The Redesigned Mom

I have updated The Xtreme Fat Loss Diet page with my latest stats and measurements.  I lost 4 pounds!!!!

Unfortunately we have hit a little bit of a snag for this next cycle.  Saturday night I slammed my right thumb in the car door and it is pretty bad.   I can’t work out for a couple of days at least, heck I can hardly take care of myself.  My mom stayed an extra day to help me out and take care of the kids.

Also, this is my fast day but I am having to take pain killers and therefore I have to keep a little food in my stomach.  I am keeping it to the bare minimum, but total fast and the three workouts I had planned for today are out the window.  So, I am definitely not expecting much from this next cycle.

This is a total bummer because I feel like I had really good results the first cycle and I learned so much about what I need to do.  I am just going to have to be super strict on my food for the rest of the week.  I guess we will see what happens.

My protein only day went pretty well with my protein grams ending up spot on and my carbs super low, but my fat was too high.  Another thing to think about about this next cycle.

I lost 4 pounds in five days!  Want to learn more yet?

Joel Marion’s Xtreme Fat Loss Diet

Remember to plan ahead, log your food and exercise and keep your thumbs out of car doors.  OUCH!!!!

After logging my food for yesterday, my ratios are once again a little off. This time my fat was a little high and my carbs a little low. My calories were pretty dead on so that was good.

I was worried as I was adding foods to my log that I was going to go over but at the end it worked out fine since I logged my entire breakfast and only ate about two thirds of it.

I tend to be over critical and think too much about things but getting all these ratios just right is not that easy. This probably means I should have bought the upgrade with the calculator and menu plans.

This all gives me more to think about when planning out these two days next week.

Maybe I just need to give myself a break as well. It is my first cycle and the truth will be told Sunday morning when I check my stats. Stay tuned for that.

I have been really good about my workouts all week, but didn’t get my workout in yesterday since my mom was coming last night and I had so much to do. Need to make sure I make working out a priority and to make time for it. Doesn’t take that long, really.

Check out the Xtreme Fat Loss Diet Now!

Have a great day and remember to do something nice for you mom tomorrow.

Today’s email from Isabel De Los Rios and The Diet Solution touched on something that rings close to me and that I think is really important.  The mental and emotional side of losing weight.  Anyone who ignores this is only destined to fail.  Yes, you may lose some weight now, maybe even a lot of weight, but if you don’t feel that you deserve it, see yourself as a thin person who is happy and active and whole or if you continue with the negative talk, it is very likely you will gain all the weight back and more.

This is something I have really struggled with.  In The Gabriel Method Jon talks a lot about envisioning yourself as a thin happy person.   I have had such a hard time with this.  Not only could I not see myself thin, but I didn’t believe I could ever be thin again or even that I deserved to be.  This is the exact reason I took a break from actively trying to lose weight and concentrated on getting my head straight while continuing to improve my eating habits (nutrition and portion control) as well as learning to like exercising because it makes me feel good and not to punish myself for being overweight.

Isabel gets this too and the first chapter of The Diet Solution is dedicated to this.  Today she sent an email that talked directly to this part of the weight loss journey with some really good ideas for changing these patterns.

The strategy that touched me the most was that we should be talking to ourselves like we talk to our children.  Isn’t that so powerful?

We fill our children with love and support, we tell them they can do anything they put their minds to, that if they work hard and show passion they can achieve anything.  And when they are scared or nervous or feel insecure, we give them the best, most heartfelt pep talks.  We hold them close and tell them how proud we are of them and how we know that they are capable and brave.

But when we feel those same things, we turn on ourselves.  I would fill my head with doubt and fear, blame and anger.  I would tell myself how lazy and stupid I was for not being able to do it.  I would get angry at anyone who tried to encourage me or support me, because I didn’t really deserve it anyway.  Sound familiar?

Well, I’m done with that.  I deserve to accomplish anything in my life that I set my mind to.  I deserve to be happy and healthy and loved and supported.  I deserve these things just as much as my children do and I can see that thin, healthy, happy, fulfilled person now and I’m going after it.  And you can too.

Every day I am more and more impressed with Isabel.  I really encourage you to check out The Diet Solution.

This is the email she sent today in it’s entirety.  I hope it is ok that I shared it this way, I just felt it would be important for you to read.

Hey Karin,

I was remembering back several years ago when I used to do one on one client coaching, I had a great call with a client. It was actually her last coaching call with me and I wanted to be sure that I left her with all the “tools” she needed to maintain and continue her incredible weight loss success.

Me: “What do you think will be the most difficult challenge for you moving forward?”

I was expecting an answer like traveling, going out to dinner, maybe even cravings, but that was not the case.

Client: “Isabel, the absolute hardest thing for me is the mental part of losing weight. I see how successful I’ve been and I clearly see the results in the mirror, but I still find myself doing a lot of negative self talk. It’s almost like I know I’m going to blow it, just like I have so many other times.”

WOW! Talk about honesty. And I know she is not the only person who is going through the same thing. I can remember years ago when I first lost all of my weight, I would get compliments from people and I would always thing to myself, “Yeah, whatever, let’s see how long this really lasts.”

But there is a reason why the FIRST chapter in the Diet Solution Program Manual is about MENTAL PREPARATION because this is an ESSENTIAL first step. It doesn’t matter how good the information is, how easy I have made it for you, or how delicious the food is. If you’re going to talk yourself out of your own success all day, then you might as well just throw in the towel now (in this case, walk away from the computer and stop reading).

So how exactly did I overcome this common hurdle? Here are some strategies I use even today in my life that keep me focused, motivated and always working towards my goal.

1. I start each and every morning with a gratitude list. This is non-negotiable! It takes me no more than 3 minutes and it changes my spirits for the entire day. How’s setting aside 3-5 minutes for a joyous rest of the day? Worth it, right? I write “I am so grateful for…” and then just write, write and write. For me that list always includes my family, my health and my work. I wouldn’t start any day without this!

2. I go to sleep each night playing my personal mind movie in my head as I go to sleep. What is a personal mind movie? Basically, it’s you imagining yourself looking, feeling and doing whatever it is you would do if you achieved your health and weight loss goals. Imagine yourself in a particular outfit, at a party getting compliments, participating in some awesome athletic event. Athletes have actually used this strategy for decades with much success. This approach helps me to fall asleep happy and is much better than lying there thinking about all the things I have to do the next day or harping on stressful events. I sleep so much better at night like this!

3. Only talk to yourself as you would a small child (This one is my favorite and given to me by my best friend Jackie). Would you tell your children all day long that they were never going to achieve their goals, that they should stop trying or that they shouldn’t even try in the first place? No, I sure hope you wouldn’t. You would encourage them, give them hope, and tell them that anything is possible with hard work. Treat yourself, in your own mind, the way you would want to speak to your children or better yet, the way you would want others to speak to your children or speak to you.

Karin, keep your eye on the prize because the prize of the body you are dreaming about is within your reach! If I can do it, so can YOU! Tell yourself how awesome you are and how this time you are changing your life and there is no looking back.

Speaking of keeping your eye on the prize, I just got the most wonderful celebration email from my friend Joel Marion. He had set his goal to help as many people around the world achieve their own weight loss goals and getting his information out to every person that was ready to take his Xtreme weight loss challenge.

He has accomplished just that and is celebrating the Xtreme Fat Loss Diet system officially becoming the #1 Bestselling e-book on the internet right now!

To celebrate this monumental event in Joel’s life, he’s decided to keep the $30 OFF offer open for a couple more days.

If you haven’t secured your discounted copy, THIS IS THE TIME TO DO IT! (before Saturday).

The Xtreme Fat Loss Diet

I couldn’t be happier or more proud of him, and if you are one of the 20,000 people that has decided to take him up on his offer, I am proud of you too!

Take a look at Joel’s celebration page here:

The Xtreme Fat Loss Diet
And join me as we give Joel a big round of applause. Bravo…(clap, clap, clap).

Keep your eye on your own prize…and you will get there!

In health and happiness,

Isabel De Los Rios
Certified Nutritionist
Certified Exercise Specialist
Author of www.TheDietSolutionProgram.com

PS – If you enjoyed today’s newsletter, feel free to forward this email on to any of your friends, family, or co-workers that would also enjoy the information.

Have a really great day and remember to care for yourself, you deserve it.

In addition to the Cheat Day and Fast Day that we have already discussed, The Xtreme Fat Loss Diet has three additional days that are strategically laid out to maximize your fat loss, keep your metabolism racing and your hormones balanced.  All these days combined form the five day cycle that is central to the program.

Yesterday was the first of these days and lovingly called shake day.

Now, just let me say that I have always hated protein powder.  It’s the smell that gets to me.  But, for dramatic results, I figured I would suffer through a day.  I also cheated just a bit and subbed out two meals with real food and supplemented another with a tomato salad.

I only subbed out these meals after very carefully doing all the math and calculating exactly what each meal needed to contain given the macro-nutrient and calorie requirements for the day.

After logging all my food on CalorieCounter.com (my absolute favorite food and exercise logging tool) it turns out that my calories were dead on and my macro-nutrient (protien/carb/fat) ratios were pretty good.  My protein was a touch high and my fat a touch low.  For my first go at it, I figure this isn’t so bad – there are definitely worse ways the ratios could be out of whack.

In order to keep to my ratios and calorie requirements I carefully portioned and measured to get the exact right amounts and only used foods off the included food lists in my substitutions.   My food scale and measuring cups and spoons are earning their keep during this process.

This may sound like a total pain, but really it only takes a few extra seconds to measure out your portions.  The calculations and meal planning takes a bit of time, but if you can’t dedicate a little time once every five days for these types of results then you don’t really want it.  I don’t mean to be harsh or anything but getting real with our committment is fundemental to our success.  This is something I struggle with too, but it just comes down to do you want it bad enough or don’t you.  Do you feel your worth it or don’t you?

By the way if you answered no to that question, you should read this.

Ok, so back to protein powder.  Like I said, I hated protein powder, but I found one that actually tastes pretty good and has the nutritional requirements that  are recommended.

Both Joel (Xtreme Fat Loss Diet) and Isabel (The Diet Solution) highly recommend Prograde supplements and I am sure they are really great, but they are pretty spendy.  Now, I am sure they are worth the money, but I am not going to be using protein powder long term as my long term plan recommends always trying for real foods over powders and the Prograde only gets reasonably priced when you do the autoship.

With all this said, I knew that the quality and nutritional suggestions they made were really important so I did my research and found a product that was reasonably priced, tastes great and is made with cold-processed whey protein isolate, natural flavors and is sweetened with Stevia.   I feel that this is a quality product and would recommend it.  And it is the best tasting protein powder I have had and let’s face it, that is really important.

Jay Robb Whey Protein Powder – Comes in assorted sizes and flavors.

Overall, I feel great so far.  I have a ton of energy, my mood is good (well except for the afternoon of fast day, but I think I deserved that – hee hee), my muscles are sore and I even think these pants were a tad looser this morning.

Check out The Xtreme Fat Loss Diet

Because of the huge success in the first couple of days, Joel has extended the $30 off promotion for another 48 hours to celebrate.

Celebrate yourself and your accomplishments as well.  Have a great day!

Don’t you hate it when you go into the fridge for a radish to put on your salad and they are all gooey and gross.  Yuck!

Well, a little planning ahead can save those radishes and keep them fresh for weeks.

This is what you do…

1. When you get home from the store or the first time you use them, remove all the radishes from their stems.  Discard the tops.
2. Wash all the radishes really well.  Dry with a paper towel.
3. Cut the stem and root off each end.  You don’t have to cut much, just a sliver off each end.
4. Put them in a ziplock and toss them in the low humidity veggie drawer in your fridge.

This simple 5 minute prep tip will extend the life of your radishes dramatically.

It pains me to say this but I have posted a before shot and my stats on the Extreme Fat Loss Page

Well, I made it through my first Extreme Fat Loss Diet fast day.   It wasn’t really as hard as I thought it was going to be.

The morning was easy as I am never really hungry until late in the morning anyway.

The tough part for me was the afternoon.  I get those crazy afternoon hunger pains anyway so I was going nutso for a couple of hours, but then it subsided and the evening was a breeze.  By they time I was sitting on the couch watching Lost with my husband I felt great actually, no hunger and a significant sense of calm.

I will say that feeding my kids dinner was tough.  I just wanted to snatch the food right off their plates.  And then I asked my husband to eat while I was at my swimming class so I wouldn’t have to watch him eat, but I walked in the door and he was putting the finishing touches on a chicken burger.  My mouth watered something fierce and I had to leave the room, but really no biggie.

The BCAA capsules that I purchased are the biggest pills I have ever seen, but surprisingly easy to swallow.  Taking them throughout the day ensured that I guzzled massive amounts of water and filled my belly, if only temporarily.

Some tips for getting through the day….

1. Stay Busy.  Get out and about as much as you can. Tackle something consuming at work. If you are stuck at home like me, then find a project that needs to be done or a hobby you haven’t picked up in a while.  Also, use your workouts to your advantage, you have three of them today.
2. Embrace the Hunger.  When the hunger hit it’s worse about mid afternoon I went looking for advice (well and really just another thing to keep me occupied.  Nothing like a targeted Internet search for info to kill some time).  The biggest thing that I found from both those fasting for health and religious purposes is to embrace the hunger, not fight it.  That also reminds me of what my therapist is telling me about negative thought, anxiety, depression or whatever your dealing with: “Acknowledge the feeling and then let it pass through you and out the other side”.  This is highly effective, but often easier said
3. Drink Hot Liquids.  I had a cup of coffee (with xylitol to sweeten) mid afternoon and that made all the difference in the world.  Warm and satisfying a cup of tea or coffee can really do the trick.  It also gives you something with taste to sip on.
4. Drink a Ton of Water.  I just kept the water coming all day.  I carried a big bottle around with me everywhere and guzzled several large glasses each time I took my BCAA supplements.
5. Focus on the Results.  This is the biggie.  It is only one day and there are only five in the whole program.  Totally doable.  And just think about how great you are going to look and feel when you are done.

Get the Extreme Fat Loss Diet Now! – Last Day to get $30 off

The Extreme Fat Loss Diet is a short term fast fat loss plan.  To continue your healthy lifestyle and/or continue losing weight, you will need a long term nutritional plan.  My recommendation and the one I follow myself is Isabel De Los Rios’  The Diet Solution.  I have been following this plan for a month or so now and I feel great.   Sound research-based nutritional advice tailored to your personal metabolic type and an easy to follow portion controlled eating plan.  Brilliant.

Check out The Diet Solution – Make sure your speakers are on. This is an audio/video presentation.

Isabel is offering a free bonus to her members right now of a personal outline and coaching on how to follow the Extreme Fat Loss Diet in a healthy way that gels with her nutritional advice and eating plan.  Really cool, I know I can’t wait to get my hands on that.

So get both products now and commit to your weight loss goals today.

So, I was going to wait a little while before introducing you to The Diet Solution, which I have chosen as my long term nutritional plan.  The Diet Solution is not a quick fix, but a lifestyle and one that I feel very comfortable that I can maintain for a lifetime.

After realizing that The Gabriel Method just wasn’t going to be structure enough for me, I went searching for a slightly more structured eating plan that followed the same principles.  Where I landed is with Isabel De Los Rios and The Diet Solution.

I have been adjusting the The Diet Solution way of eating and have felt great.  The Diet Solution combines sound nutritional advice with customizations for your metabolic type.  I am a protein and have found changing what I eat to cater to this has been really beneficial.  I feel energyzed and my afternoon slugs have almost dissapeared entirelly.  She has taught me to listen to my body for what foods it likes and doesn’t like and this has made a big difference.

Because I had been concentrating for so long on weight loss with a lot of disappointment, I took a break from weight loss being my goal and concentrated on changing over to The Diet Solution way of eating and learning to enjoy exercise and cherishing my time doing so.  I have also been concentrating on learning those things about myself that keep me from truly committing and pushing past them.

But now I am really ready to make significant change and I needed a kick start, something to shake up my metabolism and get the system running again, so when she recommended Joel Marion’s Extreme Fat Loss Diet as a way to do just that, I jumped at the chance and am now on day two of my 25 day extreme fat loss program.

It’s the fast day and I just really started getting hungry and it’s about noon, only another 10 hours to go, Ughh.  I went to the gym this morning and will do my strength training this afternoon and then I have swim class tonight.   Although it is a lot, it is seamlessly working with my schedule so that is great.

Anyway,  Isabel sent an email out this morning saying that she has put together a video to support people in keeping to her well defined healthy eating habits while still be able to complete the 25 day Extreme Fat Loss Diet.  I am so excited about this.  She is going to talk about how to manage the different eating styles and how to enjoy the cheat day while still keeping away from harmful chemicals, bad fats and other things that are just generally unhealthy.

Because of this, I wanted to share The Diet Solution with you a little early so that anyone interested could take full advantage of the extra personalization and coaching that Isabel is offering to people who follow The Diet Solution.  I believe that these two programs combined are a powerful match and will produce amazing results for me and you as well.

Here are both the Products for you to take a look at.

Extreme Fat Loss Diet

Joel is still offering $30 off during the pre-sale, but this will end in the next day or so.

The Diet Solution

This is an audio/video presentation so make sure you have your speakers on :)

In order to access the special support video, I had to email my Extreme Fat Loss Diet receipt to The Diet Solution and they will send out a link to the video when it is available later this week.   If you have any problems with the process, just let me know and maybe I can help facilitate.

Update: Once you have purchased both products, email your receipt for Extreme Fat Loss to info@thedietsolutionprogram.com with “Joel’s Bonus” in the subject line.  This will sign you up to receive Isabel’s coaching for the Extreme Fat Loss Diet.

Well, here it is.  Today I begin a 25 day plan that is supposed to burn an extreme amount of fat in an extreme way.

At this point I am hopeful and skeptical at the same time.  Although this is a 25 day fast fat loss program, it is no magic pill.  This program is on the extreme end of the spectrum and will take some serious dedication to make happen.  But, it’s only 25 days and I am in dire need of a metabolic shake up so I’m giving it a fully dedicated go.

One of the things I have struggled with while trying to lose weight is fully committing to a program.  It has taken me a long time to nail down why that is and I think this program is the perfect end and in turn beginning for me.

This program is very structured.  It runs in five day cycles and you complete the cycle 5 times.  Each day uses a different eating style and has complimentary workouts that are all optimized to maximize and improve your metabolism.

The days include a full on cheat day where you are encouraged to load up on whatever your little heart desires including pastries, pizza, burgers, lasagna, cake..  whatever you feel like eating whenever you feel like eating it.  The one rule, don’t overeat or manipulate your day in a way to maximize the amount of food you can eat.  But this is a great day to go out to eat and order whatever you want off the menu or splurge on that coffee cake or doughnut at your favorite coffee shop.

The flip side of this is that there is also a fast day, where you eat very little.  Each day has it’s own thing.

The combination of the cheat day and the fast day are put together to maximize leptin levels and take full advantage of those raised levels.

I will let the author explain all the details, but I can tell you that I have done a ton of reading about nutrition and metabolism over the last several months and everything that he is speaking about is completely in line with the current research in the field.  He has simply combined and tweaked methods which maximize the manipulation of your metabolism.  Although they throw around the word extreme a lot and this is definitely not a long term plan but a short term jump start, nutritional fundamentals are followed and I don’t think that there is anything dangerous about this.

So, I started today and Day 1 is the cheat day.  This was actually good timing for me because my husband is out of town on business and for some weird reason I get immense pleasure from eating all kinds of things that he doesn’t like or are just really bad for you and not generally part of our every day diet while he is gone.  So today I ate whatever I wanted.

It seemed a little lackluster as I haven’t been on any sort of super restrictive diet, but I definitely feel a  little sluggish as this is not typically the type of food I eat.  I ingested more carbs today than I have in quite a while.  But tomorrow I fast, so today I eat.

I also completed my first workout today, especially tailored to the cheat day.  There is more weight lifting in this program than I am used to but all the exercises can be done with dumbbells so I bought a medicine ball and a set of dumbbells to fill a gap I had in my home weights and am good to go.  I will do my cardio at the gym as usual and walks and swimming as supplemental.  I think it will work out nicely.  I actually enjoyed the exercises and felt good afterward.

I got in on a pre-sale deal and saved $30.  This runs for another day or two I think, so if you are interested you should definitely check it out right away.

Learn More Now!

I plan on writing about my experiences daily (well hopefully daily, but at least every couple of days) during these 25 days and I have created a special page where you can always find the latest updates.

Although the Gabriel Method didn’t “work” for me, the underlying principles are very sound and I don’t think it had anything to do with The Gabriel Method itself.  It was all me.  I had some serious emotional issues to deal with and large mental blocks standing in my way.  I couldn’t even see that it was possible for me, let alone dedicate myself to the process of actually losing the weight.

Jon taught me to look at more than just the food an exercise and I understand more clearly the mental sides of things.  It also led me in the right direction to find the information I needed.

I also learned that I need more structure.  At least when starting out, I need to be told what to do and when.   I need a plan that I can look at and see what is coming next and not think too many steps ahead.  I get overwhelmed by the big picture and then give up because it looks too daunting.

With that bit of knowledge I went to work on that stuff and just kept improving my diet and reading and reading about metabolism and the mind body connection.  I also concentrated on working out to feel good and improve my fitness level for my triathlon this summer.  I have been running (something I swore I would never be able to do again), biking and have just started swim classes.   The swim classes rock and I would totally recommend taking an adult swim class for anyone who is looking to get into swimming for fitness.  I have only been to two classes and my crawl and back stroke are already completely transformed.

I have also made major breakthroughs on the psychological side and am glad to say that I have finally made the mental shift.  I can see the thin and fit me and can’t wait to get there.  And let me just tell you, what I thought was standing in my way had nothing to do with it.  I dug deep and with the help of my therapist have cleared away some serious stuff.

I found this picture of myself from when I was 21.  I had just met my husband and was in the best shape of my life.  I had just come off of a summer as the horseback riding director at a girl scout camp where I had hiked about 8 miles a day and spent the majority of my day on horseback or running around an arena teaching others on there horses.  I lifted saddles and hay bales and swam across the lake and back twice a week.  I had never been so active, or so confident.  This is an image of myself that I can get behind.

That image is now taped to my head board so that I see her/me right before I go to sleep and first thing when I wake up.

I am very excited about this mental shift and what it means for me finally getting some results.  With that in mind, I am starting a brand new program next week that is going to really give my body an Xtreme shake up.  I think this is just what my body needs right now.  I have also chosen a long-term program that I am really happy with that I will continue with once the shake up is complete.

I look forward to sharing more information about both these programs with you.