Walking the Weight Off

Laura wanted to lose a lot of weight. One hundred and thirty pounds. It took her two and a half years but she succeeded by beginning a very rigorous walking program. Now four years later, the weight has stayed off. But she walks an average of about 50 miles a week!

She's written a book about her experience; Commit To Get Fit: The Secret to True and Everlasting Weight Loss

Act As If You Are already Slim

Here's some good advice about the positive benefits of visualizing yourself as already being at your ideal weight;

The law of attraction states that you get more of what you put your attention on. When you are overweight your attention is focused on fat, food, diets, calories, etc. You are negatively focused. You are focused on the problem. The key to using the law of attraction for weight loss is to stay focused on the solution.

One of the most powerful ways of doing this is to act as if. Act as if you have already manifested and created the body and weight loss you want! Act like the thin person you want be!

Acting “as if” creates a powerful energy shift. Your actions will begin to align with your new intentions because it creates a positive expectation of success.

See more weight loss secrets and good advice at Secrets of a Weight Loss Master.

Health Benefits of Vegetarianism

Diana gave up meat many years ago. She said it made her feel sluggish and mentally slow. Diana is 55 years old and teaches yoga classes. She says eating meat affected her yoga practice.

See an interesting article about the health benefits of vegetarianism. They say people who cut meat from their diet have about half the cancer risk and are 50 percent less likely to develop heart disease. Vegetarians are less likely to be obese. They have lower cholesterol, blood pressure, rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes and prostate and colon cancer.

A Vegetable Orchestra

And now for a truly extraordinary intermission...

Determined to Lose the Flab

Here's a really good video by one guy who is 40 years old and wants to get fit again.



By his birthday on May 12, he wants:

1) More muscle tone and continued cardio
2) Continued weight loss (lose the rest of the tummy so you can see those killer abs hiding beneath the cottage cheese)
3) Healthier and more frequent eating, but not at night.
4) Reduced caffeine

It's easy to forget why you started something, so here's my reminder to myself. I wanna feel really healthy and secure hanging out by the pool this spring/summer!

Losing the Last 10 Pounds

MM wanted to lose the last 10 to 12 pounds. She has been at the same weight for the past couple of years despite already eating quite well (she's a vegetarian). MM is a middle-aged woman who found out she has a small brain tumor recently. Her quest to live everyday to the fullest includes losing the last 10 pounds.

She recently joined 24-Hour Fitness and has been amazed to lose six pounds in the first two weeks already! 24 Hour Fitness has about 400 clubs across the US. See her quest to lose the 10 pounds.

An Aboriginal Diet for Weight Loss

Greg lost 40 pounds, normalized his blood sugar and no longer requires diabetes drugs.

His route to success? He went on an aboriginal diet. He could eat "all the fat he wanted, and all the seafood and meat and starch-free vegetables. Dairy fats like cream and cheese were fine, but not milk. Everything else with carbs -- bread, pasta, chips -- were off-limits. No ancestor of Wadhams' ever feasted on pasta and rice. Or ice cream bars."

With the urging of the local doctor (in the photo above), many people in his small village also went on a similar diet and experienced success.

It sounds like the Atkins diet, but it is a traditional aboriginal diet.

See the interesting story at The Town that Lost 1,200 Pounds.

Natalie Cassidy Loses Weight

Natalie Cassidy lost about 56 pounds recently. She's got five new habits that led to her weight loss. See her tips here.

Reaching Goal Weight

Even though she's 'a mom to the screaming masses' Carmen has now reached her goal weight.

She weighed 206 pounds after her sixth pregnancy but has since lost 75 to 80 pounds. She did this by exercising regularly and eating what she calls the ELFF diet. ELFF stands for eat less fatty foods. See her story and before and after photos here.

Star Jones - Weight of Marriage is Over

The National Enquirer is reporting that Star Jones and Al Reynolds are separating. They've been married for three years.

Star Jones has lost a lot of weight and changed her appearance drastically since she met Al Reynolds. Apparently she wants a divorce as she thinks her husband was taking advantage of her success and she did all the work. "Deep down, Star is a very old-fashioned woman who believes a man should support her emotionally, physically and financially. She now believes Al failed her.”

Slowly but Surely

An obese mom has lost 38 pounds since beginning her weight loss efforts in August. The before and after photos here were taken after she lost 30 pounds. The weight loss has been sporadic. She's had months of no weight loss;

278 August 2007
265 September (-13)
258 October (-7)
253 November (-5)
248 December (-5)
248 January 2008 (-0)
248 February (-0)
240 March (-8)
Total: 38 pounds

She's a very good writer. See her story at Escape from Obesity.

Weight Loss Surgery Gone Wrong?

Hello Isadora,
I stumbled upon your website tonight and read a couple of the stories. One of my best friends actually has a very inspiring weight loss story; he went from 270 to 170 pounds over the course of 1.5 years by eating right and engaging in almost excessive exercise. Do you think this is the kind of story that might fit on your blog? If so, I'll encourage him to send it in.
On another topic, I run a blog on the topic of weight loss surgery in Fort Worth texas. I would like for it to eventually become an authoritative site on weight loss surgeons and processes in the Fort Worth, TX area. It will eventually feature local doctors, reviews of their medical histories, etc. I think that if we participated in a Blogroll link exchange the portion of your readership that resides in Texas would benefit, and all of my readership would benefit. Please tell me what you think! You can find my blog at liposuctionfortworth.net. Keep up the inspiring stories,
Ian

Hi Ian,
Sure, ask your friend to email their story. But if you had read more here you would know I'm not a fan of surgery as the best way to lose weight. I can relate to the people who choose to go this route, but there is so much persuasive money and so many commercial websites already devoted to promoting surgery that I'd like to stay away from it and focus on the stories where people have lost weight without medical intervention.

But your note makes me want to ask readers who have had a weight loss operation - where things did not go well - to comment below.

Please don't send me stories of success with this (unless they are extremely sincere) - this would surely attract a ton of spam. I would delete these comments. Here, I'm just interested in cases where surgery did not lead to success.

The beautiful photo above is by Rubyran.

Why is Kevin Federline Getting Fat?

Kevin Federline looks like he is on his way to getting fat over the many months since his divorce from Britney Spears was finalized. The photo on the left was taken this weekend, the photo on the right is from not too long ago when he was in super duper good shape.

Federline will be celebrating his 30th birthday in Las Vegas in a couple of weeks. He was born March 21st 1978.

Could it be the stress of being a stay-at-home father, feeding and tending to two little children under the age of three that is making him grow a belly?

Read all the speculation at X17.

From 300 to 120 Pounds

CNN has posted another inspiring weight loss story today about a young woman who lost 180 pounds and has become a fitness instructor. Jennifer Marnell is 5 feet tall and has gotten a lot of publicity since her successful weight loss. She was featured in this January's People Magazine as well as on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

See her story at CNN.

Vice Busting Gets More Expensive

Isadora, I really like your blog. I was reading your story, so much like mine! Pregnancy gives us one good thing--the baby! but the weight? not so much fun to deal with.

I lost 130 pounds, would love to have you check out my story.


Vice Busting...everything else is just a diet!
Julia
vicebustingdiet.com



Julia, thanks much for your note and the inspiring photos. Congrats for losing all this weight after your divorce and keeping it off for 10 years. I know your motivational book has helped lots of people lose weight and I think it's quite likely that this program you're now selling for about $147 may be well worth the additional expense to some people.