reader questions

Do You Have a Gym Phobia? [Plus: Rainbow Brite Shoes Explained]

March 28, 2012

Baffling equipment. Mean girls. Chronic cell-phone chatters. Unidentified puddles of bodily fluids. Germs. Old men on the exercise bike in nothing but tighty whities and black dress socks (true story). There are lots of reasons why people avoid the gym. Frankly, there are probably more reasons to skip the gym than to go. So when I got this e-mail from Reader M, I was sympathetic: I keep thinking that I should overcome my fat-girl-phobia and show up at a gym, and then one of these articles come along. The article she is referring to is a New York Times expose [...]

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How My Neti Pot Betrayed Me (What to do For Recurring Sinus Infections?)

February 16, 2012

My favorite reader questions are the ones that you think would have a simple answer and yet instead of just saying “yes” or “no” I take the opportunity to turn it into a story all about me and only tangentially address their question. Today’s question in part 4 of my Help a Reader Out (by giving them better advice that I do) series is from Angie who writes, “Hey, have you ever tried a Neti pot? My doctor told me to try it for my recurring sinus infections but I’m weirded out by the whole idea of pouring water up [...]

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Run. Eat. Don’t Repeat.* How to break the exercise-to-eat cycle [Reader Question]

February 14, 2012

I think this guy is on to something: he just condensed the whole eat-exercise cycle down to one picture-perfect moment of glory! You need to eat to live. You also need to exercise to live. But do you eat and exercise to live or do you live to eat and exercise? Silly question but it’s a fine line, easily crossed, from the former to the latter. Especially for those of us compulsive types who tend to think that if some is good then more must always be better. You don’t have to have read this blog for very long to [...]

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How Do You Time Your Meals Around Your Workouts? [Help a reader out week!]

February 12, 2012

Why did the Tupperware Fairy never become A Thing? Come on, she’s awesome! And – zing! – just found my next Halloween costume. They should have given her a Tupperware Tiara though. I could pretend that I got really backed up on my e-mail because I’m just that popular or I could ‘fess up to getting addicted to my new trivia/crossword puzzle book (nerdgasm!). (I should also note it’s hard to reply to e-mails when I’ve got a Jelly Bean permanently attached to my hip. While adorable*, she does make typing difficult.) So I’m dedicating this week to answering all [...]

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Gym Drama: How to Deal When Your Workout Stresses You Out

February 6, 2012

Gossip, intrigue, power plays and morality plays: From the small stuff to the life-and-death stuff (sometimes literally), gyms are a microcosm of life. Add all the hormones, endorphins, sweat and fatigue from a good workout and you’ve got a recipe for the best reality show ever – seriously, why has no one ever done a gym reality show?! – or for some serious gym drama. Love it or hate it, the reality is that because we’re all flawed human beings, we’re all going to run into it sometimes. Some of us more than others. Ahem. Over the years I’ve got [...]

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Are Push-Ups Better Than a Push-Up For Your Chest? (And what are square boobs?)

January 29, 2012

courtesy of lipglossjunkie “I must! I must! I must increase my bust! The bigger the better, the tighter the sweater, the boys depend on…” Not me, that’s for darn sure. (And for any of you that are going to point out how busty I look in that green-skirt pic in the rotating images at the top of my site – push-up bra + pose, for the win!) As a small-chested girl who’s always wanted to be just a smidge bigger I’ll admit that I’ve always read with interest anything that reasonably claims to enhance my bust size. Okay and I might [...]

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What is the One Piece of Fitness Equipment You Can’t Live Without? [Reader Question]

January 23, 2012

I was kind of rolling my eyes until I got to #9. That question will haunt me until my dying day. “So I have a post idea for you,” a friend at the gym recently said to me. (Incidentally this friend is the only person I have ever seen do the Wicked Wiper in person and he can do like 15 of them. It’s crazy. The first time we saw him do it we all burst into spontaneous applause on the weight floor which was even more awkward considering we hadn’t introduced ourselves yet and so pretty much looked like [...]

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T-Tapp Experiment Results In: How did the claims stack up? [Giveaway!]

November 14, 2011

The Gym Buddies and I having a little fun with our first T-Tapp workout. Note: this is NOT supposed to be a demonstration of good form or whatever. It’s just us being silly. Skip to 1:50 if you want to see me get my sexy back;) Thanks to Allison for secretly taping us and editing this vid! I WILL get you back, girl. (If you can’t see the above video in your reader or email, click through to my site.) Between the butt-slapping, oil-welling and hoe-downing, you would think that these past few weeks of T-Tapp were all fun and [...]

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The Business Behind My Blog

October 26, 2011

Tonight was our annual Turboween and I’m afraid I got too clever for myself because not a single person got my costume. So if you’d like to play the “What’s Charlotte supposed to be?!” guessing game, I’ll tell you at the bottom. Hint: The theme was weddings. “What is the fastest way to lose weight?” is the fitness question I get asked the most (my answer here) but the truth is I get asked even more often about the business of running my blog. Today I did a rough estimate of how many e-mails I got related to my blog and [...]

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Should You Workout With Those You Work With? 5 Tips for Exercising With Coworkers

October 17, 2011

This would be an example of what not to wear. Naked is not good but Hannibal Lecter couture is way worse. Judging from advice columnists and The Apprentice, working with your coworkers is tricky enough (Who knew clipping your toenails in your cube is the modern-day equivalent of lancing your Black Plague boils over the community well?) but add a little skin, sweat and spandex to the formula and working out with them is a whole new social minefield. I’ll be honest, the last time I worked out with an official coworker (i.e. someone who is over 4 feet tall [...]

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