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 have a few questions. I just had my third child and I need to lose some weight. I was in pretty good shape before I had this one but haven’t been motivated to get back into working out. I love watching the show and would love to know some of the exercises that you do with your clients. Do you have a DVD that you would recommend? I am also breastfeeding and don’t want to cut my calories too much because of that. Does your book have workouts in them? Is carb cycling ok while nursing? I am mostly looking for motivation. Time is a bit of a factor also just with taking care of three kids with a husband that travels and no other family nearby.
Hi Heather: Congratulations on your new baby – that’s so exciting! Yes, the book does have a complete workout program in it, and it’s awesome! Chris and Heidi also have two workout DVDs, and you can learn more about them here: https://heidipowell.net/books-dvds/. And here’s another post from this blog that outlines Heidi’s breastfeeding nutrition program: https://heidipowell.net/2275/q-a-carb-cycling-while-prego/. And, pay special attention to the part in the book (and in this post) about promises – these truly are the key to achieving any goal. Hope that helps – you can do this!
I love to watch and read about how you help people transform their lives. I am living with myasthenia gravis which is a muscle disorder. I try to walk daily but just can’t burn off enough to lose the prednisone weight. I have adopted a healthy lifestyle to the best of my ability. Any tips to help me with my journey because not being able to work out aggressively I am only losing like a pound a month. Thank you in advance!
Hi Alisha: All the steps you need to begin your transformation journey are in this post, so choose a cycle and go! With your health issue, it’s best to discuss this program with your healthcare team first, and then follow any modifications they recommend. And remember, a huge part of weight loss is nutrition, so follow the nutrition part of your program exactly, exercise as you can under your healthcare team’s guidelines, and you can achieve your goals. And any pounds you lose are a win!
Heidi I want to start off by saying you and Chris are such a motivating couple I love watching both of you… but listening to you talk about your eating disorder has really hit home I guess I really never looked at it that way but I think I have a problem I am totally fixated on my weight before I had kids which was 105lbs for my 5’1″ statue. I weigh 170 lbs. now and just can’t figure out what to do I have read the books, done the diets, done laxatives and even have gone without eating for days at a time with the ending result of binging when I am bored 🙁 and my food choices are not good I am a very picky eater so that doesn’t help with the dieting part of my struggle
This year I thought I would change all of that and joined a gym I was doing well for someone who has never ever excersized a day in her life I was beginning to enjoy going to the gym and even started a couch to 5K problem is that I began to get shin splints so I started walking that did not help then my doctor suggested stationary bike it was good for about a week when my knee had given out and now I can t do either of those so I have resorted to depression and eating with an I don’t care attitude.
I need help advise or just someone to hear me out my family keeps telling me that I look fine and that if I cant do it it is fine I know they are just trying to be nice but I cant do this anymore.
I know I don’t have a whole lot to lose like the contestants you pick for your show but I really need help with these 50-60 lbs.
Hi Emma: Thank you for sharing your story with us. Heidi would love to help you personally, but unfortunately, she isn’t taking on clients right now. That’s why she and Chris have made available all their transformation tools for all of us to use, and all the steps you need to begin and achieve your transformation are in this post. Choose a cycle, make that first promise, and you’re on your way! And please discuss this program with your healthcare team first, and then follow any modifications they might recommend. You can do this!
Hello Chris and Heidi,
I am a Christian Mother Of 3. I’m 52 and my kids are ages 17, 15 and 11. I have been married for 23 years. I have been over weight since I was 29 years old. I have been picked for Extreme Weight loss twice, but did not make it on the show. I used to be very thin before. I was anorexic and bulimic when I was a Playboy Bunny 18 to 25 years old. I was in great athletic shape before that when I played Women’s professional soccer from 7th grade to the age of 18 and I was an excellent Speed Skater and Runner at the same time. I miss the long distance running more than anything! Now I do not even have a metabolism. Due to the way I treated my body when I was trying to loose the weight to become a Bunny. They asked me to lose 5lbs every week to look better in the bunny suit, most likely because of my muscular thighs. If I can’t be on the show, could you please help me with the diet and exercises that I would need to do to loose 150 lbs. in a year? Right now, I can’t do anything that my kids and Husband would like me to do with them. I live in Morrison Colorado which is close to the CU campus too. My email is [email protected] my number is 239-470-1132.
Thank You for reading this,
Tina Cohen
Hi Tina: Thank you for sharing your story with us. All the tools you need to begin and achiever your transformation is in this post. Choose a cycle, make and keep that first promise, and you’ll be on your way! And please discuss this program with your healthcare team first, and then follow their recommendations. You can do this!
Hello,
I watch extreme weight loss every week and feel so emotional. I’m always so proud of the people on the show and all they over come in one year. I also feel like these people can lose so much more weight then I need to lose and yet they are doing it and I can’t. I have lost up to 22 lbs at a time but then I hit a plateau and get frustrated and quit. At this time I want to lose 45lbs, that would put me at 127lbs. I feel that’s a good weight for me. But how?? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Btw I wish you guys had a show with not so extreme weight loss. I would apply!! Ha ha
Hi Pauly: All the steps you need to achieve your transformation goals are in this post. Follow the links, choose a cycle, and go! The book, “Choose More, Lose More for Life,” would also be a very valuable resource. Pay special attention to the part about promises, these truly are the key to achieving any goal. You can do this!
Hi Heidi Powell, My name is Haley and I am 19 years old. I watch your and your husband show Extreme Weight Loss and I love it! Your show encourages me to keep working out to stay fit and live a healthy life. I have one problem though, every time I try to lose weight and eat healthy I find myself gaining weight, so then I usually give up and start to go back to my normal eating habits. I would say my eating habits is good, but then not so good. Also, I feel like I can not lose the weight because I am not patient enough. Also I use to run like 3-4 times a week and my parents noticed a difference on my weight, but I did not. I used to play basketball so that kept me in great shape, but now I do not play anymore and now my exercise will be running outside/going to the gym 3-4 times a week. I just do not know what to eat like in the right amounts because I felt like when I was eating healthy I was not eating enough, but then I still would gain weight. So yeah I really just need nutrition tips. Also, I am not overweight not even close, but I want to be about 10 pounds less then I am now. I am 159 and 5’10. I also do have a lot of muscle on my body. So, yeah I really hope you will read this because your help would be must appreciated! Thank you! Hope to hear from you soon! 🙂
Hi Haley: First of all, that number on the scale is sometimes not a true reflection of how healthy you are. If you have a lot of muscle, your weight will naturally be a bit higher because of that muscle weight, but that doesn’t mean you are overweight or need to lose any pounds, so please keep that in mind. All the steps you need to eat right and exercise are in this post, so be sure and check out all the links, choose a cycle, and go! And since carb cycling is a program you can follow for life, it’s a plan you can use even after you get to where you’d like to be. Here’s another post about weight maintenance that might help too: https://heidipowell.net/5137/weight-loss-maintenance/. Good luck!
Hi Heidi & Chris,
I love watching your show and reading your Facebook pages. I have a couple of questions but first let me give you a little history. I lost my first husband in a motorcycle wreck at the age of 20 when a 14 year old stolid a car and hit him on his way home from work. my daughter was born 3 weeks early the day after the funeral. I had a lot of emotional issues for awhile I started drinking a little more than normal. I started dating my current husband when my daughter was 3. I was very insecure with my body so I started dieting and then went way over board and had to be hospitalize with anorexia nervosa I got down to around 95lbs, after I overcame that I started eating to much. my husband and I both lost our jobs with Ford Motor company when they moved our plant to Mexico. So now I work a full time ( midnight shift as a donut maker) & 2 part time jobs and my husband drives a hour each way to work so we don’t see each other till the weekend and by that time we are so tired that we don’t enjoy each others company. I lost my father to cancer during the same time and he was all I seemed to live for. I have to take care of my mother & mother- in-law who both have memory illness and need a lot of extra care. I also suffer from arthritis and have had to have both knees replaced and I am told that I need a hip replacement also. I am 55 years old and I weigh about 225lbs I am 5′ 9″ tall. I am just so tried and run down and I don’t eat correctly I know.
I was hoping you could give me some personal and nutritional advise I just don’t know where to start anymore and I know that I am to young to feel like this. I am just so tired that I cant even think about where to begin. where I get home I just grab whatever is easy to eat. I have recently purchased a Vintage Camper and I would love to start attending Vintage camper Rallies but I am just to tired. Please HELP me and give me some advise on where and how to get started I don’t know where else to turn to!!
Hi Bobbie: Thank you for sharing your story with us. I’m so sorry for all you’ve had to deal with, and I can’t imagine how difficult all this has been for you. I’d like to share some tools Chris and Heidi have made available for all of us to use to achieve our transformation goals! You can find all these tools in their book, “Choose More, Lose More for Life.” The book contains their complete nutrition and exercise program, and it’s the same one they use on the show. It will teach you everything you need to know and do to achieve your own transformation! Learn all about it here: https://heidipowell.net/9060/how-to-begin-your-transformation-journey-step-by-step/. And please discuss this program with your healthcare team first, and then follow their recommendations. You can do this! And what an awesome goal – I hope you can start attending your rallies soon.
I love you guys and I love your show. So inspirational and I admire how Chris and Heidi are paying it forward. I have read Chris latest book and I have begun Carb Cycling. I am learning about nutrition and the importance of exercising. Motivation! Support! I find these two things everywhere. Extreme Weight Loss affirms that transformation is possible. I hope and wish that one day I can meet the two of you. God has Blessed us with the two of you; people who truly care about obesity. I only hope that when I get to my weigh goal that I can “pay it forward” and be able to help and motivate others. Keep up the good work and tell Susan that I am still sticking with the program!
My family and I love your show and I just bought Choose More, Lose More for Life and have a few questions. I’m not quite sure where the fruits come into play . Are they counted in with your regular day or are they saved for your reward days/meals? With the turbo cycle is the reward a meal or is it reward day? I’d like to start this way of eating soon. Thank you so much!
Hi Lori: Fruits are considered carbs, so they can be the carb portion of any high carb meal. Learn more here: https://heidipowell.net/4514/carb-confusion/. And with the Turbo Cycle, you’ll have a reward day once a week, where you can eat up to an extra 1,000 calories of anything you want (https://heidipowell.net/2724/carb-cycling-the-turbo-cycle/). Happy carb cycling!
I am really getting desperate, I have lost 19 pounds, and now my belly flaps onto my legs. I get yeast infections all the time because of it. How do I tighten my abdomen?? I have a bad back and go for RFA shots in my lumbar region due to it, so a lot of back work is not good. I also have heart and lung issues so cardio is not an option. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yay for losing 19 pounds! I’d discuss the exercise part of Chris and Heidi’s carb cycling program with your healthcare team, and then follow their recommended modifications. If you’re interested, the nutrition part of their program is pretty awesome too, and it might gie you some good ideas you can incorporate into what you’re already doing. Since you really can’t spot reduce, work out as directed by your doctor, make sure your nutrition is spot on, and you’ll be able to achieve your goals. You can do this!