A piece of advice on Day 3 of the Best Body Challenge: don’t take the stairs. I am so sore. SO SORE. Way more sore than I was on Day 2, which Deputy Editor Rachel Crocker tells me is typical (apparently, you feel it most 48 hours after exercising. Who knew?). But, complaining aside, I really did love the workout!

-Carla Warrilow, Online Editor

Ask any Oxygen cover girl and she’ll tell you that, when it comes to eating clean and working out, planning is the key to success. I’m no cover girl, but I ditto that. Prepping ahead of time leaves nothing to chance and no room for excuses.

On that note, I’d like to add “Day 0” to the Best Body Challenge. On Sunday night, I grabbed all my groceries, cooked up a giant vat of quinoa, grilled three chicken breasts, and made a double batch of protein pancakes. I was officially ready to take on Day 1 of the meal plan!

February came out of nowhere. Didn’t we just toast to 2013? It seems like I was just writing down my resolutions to 1) never drink again, and 2) work out, tone up and slim down. The holidays came and went; my goal to get fit didn’t amount to much more than a few visits to the gym and requesting dressing on the side of my starter salad – once. Lucky for me, Oxygen’s experts have come to the rescue with their 90-day Best Body Challenge.

Challenge accepted. I’ll be starting on Monday. 

-Carla Warrilow, Online Editor

Pick up any holiday card, Christmas movie or yuletide compilation CD, and you’ll behold what many consider to be the ideal December scene: laughing families crowded around a stocking-lined hearth, windowsills lightly dusted with the faintest hint of snow, and stacks of presents festively decorated in an array of foils and patterns. 

In reality, December days are often anything but the ideal tableau d’hiver. 

- Rachel Crocker, Fitness Editor

I have a friend who puts Tabasco sauce on everything. 

Chicken. Soups. Mashed potatoes. I’m pretty sure it’s the secret ingredient in her morning oatmeal. 

When we were in the fourth grade, she almost got suspended from school for bringing “suicide sauce” chicken wings from the pizza shop across the street and challenging all the boys to beat her at withstanding the heat. 

-Kasia Kurek, Health Editor