Congratulations on choosing to begin your transformation journey! You have made a choice that will change your life?for the better?for many years to come. We want you to be successful, so Chris and I have made all of the tools we use with everyone we work with available for everyone to use in our books, Extreme Transformation and Choose More, Lose More for Life, and our TRANSFORM app. In both of our books, we?ve outlined everything you?ll need to do to reach your transformation goals, so let?s get started!
Step #1 Promises: The foundation of your transformation.
Making and keeping promises to yourself is the true secret to transformation, and it?s the most important step of your entire journey. Begin your journey today by making and keeping one small promise!
Step #2 Carb cycling: The nutrition plan that fires up your metabolism.
Carb cycling is a nutrition plan with alternating high and low-carb days that not only maximizes your metabolic burn, but it?s also extremely effective at speeding up weight loss while maintaining those fat-burning muscles. It adapts easily to your daily routine for weight loss success, and it helps you avoid that dreaded weight loss plateau. And in carb cycling, you get reward days or meals (depending on the cycle you?re following), so you can still eat your favorite foods from time to time! Awesome, right?!
Learn about the basics of carb cycling, then explore and choose one of the five different cycles: Easy, Classic, Turbo, Fit, and Extreme (the newest member of our carb cycling family). And don?t worry! You can change cycles at any time?it?s that flexible!
Step #3 Exercise: Move your body to accelerate weight loss.
In addition to a sound?and simple to follow?nutrition plan (like carb cycling), you?ll need an effective?and realistic?exercise program to help you reach your transformation goals. Chris and I have put together just the program for you! It combines strength training (for muscle development and maintenance) and cardio (for accelerating calorie burn), to turn your body into a maximum calorie-burning machine. And we?ve outlined everything you?ll need to do?step-by-step?every single day! So learn about the basics and benefits of exercise first, and then get moving today!
When you put all of this together, your journey becomes whole. Take a look at the stereogram image above. This captures the essence of transformation so beautifully. Before you shift your focus, all you see is a chaotic mess of dumbbells and food. Basically, it is the confusing mess of every single diet and exercise program out there for weight loss. But once you shift your focus, the 3-D path of true transformation?and lifelong weight loss?becomes clear.
678 Responses
I want to know when I count the carbs in a mealplan should I also count Unstarchy vegetables into that plan ?
Yes. All fruits and vegetables are carbs.
I am not sure if this is posting in the right section but I wanted to ask Heidi and Chris what I can do in my situation. I am newly married and struggling with my weight. I used to be obese at 5’11” and 294 lbs. I got down to 195 in high school then gained in college up to 230. I lost the 230 and used a trainer for 1 year to build muscle and felt fantastic! I even had the funds to get the skin surgery (full tummy tuck) in 2012 and that really built up my confidence after having that skin hang for over 9 years!!! That’s when I met my husband. He was extremely supportive during my surgery and there after but right before we married (about 7 months later) I started gaining and losing muscle mass (I wasn’t working out as much). I have been fluctuating around 195-205 and can’t seem to get under the 190 range. My husband and I dated long distance and the talk of weight and exercise was not a big topic until he came to live with me in my country (the US). Now, it is all he talks about. He is always telling me that I don’t take my weight loss seriously and if I get pregnant I am going to look even worse. I know the importance in believing in yourself and making it YOUR decision to lose weight but even with counseling he is bent on me losing weight in order to show him how much I care for him. Emotionally I am in a really tough place. When I watch “Extreme Weight Loss” on TV I see the CARE Heidi and Chris put into their clients and I am wanting that from my husband. Do you have any suggestions on how to best handle this situation? I think culture has a part to play in “telling” your wife what to do is seen as ” tough love” because they “care” but all I feel is defeated and angry because I feel I have come so far from where I was and I need the support to make the final journey ahead to get down to 170 (my ultimate goal). Thank you!
Hi Olivia: Thank you for sharing your story with us. First of all, all the tools you need to begin and finish your transformation journey are in this post. Choose a cycle, and you’re on your way! It can be so difficult when you’re receiving outside pressure to lose weight, you really have to choose for yourself to make those changes. Pay special attention to the part about promises in this post (and here’s a link to the post on promises for your convenience: https://heidipowell.net/8679/it-really-is-all-about-promises-2/), and make and keep that first promise to yourself today. And try to explain to him that you do desire to get healthy, but you need his support in a different way than he’s offering. And do this for you! You can do it – we know you can!
I am a recovering addict with over 5 yrs. clean and during my addiction I got into some trouble with the law. I am telling this because it has had a major affect on my life for the past 5 yrs. While giving up drugs seemed easy, trying to get good work with a record is not. I left the state I was in to move back to my home state and am struggling with finding work and while I have worked hard on fixing the issues that were a part of why I got into drugs, I find myself getting into a depression now. I am not concerned about going back to drugs honestly, but I am extremely concerned about my weight gain, plus I am a smoker who wants to quit, but with no solid work, I’m afraid quitting that too would bring me down to another level. I weigh over 250 lbs and I should be at 150, 160 tops according to what I’ve read. Please, I need help (advice) on what road to take to get started on getting my life back yet again. I don’t want the life I am living currently but I do want to live a good life. Getting these doors slammed in my face every day is tiresome. I’ve watched with my own eyes people throwing my application for employment in the trash while I am still standing right there. I know I am a good person, I know I deserve a second chance, but I have yet to find that person who is willing to give it to me. Please, if you can just email me where to start so I can get myself back to a positive place in my life I would greatly appreciate it. I wish to thank you in advance.
Patti
Hi Patti! So sorry for all you’re dealing with, and I can’t imagine how difficult this all is for you. Everything you need to know and do is in this post. Take things one step at a time, and you got this!
I’m trying to figure out where I can post for some advice. Can someone help me please, Thanks
Patti
Hi Patti: You can post right here, or on Heidi’s FB wall.
Hi, Heidi and Chris! Just wanted to share my story. I weighed 521.5 lbs, lost 303.4 lbs. in just under 3 1/2 years. But I gained back 255.6 lbs. I was struggling. I still am, but I’ve lost 100 lbs. in the last 1 1/2 years. I’m determined to get back where I was, then lower. I love your show, I love y’all. Thank you for what you do for others. You’re such an inspiration!!!!
hi im 15 years old and currently overweight in y eyes and others. im picky too i dont like vegstables other than broccoli and ocra or seafood of any kind i want to be a police officer in the future and want to start to get into shape now my diet currently consists of hamburgers and frenchfries almost every day i just need some help with a diet that will be good for picky eaters any help would be great thank you
Hi Josh: What an awesome career goal! It is so difficult to be a teen these days! You are constantly bombarded with images and advice on how and what you should do and be and look like, and most are very unrealistic. Heidi has addressed the teens and body image issue in this amazing post on this blog: https://heidipowell.net/7201/teens-and-healthy-body-image-its-not-just-about-the-pounds/. In this post, she offers lots of helpful suggestions for both teens and those with teens in their lives, and I hope you can find some ideas that will help you develop healthy habits that will benefit you your entire life! And please discuss your health-related concerns with a parent or an adult close to you – a support system can be such an awesome resource as you’re working to achieve your health and fitness goals.
Here’s another thing that might help you on your journey to get and stay healthy: One awesome tool Chris and Heidi use with every client is to make and keep a small, simple promise to yourself every day. This is truly a key to achieving any goal! Learn about the process here: https://heidipowell.net/8679/it-really-is-all-about-promises-2/. What will your first promise be today? Make and keep that one, then make and keep one tomorrow, and so on. It works! We wish you the best, and we’ll be cheering you on as you work to achieve your goals! You can do this!
Hi! Hey just wondering if the book choose more loose more will be helpful for me ( I’m a vegetarian and also eat fish ) I’m trying to build muscle but loose fat too
Yes! And there are vegetarian options in the book too.
Hiya Heidi and Chris!
So here is my question of the lifetime. How do I do it? I am just under 5ft2, and I am stuck at 275-280. I did loose about 40 pounds last year, but it was because I went from a sit down job to a very active fast paced job.
I got Choose More, Loose More, for Life. I read it. I quoted. I looked at the recipes (cooking is a passion), I lived, and breathed the concept of that book. But…when it boils down to it all, I really felt and still feel like I was reading a foreign language.
I tried to follow, but don’t know what I am doing. I ask others for guidance, assistance, anything, but there is nothing there.
I want to continue to loose weight, my journey is nowhere near complete, but I don’t know where to go from here.
:-/
Awaiting your guidance,
Sarina
Hi Sarina: All the tools you need to achieve your transformation goals are in “Choose More, Lose More for Life.” I’d be happy to answer any questions you have about carb cycling – that’s what I’m here for! If it’s easier, you can email me at [email protected]. Hope to hear from you soon – you can totally do this!
Hello, I could really use some help/advise. I’ve been struggling with my weight for years and fighting severe depression and eating disorders (bulimia being the worse). With 2 children, a job, and an upcoming divorce, I have no time or money to exercise. I also care for my brother who is a retired medically discharged marine. I have no support system as my children need me to be their support as does my brother. I try to eat better, unfortunately healthy foods are expensive. I was just hoping to get some advise or something on what I can do? I know you are very busy doing an amazing job on helping people. If you get the time, I’d greatly appreciate any comforting and helping words.
Thank you
Kate
Hi Kate: You’ve got a lot going on! In addition to the information and links in this post, the key to achieving any goal is to make and keep those small, simple promises to yourself. The link to the promise-keeping process is also in this post, but here it is for your convenience: https://heidipowell.net/8679/it-really-is-all-about-promises-2/. Here are some ideas for some simple promises you can make and keep to get you started: Promise yourself you’ll exercise for 5 minutes today – only 5 minutes. Promise yourself you’ll drink 1/2 your body weight in water today (200 lbs = 100 oz, for example). Promise yourself you’ll eat 3 servings of fruits and/or veggies. And so forth. Just choose one promise for today, and go for it! Each small, simple promise you keep will help you stay on track to reach your goals, and will also help you feel better about life in general. We make it a priority to keep our promises to others, but it’s soooo important to keep those promises we make to ourselves. All of us at Team Powell wish you the best – you can totally do this! One small, simple promise at a time. 🙂
Heidi,
I am really looking for your guidance and direction on losing weight. I am 5’4 160lbs and have lost 10 lbs in 260 days, I gave up my terrible soda addiction and my lattes!! I have been eating better and exercise 5 days a week 30-45 minutes at a time. I keep telling myself it is not the number on the scale but as a woman that is hard to convince yourself!! Would love any advice you could give me. THANK YOU
Kathy
38 year old mother to 4
Hi Kathy: All the tools you need to begin and achieve your transformation goals are in this post. Begin with making and keeping that first small, simple promise, and you’ll be on your way! And congrats on giving up the soda and lattes – that’s awesome! You can do this!