Stacy London is back with a new show on TLC called "Love, Lust, or Run." It premiered Friday night, January 23rd. I had high hopes for having Stacy London back in my life my living room, and she did not disappoint. Stacy is my ultimate style icon. She is sophisticated with an edge.
After watching the first two episodes I am hooked. Stacy doesn't just deliver on-point fashion advice. She also gets to the heart of why someone is dressing the way they dress, the message they are sending, the message they actually want to send, and how to fix it. This is how TLC describes it:
"Love, Lust or Run" is a new makeunder show where women with major fashion issues turn to style guru and Stacy London for help turning their over-the-top look from disaster to "Damn, girl!" See how gal pal Stacy can change not only a woman's look, but maybe even her life!
That sounds like a tall order, but wait until you see how she transforms a former exotic dancer into a mom her daughter can be proud of. The first two episodes have some emotional, heartfelt moments where candidates start crying and London gives supportive advice and hugs. London quickly redirects the candidates back to the fun part, shopping. She gives one candidate such perfect, simple wardrobe advice that I had to rewind and take notes. She said to, "...think of your wardrobe as a pie divided into quarters. You have your neutrals, colors, prints, and then your special pieces." Brilliant! I might need to reorganize my closet.
If you loved TLC's "What Not To Wear," then London's new show is a must-set-your-DVR.
Happy New Year! I am in a particularly good mood, because I have hit my goal weight! As of January 2nd I am down to 135 lbs. That brings my total weight loss for 2014 to 35 lbs. Over the past week I decided to start doing a carb cycling program. Years ago I worked with a trainer who had a bachelor's degree in nutrition. He swore by carb cycling, and he was ripped (not that I noticed). He was very successful as a trainer, and furthermore his clients were very successful with weight loss. At the time I weighed 116 lbs., and I didn't really think a lot about carb cycling. I kind of thought I had this whole weight thing under control.
Carb-Cycling
I wish I had tried it sooner. The last, stubborn 5 pounds just seemed to fall off this week. I'm shocked and amazed. I didn't even eat low-fat foods. I would tend to think it was just water weight, but my body fat percentage dropped as well by 1%. Surprisingly, I didn't feel cranky cutting out sugar and starchy carbs at all. I actually felt more energetic and experienced a lot less brain fog. So here is the plan that I followed:
Sunday - Normal
Monday - Low-Carbs*
Tuesday - Low-Carbs
Wednesday - Normal
Thursday - Low-Carbs
Friday - Low-Carbs
Saturday - Normal
*Low-carb days were no sugar, no fruit, and no starchy carbohydrates (i.e. potatoes, corn, rice, pasta, breads, grains, beans). Meals were focused around protein and non-starchy vegetables.
I logged my calories on Monday & Tuesday to see how I was doing. I still hit my calorie targets eating a high-protein, high-fat, low-carb diet. I didn't feel hungry or deprived at all. It was quite the opposite. I was satiated and eating delicious food like this:
I'm also feeling pretty happy, because Santa Claus was good to me this Christmas. He brought me the Athleta Dobby Down Bomber in Macaw Blue. I love the vibrant color! Athleta has a ton of cute stuff on sale now so stock up on workout gear while supplies last.
I'm also loving some of the new items from Fabletics, Kate Hudson's line. I especially love the Aventura tank that was added this month. It's only $20 for VIP members. The tank will easily transition into Spring.