Probably the most popular smoothing bra is the Sassybax bra. These innovative bras were specifically designed to hide back fat and smooth out any rolls or bulges. Although they are a bit on the spendy side they are good quality, well designed bras that will last for a long time. Not only that, but they are comfortable to wear and they will give you a smoother back view so your back looks great in all your clothing. Here are the various styles of Sassybax bras that you can check out to see if there is one that might work for you:

** all bras available in black and nude

Sassybax Bralette

Sassybax Strapless Underwire Torso Trim Camisole Bra

Sassybax Torso Trim Camisole Shapewear

Sassybax Underwire Strapless Bandeau Bra

Sassybax Torso Trim Camisole with Underwire Shapewear

Sassybax Underwire Bralette

Spanx Bra-llelujah! Full Coverage Front-Close Underwire Bra

Spanx Bra-llelujah! Soft Cup Bra

I hope this gives you a good jumping off point for finding bras that hide back fat! Enjoy!

Anne

This article is dedicated to back fat - both how to get rid of it and how to dress to minimize it and get a nice, smooth back that looks more youthful and feminine. Let’s start with some ways to get rid of back fat and then move on to how to camouflage it in the meantime.

Now, the problem is that there is no “magic” exercise that you can do to specifically target your back fat. If you just work on building muscle in your back, the fat is still going to be there sitting on top of the new muscle which probably isn’t what you are hoping to achieve.

Rather than focusing on building muscles in your back, instead focus on decreasing your overall body fat percentage. As your body fat drops the rolls will go along with it, leaving you with a smooth back that looks great in any kind of shirt.

So how do you decrease your body fat? First, you should focus on boosting your metabolism through exercise - specifically through building lean muscle on your body along with doing some cardio. The more lean muscle you have the faster your metabolism will run which will make losing fat much easier.

To get the biggest boost to your metabolism try focusing a lot of your strength training efforts on some of the largest muscle groups in your body like your legs and backside. Doing squats and lunges both are great for building these muscles…just be sure to use proper form when you are doing them and to listen to your knees to avoid injury. With both squats and lunges when you are in the down position your knee should be directly over your ankle - not protruding out in front. If your knee is sticking out in front shift your weight back until it is right over your ankle. This will help to protect the knee joint and avoid injury. And just like with any exercise, make sure that you check with your doctor before you start so that you know it will be safe for you.

Doing arm, stomach and back strength building exercises will also help to boost your metabolism and should be incorporated into your workout. Several times a week you should add cardio to your workout routine as well like fast walking, jogging, riding a bike, swimming or anything else that appeals to you. The combination of strength training and cardio will help you to quickly decrease your body fat percentage and to say goodbye to back fat for good.

To see the fastest results, along with exercise you should be eating a diet designed to help you lose fat. Fat Loss for Idiots is a good one that you may want to check out.

Now, what to do about hiding back fat in the meantime, right? The good news is that you can camouflage back fat and get a smoother back before you start to see results from diet and exercise. Instead of choosing a traditional bra, try checking out Sassybax. These bras were designed to keep back fat from bulging around a bra and can really make a huge difference in the appearance of your back. Although they are a bit on the expensive side they are quality bras and last for a long time.

I hope these tips were helpful! Thanks for reading.

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To successfully lose weight and keep it off for good it is really important to find ways to keep yourself motivated so you stick with your plan long enough to allow it to work.

These tips and tricks to stay motivated for losing weight really helped me (and still help me today) when I was losing. I hope they help you too!

Before Photos

One of the things I found to be most motivational was taking a “before” photo of myself when I first started out trying to lose weight. I won’t say it was easy to do, but in the long run I think it is what helped me the most to stay on track. In the beginning your before photo acts as motivation because it lets you see what your body really looks like (which was pretty frightening in my case!)

As you begin to lose weight your before photo stays motivational because it gives you a great reference point to see how far you have come. When you start feeling discouraged or like you want to give up snap a new photo of yourself and compare it to the before shot. You’ll be surprised to see how much your body has changed!

To get the best before pictures try taking them with as few clothes on as possible…like in a bathing suit. I know, I know…it can be pretty scary to slip on a swimsuit, but thanks to the advent of digital cameras at least you don’t have to take the pictures anywhere to get them developed, right?

Take photos from the front, back and side to get the best reference to use later to judge your progress. Use the photos anytime you need a reminder of why you decided to lose weight or when you need a boost to see how far you have come.

Photos on the Fridge or Cupboards

One of the reasons that I wanted to lose weight (aside from getting healthier) was to be able to wear some cuter clothes than I had been and look good in them for a change! To help motivate myself I cut out pictures of really cute dresses, jeans, and tops that I would love to wear and stuck them up on the fridge door and inside the doors of my cupboards. That way when I would go to sneak a treat I would be reminded of why I wanted to lose weight and it would help me to avoid temptation.

Try putting up photos of anything that reminds you of why you want to lose weight.

Keeping a Journal

You can try keeping a journal to track your weight loss journey. Write whatever you want in it - how your day went with your diet and exercise, how good you will feel once you have lost the weight, things that you want to do when you are thinner. A journal helps you to be accountable while at the same time helping you set new goals and achieve them.

Get a Workout Buddy

Having someone to workout with is a great way to stay accountable with your exercise plan. Usually if one of you doesn’t feel like working out the other will and vice versa. If you can find a friend in your area to workout with that is ideal. If that doesn’t work for you try going online to places like Self Magazine where you can meet others in your area with similar fitness goals who are also looking for a workout buddy.

If you have the time to care for a pet dogs also make great workout partners! Walking and playing with a dog is great for getting in shape. The best part is that playing with a dog won’t feel like working out at all. Just be sure you can really commit to taking care of a dog before you get one and choose a breed that has a similar activity level to your own.

Allow Yourself to “Cheat”

A lot of times we go on diets that are really strict and start to feel deprived when we don’t get to enjoy the foods that we like. Understand that it is OK to allow yourself to have a treat every now and then as long as you don’t go overboard. A lot of people set one day a week where they can eat what they want. Others have a small treat (like a Hershey’s kiss) each day to keep from feeling totally deprived.

If you have a bad day and totally fall of the bandwagon don’t beat yourself up over it. Instead, try to figure out what triggered you to lose it and overeat and then vow to get back on track the next day. Don’t let one bad day blow your whole diet.

Brainstorm some more ideas for yourself that will help you to stay on track and stay in the game for the long run. I hope these ideas gave you a good jumping off point!

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Growing up I was terrible at sports and I dreaded gym class where the other kids would make fun of me because of my obvious lack of talent. These bad feelings about exercise followed me into adulthood and I just never could get into it. As a result I spent most of my time sitting around and packed on the pounds.

When I decided to lose weight I knew that I had to do some sort of exercise not only to speed up my weight loss results but to start feeling better and to take better care of my health.

I opted for walking for exercise because it was something I could do alone (not like a team sport or having to workout in front of people at a gym) and it was something that seemed relatively easy to do compared to a lot of other exercises but that still gave great results.

To get started I bought a good pair of walking shoes and a pedometer. I used the pedometer to motivate myself by setting a certain number of steps that I wanted to take each day. I would put the pedometer on in the morning and wear it to work, to the store…anywhere I went throughout the day.

Because I was trying to add steps I found that I started making little changes like parking a little further away from the store or making an extra trip to the supply cabinet at work. These little things really added up to a lot of extra calories burned.

I also needed to find places to walk close to where I lived. I found a beautiful trail through a wooded area less than a mile from my house that I never knew was there before so I decided to make that my walking place. In the beginning I would drive to the trail, park and walk it. As I got in better shape I would walk from my house to the trail and back home again.

I came to absolutely love walking on the trail because everyday I would see something new - a new patch of wildflowers blooming, a squirrel running across the path, the leaves on the trees changing colors or sometimes even deer.

My daily walks went from being a chore into being something I looked forward to all day - a way to escape from the stress of everyday life and enjoy the peace and quite of nature.

Over the years I have added other exercises to my routine as well. For instance, I ordered a video that teaches you how to belly dance because I thought it sounded like fun.

I close all the blinds in my house and dance away without worrying about anyone watching or how silly I look. It’s something that’s fun for me and that doesn’t feel like exercise which means that it is something that I will actually do.

If you are like me and you hate traditional exercises I would encourage you to try to come up with exercise options that you would enjoy. Think outside the box a little. Getting exercise doesn’t mean that you have to go to a gym and run on a treadmill.

Any activity that gets you up and moving counts as exercise and will not only help with your weight loss efforts, but will help you get in shape and feel great. As you add exercise to your routine each day you will start to have more energy, your concentration will improve, you will sleep better and you will just plain feel better all around.

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Not only that, but how much of each type of food should you eat to have a balanced meal? The portion size dilemma becomes even trickier because most plates, bowls and cups are much larger than they used to be - especially at restaurants. That means that taking a plate full of food can easily pack on way more calories than you intended even if you are making healthy food choices.

Misjudging portion sizes is one of the main reasons that many of us pack on extra pounds and then struggle to lose them. On the other hand, it just isn’t convenient or practical to have to measure or weigh your food before every meal to know that you are getting the right amount of each food group.

Fortunately, there is an easier way to accurately judge portion sizes and quickly lose weight. One of the newest dieting trends is to use portion control plates. These nifty plates are printed on the front with the proper serving sizes for each food group. All you have to do is fill each section on the plate with the right kind of food and you have a perfectly portioned, well balanced meal. Portion control plates are great because they take so much of the guess work out of knowing how much of each food to eat.

Along with the printed portion control plates you can also get plates that are molded to hold each of the food groups. Each of the indentations in the plate is perfectly sized to hold the right amount of food, again making it easy to judge portion sizes with no need for weighing, calorie counting or measuring.

If you eat on the go and don’t want to pack a portion control plate around with you there are also portable portion control disks on the market. These plastic or silicone disks can be packed away easily into a purse. Then all you do is hold them up next to your food when you sit down to eat to ensure that you are eating the right amount of each.

How effective are portion control plates when it comes to weight loss? The University of Calgary did clinical trials that showed that people who used the portion control plates were 300% more likely to lose a significant amount of weight than people who used standard dinner plates when they ate.

In my opinion these plates are great for a lot of reasons including the fact that they teach you how to eat right. Over time you will get a good feel for what proper portion sizes are and how much of each food group you should eat. These skills can then be carried on throughout the rest of your life helping you to stay slim for the long haul.

Check out these portion control options to get started losing the healthy way today:

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Since the beginning of man there have been times of feasting where food was plentiful and times of famine where there was no food to be found. Over the years our bodies evolved to deal with times of famine by clinging onto fat reserves and by slowing down the metabolism to burn fewer calories. This helped (and helps) people to stay alive for the longest time possible when a famine hit and to keep them from starving to death until the food supply returned to normal.

The problem with extremely low calorie diets is that when you cut your calories back too far your body decides that it must be a time of famine. As a result your metabolism slows down and your body jumps into “starvation mode”, hanging onto every bit of fat that it can in an effort to help you live through the famine.

Logically, of course, your brain knows that you are not starving to death and that all you need to do to get more food is to jump in the car and head down to your local grocery store. Your body, however, doesn’t know this and just reacts by slowing your metabolism. What this means is that when you eat too few calories on a diet it actually becomes harder to lose weight.

Not only that, but when you go off the diet and start eating normally again your metabolism can still be sluggish and your body will try to horde away any extra calories that you eat as fat in an effort to guard against the next period of famine. That means that any weight you may have lost on your extremely low calorie diet will be very easy to gain back when you off the diet.

Rather than going on a “starvation diet”, look for a diet plan that gives your body enough calories with foods that are packed with vitamins and nutrients. A good goal for weight loss is to cut 500 calories per day which will allow you to safely lose about a pound a week. If you can add exercise to that and burn more calories each day you can increase your weight loss by a pound or two a week more. Not only is losing weight this way better for your body, but the weight that you lose will be much more likely to stay off and you will be learning healthy eating habits that you can use for the rest of your life.

If 1-2 pounds per week is slower than you would like to lose weight there are ways that you can “trick” your body to help keep your metabolism from slowing down. One way to do this is by shifting the number of calories you eat each day so that your body doesn’t think that you are starving and doesn’t slow down your metabolism. A good diet that uses calorie shifting for faster weight loss is Fat Loss for Idiots which allows you to lose up to 9 pounds in 11 days. You can learn more about how the diet works by reading my Fat Loss for Idiots review and checking out the results that my friend had when she tried the diet. Click here to learn more.

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Does cutting 500 calories a day sound like a lot of calories? You’ll probably be surprised by how easy it really is and how little you will miss those calories. To get you started here are 10 easy ways to cut 100 calories. Do several of these a day, add some light to moderate exercise and before you know it you will be sporting your dream body.

• Skip the croutons on your salad
• Cut out 1 tablespoon of butter or margarine per day
• Opt for mustard on your sandwich rather than mayonnaise
• Choose tuna packed in water instead of tuna packed in oil
• Leave 3 or 4 bites of food on your plate at your meals
• Opt for fruit pies instead of cream pies for desserts
• Use cooking spray instead of butter margarine to keep your food from sticking to pots and pans
• Switch to skim or 1% milk
• Get your coffee with non-fat milk and use a sugar substitute to sweeten it
• Choose broth based soups like chicken noodle or minestrone instead of cream based soups

These are just 10 quick ideas for cutting 100 calories to get you started. Use your imagination and make little changes like these in your diet to see a big difference in your body. Pay attention to your beverages as well since they can contain a ton of hidden calories that you don’t normally think about.

The best part about losing weight this way is that you aren’t sacrificing much and you won’t be left feeling deprived. That’s the best way to lose weight since it is something you can keep up for the long haul and will mean more lasting weight loss results.

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To say the least this can be one of the most frustrating things about dieting and for a lot of people it can make them give up on their diet and exercise programs all together. After all, it’s hard to stay motivated to exercise and eat right when you aren’t seeing the results that you expect.

So much emphasis is put on how much you weigh when it comes to dieting and exercise that it is no wonder you would think that a scale is the best way to judge your progress. In actuality, though, scales are a really poor reflection of whether or not your program is working.

Your weight can fluctuate from day to day depending on a number of factors like the foods you have eaten, whether you are retaining water or not and hormonal fluctuations. Not only that, but because muscle is denser by volume than fat you can be building muscle and getting thinner without seeing a noticeable change in the numbers on the scale.

So if scales are out, how do you judge how well your diet or exercise program is working? The answer lies in a simple measuring tape. By taking your measurements at the beginning of a weight loss program you can judge your progress by inches that you have lost rather than by pounds. There is nothing quite as motivating as seeing your body shrink by inches as you progress on your diet plan. And after all, isn’t the goal of a diet to become slimmer - not to weigh less?

A standard flexible measuring tape like those used for sewing is perfect for taking your measurements. When you are starting your weight loss program you will want to take measurements from various parts of your body including your arms, chest, waist, hips and thighs as well as any other areas that you would like to see shrinking.

Write down all your starting measurements on a piece of paper or in a journal. Then, once a week or so take your measurements again and compare them to your starting numbers. Keep a running total of the number of inches lost over the course of your diet or exercise program.

Actually seeing yourself shrinking is highly motivational and will help you to stick with your program and follow through to the end. Before you know it you will have the body you always wanted and will be able to wear whatever clothes you want. Not only that but you will feel great and have tons of energy as well.

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A lot of times when people go on a low fat diet they become so consumed with reading the fat content of foods that they forget to look at the calorie content. Sadly, low fat doesn’t mean low calorie. While in many cases low fat foods will have fewer calories than higher fat foods this isn’t always the case.

When the fat is removed from food a lot of times the texture and taste of the food really suffers. To make up for this the companies that make low fat foods will add sugars, starch, flour or other types of thickeners to help improve the texture of the food and to make it taste more like the higher fat version. Unfortunately, this can also mean added calories. In fact, sometimes low fat foods have more calories than higher fat foods!

There are also other health problems with following a strict low fat diet. Our bodies need fat in order to function properly. Fat provides energy and helps our bodies with tissue repair. Fats also help our bodies to absorb vitamins including A, D, E, and K. Without adequate fat intake our bodies don’t function properly. That means that when you cut your fat intake too low you may actually be doing more harm than good.

Of course, extremely high fat diets aren’t good for you either. The key is to find a good balance where you are getting enough fat for your body but not overdoing it. In a healthy diet about 30% of your daily calories should come from fat. Rather than focusing on eating strictly low fat foods, instead focus on cutting saturated fat and trans fat from your diet while eating unsaturated fats instead. Foods like olive oil, avocados and peanut butter are all good sources for unsaturated fat.

Another “good” fat is Omega-3 which can be found in oily fish like tuna or salmon as well as in dark green vegetables and nuts.

By eating foods that provide your body with both the right amount of fat and the vitamins and nutrients that your body needs you will feel fuller longer and will help reduce cravings making it easier in the long run to stick with your weight loss goals.

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For her sake I checked out the diet and learned more about it by doing a lot of research on various websites, reading forum posts and online reviews and talking to others who had tried the diet.

This Fat Loss for Idiots review is based on that research and on the information I was able to gather from people who had tried the diet. After researching the diet for my friend she did decide to try it so I have also included her experience here as well.

The Fat Loss for Idiots diet has been around for awhile now, although it’s name has changed several times. You may have heard it referred to as “The Idiot Proof Diet”, “Weight Loss for Idiots” or “Fat Loss 4 Idiots”. As far as I was able to determine the diet itself has not changed - instead just the name changed. So without further ado, here is my Fat Loss for Idiots review.

How Does Fat Loss for Idiots Work?

The Fat Loss for Idiots diet works in two ways. First, it uses something called the “shifting calories theory”. Let me try to explain briefly how this works and why it is important. One of the flaws with many diets is that they do not provide your body with enough calories and as a result your body goes into “starvation mode” and your metabolism slows down to try to conserve energy. Basically your body thinks that it is a time of famine because you stopped feeding it so it tries to hang onto the fat that you have since it doesn’t know when your next meal is coming.

This is bad news for a couple of reasons. For one, if your metabolism slows down it is a lot harder to lose weight since you will burn fewer calories during the course of a normal day. Not only that, but when you go off the low-calorie diet that threw your body into starvation mode your metabolism will still be sluggish which means that it will be very easy to gain back any weight that you did manage to lose on the diet. This is the major reason that so many of us wind up yo-yo dieting for years.

The shifting calories theory used by Fat Loss for Idiots is different, though. Basically, what the diet does is vary the number of calories that you eat each day and the types of food that you eat to keep your body from going into starvation mode. This keeps your metabolism from slowing down which not only makes losing weight easier, but also makes it easier to keep the weight off when you eventually go off the diet and resume eating normally.

The second way that the Fat Loss for Idiots diet works is by maximizing your body’s own fat burning hormones to work at their optimum level. Each time we eat our bodies release both fat burning and fat storing hormones. The Fat Loss for Idiots plan was designed to maximize the fat burning hormones while at the same time minimizing the fat storing hormones, making it easier to lose weight.

The diet itself runs in 11 day cycles. Between each cycle you get 3 days off that are called “cheat” days where you can eat what you want and don’t have to stick with the diet.

How Much Weight Can You Lose on Fat Loss for Idiots?

The makers of Fat Loss for Idiots claim that you can lose 9 lbs. in 11 days on the diet. Based on my research it seemed that this was close to true since most people who tried the diet averaged weight loss of between 7-10 lbs. the first 11 days they were on the diet.

Some people reported gaining back a couple of pounds during their cheat days while other did not. This makes sense since anytime you start a new diet some of the weight that you lose will be water weight. I also noticed that the people who gained back weight on their cheat days went gung-ho and *really* cheated eating tons of junk food which could partly account for why a couple of pounds crept back on. The people who cheated in moderation and made healthier food choices on their cheat days seemed to have better luck keeping off all the weight they had lost which makes sense.

What is the Fat Loss for Idiots Meal Plan Like?

Although not extremely low carb, the Fat Loss for Idiots plan seems to lean toward being a lower carb diet. There are no portion restrictions and there is no calorie counting involved. Instead, the diet instructs you to eat until you are almost full.

I like this because it is a tactic that you can use to continue maintaining a healthy weight once you have gone off the diet. Many of us fall into the trap of eating until we are stuffed so if you can learn this one trick instead it will go a long ways toward helping you keep the weight off. I also like that it is easy to follow since there is no need to spend a lot of time counting calories or weighing food, both of which can make a diet harder to stick to if you have a busy schedule or often eat on the go.

One of the cool things about this diet is that it generates a customized meal plan specifically for you based on the foods that you enjoy. I also like that all of the foods are easy to find and can be purchased at any grocery store. This also makes the diet easier to stick with since you won’t have to trek all over town looking for a certain type of food or special order pre-packaged meals like a lot of other diet plans. Not only that, but the food is all cheap, too, which is a nice bonus if you are on a budget.

On the Fat Loss for Idiots diet you eat 4 meals a day and drink a lot of water. This is good both because it keeps you from feeling hungry and again helps keep your metabolism from slowing down.

My Friend’s Fat Loss for Idiots Results

As I mentioned before, my friend decided to go ahead and try this diet. She started it two weeks ago and has made it through her first cycle of the diet plus her cheat days. During the 11 days of the diet she lost 8 lbs. and then gained one back on her cheat days. She wants to lose 20 lbs. so she is starting another round of the diet tomorrow. Her only complaint about the diet is that she has trouble drinking as much water as they recommend. Other than that she said that so far it has been easy to stick with and that she hasn’t felt hungry at all (a big change for her since she usually has a lot of trouble with feeling hungry on diets).

UPDATE, Feb. 6, 2008: I figured I would update you on my friends progress with the Fat Loss 4 Idiots diet. She completed 3 rounds of the diet and lost 22 lbs total. She says she feels great and has tons of energy and is confident that she will be able to keep the weight off. When she was telling me about the diet she mentioned that she was really pleased with how it had taught her to stop eating before she was stuffed which is something she plans to continue into the future to help maintain her weight loss.

She said that she probably could have lost more weight on it but that she cheated a few times and did not walk as often as she should have while she was on it. She gave the diet a big thumbs up, though, and also wanted to be sure that I mentioned that this is the only diet she has been on in years where she has actually lost weight and not gained it back immediately after she went off the diet.

My Opinion on Fat Loss for Idiots

I think the Fat Loss for Idiots diet has a lot going for it and I would recommend it if you are looking for a way to jump start your weight loss and drop some pounds quickly. It is easy to follow, easy to stick with, gives really fast results and seems to work for most people who try it no matter whether they need to lose a little or a lot of weight. It’s a low cost diet plan with affordable food and they offer a no questions asked money back guarantee so if you don’t lose weight you can get your money back. You can’t beat that.

If you decide to try the Fat Loss for Idiots diet I’d love it if you would come back and “weigh” in with your opinion on it!

Just click the button to the left to learn more or get your own customized meal plan.

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