Inspirational Quote
“Never say anything about yourself you do not want to come true.”
Brian Tracy
Help Me Lose Weight
By Catherine Carrigan, catherine@totalfitness.net
“Help me lose weight!” I hear from client after client. I’ve heard that phrase for 20 years and have helped more men, women and teenagers achieve their ideal size than I can even count.
Some of my top recommendations:
1. Exercise. The scientific research shows you must accrue at least 3 ½ to 5 hours of exercise every week to lose weight. That works out to you finding a way to move your body at least 30 minutes every day of your life. To make this crucial step easier for you, I am offering a great deal for the month of January. If you are a new client, sign up for 12 sessions in a month, and get your 13th workout for free.
2. Do not hurt yourself by doing stupid exercise with enthusiastic but clueless instructors. The first rule of the Hippocratic Oath taken by doctors is, “Do no harm.” This also applies to exercise because if you injure yourself today you may not be able to work out tomorrow, the next day, next week or next month either. Every fitness trainer and exercise instructor should be required to take the same Hippocratic oath, in my opinion. However, many trainers and exercise instructors are unfortunately clueless that they are clueless. You, the consumer, may also not have the discernment to differentiate between those who will injure you and those who will actually heal you. Ask me to do a postural analysis to determine which of your muscles are short and need to be stretched and which muscles are weak and need to be strengthened. I’ll show you why your back, shoulders, hips and knees have been hurting, how to get yourself out of pain and how to work out safely.
3. Your outside will always match your inner dialogue. You can go through all the motions – buying your new pair of sneakers and fab gym outfit, hiring a trainer or nutritionist, but guess what, if you fail to master your inner game the great puff you are putting out in January will amount to nothing but smoke. Hire me to use kinesiology to identify and clear your inner blocks so that your inside can support you achieving a glorious outside.
4. Rest is a verb. If you do not get enough rest, which means going to bed on time, sleeping soundly throughout the night and waking up at a decent time well refreshed, you can foil your best diet and exercise plans. If you have trouble sleeping, ask me to identify which of many factors – hormones, light, blood sugar imbalance or unrelenting stress, for starters – may be interfering.
5. Nutrition is not just something you are doing when you are being “good.” You are always eating – the question is, are you making yourself better with what and how you are eating, or are you making everything worse? I am always astonished how amazed my clients are when they realize how much better they can look and feel simply by improving their nutrition. For example, one client got rid of 50 percent of her low back pain simply by improving her diet – before we did any exercise. Ask me to give you menu plans for your metabolic type that will help you lose weight. I’ve got complete plans with menus for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks and a shopping list to help you find the healthiest foods. I can also help you identify which foods may be interfering with your weight loss efforts.
6. How you spend your money is direct, positive proof of what you actually value in your life. If you are buying cheap food for the sole reason that you can get a whole meal for less than $5 at a fast food restaurant, for example, you will probably want to question how much you actually value your health. You either pay your grocer now or your doctor later. Yes! I have heard all the arguments – you have health insurance. Have you found out what your deductible would be should you get cancer, a heart attack or back surgery? That amount would probably be a lot more than you think and a lot more than it would cost you to eat well now and to hire someone who could actually teach you how to get rid of your physical problems.
7. Hang out with someone who has been where you are right now and gotten better. This is a basic principle in Alcoholics Anonymous and other successful self-help groups. If you hang out with a 22-year-old trainer who looks good because he or she is 22, more than likely that individual will not understand what you are talking about when you explain what hurts or how hungry or how tired you are. The importance of this step can not be overstated. You will want someone who can actually look you in the eye, say, “I understand,” and also, “I know what to do to make you better because I have been there or done it myself.” True success is not for amateurs.
8. If you are over the age of 35 and are overweight, you have to do things differently. More than likely the steps you took when you were 22 to lose weight – i.e., starving and over-exercising – will not work and you will need to heal your metabolism to be slim at your current age. How can I say that? For one, I have worked with enough people over the age of 35 to know that is true. Secondly, statistics. About 70 to 80 percent of people over the age of 35 either have burned out adrenal glands and/or insulin resistance. That’s according to Dr. Diana Schwarzbein, M.D., hormone expert. Ask me to help you determine whether or not insulin resistance or burned out adrenal glands are interfering with your ability to lose weight successfully.
9. No plan means no success. If you had no financial plan, you would not rationally expect to make yourself a millionaire. Same thing holds true for health and fitness. If you do not have a plan to exercise and eat well, guess what, you will get no results. My nutrition plans were developed by an endocrinologist. My exercise plans have been developed after studying therapeutic exercise and strength training for 20 years. Allow me to put together a business plan for your body that will lead to your total success.
10.Why? Why do you want to lose weight? Why now? Why you? Why is this so important? If it is not important to you to lose weight, guess what, you will not make it a priority in your life right now. The human brain can only attend to a few priorities at one time. If you don’t get absolutely clear about why you want to lose weight, why now, why you must do it and why it’s so important, nothing will happen. On the other hand, if you have been muddling about in this territory, I can use kinesiology to identify the one or two key motivators that will focus your mind with great clarity. Once your why is totally clear to you and you are truly motivated, then all the details can fall into place for your true success on the scale.
Call me at 678-612-8816 and say, “Help me lose weight” for a FREE 15 minute consultation to see if you and I are right to work together.
Exercise Of The Month: Woodchop On The Bosu
By Catherine Carrigan, catherine@totalfitness.net
One of the best ways to lose weight is by incorporating big-bang, whole body exercises into your work out routine. Your exercise of the month is woodchop with a dumbbell on a bosu. You can find it at this link:
What’s so great about woodchop with dumbbell on a BOSU?
1. Many people think that strength training is “boring.” In fact, training with free weights is at the top of the food chain in terms of most important exercise to do to lose weight. Nothing beats strength training with free weights to improve your body composition. You will like woodchop on a BOSU because there is nothing boring about it – challenge youself in a number of ways!
2. This is a big bang, whole body exercise. That means you will be working many muscles at the same time. It is a highly efficient way to work out.
3. You improve your balance, which means you have to access your core muscles, so you are working on your back and abdomen at the same time.
4. One of the simplest ways to alter an exercise is by changing your stance. Here, you are performing a basic squat but you are standing on a BOSU.
5. You are performing a woodchop, a basic twist that works your waist and develops power for sports like golf and tennis.
6. Added benefit you may not realize: Any time you are improving your balance, you are improving your eyesight. Why is that the case? Experts estimate that 20 percent of your vision is devoted to proprioception. Take the stress off your visual system by developing better balance.
7. Because you are working so many muscles at one time, your heart rate will go up, training your heart and elevating your metabolism to burn more calories.
You can learn more exercises by visiting my gallery of FREE exercise videos by visiting this link: https://unlimitedenergynow.com/exercise-library/
New Website, New Blog:
By Catherine Carrigan, catherine@totalfitness.net
I spent the month of December working with Greg Keesey of Silver Knight Author Websites, greg@silverknightauthorwebsites.com, working hard to rebuild www.totalfitness.net and www.catherinecarrigan.com.
The benefits to you:
1. You can more easily share all the articles and great content.
2. You can now comment on articles and get feedback from me and other readers.
3. Easier navigation throughout both websites.
4. A long list of testimonials so you can read what other clients have said about their successes working with me.
5. User friendly format. On my blog, you can click on any of the gorgeous photographs at www.catherinecarrigan.com and be led straight to an article, find a topic through common tags, search by a topic you are interested in or look up articles month by month.
6. More photographs to illustrate content.
7. Exercise videos that load and play more easily.
8. A clear list of all my services.
9. A long list of FREE files you can download to learn how to be healthy and fit.
10. Recipes, monthly newsletters since 1998, exercise videos, free files, testimonials, reader feedback and lists of classes and seminars – you will find it all and more.
Feedback? Comments? Suggestions? Please email Catherine@totalfitness.net to let me know how I can make this information more helpful to YOU.
Coming Soon, My New Book, What Is Healing?
By Catherine Carrigan, catherine@totalfitness.net
My second book, What Is Healing? Awaken Your Intuitive Power For Health And Happiness, is currently with a copy editor. I hope to send it to be formatted later this month. You’ll receive the following benefits from reading this book:
Learn how unconditional love can awaken your intuitive gifts.
Reveal how to open your heart to access your highest intelligence.
Uncover how to communicate with your angels and spiritual guides.
Awaken your own psychic abilities.
Identify the key aspects of a medical intuitive reading.
Explore the five levels of healing.
Discern how addiction to staying sick can keep you from healing.
Reveal the blessing behind a mental or physical breakdown.
Grasp the four key difficulties that lead to health problems.
Empower your own spiritual growth.
Thank you for reading my January 2013 newsletter.
Best of luck to your health and happiness this year,
Catherine Carrigan, catherine@totalfitness.net