"Shelley Goodstein"A Model’s Secrets by Shelley GoodStein 

After returning from vacation, I noticed that suddenly my favorite jeans felt tighter. Stepping on the scale – plus 5 pounds, Ahhhhhh yes … the bloat.

Eating out usually means a bit more gluttony, and definitely more sodium – leading straight to water weight. What you don’t want to do is to starve yourself after your trip because it will slow down your body’s metabolism to conserve energy. It will also set you up to overeat.

It’s important not to freak out and remind yourself that weight loss and weight gain are mathematical equations and in a few days it would be nearly impossible to consume enough extra calories for a real 5 pound gain. 1 lb = 3500 calories AND 5 lbs = 17,500 calories extra.

 

1. My fist day back I cut back on calories.

Not very hard to do since I have usually overindulged and felt constantly full on vacation. Bethenny Frankel, author of Naturally Thin, suggests whipping up a big pot of vegetable soup to slim down. Just throw some onions, broccoli and carrots, in a fat free chicken stock and puree to eat with brown rice.

2. Fill up with loads of de-bloating foods to tell your body to get rid of all that water. Some natural diuretics are watermelon, asparagus, oats, cucumber, ginger, pineapple, and yogurts containing probiotics (“good” bacteria) can help.

3. Eat fiber to help clear your colon of any undigested foods and air. Foods like bananas that are high in potassium have also been shown to beat bloat by causing your body to flush out the water.

4. Drink lots of water to stay hydrated. Sodium intake acts like a water retention magnet so you need to drink enough water to flush all of this from your system or your body will keep trying to save water reserves.

5. Sweat it out. Working out not only helps burn calories away but you can sweat out unwanted water swelling. Before supermodel Heidi Klum gets in front of the camera she reportedly de-bloats with an Epsom salt-rich bath. Magnesium sulphate in the salt draws out the fluids from your body.

Copyright ©2011, Shelley GoodStein, a model, mom, speaker and recent author of Face This – Real advice from real models, photographers and make-up artists on how to become Picture Perfect! You can contact her or learn more about her book at www.facethis.me to learn how to look like a cover girl yourself with the right pose, where to look, how to trick the camera, creating the flawless face and some beauty secrets that even beauty magazines don’t talk about!