What's My Body Shape?

People come in all shapes and sizes, and this sometimes makes the 'one size fits all' approach rather difficult - particularly when choosing which clothes to buy, and which exercise and dietary regimes to follow. After all, what suits your friend may not suit you, and rather than trying to shoe-horn yourself into something that's not right for you - you can use a little knowledge about the different body shapes to your benefit!

There are basically three main body shapes recognised by the health and medical profession.

Ectomorphs
These people have slim bodies and long lean limbs, with shoulders and hips of a similar width. They find it very difficult to build muscles, and have a hard time maintaining their weight. This body type is also rather more prone to injuries than other types, so they should look to stretch properly before and after exercise to avoid pulls and sprains. Good types of exercise include cycling, martial arts and fast walking or jogging - this type has good explosive energy and speed. In terms of clothes, this type can get away with most things - fitted looks are best to create curves and they can generally carry off more daring styles. Long slim legs can be shown off to great effect with short skirts or skinny jeans!

Endomorphs
These types are the classic pear shape - the shape most seen in the UK. It's a round, soft and curvy body type with a relatively larger bone structure. This type can put on muscle, but they may find losing fat and weight in general somewhat harder. Women should focus on weight training though to build lean muscle and keep fat under control - as well as boosting metabolism. Cross training, weights, interval training and hill walking are ideal exercises. Good clothing choice include fitted tops and flowing and lower cut trousers and jeans. Aim to wear heels where you can to lengthen legs, and show off your neat top half and trim arms!

Mesomorphs
These types are classic rugby players! They have broad shoulders and large or medium frames. They loose weight quite easily, and gain muscle easily. Boot camp is ideal for their fitness! Weight training is also good, as well as yoga. These are strong types and tend to be strong. In terms of choosing fashions, your body shape is balanced, so show off your favourite part - whether it's your well defined calves, strong arms or excellent muscle tone - don't be tempted to hide away under baggy or shapeless clothes.

The important thing about each type is recognising that you can't necessarily change to a different type, but you can look fantastic regardless of your basic body make up! Keep fit and exercise to look and feel your best, and stick to a healthy diet to keep fat and weight at healthy levels. Similarly with clothing, look at friends and people with similar shapes that wear fashions and styles that you admire, and ask them for tips and guidance! Whatever you do, don't attempt to copy the fashions of your skinny ectomorph friend if you're a broad mesomorph.. but just remember that she will probably by envying your well developed chest, despite her long thin legs!

For more please visit: Designer Fashion

Marie Hilland

Fashion Director of The 'It' Guide

The 'It' Guide - UK

The 'It' Guide - USA

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You Can Be Stylish and Beautiful and Wear Modest Clothing Through Color Analysis

Admittedly it is very difficult to find modest clothing in most clothing outlets. This has given rise to the modest clothing industry. However, whether you wear modest or immodest clothing if you do not choose the right colors for you, your clothes will detract from your natural beauty. Although you cannot experience a professional color analysis from an article, there are some general guidelines that you can follow to assure that you choose the right colors when you add to your wardrobe.

The leadership of Modest Clothing Distributors does not want you to think you need to look frumpy just because the mainstream fashion giants are bankrupt of modest ethics. You will be sure to find stylish, beautiful, modest clothing in the Modest Clothing Distributors store. To ensure that your natural beauty is highlighted you must wear clothing that matches your skin tone. The most accurate method to determine which colors correspond with your skin tone is through a professional color analysis. Nevertheless, there are guidelines you can follow to direct you to general color families that will enhance your skin tones.

If you were to submit to a full color analysis your skin tone would be classified as spring, summer, autumn, or winter. For the purposes of a general analysis these classifications can be broadened to warm (Spring and Autumn) and cool (Summer and Winter). Those who have a yellow skin tone would be categorized as a warm, while those with a pink skin tone fit into the cool category. For some it may not be readily apparent whether your skin color is yellow or pink. You can do a further analysis by considering your natural hair color. People with a warm or yellow skin tone usually have natural red highlights in their hair. Those who do not have natural red highlights in their hair usually have cool or pink skin tone.

Once you have determined whether you are warm or cool you need to know how to apply your newly acquired knowledge. Based on your skin tone you can now choose colors that will enhance your natural beauty and eliminate colors that will detract from your natural beauty. Just as a personal analysis will provide more specific classification for your skin tone it will furnish you with a more particular list of colors that will compliment your skin tone.

A "warm" should wear yellows, oranges, spring type greens, reds with an orange undertone, browns and tans and a "warm" should stay away from bold blues in both their wardrobe and makeup choices. A "cool" should wear pinks, blues, and rose, any green or red should have a blue undertone, and they should avoid bright yellows when picking out their clothing and makeup.

Until you can have a personal color analysis done this information can be helpful by making your modest clothes outshine the immodest clothing that is fashioning our whole society into ugliness. An understanding of how to heighten natural beauty through color analysis serves to compliment the true beauty that is within the modest women. This will further empower womanhood through modest dress!

Randy Pope is the founder of Modest Clothing Distributors, which is a distributor of quality Modest Clothing for women and girls. Clothing that is difficult to find in your common department stores. We wish to make modest clothing more available in the mainstream marketplace. we wish to affect the culture with the beauty of modesty. We are partnered with suppliers from diverse backgrounds and a variety of price points in order to provide clothing that highlights true femininity, to meet your needs.

Our success will affect culture for the good. As you purchase modest clothing for yourself and your girls the culture around you will begin to notice the beauty of modesty. You now have a place where you can refer your friends for their wardrobe needs.

We are a family owned and operated business. We are very appreciative of your business. It is through your satisfaction with the products that we make available that we can accomplish our mission of transforming society. The idea for Modest Clothing Distributors was inspired by listening to our friends' concerns about the lack of modest apparel in the stores. You can find this destination at http://www.modestclothingdistributors.com

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The Food Pyramid, Healthy Eating and Dieting

Most people are aware of "The Food Pyramid". It is basically a guideline created by the government as a guide for eating healthy. As of lately there has been an upgrade to the food pyramid however it not a great guideline for losing weight.
It is important to understand that the Food Pyramid was not created for the purpose of weight loss. It is simply a guideline for eating and maintaining general body health.
The Food Pyramid has vague nutritional guidelines and recommends people should eat by the ounce the type of food based on a person's age, weight, sex and other factors. Attempting to calculate all that is nutritionally required using this system isn't fun, practical, nor is it easy to do.
There is an Online Diet Calculator that can assist you in loosing weight by making a calculation in terms of the meals that you have to eat. To diet successfully you really have to eat the right foods at the right time, and the calculator makes it simple to do this. You could find this calculator in the Fat Loss 4 Idiots program.
Counting calories and reading food labels makes loosing weight a tedious and difficult to follow process. There is no time to do all the additional work.
Many have lost weight successfully without sacrificing meals, portions, carbohydrates, and fats. It is not necessary to suffer in order to lose weight. You really owe yourself an effective and healthy way to shed pounds and keep them off.
The Food Pyramid is not an effective source of information when looking to lose weight. It is written to provide general guidelines for eating healthy. Calculating from the pyramid what you need to eat is not easy nor is it fun to do. Remember you can loose weight successfully with out having to count calories.
If you want to lose weight without doing complicated math or spending a fortune, you may want to consider the Idiot Proof Diet from Fat Loss 4 Idiots. Visit Diets4FatLoss.com for more details.
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Eat to Lose Weight and Cellulite

By Bronwyn Hewitt

To be healthy, strong, not overweight and cellulite free, you need to eat! But you need to know what to eat, why to eat, and when to eat it. Our bodies were not designed to eat anything other than real food. By real food I mean food that is in its natural state. Food that is naked, food that is not packaged or wrapped. We were not designed to consume additives or preservatives or chemicals of any kind. So eat food as close to its natural form as possible.

For instance If you want to eat chocolate, eat good quality chocolate. There are now many reports coming out saying that chocolate is good for you. The better the quality - the purer the chocolate which means less sugar, less additives. Plus it is such a happy food that it can bring on feelings of joy - I'm serious. Chocolate is not bad for you - if you are eating well and taking supplements, then your body will not need to keep the sugars from the chocolate for energy as it will already have plenty from the healthy foods you eat and the vitamins you take every day. Yep, you can have your cake and eat it too. In fact, I eat chocolate almost every day.

OK, so here's a news flash for you girls out there - FOOD IS GOOD FOR YOU. EAT IT. Yes, I can promise you that. So I want you to get into the mind set that eating is good and enjoyable and will make you feel good in mind, body, and spirit. We've been doing it for thousands upon thousands of years and it never hurt anyone yet. But in the last few hundred years, for the first time, we are seeing a lot of overweight people. And it is mostly due to what we ate then compared to what we eat now.

I am a great fan of food, and encourage you all to get back to enjoying food, having dinner parties, and making food your friend again. Mind you, what you eat must be good food, and it is very, very easy to recognize the good from the bad. Here are some things that you need to start doing straight away. Shop mostly from the walls, not the aisles of your supermarket. Most of the items in the aisles are not real foods. But the walls contain your vegetable department, dairy, and the delicatessen - all fresh foods. I personally only shop for fresh food if possible at the local green grocer, as their produce hasn't been all over the country in trucks, often getting to the supermarket already (at the very least) a week old. I want you to start reading the ingredients on EVERY item before you put it in your trolley. Limit as much as possible any foods that list ingredients with numbers on it, or preservatives, colours, flavours, or any kind of chemical additive. Mind you some foods that you will eat need to have one or two preservatives - they are in wine for heavens sake, but you can keep them to a minimum. You will get to know your products and learn which companies you can trust. I have learnt to trust Sanitarium for instance, I no longer read the ingredients on their food packaging as I know their products are made with the utmost care with as few preservatives as possible. And no I am not sponsored by Sanitarium but I am using them as an example. And don't take it for granted that products from a health food store are necessarily good. Read the labels until you know the product or company. Even with the simplest of foods, you will be amazed when you read the ingredients. Beware of low fat, low carb and low salt products. Often the process that foods go through to remove fat or salt is a chemical one, and will leave traces in its wake for you to consume. Seriously. Back to basics is the way I want you to think as far as food goes.

All you have to realize is that our bodies were created to eat and utilize certain foods for normal bodily functions to operate. Our bodies were not designed to process or metabolize anything fake. Think back a hundred years - if we didn't eat it then, don't eat it now. Our bodies were not designed to eat preservatives or colorants or flavour enhancers or thickeners (salad dressings are full of them - make your own at home) and all those numbers that come out of a laboratory, not out of the ground. These are the things that really clog up our systems. They block normal processing such as metabolism and eliminating waste, which are ESSENTIAL for staying healthy and to prevent your body from over storing energy. I have it on good authority that there are food scientists trying to do the right thing, and are using natural preservatives more and more where they can. Be careful, read everything, knowledge is power. Knowing what you are putting into your body is imperative to a happy healthy life. You are in control of your body. Give your body what it needs and it will work for you.

Bronwyn Hewitt
Cellulite Therapist
Email: ask@cellulitefreeme.com
Treatments: http://www.cellulitefreeme.com

Bronwyn is an actual living breathing Cellulite Therapist, operating since 1990 in Australia. Bronwyn is also the creator of The Ultimate Cellulite Treatment. Bronwyn introduced C-Zone Therapy in 2008 and is author of The Ultimate Cellulite Treatment in a Book that has sold all over the world since being launched in 2005. She continues to teach ladies how to find the cause of their cellulite and how to get rid of the cellulite they already have for ever, using C-Zone Therapy. Bronwyn is based on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria Australia.

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3 Tips on Choosing the Right Home Exercise Equipment That Will Help Keep You in Tip Top Shape

By Outarow Chuong Platinum Quality Author

When you take a look at the fitness products available in the market today, the myriad of options that you have is quite intimidating. If you keep on purchasing anything which you think looks good on infomercials, then you might end up having a lot of home exercise tools which are just gathering dust in your closet.

This is exactly the reason why you need to really think about which home exercise tool it is that will work for you. It should be one that will suit your budget as well as an equipment which you see yourself using for a long time.

3 Factors to Consider when Choosing a Home Exercise Equipment

To help you out in choosing the right home fitness equipment, here are a few things that you need to consider:

1. What is your problem area?
Remember that the primary purpose of buying a fitness machine is to help you achieve the results that you will have in the gym. There are people who prefer to do their fitness workouts right in the comfort of their own homes while other like going to the gym better.

If you belong to the first category, which equipment will help you work on your problem area? There are tools which help work on your abdominal muscles while others give you a more overall workout. Decide which areas of your body you would like to work on and use that to select the perfect equipment for you.

2. How much are you willing to spend?
The next thing that you need to decide on is how much of your hard-earned dollars you are willing to spend for a machine. If you are on a tight budget, consider purchasing a second hand machine which has probably been only used a few times by the owner.

3. How much storage space do you have for the home exercise machine?
If you don't have that big of a space in your living room area, you might not want to get a bulky home exercise equipment. Always consider if you have enough space for storing whatever equipment it is that you plan to buy.

By taking these factors into consideration, you can choose a suitable machine that will help keep you in tip top shape.

Outarow Chuong has been involved in alternative health since 1997, and is currently writing health articles related to anti wrinkle, and eye wrinkle cream.

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