Photo credit: Splash News

When I saw photos of Lady Gaga’s Amsterdam performances on today’s internet news, I was totally astounded.  In fact, I scoured the internet trying to tell if this is for real or if it’s a trick she or the paparazzi are trying to pull.

The photos show, and Gaga’s comments attest to, a weight gain of around 25 pounds!  Lada Gaga has typically been known for showing off her incredible figure in skimpy, crazy outfits.  In Amsterdam, Gaga’s outfits were typically tight, but they weren’t as flattering as usual.

About a month ago, I wrote a blog post about Lady Gaga’s controversial Tweets about back to back spin classes, ‘eating a salad, dreaming of a cheeseburger’ and going gluten free in an attempt to 10 lbs.  Seems like these may have been the first signs of a problem that since has only gotten worse.

What happened to Lady Gaga and why?  While this certainly confirms to us that Gaga’s human and not an alien, how can we keep this from happening to us?  Especially since most of us don’t have the means to have a personal chef and trainer follow us around wherever we go!

Photo credit: Splash News

There are several rumors out there attributing Lady Gaga’s weight gain to pregnancy, which Gaga has denied profusely.  Other rumors hint to excess alcohol consumption.  However, according to Gaga, who acknowledged, “I’m dieting right now, because I gained, like, 25 pounds,” the weight gain is due to too much of a different good thing – pasta and pizza. Gaga’s dad has opened an Italian restaurant, and she complains that he pressures her to eat saying, “It’s so amazing … it’s so freaking delicious, but I’m telling you I gain five pounds every time I go in there,” she said. “So my dad wants me to eat at the restaurant, and I’m, like, I’ve got to go where I can drink green juice.” She told radio host Elvis Duran that ‘s a New York Italian Girl and loves eating pasta and pizza.  “That’s why I have been staying out of New York.”

So it does seem that Gaga has a yo-yo problem.  Her diet and exercise habits that appear to be really variable.  Based on August’s tweets, it would seem that perhaps Gaga was already partaking in some foods that she knew weren’t the best choices and she tried to take the drastic move of going gluten-free to force herself not to partake in high-calorie gluten-filled foods like pizza and pasta.  She also bragged about back-to-back spin classes – Gaga was probably trying to work off pizza calories.

HOW WE CAN AVOID GAGA’S FATE

It’s easy to see that these extreme tactics completely failed Gaga.  She experienced guilt because of her food choices and then beat herself up by trying to be strict with her diet and exercise.  And it didn’t work – she found herself eating pasta and pizza anyway.  This is the same cycle that so many of us have experienced – overindulgence followed by calorie restriction and exercise punishment.  At Athlean-XX for Women, we often talk about the fact that radical diets and 2 hour gym sessions are temporary, and their results are too.  This is because they are simply unsustainable. Here are the reasons why:

• Women have busy lives.  Measuring their foods, tracking their calories and 2 hour gym sessions every day are not realistic.
• Radical diets that severely restrict calories and food types cause you to subconsciously rebel and lead to more cravings.
• Extreme exercise plans can backfire too.  They can make you feel punished and sore, and you may be less apt to want to exercise if you associate it with punishment.  Also, burning too many calories at once can leave you famished and more apt to overeat or give in to cravings.

Photo credit: Splash News

For any woman, the key to staying fit and healthy is CONSISTENCY.  But how can we stay consistent?  FLEXIBILITY is the answer!

Lady Gaga needs a nutrition plan and fitness plan that that is flexible.  She needs to eat tasty, healthy foods that she enjoys so that she doesn’t feel deprived.  She needs to eat more frequent small meals so that she doesn’t feel hungry.  She’s super busy, so she needs a short but super effective workout that gets all of her strength and cardio needs met in as little time as possible.  It needs to incorporate strength training to help her look toned and stay strong for her on-stage dance routines.  It also needs to go with her wherever she goes so that she can get a workout in whether she’s got access to a gym or not.

What plan has all of these elements?  Athlean-XX for Women does!  Our nutrition plan encourages you to eat 5 – 6 times a day!  No calorie counting or food restriction here!  Who has time for that?  Just eat healthy, tasty foods.  The plan is flexible too!  Depending what works best for you, you can follow our 90 day set meal plan to the letter, pick and choose the meals you like best from that plan, or make up your own plan choosing from the wide variety of options on our food lists.  This habit of eating healthy frequent meals prepares your body for maximum metabolic functioning and gives you the energy you need for our tough 30 minute workouts.  Our Athlean-XX for Women workouts are fast-paced circuit strength routines that get your resistance training and heart-pumping cardio done in one shot.  There’s flexibility built in here too!  For each day’s workout, we work a different muscle group.  You can choose to do our DVD home routine or one of two Girl on the Go Card gym workouts!

At Athlean-XX for Women, we truly believe that FLEXIBILITY equals CONSISTENCY.  We built our women’s nutrition and fitness program on this belief!  Come on over to Athlean-XX for Women to see how our flexible, realistic plan can get you in awesome shape in just 90 days AND can help keep you that way FOR LIFE!