taste of that joy.

5. The world can be a mean, cruel, competitive place. This is especially true in teenage dance classes. (Adult classes tend to be more relaxed, but as all grown-ups know, just because someone's an adult doesn't mean they act that way.) If you can learn to deal with it there, you can deal with it anywhere. Remember, you are doing this for you. Be strong for you.  

(Seriously though, it doesn't matter what your preferred style of exercise and movement is, just get out there. Do it, love it.)

hangry

This interview with Anna Paquin doesn't reveal any secrets to how she maintains the best little body in the business (seriously, she rocks short and curvy in ways that make the long and lanky jealous.) Instead, she does something I find far more inspiring. She basically admits that there is no "magic pill", no being naturally thin, Hollywood stars have to work just as hard and suffer just as much as anyone to have those figures. But apparently, it's a battle you can win:

...so keep strong!

P.S. Love, love, love her use of my new favorite word, hangry. We all know how that feels, don't we girls?

closet project

Here's a fun weekend project (not my original idea, but it's a good one), pull out all your clothes and look at them, really look. Anything that looks worn (in a bad cheap way, not a fun shredded knee jeans way), get rid of. Anything you know as soon as you put it on will make you feel dowdy and frumpy, get rid of. Anything that is not of good quality, get rid of. Anything you're keeping “just for sentimental reasons” get rid of. (Do you really need your high school graduation gown taking up space in your life?) Try on what's left and give yourself a good look. Anything that doesn't look awesome, anything that doesn't feel great, get rid of. If you were the kind of person who was going to get it altered to fit better, you would have done that already.

You are better than muffin-top pants. You are better than cheap, pilly rayon blend fabrics. You are better than shot elastic.

What's left in the keep pile? Probably what you wear all the time anyway. Anything that's in the toss pile, you probably never wear, and when you do you regret it about 10 minutes after you leave the house. Why keep it? Recycle/donate/give away. Eliminate it from your precious space.

What's left to do?

Shop and dream. But only buy things with good fabrics and flattering cuts. Things that look good on you now. The other things you think you're not quite thin enough for (YET), wait. Having that one motivational pair of jeans or bathing suit is a worthy idea, but keep it to one item. Fill your life with what makes you look and feel great now. Treat your body and your life like a temple, and it will become one.

awesome sweater and jeans available at tobi

gorgeous yoga inspiration (NSFW)

I've had an off and on relationship with yoga. However, I do a twist similar to this one almost every day. It's great for wringing the stress out of the back that we all seem to carry. And knowing that soon I can do it shirtless and look like this, is great skinny motivation.

Photos: Steven Meisel / Vogue Italia July 2007, via a fun Finnish beauty and lifestyle blog: kaikki mita rakastin

role models

Good tip: adopt a fashion/body role model that suits your build and coloring, so you know when you're dreaming about their clothes and makeup, they will look good on you. Try to choose someone who maintains their weight, not someone who yo-yos. It will be better inspiration.

My favorites:

Charlotte Gainsbourg – damn straight good looking girl, and a snappy dresser

and:

Nina Dobrev – great legs, great attitude and proof that natural brown hair and eyes are hot

What do you think? Who has the looks that would look good on you?