These days we are all bombarded from every direction with health advice. Just think about what you have read or heard about diet and nutrition in the last week: headlines shout to us about high protein diets, low-carb diets, whole wheat and whole grain, the benefits of weighing yourself vs. staying off the scale, flatter abs and a tighter ass, whether to buy organic or non-organic, and the latest packaging buzz words of free-range or corn-fed. My head is spinning just listing all those things. It’s enough to give a person a giant case of Clutter Brain: the inability to make solid, reasonable decisions because there is too much conflicting “noise” confusing you. It’s incredibly paralyzing, and sometimes it’s enough to make you want to eat a whole pie…which obviously counteracts the benefits of the advice you were trying to follow in the first place.

Clutter Brain is actually what motivated me to write my new book, The Skinny Rules. I wanted to help you turn off the noise of conflicting advice and distill it all down to the “skinny” on what you should be putting in your mouth to get to your healthy weight. I came up with 20 simple but must-do rules. Whether you want to lose 20 pounds or 200 pounds, the rules are the same and I live by them myself. From why you need to stay hydrated and why you should make berries your go-to snack every day, to what kinds of protein and carbs are best and what times of day you try to eat them, my Skinny Rules are things you can always fall back on in a pinch, rules you can use not just when you are trying to lose weight, but for when you are trying to stay at your healthy weight when you get there. I also developed 90 recipes that meet the rule criteria, and offer 30 days of menu plans if you want some serious hand-holding in the what-to-eat every day department. I think of the book as a rulebook for your life as a healthy-weight person, a person who can enjoy delicious food in the right portions and be satisfied. Someone who can not only resist all the jumbo cokes and supersized fries that get waved in front of all of our noses, but also someone who doesn’t even feel all that tempted by them! I’m really proud of the book and I hope you’ll like it too. It’ll be in stores on May 15, but it’s available for preorder now wherever books are sold or you can just click here!!

Okay let’s talk about last nights episode. First of all, let’s talk “FRAN.” I have been doing Crossfit for about 5 months now and I am completely and utterly obsessed with it. I love Greg Glassman. He is a real “stand up” guy and I completely believe that his approach to the “sport of fitness” will forever change the landscape of fitness. The one thing that I get after a crazy hard WOD is a sense of accomplishment. I am beaten up and battered but I come out on the other side feeling so incredible and I really feel like I did something, not only for my body but my mind. That is exactly why I wanted to introduce these types of workouts to my contestants. These people come onto the show and a lot of them lack any real self esteem and not much motivation so it is my job to spark that inside of them. I have done this now for the past 12 Seasons and this Season, I wanted to use Crossfit as a catalyst. What you have to remember when watching what they did, and now I’m really talking to all my Crossfit friends out there, these guys are very obese and out of shape so is their form perfect in any way? No. Doing their squats, are they breaking the 90 degree angle in the legs? Not even close. Are they able to do any resemblance of a pull up? Not at their weight by a long shot. That is why I had them do jumping pull ups. I wanted to share with them what I am so excited about and that is Crossfit. Since I have introduced these WODs to my people, their self esteem has shot out the roof. They have a different kind of swagger that they have never had before. They are beginning to feel so much better about themselves and that was my primary focus. I honestly believe that the stronger they get, naturally their form will improve because I’m gonna be doing Crossfit for a very long time and I’m hoping that, not only my contestants will get inspired to keep it up after the show, but also if I can get many of our viewers to try something that they have never done before and that gets them thinking about change in their own life, then I say “I’m ALL IN!!!” Crossfit is the future.

Now let’s talk about one other thing….all the competitiveness that is going on this Season. From the sound of it so many of you out there do not like it AT ALL. You are wondering where the inspiration is this time around. You have seen all of us, including me, get wrapped up in it and you don’t like it. I have to accept my responsibility for my part because you have seen me get worked up to say the least. All I can really say about it is that we live in such a tiny bubble when we are working on this show and everything gets magnified. The good and the not so good. Have you ever gone on a vacation with a group of friends for a week or two and all of a sudden, everybody starts getting on your nerves? People could start to drive you crazy or you start to drive others nuts too? Well imagine all of the contestants together, total strangers for now over 4 weeks with no phone, tv, computer or cars. It can get to the best of you. Now put on top of all that our contestants not having the drug of choice, FOOD, to appease them. Well people are gonna get hot under the collar. I know that I pick up on energy and sometimes I have to remind myself of my position and my purpose but let me say, nobody is perfect. I will say that I do want to see more of the inspiration and the motivation on our show this season, rather than all of us getting nasty at times so if you feel the same please write back to me or go onto the Biggest Loser website and make your voices heard. There is power in words especially when there is action behind the words.