I need to get my book to LC! In the September issue of Shape, former Hills star Lauren Conrad revealed that in the beginning of her relationship with actor Kyle Howard, she gained more than a new best friend:

“I call it the ‘boyfriend layer’,” she says. “We were having more romantic dinners out, and I was exercising less.”

So how did the California girl reclaim her stunning bikini bod in time to make the magazine’s September cover?

By hitting the gym with her honey.

“I just ask Kyle, ‘You feel like working out?’” she says, adding that they spend most of their together time outside anyway.

“We like doing outdoor stuff: tennis, bike riding, kayaking, surfing, hiking,” she says. “It’s more fun than hitting the gym alone.”

Good for them for getting outside and moving more! What’s the last active thing you did with your honey? (And does anyone have Lauren’s address?) ;)

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“You know you want one.”

The bright orange, crunchy corn sticks of my youth are jostling against each other as my brother shakes a Cheetos bag inches from my face. He’s down for an interview and taking up my futon for the night. I love having him over and rarely get the chance to see him so I’m nothing short of thrilled to be curled up in my PJs on one sofa while he’s sprawled out in a Phillies shirt on the futon next to my roommate, all three of us laughing and tearing apart Paula’s reactions on American Idol.

He shakes the package again. ” C’mon,” he says. “You know you want one.”

I wrinkle my nose. It’s almost 10 p.m. and I’ve already been talked into a slice of sausage and green pepper pizza. (”You need pizza. When’s the last time you had pizza?”)

The strangely appetizing smell of fake cheese is too good to pass up. I reach into the bag and feel the cheese powder immediately stick to my fingers. Yum. They are good … in a totally fake way. Satisfied, my brother angles the bag to Em. She sighs and takes a few.

“You should call me Your Big Fat Brother,” he cracks up, enjoying his joke. “I’m sure you don’t have someone here every night offering you girls junk food.”

Thirty minutes later, I crawl into bed knowing I enjoyed the Cheetos, but that I won’t need to revist them again for awhile—or, at least not until my brother makes it down the Turnpike again. If only I could grow muscles in my sleep like he does. Some people get all the genes.

SparkPeople.com’s dailySpark reviewed YBFB this week and I’ve had so much fun reading the comments! So far, over 100 women have weighed in on how their relationship has affected their waistline. Thank you to everyone who shared their stories and to dailySpark for such a fun review!

And becuase I can’t resist sharing, here are just a few of them. What’s your story?? Tell me all about it!

HOCKEYCHICKA
This book is the story of my life. My boyfriend is underweight and struggles to gain enough weight to not look like he’s anorexic. I, on the other hand, gain weight from just looking at unhealthy food. Even if I ignore all the bad food he gets away with eating, it is hard for me just to not want to eat with him every few hours which he has to do to feed his over active metabolism. Continue Reading →

Kelly over at Choosing Losing was kind enough to take a peek at YBFB and she had so many insightful things to say about relationships and weight gain. She’s married to her BFB, but her story will no doubt strike a chord with many of you! Here’s what she had to say—oh, and PS. She’s doing a giveaway, too! ENTER BY FEB. 22nd FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A FREE COPY OF YBFB !

The Background Story:

Dealing with my marriage in relationship to my diet has been tough. When Sarcasman and I moved in together, I realized how drastically different our eating habits were. Sarcasman brought home tons of food that I loved but didn’t want in the house (candy bars, ice cream, pizza bites, etc). While he eventually gained weight, he could eat a whole hell of a lot more than me and gain less. He didn’t believe in low-fat or fat-free and cooked meals with all the trimmings, full-fat gravy and all. I felt like, in addition to doing himself in, he was sabotaging me by forcing me to be around foods I knew I shouldn’t eat and had little self-control over. He was also the king of eating out and didn’t know a restaurant he didn’t like. He’d often enable me by suggesting we go out to eat after a hard day at work and I’d end up consuming probably twice the calories I would have if we would have prepared our own food at home. Continue Reading →

Carrie has her hands full at parties—especially when there’s a buffet. Her BFB loads up on just about everything. “Once, at a family reunion, he couldn’t decide on a dessert so he got all of them,” says Carrie, who’s biggest party weakness is cheesecake. “Carrot cake—cheesecake—apple pie, chocolate eclairs, pecan pie, red velvet cake, bread pudding.” Of course, her BFB’s smorgasbord scored huge laughs with the rest of the table, including Carrie—until she ended up eating them right along with him. “When he got full, I ate what was left. Which was about half of all of that!”

Carrie, 30, does just fine eating healthy . . . until the love of her life comes home with enough junk to sink any well-rounded diet.

“The man goes through a family-sized bag of Cheetos every week,” says Carrie. “I have great self-control if bad food is not in the house. But when he picks up a tube of cookie dough on his way home from work — which I have to bake, because he’ll burn them — how can I resist? One cookie turns into four. Then he breaks out the Cheetos and I figure ‘Hey, I already ate four cookies, what’s a handful of Cheetos going to do to me?’” Carrie tries to do the most of the shopping, but even on the rare occasion that her man makes it to the store, the damage he does in one round can have her snacking for days to come. “He buys Pop-Tarts, Cheetos, and cookies. All kinds of cookies. Then he’ll eat a few and leave the open bag on the kitchen counter — like I’m supposed to just walk past those.”

A long-distance relationship may be hard to maintain, but as Carly, 21, found out, it’s not nearly as tough as keeping her waistline. Her off-again, on-again romance proves that BFBs can pack on the pounds.

“Adam and I have a vicious cycle that starts every summer,” says Carly, who has dated her BFB for the past two years. “I come home from school thin and in shape because I’ve spent the spring semester — away from him! — working out and watching what I eat. Over the summer, we go to nice dinners, go to a lot of movies — and therefore eat a lot of candy — and drink too much alcohol. Then, once school starts in the fall, I am so used to eating badly that I stick to those awful habits.” Her close-to-10-pound gain even caused her to throw away her favorite jeans! Suddenly, Adam decides it’s time to shed the excess poundage. “So, we make a deal and both try to work out and eat healthier,” says Carly. “He achieves his 10-pound goal in a matter of three weeks. I lose five pounds max in seven months!” And, of course, like all cycles, their couple weight gain returns once they’re back in the same zip code. “We start off the summer looking good and healthy, and gain it all back by August!”

Your BFB doesn’t have to be fat in order to make it way too easy for you to gain weight. Avantika, 28, found out that even though her man’s slim and healthy, he can still weigh her down if she’s not careful.

“He eats constantly,” says Avantika, who has been with her now-fiancé for the past three years. “He can’t go more than one hour without getting hungry for another snack or meal.” Her soon-to-be hubby is also incredibly fit and exercises almost daily, which means he eats as much as he wants as often as he wants, without gaining weight. “I have to remind myself that, even though I work out, I have nowhere near the caloric requirements that he does,” says Avantika, recalling her initial five-pound gain when they first started dating.

Continue Reading →