Christmas in September!

Without further ado, shoot over right now to my gift package page so you can download your goodies.  How's that sound?

It's all there for you in the video above, but just to spell it out, here's what you'll get in my gift kit:

• Video Download: Fit Quickies™ #1 v 2.0, “7 Seconds to a Flat Belly”

• 30- minute Audio download: “How to Supercharge Your Energy and Stoke Your Metabolism in 4 Fast Minutes: The Busy Woman’s Secret Weapon For Time-Saving Fitness and Fat Loss” PLUS
  

• Action Guide and Tip Sheet

• Science Files

• And if you're not already receiving it, a complimentary subscription to FitDream Ezine, insider tips, information and motivation to your email each week.

Then you have to promise to tell me how you like it the Fitness Breakthrough Kit. What are your favorite pieces? How do you like v 2.0 of "7 Seconds"? What questions might you have?  Fire away with them.  Click here to post your thoughts in comments below.

But before you go to collect your goodies, thank you for your readership, your business, and friendship.  You make it possible for me to do what I love – help busy women who struggle with weight, energy, and getting the food and workout thing together – succeed so that they can live their body ideal, have more energy, and be more productive and successful in their business and their lives.  There's nothing like it!

Here's to better bodies for busy women!

Heaps of whole foods keep your hunger satisfied and keep you trim; brilliant! That's today's filling yet slimming lunch, above

In "Numbers UP On The Scale?  Don't Panic!" I gave you the skinny on how I transformed my relationship to the bathroom scale from one of "fight or flight" to mutual respect.

The scale can be your friend, as trendy as it may be to say otherwise.  And if you are afraid of the bathroom scale, it's time to take a look at THAT.  Because making the scale your friend can be a very helpful tool when it comes to weight management.

Dietary Guidelines Pave The Simple Solution Path.

Since I know that nutrition is number one when it comes to weight management (see You Can't Out train A Bad Diet), I thought back to my eats the last couple of weeks to find where this slight gain might have come from.

It is, after all, all about calorie density. The simple solution is to pare down foods high in calorie density – that means a high amount of calories per pound of food – and to nudge your selections back in the direction of low and overall moderate calorie density with vegetables, starchy vegetables, whole unprocessed grains, fruits, and legumes.  This crowds out the culprits while keeping you happily well fed.

You look at what you have been eating that may be creating weight challenges due to its calorie density.  For me, looking back the past couple of weeks, it was not hard to find:

• Tahini sauce on my veggies more often than usual
• Champagne on a couple of occasions
• Extra rounds of grainy bread
• Slices of avocado (on the grainy bread) more often than usual

Each of these on their own might not be enough to make a difference.  But put them together, and they end up making a difference.  Reality!  I got it!

Here's The Immediate Action I've Taken

When the scale goes UP, I just make sure that I have plenty to eat that will reverse the gain, so that I can shed the extra lbs without hunger and with complete satiety.  Quickly and easily. It works like a charm.

Here's what I did today to insure success:

Rinsing potatoes - 3 varieties - to bake in a big batch

1. Fired up my rice cooker with a big new batch of brown jasmine rice
2. Pressure cooked a new big pot of black turtle beans
3. Soaked and scrubbed a dozen potatoes:  red, gold, and sweet – to bake today

I'll can the avo and tahini for now, save the champagne for down the road a bit and replace most of the bread with rice, other whole grains, and potatoes for a few days.

That's all it will take. And this will match my requirements of being well-fed, eat according to appetite, and stay up with my usual, time-saving workout strategies.

Simple solution.  Piece of cake.

Do you have a strategy for taking action if or when the scale nudges up?   Share about it in comments below.

And I promise to report back in with the success of my FitDream Food Plan.

© Lani Muelrath 2010

Take the "fight or flight" out of the scale experience

Numbers UP on the scale?

This used to grip my heart with fear and send my stomach sinking.

But that was BEFORE I transformed my relationship with food, eating, and my body.

What Is Your Relationship With The Scale?

Between you and me, I used to have a love/hate relationship with the scale.  I was either:

1. Compelled to weigh several times a day (big mistake),  or
2. Avoiding its reality like the plague (problematic red flag)

When I finally committed to making a good relationship between me, weight, and food a priority, I made a choice to be true to my "all the cards on the table" nature.

That meant instead of having a pathology about the numbers on the scale, to instead change my relationship to that, too.  The goal of freedom I kept before me like a shining star. And that mean abandoning avoidance and embracing a new attitude.

Man, am I glad I did.

I did this for 2 reasons:

1. To take back my power (scale fear puts the scale in power)
   
2. To be able to share the reality of these numbers with women I knew I would be coaching through this same process down the road

In a very short period of time, by cultivating a new relationship with the scale instead of being commandeered by an old one, it became a useful tool for me.

Nothing more, nothing less.

It's called freedom through embracing the reality check.The truth shall set you free .

And since then, I've discovered that research shows those who monitor their weight enjoy more success with weight management.  (See Does Checking The Scale Help With Weight Management?)

So for those who insist the scale doesn't tell you what you are measuring, and can report wild fluctuations in weight day-to-day depending on food intake and activity levels, it is an indicator of trends and can be a darn good additional tool of measure, along with how your clothes fit and how you feel.

Scale Reality Check Still Works Today

The work I did with cleaning up my combat with the scale continues to pay off, more than a dozen years later.  And it can do the same for you.

When I see my weight pop up, it's usually due to a salty meal or post-exercise hydration, where the challenged muscle packs on some extra water weight in the process of recovery.

Yet if I see the upward trend persist, I know it's time to take a look at the eats.

This past couple of weeks, I noted an upward trend on the scale that persisted.  Just a couple of pounds, but that is precisely the wisdom of checking in regularly.  It gives me a chance to reality check my food choices, and redirect them to be in alignment with my body composition goals.  Fancy way of staying trim WHILE being well fed at the same time.

Well fed is critical in my book.  Hunger and weight management are NOT a good match.

CLICK HERE to find out my simple, quick strategies to redirect weight gain.

image:  invisible

We've been known for our no carb left behind romps through Italy. Like this find of grainy pizza crust "senza formaggio" and piles of chopped fresh tomato we scored in Cinque Terra.

What do YOU do with appetite swings?

I just go with it.

Back in the old "count, weight, measure" days, we operated on the assumption that every day would be a match energetically and with appetite.  Know what I mean?

Sorry sister, ain't the truth in real life.  Our bodies have all kinds of reasons – most which we  probably know nothing about – for swinging our appetites.

And if we eliminated or seriously made a dent in the dastardly diet-slammers such as highly processed foods, rich pastries, desserts, fiber-free dairy, and other agents of sabotage to natural fullness, then we are free to go with the appetite flow without fear of weight gain.  Trust me.

Case in Point

If it brings confidence and comfort that it IS possible to eat according to hunger and fullness signals without gaining weight endlessly and forever – and to actually use it as an effective tool to keep you trim – Ill give you an example from my eating life.  Here is my food journal – best I can recall – from the past 2 days.

Yesterday

Breakfast:

• Big bowl of muesli with crispy rice cereal and flax seed, 2 kinds of peach and blueberries, splash of rice milk

Mid-morning:

• green plum.  Perfect

Lunch:

• pile of romaine with kidney beans
• sandwich with 2 slices of whole grain bread with thick chunks of tomato and pickles

Afternoon.  Nothing.  (Unusual!)

Dinner:

• giant ear of corn

Today:

Breakfast:

• Bowl of hot muesli, ground flax seed, fresh peaches, splash of rice milk.

Mid morning:

• plum

• nectarine

• rice cake with sesame butter, and
  

  Snapshot of today's tabouleh; from my upcoming FitFood Quickies Comford Food Cookbook

• several scoops of the tabouli salad I was making for lunch.  Yeah, it almost didn't make it.  To lunch.  The tabouleh I mean. Click HERE for my easy tabouleh recipe.

Lunch:

• pile of baby spinach with big scoop of tabouleh with garbanzos all over the top

• sandwich with 2 slices of whole grain bread with thick chunks of tomato and pickles

Afternoon:

• no hunger until dinner, as well satisfied in the morning

Dinner:

• corn on the cob

• cauliflower with veggie chorizo

• bruschetta of chopped tomato on wholegrain bread

Later:

• huge bowl of watermelon chunks

So, what's with the appetite shifts?

Who knows. Both days I took a long leisurely morning walk.

Yesterday I did my Bar Method workout after the walk.

Woman's Fitness BluePrint Preview Call Recording:

Go here NOW  to Woman's Fitness Blueprint:  An Action Plan for Success

I have no idea who these people are. But this looks like the quintessential food-pusher, family picnic nightmare!

So, has the annual summer family reunion arrived?

For better or for worse, and usually a little bit of both.

And tightly woven into these family affairs seems to be the ubiquitous piles and platters of edibles not on your dietary plan.  Am I right?

And the food pushers who peddle them.  You know what I mean.

What a health-minded woman like you to do?

My client Janette (not her real name to protect her identity from curious web-surfing relatives) wrote a few days ago for some last words of advice before heading off for a week of family gathering.  Actually, it seems more of my clients than not have had big family affairs this summer, the kind that usually present themselves only at Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Between you and me, I've waded through more than one landmine -loaded gathering of relatives myself, and had some words of advise for Janette.  Here for your benefit – and Janette's permission – is our correspondence – along with some strategies for success.

Hi Everyone,

So the Costco trip is done, I have a refrigerator packed with food for 14 ready to load into coolers. DH and I start our week with our kids tomorrow by supplying the first meal (nachos supreme for them, beans rice salsa and veggies for me), breakfast the next day, and staples for the week.

I was not the happiest camper doing the Costco trip with my daughter as she efficiently added all the kinds of things we bought in years past – lots of SAD*. I kept thinking of which mason jars of grains I will take and I did slip in an extra jar of garden salsa as she frowned and said REALLY, TWO?? I said 14 people for a week? She said ALL EATING SALSA EVERY MEAL? I grinned "ya never know!" Hmmm…

Here is my dilemma. I had such a "recommitment" this past Monday and a good solid week of healthy eating, that I want to continue same all next week since I have been so psyched this week. Why not? Do I have a better time to blast through my 4 year plateau?

BUT… I don't want to set up a failure situation by being unrealistic about the challenges of being with my family and the challenges have already started. With 7 kids and SOs or spouses, you can imagine the  undercurrents – ugh. And the margaritas! And the constant plenty! OMG!

BUT I don't want to drag my old tired stories (my family is so difficult re food for me) into a new day and not do the best I can do. Who cares about margaritas when everyone else is drinking them and they look so …special? Or when my son brings one over to me (as he did another year in the past) and hands me one and says "ok, time to toast this beautiful woman" do I not drink it? I don't have it in me to do that.

So yes I am going to go with the flow, it's my vacation, soak up all those impressions of my beautiful and growing family and let go of the 100 projects I run in my regular life – but where does that leave me with food? I have to plan! I don't want a week of anything goes! I also don't want to undo this week.

Ack! Any last minute thoughts?

Janette

Here is my reply to Janette:

Janette, it sounds like you are looking for the solid phrase that will keep you on your current trajectory and permission for margaritas at the same time. Of course! Universal dilemma!

Last minute thoughts:

1) Beware of food pushers, who have their own agendas that have nothing to do with you, your life, your preferences. When you change, it shifts things around you and can be unsettling to others. This very thing keeps women stuck year after year because they'd rather not upset the cart. So things stay the same.

2) I never walk out of Costco with LESS than 2 jugs of salsa, and there are only 2 of us! Granted, I don't get there very often. But what people might not get is for you it is a vegetable, not a tiny splash of red on the end of a chip. When I have a bowl of rice/beans/salsa (like yesterday late morning) there is just about as much salsa (as long as it's mild, which the Costco stuff is) as rice and beans.

3) Remember to avoid trying to explain and rationalize to everyone else why you're eating as you are. Enjoy all your mountains of food with gusto, make it look delicious and fun (which it is) – attitude is everything! And if asked, just say it's working for you, you're loving your food, have more energy and are having no complaints about trimming down.

4) Find one or two occasions to have a margarita as that sounds important. The sugar is far better than having piles of chips and dips! Decide which choices you will be making so that YOU are in control, rather than thinking "I hope I don't have any margaritas". See what I'm saying?

5) Family dynamics seem to have a life of their own. This is also why (as I suggested earlier) get as far into the week as you can before making exceptions, if indeed you are. If you start with a landslide, it's far harder to crawl back. This has been an effective strategy for me on more than one occasion. For example, the candy at Christmas. Visiting family, if I waited until day 3 to have a piece or two, knowing I was returning home on day 4, damage was minimal.

Have a wonderful time, remember the food is just part of the process and enjoy all the fun of being around your family!

Thinking of you,
Lani

In a nutshell? Plan ahead;  don't leave it to chance!  Pack more good, whole satisfying food than you think you'll need so you'll always have something nutritious, energizing, and slimming to eat.  That's half the battle.  And plan your indulgences so you don't find yourself grasping at the twigs on the slide down the calorie cliff.

*SAD:  standard American diet

© Lani Muelrath image:  jennaruthclark

Is it possible to nail the diet strategies that point to weight loss success, over and over again?

And by success, we're talking "lasting" weight loss.

A recent article in my International Dance and Exercise Association (IDEA) Journal revealed four commonalities among those who successfully lose weight  – and keep it off.

Yes, there are more than just four. But these four were featured as they stand out among from the rest as solid hallmarks of lasting weight loss success. Here are the findings as reported in the IDEA Journal.  Along with my points and counterpoints from years and years of experience coaching women to successful, lasting, life-friendly (make no mistake, VERY important!) weight loss.

4 Things People Who Lose Weight And Keep It Off Have In Common

1)  They Monitor Their Weight and Track Their Food Intake

Weighing yourself regularly, as previously reported here in Does Monitoring Your Weight Help With Weight Loss, helps you stay on top of the numbers – and your weight.  No more room for denial!  They also had a habit of jotting down records of what they were eating.

My  points and counterpoints: If you are "afraid" of the scale, get over it.  And don't fool yourself into thinking an 8 lb gain in a month is "solid muscle".  It's darn hard to pack on even 2 – 3 lbs of muscle in that much time, and that's with a very muscle – challenging workload.  Yes, weight will shift with hydration and macronutrient content, but overall, and noted once or twice a week, can tell you the trends.  Also, keeping a food journal – even intermittently – helps you keep a reality check on food intake.

2)  They Eat 4, 5 Or More Meals Throughout The Day

When and how often one eats may determine weight. Studies show that eating four or five small meals/snacks throughout the day is associated with lower energy intake and reduced or no obesity risk, and eating less or more than this may actually increase the risk of obesity (Forslund et al. 2005; Ma et al. 2003). In addition, skipping breakfast is associated with a higher body mass index and increased obesity risk (Ma et al. 2003; Choet al. 2003).

My points and counterpoints: You may be getting the message from media that we should go hours and hours between meals to keep insulin in check.  Insulin is released when we eat – it's how our body's way to process the incoming energy, shuttling it into storage for use.  Thus, the popular idea is that by keeping insulin out of the game during several hours, glucagon kicks in and we start "burning" stored fat.

But that's only part of the picture. Large meals overstimulate the release of insulin, creating all kinds of problems, bodyfat storage, and insulin resistance.  If you're not supposed to eat for 5 – 6 hours between meals, how the heck can one not eat a large meal?  It builds in an entirely new problem!

When you eat whole, real foods, you can trust your body to eat the right amounts to keep you slim.  Just like the squirrels outside my office.

3)  Portions Are Controlled

My clients prove that you can eat all you want with a balance of high fiber starches, vegetables, legumes, and fruits, and lose weight - without hunger

My points and counterpoints: Portion control is just another way of saying reduced calories.  This can be done in one of 2 ways:

• by weighing and measuring. However, with a Standard American Diet IMPOSSIBLE to sustain without hunger.  Minimal long term success.  Not recommended if you want to satisfy hunger.
  
• by body-controlled portions. This is what I do, and it's kept those extra 50 lbs off of me for 12 years now. It's easy to achieve when you are eating whole, real, low fat foods, because the bulk, calorie density, and satiety do the work for you.  Your body can totally be your guide on portion control when you eat in this fashion.  This is the approach that I successfully coach women with in my Booty Camps and FitDream Fusion Membership.

4) They Fill Up On Less

Increasing intake of nutrient-rich foods like fruits and vegetables is a positive strategy for controlling portions. Studies show that reducing energy density by boosting intake of low-caloric- density foods is associated with weight loss and improved diet quality (Ello-Martin et al. 2007; Ledikwe et al. 2007). Thanks to water and fiber, low-caloric-density foods offer larger portions with fewer calories, so you fill up without filling out. Examples include fruits, vegetables, beans and soups. High-fiber foods also slow digestion and absorption and stabilize blood sugar, which helps control hunger and further aids weight loss. (McCreary, Beyond Energy Balance, 2010)

My points and counter points: This is exactly what I'm talking about with body-controlled eating (see #3 above). It has been found that adding certain foods  helps people lose and maintain weight loss, AND feel satisfied physically -and emotionally – satisfied. For example, by implementing this crucial strategy,  study participants report consuming more food by weight, while reducing energy intake (Ledikwe et al. 2007).

And guess what?! They also report feeling less hungry (Ello-Martin et al. 2007) which is essential to long-term weight management.  You can't fight the hunger urge.  Don't even try. And in this study, the strongest correlation to weight loss was lower calorie density coupled with increased dietary fiber.  See My Big Plate Trick for Staying Slim.

In a nutshell? High fiber + low fat + careful observation of compliance + body-controlled eating = sustained weight and fat loss.  They all go together.

© Lani Muelrath All Rights Reserved image:  stayhealthier

Following years of frustration and struggle, Patsy implemented a few simple strategies and now she's finally dropping weight and inches – and needing less sleep, too, giving her more precious time for her busy life.

Hi Lani! I've had such amazing progress with my weight and energy that I wanted to share some details to inspire others.  You are welcome to publish these notes where you like!

Patsy Tobis

Something shifted for me when I was listening in on Lani's TeleClass before her  May Boot Camp earlier this year.

She said,  "We're all doing the exercise and workouts but at some point in time we have to make the decision to lose the weight.  And the way to do that is through your diet".

And I thought, she's absolutely right. I looked into the Dietary Plan and Guidelines that Lani had planned for the May class and thought "this is a plan I can live with!"  I started right away, 2 weeks in advance of class getting underway.

So by the time the class actually started, I was already down 5 lbs.  I also became a member of Lani's FitDream Fusion Inner Circle and continued to get the coaching and team support there.

And now, 2 months later, I've trimmed down over 13 lbs.  I bought some new clothes for spring a month ago, and already they are too big so it's time for alterations!  I'm not complaining – this is like a dream come true for me.

I've Been Trying to Lose This Weight For Years

I thought I was doing things right before .  But no matter what workouts I did, and sticking to what I thought was a diet designed to help me lose weight, I wasn't.

I had basically been following a low carbohydrate, high protein diet.  Plenty of eggs, meat, and fats.  Stay off the fattening carbs, I thought!  Plus I had mild gluten sensitivity, so thought that by eliminating those foods, I would certainly lose weight.  But I didn't.

Well, that all changed with the dietary plan that Lani shared with me.  I loved it from the first bite.  I was able to eat all the time, whenever I wanted of rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, veggies – and still lose all this weight.  And it gets better, because I've found that I can now have pasta on occasion without the bloating and effects I'd had before.  I'm looking forward to trying some good grainy bread, too, to see how that goes!

Biggest Shifts in Waist – and Energy

The biggest shifts have been through my waist and midriff.  I lost about an inch in my waist quite quickly.

My belly is really flat now, and my hips have slimmed considerably.

I used to need LOTS of sleep.  Like 10 – 12 hours a night!  The first couple of weeks after changing my diet this persisted, and in retrospect, this was probably due to the big transition from my previous diet.  But then something amazing started happening.  Instead of needing to sleep in until 7,  I was bouncing out of bed at 5:30 in the morning to go walk my dog!

My guy has benefited, too. He saw the rapid changes in weight and waist that I was experiencing, and started eating like I was.  He asked me, "Do you think this would help ME lose in the gut?"  Well, it has, he's dropped considerable size through the middle.  And last night at a party, while others were digging into their meat, he was chowing down on baked potatoes and the other guys were seeking him out for advice on how to lose THEIR guts, too!

Looking Forward

I've continued to be regular with the exercise plan that I've been doing, and am enjoying now seeing more of the results of my workouts.

I'm so excited about these changes, and the eating freedom I get to enjoy.  I love going to the McDougall Health and Medical Center and reading more about the wisdom of this way of eating.  I plan to continue with the food plan as it works and I feel great.

I can't wait for your McBooty Camp coming up in July.

Thank you again, Lani.  You are definitely making a difference in all our lives and I can’t wait until the numbers of us in FitDream Fusion grow dramatically.

~ Patsy Tobis, J. Sayles Design, West Des Moines, Iowa.

Jennifer Dove, Entrepeneur, Writer, Dancer/Teacher

Clarity, confidence, energy and inch loss – THIS is the stuff of which fitness dreams are made. Hallmarks of living your body ideal.  When I asked Jennifer if I could share her letter with you, she quickly yet humbly replied "Yes!"

Hi Lani,

This morning my husband looked at me and said, "Something's different. Whatcha been doing?"

I went ahead and measured everywhere this morning for the first time since starting with your coaching. Who knew this much could shift in only one month!

I'm in total shock right now.

My results from your May class?  Well…I feel funny posting this. I'm kinda overwhelmed and surprised. Don't know about weight loss because I don't own a scale.

And, I measured three times to be sure I wasn't seeing things.

Total inches lost = 9.5  inches

3/5  inch from each arm
1  inch from the waist
1.5  inch from lower abs
1  inch from hips
1.5  inch from lower hips – saddle bag area
1/2  from each thigh
3/4  from just above each knee
1/2  inch from left calf (Has always been bigger than right calf because of nerve damage from an old back injury. Now they are almost even.)

Where did it go?

My clothes do feel different. I wore a dress the other night to an event that had been pretty tight last summer and isn't now.

The biggest shifts?

1. Following your calorie density dietary plan - foods with fiber, veggies and starches, seeds, whole grains, and fruit.
2. I didn't cook with oil.
3. Not eating chicken or fish – which I did regularly before.
4. Very little stress/automatic eating of chocolate. Caught myself before it went too far. The whole food shift experience was a lot like coming home. My husband commented that we were eating the way we did when we were first married and couldn't afford fish or chicken. LOL! He loved it and so did I. Incidentally, he got on a scale at his gym and has lost 5 pounds this month.
5. Activity every day. Pushing harder about 4 times a week. I really wasn't doing more than yoga at the beginning of the month.
6. And, the commitment to do the above. I know for sure that I wouldn't have sustained this kind of change if I'd tried to do it on my own. Having the forum and other women making similar changes made all the difference! Everyone's input spurred me on.

It Gets Even Better

In the last two weeks I've noticed that:

• my energy level is more steady throughout the day
• I'm sleeping more soundly.
  
• I get up at 6 in the morning and really look forward to working out.
  
• I'm motivated to get to sleep at a decent hour each night so that I can get up and exercise in the morning. As a mom, my 20-year-old habit has been to wait until all the chores were finished and everyone else was in bed before I could relax enough to sleep myself. This is definitely shifting and should since my kids are much older now. And, like I shared the other night, my time of the month was a breeze which is significantly different. I usually get a migraine followed by a day or two of severe cramps and a downward spiraling mood cycle. But that didn't happen this month. Big surprise to me. This change alone is my motivation for keeping the changes I've made going!

The Big Picture

Jennifer, an accomplished author, presenting her poetry in performance

I would say that this experience has given birth to a sense of hopefulness, a feeling that more is possible, that I can create the kind of changes I want to see in my life.

Earlier this year, when thinking about making a change in my work, or about returning to performing more often, I couldn't get clear about what should come first – should I take more classes, get another degree, start advertising, join a gym, etc.

I couldn't visualize myself in the new place I wanted to be.

Somehow I got the message that after moving to our new house would be a great time to start to implement some life changes. And it was clear that all my business ideas wouldn't get off the ground if I wasn't feeling stronger and more confident in my body and presence.

That's why I signed up for your class.

Taking this class, really immersing myself in it, was a way to take myself, and my dreams/hopes more seriously, to put my goals out there and work toward them. Plus, I wasn't doing this alone.

Being involved in a public way on the forum felt like practice for being more fully out in the world in a bigger way. I'm hoping this makes sense. Not only did my weight shift, my thoughts shifted about who I am and what I'm capable of.

The Profound Shifts

Before your class and joining FitDream Fusion Inner Circle I spent a lot of time trying to convince myself that what I eat really doesn't make a difference. After all, we're being told it's the calorie intake that counts the most. And maybe when I was a 20-something that was true.

However, nowadays, the food I eat has dramatic effect and I finally "get" it!

My husband, son, and I went on a 4 mile hike today. While walking I asked them if they'd noticed a difference in me this month. "Heck Yeah!" my son said, "Mom, you've been a LOT nicer this month."

Ha! And my husband said, "Oh yes, it's working! What you're doing is definitely working!" What they noticed more than anything is that my moods weren't swinging from one extreme to another as they had been. Evidently, according to them, I've been pretty difficult to live for a while now. That shift the guys are sensing is about the food I'm eating now, as well as the exercise, most definitely.

I am so grateful and plan to keep it going!

~ Jennifer Dove, Entrepeneur, Writer/Dancer/Teacher, Maryland

Notes from Lani: Jennifer's experience humbles and thrills me at the same time.   The most exciting thing about working with women in health and fitness is when the connection is made that being more fit creates more energy, clarity of direction, productivity, and the deepened opportunity to share your gifts and message.  Entrepeneurs such as Jennifer absolutely and without question need energy, well-being, and the happiness of physical confidence to bring their gifts and message to the world in a profitable, authentic, and satisfying way.  This is the stuff of which dreams are made!

Thank you, thank you Jennifer for having the courage to take these simple tools of fitness by the horns, apply them in a deepening way – even without a "perfection" score, look what you've achieved and where you are going!

If you're like me, the waist is where you can sense pudge first.   Maybe it's because it's so noticeable in the way our clothes fit, or because we can so easily – quite literally – see excess poundage when it lands in our middle.

Most women (once past their teens, anyway) find the waist seems to be a favored storage area for any extra "fluff".

And when we lose some measure off the waist,  universally we feel more fit, confident, lithe, and healthy.  Yes?

Where Did That Inch In The Waist Go?

"Question for Lani – what's your input on why so many Gams Glutes Abs and Arms participants had significant inch loss in the waist? Was there a specific movement or Fit Quickie exercise that made that happen?"

This question from Jennifer just came in on the heels of the wrap of our May Boot Camp "Gams Glutes Abs and Arms 4 Summer".

Yes, Jennifer, there are exact and specific reasons we had such focused results from this class.

Let me list them for you.

Why The Waist, And So Many Showing Inches Lost, In So Short A Time

Here is a partial list of the waist stats to which Jennifer refers.  At the finish of the 4 week session, these reports started rolling in.

Now, keep in mind I'm going to focus on waist inch loss as per Jennifer's question.  These women peeled inches off everywhere else, but the waist losses really caught our attention first:

• Keturah: 1 inch off her waist

• Carol: 1.5 inches off her waist
  

• Jennifer: 1 inch off her waist

• Val: 1 inch off her waist

• Phyllis: 1 inch off her waist

For starters.

3 Steps To Cinching Inches In The Waist – This Quickly

Each of the women noted above implemented tools that were key to the May class – and are part of my signature system for energy, resilience and strength, body shaping, and weight loss.  As these results ARE typical, and coming in like clockwork for those in my programs, I'd like to show you how simple and straightforward the pathway to these kinds of successes really are.

Let's look at the 3 headliners that these women implemented:

1)  Winning Dietary Guidelines: An incredibly simple, easy-to-follow dietary plan that keeps you satisfied, well fed, and OUT of the hunger zone (critical!  White knuckle weight loss does NOT work.)  As Fitness Expert at the Health and Medical Center for Dr. McDougall. M.D., I have the inside track to simple and powerful nutrition tips that make THE difference.

2)  Targeted Body Shapers: The muscles around the middle are not only often shrouded in excess body fat (which is addressed directly with #1 above), but due to bad posture and inactivity have lost density and shape.  The best way to reverse this is to isolate and overload those very muscles. As the body fat stores decrease via the Dietary Guidelines, these muscles start to "show up" and display their "cinching" properties to your best advantage when challenged in specific, targeted fashion.

In the May class, we implemented the following Fit Quickies™ Fit Quickies, all of which – either directly or indirectly – target the middle:

• Fit Quickie #1: 7 Seconds to a Flat Belly
  
• Fit Quickie #5: Topless Muffins
  
• Fit Quickie #7:  Kickstand Curls,
  
• Fit Quickie # 4 Gorgeous Glutes and Hamstrings, and #6 (Thigh Warriors) and #8 (Hot Seat!) which work the largest muscles of the body, and also have an Interval Training effect, increasing calories burned during as well as after exercise to dip into body fat stores.
  

  Snapshot from Fit Quickie #7: Kickstand Curls

3)  Active Every Day: Though workouts were solidly in place, this does not mean "work out" every day.  It means move your body.  Just being a good animal. Include challenges to the large muscle groups of the body to build shape and metabolic rate.  It's really quite simple.

4)  Community and Support: The simple act of signing on for a focused study, whether as part of an ongoing community or a group with a time-telescoped shared goal, such as a month long course, steps you up to the plate of success.

By demonstrating to yourself that you value your fitness, health, and goals about all of it, you leap far further into the health, well-being and energy circle.

It's a way of supporting yourself, let alone getting the support of others on the same venture along with a mentor and coach. The power of this synergy has proven itself time and time again.

As a matter of fact, it is very common when women simply sign up for a class or membership, things start moving rapidly for them because it is a sign of their commitment.

Out of the wishy-wash into the spin cycle.

Off the fence and into the sandbox.  Which is exactly why I've got something new cooking just for you….

Are you seriously looking for a way to finally shake the extra pounds and inches that sap your energy, undermine your confidence and self-esteem, and tarnish your self-image? Abandon the fitness chaos that keeps sabotaging your success, and implement a proven step-by-step strategy to energize, lose weight, shape your body, and explode your vitality.  Click HERE now to get started.