Well go on then. Rate your hawtness. But it’s NOT determined by your current size or weight.

Your Hawtness Level is a direct reflection of what you’re doing (or not doing) right now to get where you wanna be with your fitness goals. So how hawt are you?

5 Levels of Hawtness

Level Zero: You ain’t doing shit and you know it. Days turn into months without a fitness regimen, including broken promises to yourself to get started. Not so hawt.

Level 1: You’re tired of living like this. You recognize that change must happen now. You’re ready to really do something about it. You’re serious this time and willing to do whatever it takes. Genuine commitment has set in! [insert epic music here, like the Rocky theme or something]

Level 2: Ugh. Change is difficult and old habits die hard, but you’re pushing through the rough spots. Quitting is NOT an option this time. Many do-overs are still required, but every mess up, slip up or misstep you experience is practice at getting it right. You can’t be held back.

Level 3: You’re moving everyday and eating right with an acceptable amount of greedy indulgence on the side. It’s happening. You’re doing it! You feel good and you’re starting to see the emergence of solid results.

Level 4: You’ve made excellent weight loss progress, but have you honestly challenged yourself OUTSIDE of your comfort zone? You could go into maintenance mode right now and be glad about it, but to achieve something even greater (like sexy glutes or bad ass biceps), you’re not totally there yet. A push is required: Greater commitment. More self evaluation and fine-tuning. More sweat. Yet lots of peeps aren’t interested in pushing, so they stop here at Level 4. But others (maybe YOU?) begin to ask yourself questions like, “Is this workout too easy?” And, “How can I take it to the next level?”

Level 5: Beast mode! You get out of it what you put into it. Your fitness is no longer cruising on autopilot with average results. You are on your way to fully reclaiming your body and health, or achieving the body you never had but always wanted. Level 5 Hawtness is where it’s at. It’s hardcore badassness in action — a serious investment of time and effort, and a bold, relentless vision that gets up everyday and makes it count.

I’ve personally experienced Levels 0-4, and now thoroughly enjoy my Level 5 fitness journey. What Level are you basking in right now and where do you see yourself headed? Oh, and if you feel hopelessly stuck at any Level (escpecially Zero), just shoot me an email me. We need to talk.

Ps: Today is my wedding anniversary. Bow-chicka-bow-bow!

[photo credit]

This pic is from this past November. I actually wish I wasn’t holding that magazine in my hand (my sister made pose with it), because I have very few “oh my gawd, I love this pic of me!” pictures. And I do love this pic. Just pretend you don’t see the magazine.

So, uhh, how about we turn this into a fashion post? This is an example of how I usually dress on the weekends when I’m out and about. In this here pic, I’m wearing:

Sweater poncho from Macys. Black turtleneck, jeans and dangly earrings from JCPenny (can you tell I love that store?).

I used to dress messy on the weekends and not take any kinda pride in myself. I’d just throw on whatever. But the more I started to care about my health, the more I also began to care about my physical appearance and how I present myself. I am in no way fancy with my fashion and I don’t spend a lot of time with prim and prep. I’m not a diva and don’t have time for high maintenance (but a shout out to all the divas, yo!).

It’s just great to finally wear clothes that fit right and feel good — clothes that I can move in without being all squashed and uncomfortable because of extra weight. Feeling comfortable and confident in your clothes gives you automatic swagger. Fitness will do that for ya. Dedication to your fitness regimen is guaranteed to put you in an outfit that gives you swagger and makes you say, “Oh my gawsh, I love this pic of me!”

Stay dedicated to yourself. Keep working hard, increase your swagger ratio and capture that picture-perfect moment for yourself.

Have a GREAT weekend!

XOXO,

Josie

I’m asking, because this has happened to me, and probably will again. I’ll tell you how I handled it, but first, let me propose the dilemma-scenario in question for your consideration…

YOUR DILEMMA-SCENARIO

You’re seriously hungry. For whatever reason, I don’t know, but your stomachs are excessively way past their feeding time. Maybe you were waiting for hours at the doctor’s office, or you got held up at work. Unplanned crap happens that messes with our ability to eat on schedule, and now it happened to YOU. You have no snacks in your bag, there’s no sort of hippie health food store around for you to grab some kind of organic crunch bar, and you won’t be home for another hour and a half. You are freaking STARVING!

So what do you do?

There are fast foods spots on every corner. Do you continue to starve yourself or do you grab the only thing around — fast food? And please don’t say, “that would never happen to me because I’m perfect and I carry my snacks at all times” because that’s NOT part of this hungry scenario. So what’s your answer? How would you handle the situation? Starve or take the fast food route?

JOSIE’S ANSWER

I used to allow myself to starve until I got home, and it was excruciating. I refused to eat anything that violated my healthy-eating code, especially fast food. But later I decided that was bullshit and there was no reason for me to be putting myself through that starving nonsense, so I started grabbing the healthiest fast food item I could identify opposed to starving myself until later, especially if had worked out earlier in the day.

It’s not too hard to find a decent salad or grilled chicken sammich on a fast food menu nowadays. I recently had both in the last few weeks, and I have ZERO guilt about stepping into a fast food joint. Fast food is my last resort, emergency ninja-move alternative.

So how about YOU? Would you starve until you got home, or get fast-foodie instead?

This the comment I left on Workout Nirvana’s blog post about Strong, Sexy Glutes:

Yes, indeed. There is a plump booty available for the plump-less; a sexy booty to be had for anyone willing to grab it. Workout Nirvana’s post was right on time, as I had just finished working my ass muscles that very same morning.

For all of you cardio queens out there, do NOT neglect your strength training. No body transformation is complete without it.

My favorite go-to, ass-enhancing exercises are:

• Squats
• Deadlifts
• Stairwell climbing (and step-ups on a bench)
• Lunges (love to hate ‘em, actually)
• Old school, 1980′s floor work – the Buns of Steel kind

If you can’t quickly reel off your own favorites, that’s a pretty good indication that you’re not working your ass on the regular like you should be, so go read Workout Nirvana’s post and learn from her bootylicious knowledge.

Although booty shorts are my all time favorite piece of fitness apparel, it’s not that YOU have to love booty shorts, too. But wouldn’t you wanna look good in a pair if you had to?

Yeah. That’s what I thought. Now git on outta here and go achieve the sexy ass you deserve.

Kellogg’s Krave Cereal: If I haven’t told you in a while, I’m still a cereal whore deep down in my soul. Krave is on the of the newest thangs on the cereal block, and I gotta admit, I like it lots. Krave has a whole grain shell filled with a teeny bit of chocolate in the center, and there is ZERO High Fructose Corny-ness inside. Krave gives you crunchy, chocolatey, whole-grainy and light sweetness all wrapped into one. Just be sure to activate your self control, because you just might Krave the whole damn box until its gone.

120 Calories for 3/4 cup, Fat Cal. 30, Total Fat 3.5g, Sodium 100mg, Carbs 24g, Fiber 3g, Sugars 11g, Protein 2g

Kashi 7 Grain Waffles: Just when you thought your relationship with frozen waffles was going extinct, along comes the Kashi making it taste all extra delicious ‘n stuff. Forget about whatever it is you think you know about instant waffle pucks. Kashi all natural waffles deliver succulent, warm & fluffy texture with 7 grains of glory that truly taste delicious. But don’t just chew on them for breakfast. Kashi Waffles also make a healthy nighttime snack. Just smather on a light spreading of butter, drizzle with a bit of honey and then bite into it whole (no fork & knife required). I dare you to tell me its not tasty that way.

150 Calories for 2 waffles, Fat Cal. 50, Total Fat 5g, Sodium 340mg, Carbs, 25g, Fiber 7g, Sugars 3g, Protein 4g 

Amy’s Chocolate Cake: If you happen to be hanging around the grocery checkout line this week, go on and snag yourself the January 6th issue of Woman’s World Magazine (the one with Dr. Oz on the cover). Why? Because they’re talking about treats for health-conscious peeps, featuring my greedy opinion on Amy’s Organic Chocolate Cake on page 45. I first told you about Amy’s this past September in a Taste Test, and I still think it’s delicious and totally do-able to enjoy within a sensible diet. I’m a repeat customer of this vegan, organic cake. Click the on image below to enlarge and read my Woman’s World blurb.

click image to enlarge for your eyeballs

…and I couldn’t help but to be inspired by that big azz SparkPeople ad on the right side of the page. Do you see where it says “This is YOUR year!” …I do agree. This IS your year. You bettah grab 2012 by the horns and make it your bitch.