commandax Member

Muay Thai & MMA fighter Gina Carano is just about perfect.

In the high teens (from about 230 pounds to 190 pounds at 5'10"), around sizes 18 and 16, I found it was about 15 pounds between sizes. Now that I'm down in the low teens, the sizes are about 5-7 pounds apart. In the past year I've gone from size 18 to size 10.

I eat whatever I want... food is food. I just try to eat just what I can burn. On Saturdays, when I spend 3 hours kickboxing, that means I can indulge in a delicious cheeseburger with fries and a few craft beers at my favorite pub. Most days at lunchtime I order something like an Italian sub, a steak sandwich, a chicken…

Dear 16-year-old me, you aren't a hopeless klutz. If you take up boxing, you will love it and it will transform you inside and out.

Get some handwraps (if you don't already have them) and wrap your hands before you put on your gloves. It will protect your wrists and knuckles and allow you to punch with a lot more power. I recommend the 180" Mexican-style handwraps – you can wrap them like so: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M1FpUJN1iI Boxers usually…

I spend three hours kickboxing on Saturday mornings, which earns me more calories than I could possibly drink and still remain ambulatory. Saturday nights are generally spent in my favorite brewpub washing down a blue cheese burger and fries with several pints of a fine IPA, and I'm still in calorie deficit when I get…

You don't need to starve or deprive yourself to lose weight. You just need to find some kind of physical activity that you love to do, do it as hard as you can every day that you can, and keep an eye on your portion sizes.

A beautiful pair of tall Frye Engineer boots! My calves should finally be slim enough in just a few months.

There's more to life than running. Find something badass that you really like to do. Take up a martial art, start rock climbing, or take a hip hop dance class. Don't worry about how others perceive you, just be awesome for yourself. I really believe you just have to feel sexy and carry yourself with that knowledge for…

The other day, my trainer introduced me to a guy who'd just lost 65 pounds in 6 months through juicing. I think my trainer was half kidding when he said, "You should juice, you could lose weight even faster!" I looked at the guy, who was rail thin and had loose skin hanging on his abdomen, and thought, "I wonder how much…

I train muay thai five times a week, too. I've been at it for six months now. I'm not good enough or fit enough to fight yet, but I've already lost 40 pounds doing it, so you never know! I love sparring and pad work, it's always the height of my day.

I just want to be Zoe. She's the perfect woman.

Oh yes. Jack and Bobby from Cryptonomicon, too! All the Shaftoe boys are hhhhot.

Go for sashimi instead of sushi, a great source of protein and zero carbs!

I started kickboxing 5 months ago, 65 pounds overweight and not having exercised in a decade. The first week was brutal, and I sucked. My whole body ached constantly for the first two months... but even though I could only make it to the gym a couple days a week at first, I could feel my body improving by the day. Soon I…

Zoe Washburne from Firefly. Long, lean, loyal to the bone and deadly!

Most of the time I enjoy it when people mention that I'm looking slimmer, but there is a girl at the gym who loudly compliments my appearance EVERY SINGLE DAY. The first time, it was nice, but it quickly got weird and uncomfortable. It doesn't help that she does it at the top of her lungs, so everyone in the gym can hear.…

I order a takeout sandwich every day at work, usually a grilled chicken or salami sandwich with a side salad. I look forward to it all morning, and it's often the high point of my work day. When my lunch arrives, I split the sandwich and any sides in half, and put one half on a plate and the other half in the office…

These are both great! Real Genius was one of my favorite movies growing up, and Chris Knight's moral clarity and irreverent brilliance has definitely been an influence on me! Hackers was the first time I saw Angelina Jolie on the screen, and the inimitable power, wit and grace she brought to her role made an huge…

When we were kids playing Star Wars at recess, I was the only girl, so I always had to be Princess Leia or Chewbacca. (I chose Chewbacca.) But I really wanted to be Han Solo. Doesn't everyone?

This is how it works for me. I go two or three weeks holding pretty steady, going up or down a pound or so day-to-day, then one day I wake up and have lost 3 or 4 pounds seemingly overnight. Often I lose a few pounds more later in the week, then go back into stasis for a couple of weeks. I do notice that I seem to pee a…

As far as male role models go, Robert Heinlein's character Lazarus Long has been a huge influence on my philosophy of life. I read "Time Enough for Love" when I was a teenager, and it was a revelation.

I totally get it. Many of my role models are men, too... I just identify more with the way men live their lives. I guess I live on that divide between acting like one of the guys and being a powerful woman. I try to embody the best of both worlds in order to be who I really am, and not worry too much about what other…

Yeah, she's an inspiration. I have been thinking that once I get my body to where I want it with muay thai, I might take up scuba diving. It seems pretty scary, but so did kickboxing a few months ago!

That's a great one. Your ticker reminded me that I've always idolized Norman Rockwell's Rosie the Riveter, too. Check out the pipes on her! Those ladies really stepped up to the plate during World War II, and they also paved the way for independence and equality for the rest of us.

Interesting. You know, Oliver Stone was sort of horrified at how many people revered Gordon Gekko and decided to model themselves after him. Stone said, “Anyone who took away that ‘greed is good’ has missed the point. The movie speaks for itself. People who walk out of the movie and think, ‘He’s such a great guy,’ they…

I know, isn't she incredible? She's the rare strong female character who gets to have it all, too.

One more fictional role model for me — Amy Shaftoe, the badass diver and treasure hunter from Neal Stephenson's amazing novel "Cryptonomicon."

I started muay thai three and a half months ago, 65 pounds overweight, extremely uncoordinated and having not done any cardio in about 10 years. I was totally wiped out after my first day, but a couple days later I went back for more. Soon I was totally addicted, despite being constantly sore all over. Now I spend between…

Besides burning calories and toning muscle, exercise also tends to counteract depression, which can help you with maintaining your other goals. Regular exercise stimulates the production of serotonin, a brain chemical that regulates mood, appetite and sleep cycles, among other things. That said, exercise can be a drag if…