HIIT Lingerie!

HIIT-a quick way to look your best in lingerie.

By Katie

Saddlebags, muffin tops, spare tires, chicken wings-we've all heard them and probably have even pointed out these "flaws" on ourselves. How can we get rid of these problem areas so we can feel confident (link back to confidence post) and look sexy in lingerie (add photo of your lingerie)?

Your first daunting thought may be to spend hours in the gym doing millions of push-ups and squats in hopes to develop sculpted shoulders and toned gams to flaunt in lingerie. WRONG! Spot reducing, or targeting specific areas on your body that you want to lose fat from, has been a common myth in the fitness industry. Although those push-ups and squats are sculpting exercises, if there is a layer of fat on top of the muscle, you will see little (if any) definition. 

So what's a girl to do? High intensity interval training!

HIIT, a form of cardiovascular training, is alternating periods of high-intensity exercise (sprinting, hills, jumping rope) with lower-intensity exercise (jogging/walking, marching) for any desired amount of time. The benefits of HIIT are: improved overall fat loss, increase in Vo2 max (max amount of oxygen you can uptake during exercise), and a greater EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), meaning you'll continue to burn fat and calories even after the workout is completed. Another great benefit of HIIT is you can complete a workout in 15-20 minutes and no equipment is required!

In no time, you'll be flaunting not only a confident and sleek body in lingerie, but a toned one too!

Feeling Sexy and Motherhood

By Julie

Sometimes it’s hard to feel sexy after you become a Mom. Once you become a Mom your first priority is that little baby, toddler or child. It can be hard to feel sexy when you are exhausted chasing after children all day long and being up with them all night.

You’d like to feel like this:

But really you are beyond exhausted and the last thing you want to do is put on sexy lingerie. Usually it is comfy pajamas that are more than likely stained with breast milk. 

It’s particularly hard to feel sexy while breastfeeding. It’s easy to start feeling like a farm animal while nursing and the last thing you want is someone else touching you. Hormones are definitely raging. Your sex drive is most likely non-existent. The reason for this is the hormone prolactin which is necessary for breastfeeding. Unfortunately, it also lowers your sex drive. Don’t worry it does return after you are finished breastfeeding.

Once you are finished breastfeeding, you might start to feel your sex drive returning. Now what? You’re still getting up three times a night with a teething restless toddler. You’re still chasing that increasingly busy toddler during the day. You are so tired you can’t see straight. This is when you need to start concentrating on yourself and your needs.

Here are a few ideas to get to feeling sexy again:

1. Take a nap. If you feel exhausted you aren’t going to feel sexy.

2. Make a date with your partner. Concentrate on each other.

3. Go get a massage and pedicure. Spend time relaxing.

4. Get your hair done. Make yourself feel pretty. You’ll start feeling more like the old you and less like a milk cow. Promise.

5. Now go shopping. Wear something pretty that fits right and you’ll start to feel sexy again.

Keep Me Drea Bralette, $42.

I love this soft, cozy bralette made of a cotton blend that feels like silk. Looks a lot better than my stained PJs!

Lingerie Body: Full is Beautiful

When many actress and women alike are spending their days sculpting their bodies as small as possible in the gym or at yoga, Christina Hendricks, the voluptuous, vulnerable, sometimes viper, always a vixen secretary she plays as Joan Holloway on Mad Men, is okay with her full figure, choosing to avoid all this talk about her body.

In an interview with New York Magazine, Hendricks says that "(She) thinks all the talk about her body is a little embarrassing. It’s not as if she has an extra limb, after all. She just has an especially attractive version of the same thing women have had forever—curves—but she happens to have them in a profession where women haven’t for quite some time.

“It kind of hurt my feelings at first,” she says. 'Anytime someone talks about your figure constantly, you get nervous, you get really self-conscious. I was working my butt off on the show, and then all anyone was talking about was my body!'

You can see why all the focus on how big the chest, how narrow the waist, how round the hips could drive an actor—anyone—insane, but people were only noticing Christina Hendricks’s body because they were finally noticing Christina Hendricks...'It might sound silly,' she says, 'but I didn’t realize I was so different. I was just oblivious. Sometimes I would go on an audition and someone would say something like, Girl, you’re refreshing! That was it.'

And it’s not Hendricks’s fault that she’s come to everyone’s attention as an actress at a time when bodies are very much an issue—if not the issue—as far as fashion is concerned. There are the various attempts by fashion cities like São Paulo and Milan to police model weight; there are press conferences, BMI restrictions, mandatory turkey sandwiches backstage at every show. But lately there have also been baby steps taken toward the (unfortunately) radical idea that looking good need not involve so much rejection of the naturally occurring female shape. Glamour has begun to mix models of various sizes into its regular editorial shoots. A recent issue of V concerned itself with shape, pointing out that clothes—even fashion clothes—can look good on differently sized people...

...As for the body question, she’ll answer it when asked, but mostly it bores her. 'It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth,' she says. 'Back when I was modeling, if someone said "I’m fasting," I would say, "Can’t we talk about something else?"'

To read the complete interview, click on Spring Fashion 2010 - Christina Hendricks on All the Talk About Her Body -- New York Magazine.

Lingerie Images on this page of Christina Hendricks in a corset are courtesy of New York Magazine.

Here is to Christina embracing her own hourglass body and its unique beauty, reminiscent of Botticelli's women and Hollywood's golden era. The important tip here is that no matter what your body shape or type, embrace it. Learn to love your curves or lack thereof, they are what make you unique and stand out from everyone else.

Lingerista Lifestyle: Papaya Pumpkin Facial

After a day of festivities, including succulent turkey, herb infused gravy, savory stuffing, potatoes, pies, wine and ports, your body is in dire need of detoxing. No one likes to fit into sexy lingerie after a day of gluttonous gorging on delicious holiday treats. Use some of the local harvest to make a pumpkin (and papaya) facial that is a great way to give your face (and body) a fresh glow after Thanksgiving.

PAPAYA PUMPKIN FACIAL

• 2/3 c papaya mashed
• 15oz can pure pumpkin
• 1 egg beaten

Apply for 10 minutes. Refines skin, making it smoother and giving you a softer complexion.

Thanks to Glamology for the twitter facial recipe.

May you have a relaxing, refreshed holiday weekend of recovery, my dear Lingeristas.