Atlanta Fitness Coach: A Blog about Weight-Loss, Nutrition and the T-Tapp Workout

Start With Where You Are NOW!

I love reading weight loss success stories.  It's helpful to learn from people who were struggling with their weight and health then turned it all around.  What is fascinating to me is what happened to cause their "click".

You know what I mean by the "click"?  It's that shift in thinking that allows us to take the steps to begin the journey to health.  There is that magic moment when reality hits hard.  It's TIME to take action.

Often you'll read about the women who will never get on the scale at home and convinces herself it's really not that bad until she goes to the Doctors office. They put her on the scale and announce out loud the number.  Oh my gosh!  When and how did this happen?

Our brains have an amazing ability to ignore and deny the obvious when we aren't ready to deal with reality. I have one client who told me when she was her heaviest (close to 200 pounds), she would just say she was "heavy".  Now 45 pounds lighter, she looks back on that and says, "I wasn't heavy.  I was just plain FAT".  But she couldn't tell herself that at the time.

I have a new client who is starting her balanced eating program tomorrow.  To prepare for her exciting journey, she completed a Health Risk Assessment.  Her results hit her over the head like a 2 X 4.  She thought she'd have a few things to improve, but her score told her she was SICK!!! 

This was the added impetus she needed to get solid with her decision to start on her health journey. 

Knowing where you are right now in terms of your health is a critical first step. Denying the obvious isn't helping you.  Find out exactly where you are so you can make decisions based on honest information. 

To take your own Health Risk Assessment, go to http://www.drwayneandersen.com/quiz/draa1.php  

Look at the "Energy" behind Your Intention!

What's the energy behind your intention to finally lose weight and get healthy?  Is it a sense of frustration, shame, guilt or fear?  If those emotions are what's driving you to make lifestyle changes, you will not achieve long-term success.

Why?  Because we get more of what we focus on.  For example, you decide you are going to use exercise to rid your body of it's ugly fat so you go to the gym and work out fevorishly.  What you are focusing on is getting rid of ugly fat. This is a negative YUK feeling driving your efforts.  You believe you have to punish yourself by going to the gym and doing intense workouts. 

Your brain doesn't hear you want to get rid of "your ugly fat".  It just  hears "ugly fat".  You may get some results from your intense efforts short-term.  But after a while, your unconscious rears it's head and brings you situations that will have you increasing your "ugly fat'.  You will find reasons to stop going to the gym.  You will stop getting the results you were hoping for.  This might not make sense to you, but it makes perfect sense to your unconscious.  After all...this is what you have been telling it you want.

When the energy you are using to change is heavy and pushing you to do things from an "I HAVE to" or an "I know I SHOULD" place, it's not going to get you to where you want to be.

Please read the following paragraph out loud.  Pay very close attention to the feeling(s) you get in your body.

"I love myself and this beautiful body I live in.  I choose to nourish myself with healthy, clean food.  I love to move my body in a healthy, balanced way in order to strengthen and tone it.  I love to take walks in nature and connect to the positive feelings in my body.  I love to take time each day to breathe and recognize all the blessings I enjoy in my life."

Were you able to say these things to yourself?  If you could say them, what feelings did you notice in your body?  Did you feel a sense of lightness or a tight constriction? 

If you felt constricted, you know you have areas in your life you must begin to heal in order to create true health.

Eating healthy food and moving more are important aspects of a healthy lifestyle.  But not if you are doing them from a negative emotional place. 

Get Rid of Your Limiting False Beliefs!

The Secret was a movie that has impacted so many people.  The message was great but it wasn't the whole story by a long shot.  There were several missing pieces that affect the results you achieve by working with the "law of attraction".

The one I'd like to address here is your unconscious limiting beliefs.  Why do you really want to lose weight and get healthy ,yet every time you start a program you stay on it for a short period of time, start getting results and then sabotage yourself?  Are you simply a weak-willed person?  Do you just have no ability to be disciplined?  I bet if you look at the different aspects of your life, you will find areas in which you are very disciplined and strong.  So that can't be it!

Most of our beliefs about life are programmed into our brains by the time we are 5 years old.  The infant mind takes in information without deciding if it is "true" or not.  We are being programmed at a very early age.  And then we proceed to life our lives as though that programming were "true". 

Look at the areas of your life that aren't working for you.  Begin to be vigilant about what you are telling yourself in these areas to discover what your beliefs are that are keeping you from having what you want.  If you look hard, you will find some amazing things. 

Here's one that many people can relate to in regards to money.  Were you taught by your parents that people with money are not as "spiritual" as people without  a lot of money?  How about that rich people only got that way by oppressing the little people and did it illegally?  If you are now wanting to increase your material abundance but you have these unconscious beliefs, you might find yourself constantly sabotaging your efforts at creating what you want.  You don't want to be less spiritual or oppress others, do you?  Make sense?

Let's apply this to your health.  I have a diabetic client whose elderly mother lives with her.  I asked my client how she was doing on her balanced eating program.  She said it was easy during the day when she is at work.  But in the evening, her mother was always pushing dessert and sweets at her. 

I was appalled.  Why would a mother push essentially poison at her diabetic daughter?  Is she trying to kill her?  Of course not.  But this is what my client told me.  "My mother doesn't want me to feel deprived!"  Touche!  This is a very destructive belief this client has grown up with.  Sweets and desserts are rewards for good behavior.  You are being punished and deprived of your reward for being "good all day" if you don't have your sweets.

Think about how pervasive this limiting belief is in our society.  We have birthday cake to celebrate our turning a year older, a martini when we come home from a long, hard day, ice cream to celebrate a good report card...

We believe this and we pass it along to our children without thinking it all through.  We go on a program to improve our health, but we continue to give our children the sweets and coke because they aren't overweight (yet) and they are still healthy so you don't want to punish them by taking away their sweets.  But what is it you are depriving them of?  Essentially poison!  Can you see how pervasive this is?

A limiting belief is one we act out as truth even though it isn't serving us.  When you really take a look at it, you'll see there isn't any truth in it.  If you are ready to make real, lasting changes in your life, you MUST begin to pay attention to all your beliefs and rid yourself of those that aren't true.  They are stopping you from having all the joy and happiness you DESERVE!

Update on Diabetic Client!

Many of you wanted to know how my new client with diabetes is doing on the balanced eating program.  After one week, she has lost 5 pounds and had to reduce her insulin!

Remember she did everything she had been told to do by her diabetic educator. In 6 months, she never lost  a pound and had to continue to increase her insulin. 

She is feeling so much better!  Energy level is up and she is now hopeful that she'll be able to live a much longer and healthier life.  All this after only one week?  This is the power of balanced eating.

I was just in Dallas at a convention with over 2,000 people who had this same kind of experience.  People who had lost well over 100 pounds and gotten their lives back. 

I met a man who had been on 13 different medications for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.  He lost 132 pounds and is off all but 1 medication.  Do you think he was complaining because he can't eat pasta and drink his martini every night?  Not a chance. 

By the way...his co-payments for all those medications averaged $30 per month.  That is just the co-payments!  He is saving over $360 per month by not having to buy all that medication!!!!!  How about the cost of a heart surgery and all those Doctor visits he no longer needs?

Once again the question is..."Is it working for you?"  I'm so thrilled for my new client.  The balanced eating program is definitely WORKING FOR HER!!!

Tammy loses 29 inches in less than 3 Months!!!

Tammy made a decision to lose inches and get her core muscles strong to reduce her back pain.  She was getting married to the love of her life on a tropical island in May and she was motivated! 

Luckily Tammy saw the morning show on FOX TV that Teresa Tapp and I were on in March.  She made the decision to get the DVD's and put T-Tapp to the test.

I was thrilled when I received a call from Tammy asking if she could have private T-Tapp sessions with me two mornings a week before she went to her office. 

Those of you who know me will realize how significant this was for me.  I HATE getting up that early.  But if Tammy was willing to commit, so was I. 

She kept her commitment and we tapped 2 early mornings a week.  Tammy used her T-Tapp DVD's on the days she wasn't with me.  She tapped, on average, 5 days a week.  Tammy lost inches and started to feel better right away.  Listen as Tammy shares her results.

 

The one huge take-away I hope you get is that T-Tapp WORKS!  The only ingredient it is missing to do it's magic is YOU!  And your committment to doing it.  And sticking with it. 

Often you'll hear about someone who lost a lot of inches in the first two weeks.  So you try it for two weeks wanting that quick inch loss.  Yes...you will lose inches that quickly.  But the real benefits come from doing T-Tapp consistently over time.  It doesn't have the same sizzle as the quick inch loss.  But looking and feeling incredible as we age is worth 10 X the amount of time we put into it.

Keep on tapping!

Perfectionism Is Paralyzing!

Over the years, I've found primarily intelligent women are attracted to T-Tapp.  I think it's because there is so much to it.  Every part of every movement Teresa developed has a purpose.  There is a reason why we flex our feet during the balance work and point them when doing half frog sit-ups.

T-Tappers understand we must increase the density of the muscles that attach to our spine if we are going to cinch in and up.  We understand the importance of pumping the lymphatic system in order to help our bodies detoxify and sweep away the lactic acid build up.  We understand the principle "less is more" when you are using muscle activation techniques and going to your personal max each time you Tapp.

I've also found many of my women T-Tappers are perfectionists. We want to get it RIGHT!  We want to have perfect form (which by the way - doesn't exist.  Once again...it's a journey).  The ugly side of perfectionism is it can cause us to not T-Tapp because we don't want to get it WRONG!  Perfectionism can be paralyzing!

"But I don't want to bulk my thighs and Teresa says if you aren't doing it RIGHT, you'll bulk your thighs." Yes, I've heard this more than a few times from would-be Tappers.  It's used as an excuse not to tapp.  Because there is one sure way to not bulk your thighs!  Don't do anything. 

This morning I want to take the opportunity to commend you for finding T-Tapp.  You are obviously looking for a way to look and feel your best.  WELCOME!  You've found the workout.  It requires only one extra component.  YOU!  But you must do the workout to receive the results.

It's not about doing it perfectly.  It's about doing it consistently.  Yes, it's about fine-tuning your form.  But not from a place of fear.  If you don't do it perfectly, you aren't going to mess it up.  You'll still get great results!!!!  As you get great results, you just keep doing it, feeling it deeper and deeper in your body and learning from what you are feeling.

T-Tapp from a place of self-care.  We Tapp because it's what we do to nurture our bodies and our minds! 

Tom Loses 90 Pounds and eliminates 142 Units of Insulin!

In T-Tapp class, we discussed the last post about my new client with diabetes.  The T-Tappers wanted to know how the women is doing on the Balanced Eating Program.  She will actually start the program next week and I will be following her progress.

The Balanced Eating program isn't new.  Hundreds of thousands of people have gotten incredible results from it.  Let me share the results from one of our clients.

Here is Tom.  Tom weighed 323 pounds.  He decided to have Bariatric surgery in order to save his life.  He went for the mandatory stress test and failed.  The surgeons couldn't operate until Tom lost some weight and could pass the stress test.  Tom was devastated! 

Luckily, his Nurse Practitioner is a Health Coach and understands the Balanced Eating program.  She highly recommended it to him and luckily, he decided to go on it in order to save his life.  Because he was on so much medication for his diabetes and related conditions, his NP worked very closely with him to regulate his medications as he was losing his weight.

Here is his account of his journey.  

This is my chronology of medication reductions and eliminations resulting from the Balanced Eating program

 

  Day  Weight               Event

-187   323           Bariatric Surgeon consultation, start weight loss

  -7      313           The introduction by my Health Coach

   1      313           Start

   2      310           Cut insulin from 142 to 95 units

   5      305           Cut insulin from 95 to 75 units

   7      302           Cut insulin from 75 to 30 units

   9      299           Cut insulin from 30 to 25 units and

                           end one of two insulin types

 17      293           Discontinue diuretic

 24      287           Cut Rx ace inhibitor by 50%

 31      283           Cut insulin to 15 units and end ace inhibitor

 65      270           Cut insulin to 12 units

 75      267           Put CPAP away on closet shelf

 85      263           Last insulin injection

 96      259           Cholesterol + Triglycerides = 112

103     255           Cut Rx beta blocker by 50%

144     247           Eliminate an oral diabetes medication

            232           Today’s weight

 

I expect to reach my healthy weight, 185 pounds, in the fall.    On May 20 @ 241 pounds with 56 pounds to go to my healthy weight.

Thank you Tom for allowing me to share your story. You are a true inspiration.  It shows you can lose weight, reduce and/or eliminate medication for all these chronic conditions. It does take a commitment to get healthy. Isn't it incredible to know there is a program out there that WORKS! 

Is It Working For You?

Last night I met with a lovely women who wanted to lose weight and get off all her diabetic medication.  Oral medication wasn't controlling her diabetes and she was having to take insulin. 

This women was following the instructions she was given by the "diabetic educator" to the letter.  She was walking 4 - 5 miles 5 days a week.  When it was too hot to do it outside, she was inside doing her Leslie Sansome walking tapes.  (I know...If she'd just add T-Tapp technique to her walks she would have 10 x the results.  But that's a discussion for another day).

She felt better from the exercise, but she hadn't lost a pound!  "I know it's the food.  But I'm doing everything they tell me to do.  The "educator" told me it's almost impossible for a diabetic on insulin to lose weight."

Can you hear me screaming "STOP THIS INSANITY!!!"  This is an outrage!  Of course people with diabetes who follow the crap they are still slinging won't lose weight.  The question is...how much longer are you going to continue to tow the party line and watch people get sicker and sicker???

I asked the women what she has for breakfast.  I have 1/2 cup of cereal with 1/2 cup of skim milk.  Okay...I'd already had enough.  Then she shared this little tidbit... she was told not to have more than 4 ounces of a protein source a day.

No wonder this poor women can't lose weight!!!!  Even walking 5 miles 5 days a week! 

She was ready to do whatever it took to lose the weight and feel better.  She will be eating my balanced eating program that will have her eating 6 small BALANCED meals a day.  This program isn't just a philosophy.  There is no argument about whether she should eat a high protein/low carb or a low proten/high carb diet or anything in between. 

Here is the bottom line...Is it working for you????  The way most "diabetic educators" are still teaching doesn't seem to be working for very many people.  On my balanced eating program, participants in an 86 week clinical study lost 2 1/2 times more weight and were twice as compliant than those on the program recommended by the American Diabetes Association.  AND...24% of the people were able to reduce or eliminate their diabetic medications on this program.  0% on the ADA program.

Is is working for you?  That is the only valuble question there is!

It's All About Body Composition!

When you ask yourself what you want, really give it some thought.  Most women tell me they want to lose weight.  What does that mean?  You can have an organ removed and that will cause you to lose weight.  I know that sounds ridiculous but I'm using that to make a point.

The point is to be very clear about what you want so you can learn how to create that result.  Do you want a trim, firm, healthy body?  If so, then you need to learn how to use your food and your movement plan to burn off your body's excess fat (it's own stored energy source) and increase your lean tissue (muscle).

Have you ever seen one pound of body fat next to one pound of body muscle?  The weight is the same.  The difference you will see is the mass.  The pound of fat is fluffy and large.  The pound of muscle is tight and small. 

The other difference is in their metabolic processes.  Fat is practically inert.  Muscle is very metabolically active.  It is estimated that one pound of muscle burns around 60 calories per day.  One pound of fat, around 5.  If you go on a "diet" and you lose 5 pounds of scale weight but out of that 5 pounds, you lost 3 pounds of muscle and only 2 pounds of fat, you've lost the ability to burn an extra 3 x 60 calories or 180 caolories a day to maintain that lower weight.

You now weigh less, but you are fatter!!!  And that lower weight will be much harder to maintain.

Let's change our thinking and decide to change our body composition.  Let's say we want to burn our excess fat and increases our lean muscle tissue so we look and feel our best.  We are going to do that by making sure we eat our protein!!!

Or more specifically we are going to balance our lean protein with our low glycemic veggies and a moderate amount of good fats in order to balance our blood sugar, lower our insulin levels, increase our phytonutrient levels and increase our fiber. 

That is the prescription for changing body composition using your food choices.  The next part of the prescription is adding and anti-aging movement program to the  mix.

If you want to have a trim, lean, healthy body take a look at the people who you want to emulate.  What are they doing?  They are eating a diet designed to do just that.  Burn body fat and increase lean tissue.

Wishing you a balanced day!

Exercises For Anti-Aging Benefits!

Are there specific exercises essential for an anti-aging program?  This is a question I get a lot and the answer is a resounding YES!!! 

But the important aspects of these anti-aging exercises might surprise you.  It's not necessarily running distances or doing a lot of aerobic activity.  When you are doing these kinds of activities, you don't necessarily reduce your excess fat around your middle (the kind that ages you) and you can cause all kinds of damage to your joints (feet, knees, hips..)

Now for those of you who are doing these kinds of high impact cardio exercises and loving them, keep on doing them.  I'm all about doing what works for YOU.  Or doing it until it doesn't work anymore.

But for the rest of us, the key to anti-aging exercise lies in stretching and strengthening all 600 muscles and 200 bones in the body.   We need to rebalance the body to reduce pain and prevent injury.  We need full range of motion to make all the activities of daily living comfortable and natural.

If you are specifically looking to lose excess fat in your torso, bring down your blood sugar,reduce insulin levels (major anti-aging key), get and keep your back pain-free and feel better...you must do movements that will stretch and strengthen those muscles that attach to your spine.  it's all about creating density of those spinal muscles.

How to do this?  With specific movements that require you to twist, bend forward, backward and sideways.  In other words, activate those muscles!!!   Here's another incredible side effect:  Improved posture!

T-Tapp was designed to do just that.  This is why it is so effective as an anti-aging workout.  Don't believe me?  Still think you need to spend hours in the gym lifting weights and running your butt off?  Well Charlotte Siems didn't and the results she got speak much louder than any words I can speak.

Check out her success!  Click here!  You will be blown away.  Charlotte is just one of thousands of women getting these same kinds of results.  Will you be one of them?