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My friend Bianca and her parents moved to live near us after leaving Italy nearly twenty years ago.  We are the ‘sisters’ that our parents failed to provide and we have always shared our ups and downs. Recently, Bianca has been the happiest I can remember as an adult when she solved her long term ‘weight worry’ by learning about portion control – how to manage the intake of her food portions on a daily basis.

Her battle of the bulge came as something of a surprise to both her parents as neither of them has been overweight.  Bianca’s weight was within the normal range until she left home and took a teaching job interstate.  Then she started to eat out with new friends and found that larger portions of the food she loved the most like pasta, cheeses and good wine gradually added pound after dangerous pound.

She married Joe and between her job and her family was never able to lose weight for long, despite following every diet that came her way. In her unsuccessful pursuit of better health and the body shape she craved, she cut out fats, carbs, fiber and sugar at different times. Her focus was always on what she ate (or did not eat), never the size of her food portions.

Bianca says that she stumbled across how to eat smart and gain control of her weight. Previous diets had failed because each was too complex and they all left her feeling exhausted. To avoid this and extra shopping and cooking, she decided to eat the same nutritious food she prepared for her family every day just less of it.

But what food portions should she eat? Bianca knew that a balanced diet provides us with the nutrients essential for a healthy body. She knew that health authorities like the American Diabetes Association, The American Heart Association and the American Medical Association all agree that the best approach to weight loss is a balanced diet and she knew she provided food from the four major food groups for her family.

And what of the size food portions on her menu?  The answer was surprisingly simple for Bianca because she decided that her Italian dinner plates decorated with flowers on the lip and a blue circle inside this would determine the size of her food portions for lunch and dinner.  Unwittingly, the blue circle became the boundary for her portion control.

Joe and the boys had their regular meals at dinner and Bianca joined them but only ate the food portions she could fit inside the blue circle. She ate a healthy breakfast and she kept a stash of almonds, carrots and fruit for her mid morning and afternoon snacks but limited the size of these too. 

Bianca started to lose weight and kept doing this across most of last year until she finally discovered the healthy, trim body that had left home all those years ago.  As a result, she has altered her eating habits by taking control of her life and eating the European Way like her parents. She eats smaller food portions, indulges periodically, savors the taste of her food and enjoys meal times.

Bianca says this has been the most natural way she has ever lost weight and she is confident that she will keep it off forever. The benefits of portion control have her back in charge of her body again and her food portions can even include an occasional serving of tiramisu – her favorite dessert.  Now she has established healthy, life-long eating habits, Bianca can have her cake and eat it too!

Warm regards

Rowena French

For The Team

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Rowena French loves healthy living through weight loss and exercise. Is your weight out of control? Food Portions are the answer. My free gift helps you discover portion control so you can have your cake and eat it too! ‘Portion for Life’ tells you how.

Have you embarked upon every new fad diet known to mankind but still don’t really understand about ways to lose weight and keep it off?  Have you followed exercise routines to lose weight without success?  You’re not alone, but if this rings a bell for you, as it did for me, formally Queen of the Biggest Losers/Biggest Gainers, you are definitely in need of a different approach as I was.

My body looked pretty much the same before and after all my weight loss and exercise programs because I did not have the secret that many others need too. This stopped me from being able to shed my excess pounds permanently and look healthy. The solution has helped me keep a constant weight for many years and it really is very straight forward.

Obese bodies generally get that way over time from the small things we do on a daily basis.  Weight just slowly creeps on until we look fat and have way less energy than we need.  To reverse this unhealthy look and feel, to find reliable ways to lose weight and to reclaim our healthy body we need to change the behavior that brought this on.

How do we start to identify these ways to lose weight?  Slowly, just as we gained this weight, by making small, healthy changes over time.  Some are related to the nutrition in our diet, others to our exercise and lifestyle.

Introduce gradual changes into your day-to-day living.   Don’t survive the ‘pain’ of weight loss, then throw out any changes that brought this about when you reach your goal weight.  Don’t ignore the pounds that gradually slip back on.  Eating healthy foods, by cutting out just some of those that you know you should avoid and replacing these with healthier alternatives is just one of the ways to lose weight without feeling overwhelmed.

To avoid obesity and maintain the right body fat, balance the amount and type of food you eat with your daily exercise.  It is not a case of ‘Once past the lips forever on the hips’, but ‘Once past the lips without exercise’ will see this happen.

Exercise is one of the effective ways to lose weight and can start as small as walking to collect the Sunday paper from the store.  Whatever you decide to do to speed up your metabolism, start slowly and set achievable goals.  It is the ‘Hare and Tortoise’ story again and we know who won that race!

Always have a starting point against which you can measure your weight loss and changes to your body shape.  Check and record this when you begin your program.  Measuring body parts like your chest or hips provides other ways to see changes in your body shape even when your weight loss slows for a time.

Reward yourself for losing pounds and your ability to keep weight off with a treat containing fewer calories than eating chocolate or ice cream.  Treat yourself to a new pair of shoes or CD instead. It is amazing how shopping expeditions can become important ways to lose weight.

So, the good news is that if you review what you eat and how you exercise now then start to gradually tweak these, you will be able to lose those pounds that need shedding. The best news is; the changes you make to your behavior are key ways to lose weight and keep it off for the long haul in your new and healthy lifestyle. 

Warm regards

Rowena French

For The Team

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Rowena French loves sharing the permanent solution to her own weight loss problem.  Ready to drop your extra 10 pounds?  My free gift includes ways to lose weight and keep it off.  101 'Everyday' Tips for Losing 10 Pounds is your guide.

There are some things that just present us with life-long challenges. You can’t do much about bad luck. My feet for example will always be bigger than I want them to be! But losing weight, by boosting my metabolism through exercise and enjoying a healthy diet was possible for me. It’s possible for you too.

All my life, I only dreamed about looking better and feeling fitter until I finally discovered that the whole long-term ‘healthy body thing’ is tied up with our metabolism! Metabolism’ refers to the amount of energy (calories) we burn to maintain our body functions and activities. Learning how to increase my metabolism and enjoy nutritious and healthy food has been my key to losing weight for good.

I’ve never been healthier than I am now, I’m pounds lighter and I feel great. My friends notice and I tell them that my secret to a better body isn’t mind blowing, it’s just sensible and based on facts. I made these three changes to make sure that I was boosting my metabolism.

To lose weight by burning fat and using energy I wanted everything working in my favor so I did something I’d never done before. I did this by changing my diet, boosting my metabolism through exercise and modifying parts of my lifestyle; all three, carefully, sensibly and together.

Diet

My old friend ‘Diet’ returned but it was accompanied this time by two other metabolism boosters. Calories still counted but they weren’t my enemy any more. I learned that if I could still eat well but if I ate foods containing less calories I forced my body to use my stored body fat in its search for energy. I didn’t starve, in fact I found myself eating generous portions of better food.

Exercise

I decided to create even greater fat-burning by adding exercise to my new routine. The best results for me came from a gentle start (a brisk 30 minute walk daily) to the gradual addition of different aerobic exercises including swimming, jogging and some weights. I recovered from tougher workouts quicker over time and knew I was boosting my metabolism through exercise in a serious way.

Lifestyle

Now I understand the importance of rest, I relax with a good night’s sleep regularly. Without this I find that I can’t exercise as much! I also aim for a balanced amount of stress in my life to avoid the way this slows my metabolism.

My healthier body is no longer a dream and I’m convinced that I’ll keep it for life. The most amazing part of this journey to better health has been the fact that each of my metabolism boosters was always within my grasp. I just needed to learn how the harmony of eating properly and enjoying this, boosting my metabolism through exercise and balancing my lifestyle was the secret to a better, fitter body!

Warm regards

Rowena French

For The Team

http://mightydigitaldownloads.com 

Rowena French promotes a fit and healthy lifestyle. Working out and eating properly with no weight loss? I shed pounds by boosting my metabolism and eating well. My bonus gift explains how increasing my metabolism allowed me to lose weight quickly. ‘How to Boost Your Metabolism’ reveals all.

A recent vacation provided us relief from work and our busy schedule and another opportunity to reflect again on the connection between our lifestyle and our health.

We’ve made good progress since the start of the year with healthier eating and regular exercise.  We’ve been able to lose weight and our body shape, cholesterol levels and blood pressure have all improved markedly. Not surprisingly though, despite taking some long walks with excellent pedometer readings across the past 10 days we fell into the trap of vacation = more eating and drinking than we needed. 

One helpful incentive for us to resume a healthy lifestyle was a letter to the editor of Thursday’s USA TODAY from Dr Steven V. Edelman, Founder and Director of the organization, ‘Taking Control of Your Diabetes’.  The connection that we knew existed between obesity and diabetes was reinforced in this open letter.  Dr Edelman added that both these medical conditions are affecting Americans at ‘epidemic’ levels.

Like increasing numbers of our friends and workmates, we both have a family history of stroke, high cholesterol and lipid levels as well as recently diagnosed diabetes.  We know that to avoid the same medical problems as our parents we must continue to maintain our new and healthy lifestyle .

Dr Edelman’s view about the value of weight management as part of diabetes treatment is important to both the lives of diabetics and to our own.  It prompts us to follow our healthy diet and exercise on a daily basis.  We read with interest his comment ‘Weight loss, even a modest amount, has been found to significantly help diabetes patients control their disease and live healthier, longer and more active lives’. 

We don’t suffer from diabetes and are working to avoid this, however as losing weight helps diabetics to live healthier lives, we feel sure that it assists people like us reduce the likelihood of developing diabetes.  The statistics referred to by Dr Edelman, suggest that weight loss can also improve the health options and the well being of many others suffering from either diabetes or obesity.

So our vacation was fun and a relaxing break, but it was also another reminder to us that our decision to take control of how we eat and keep our bodies in good shape is likely to be one of the most important that we’ll make. It's one that everyone can make!

Warm regards

Rowena and Antonio

For The Team

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How You Can Fit Exercise Into Your Busy Schedule - A Compete and Practical Guide Burning Calories During the Day shows How Easily You Can Fit Simple, Quick Exercises Into Your Daily Life

Tired of Exercising Without Results?" Is Your Workout Routine Useless For Your Body Type? The Missing Link: The Best Type of Exercise for Your Body Type is a Complete and Practical Guide To Finding the Perfect Exercise Routine For Your Body Type

Our cute-as-a button niece Ally came to live with us this year. She is 18, has just started College and is living away from home for the first time.

She is trim, outgoing and lots of fun.  Her boyfriend is devoted to her. She’s smart, has a great sense of fashion and she’s very conscious of her appearance.  At first glance you think she didn’t have a problem in the world!

We’re all learning more about each other every day. We respect her privacy and want her to enjoy living with us. But we’ve discovered some things she’d rather not discuss have needed airing.

Not long ago her bathroom washing revealed an aspect of her life new to us.  All her towels were covered with white stains. They were ruined and needed replacing.

I asked her what might have caused the discoloring.  She looked embarrassed and vague, had no answer but said ‘I always used white bath towels at home’.  The towels were replaced with the requested white. As I was arranging this, the penny ‘dropped’ – peroxide was the culprit.

Ally was using an acne product containing peroxide to treat her acne.  No wonder she spent more time in her bathroom than any other room in the house! No wonder the towels needed replacing and no wonder white was the only colored towel she had used at home.

At first I was surprised at how hard she’d tried to hide her acne medication from us. Then I recalled how acne leaves adolescents so exposed and vulnerable. Ally’s response to my question mirrored the deep embarrassment that most kids feel as they try to cover up or control the acne in their lives.  Just when they’re feeling most self conscious about their appearance and trying to fit in with others, acne can appear and ruin everything!

It is generally believed that our genes and hormones are the cause of acne.  Sometimes skin care products can impact on acne along with stress.  According to the American Academy of Dermatology, teenage and young adult acne is widespread.  An estimated 80 percent of all people between the ages of 11 and 30 have acne outbreaks at some point.

We’re pleased that Ally has found a reliable guide to help with her acne treatment.  Thankfully she didn’t follow the myriad of myths about remedies for skin blemishes as she searched for answers to how to get rid of acne.

We notice though that while she appears to be well informed, Ally chooses not to discuss her acne solution with us.  We’re OK with this. Our task is to ask no further questions, provide white towels, and allow her to keep doing what she seems to be managing well

Warm regards

Rowena French

For The Team

http://mightydigitaldownloads.com 

To discover more about how to get rid of embarrassing acne and blemishes you can find help in The Complete Guide to Acne: Prevention, Treatment and Remedies – click here for further details

Today I went to a new hair stylist.  As you know, there is always a lot of social chitchat when you are having your hair cut and colored. 

This was no exception with my new friend Amy, who like me is passionate about every day exercise. We soon found we shared a common interest – exercise, eating a healthy diet and losing weight.  We compared notes about the success of our programs.

Amy is overweight and she needs to lose around 20 pounds.  As a mom with two teenage kids she has a busy schedule.  She says that her first goal was to set and maintain a regular every day exercise routine.

I was really impressed to hear how she has rearranged her very full work hours to allow time for every day exercise.  She tells me that she is serious about reclaiming her wedding day body and health.

Interestingly Amy wears a portable heart rate monitor on her wrist when she walks and jogs.  This is something I haven't thought to do.  My faithful pedometer is one way of telling me whether I walk far enough but in order to get cardiac fitness it is essential that I walk at a pace that is approximately 1.3 times my regular heart rate.

If your heart rate is around 70 beats per minute you need to exercise so that you maintain consistently a heart rate of somewhere between 90 and 100 beats per minute. Maintaining an elevated heart rate improves your overall fitness and contributes not only to cardiovascular efficiency but also helps you to lose weight. Amy and I agree that increasing our heart rate is an important goal in our every day exercise.

The other thing I learned from Amy was how important social support is in her program.  She exercises with a girlfriend and they keep each other motivated. They have (non-eating) rewards for reaching goals that are part of their every day exercise and they have enlisted friends and family as their ‘support group’ to enquire about their progress and encourage them to continue.

I know that every day exercise can get a little dreary and you need to know whether you are making any gains so it is essential that you actually chart your progress.  This can be either for changes in body shape or reduction in the circumference of various parts of your body for example your butt, your waist, or your upper arms, or your chest.

The danger with charting is that some people do it too frequently and become discouraged when they do not make sufficient gains.  Another danger is that some people chart at the wrong time.  Always measure your weight at the same time each morning not in the afternoon or evening when there is greater fluid retention or when you have been eating.

So set a regular routine for exercise and a regular process for charting the gains you make.  I have decided that I am going to use a pedometer and a portable heart rate in my drive for a fitter, healthier body.  I think I will build some rewards into my program and find a buddy to join me in my every day exercise too!

Warm regards

Rowena

For the Team

www.mightydigitaldownloads.com

Rowena French enjoys the challenges of her busy lifestyle.  Finding it difficult to keep a regular exercise routine? Add simple every day exercise to your schedule for a healthier body. How YOU CAN Fit Exercise into Your Busy Schedule has the answers. 

See How to Boost Your Metabolism for details about how to increase your metabolism through exercise tailored especially for YOU.

Pedometers are a very useful tool in your get fit program. When exercising to lose weight, you need to keep track of how far you walk.  Use a good pedometer. I must confess that my husband and I both compete to see how many steps we take during the day.  He is a sore loser  when I beat him. On many occasions he insisted he has taken more steps than I. To verify this, one day while he was at work I checked his pedometer against mine and found that his pedometer scored 30% more than my pedometer.  Obviously, he wins when his pedometer is unreliable.

On a more serious note, though, when you are exercising for a healthier you, you need to have some objective means of keeping track of your daily activity.  Pedometers are extremely cheap and can be bought for less than $10.  You can keep a chart of your daily steps. When you decide on a lifestyle change to lose weight or to reshape your body type, you need some crutches to help you on your journey and to keep your motivation and energy high.

Interestingly, what started us on the use of pedometers was a corporate fitness competition called Global Corporate Challenge. Companies from around the world have registered to see how many steps their teams could make each day. The competition includes a website (http://www.gcc2008.com/login.aspx ) that shows the particular place in the world that the team can 'walk' through that day. You can profile your weight, weight loss, body fat, and steps taken. Drive obesity away! The Global Competition is another way to keep motivation high for fitness and weight loss.

For more ideas, check out some of the resources that can help with your lifestyle changing new exercise program. Change now!

We found suggestions from "101 Everyday Tips for Losing Pounds" very helpful in our weight loss program.  

Warm regards

Rowena French

For The Team http://mightydigitaldownloads.com

After many years of working too much and exercising too little, we started a new and successful lifestyle recently.  To begin the way we wanted to finish, we chose the best gear to help us succeed.  We’ve always had a toolkit in our work lives.  Since exercise is ‘work’, we needed ‘tools’ for the most important job we’ll probably ever sign up to!  See if our tools have a place in your exercise kit!

The Best Exercise? This is a very individual decision.  Sometimes we exercise together (brisk daily walking and weights) and other times independently (swimming or jogging).  By matching our exercise to our body type, ‘when the going gets tough’ we find that we’re less likely to ‘throw in the towel’!

Exercise to boost our metabolism makes us feel good, but burning up those calories is still hot and hard work.  When we’ve finished a successful workout we feel hot, puffed and sweaty but never completely exhausted at the end of our session.

What to Wear? We’re not a glamor couple when we exercise now but we want to be one day!  Loose, light clothing (cotton in summer) is best for these activities.  We aim to have these clothes get looser and looser so we can fit into smaller sizes!  We bought good runners at a sale!

Can We Drink? Yes, water!  We should keep hydrated and replace the water we’re losing as we sweat during exercise.  We drink a little before our walk, jogs, swimming and weights and hydrate our bodies during these activities. 

What About Rest? Since beginning our exercise routine, we get out of be an hour earlier (except Sunday when we skip our routine).  We reclaim this hour by going to bed earlier. We need the rest to exercise and work at our best.  We only complain about exercising when we haven’t had enough rest.  We can’t emphasize the importance of plenty of rest in our healthier lifestyle! 

We know we won’t recover from 10 years of poor health and unfit bodies in a month or even two but using these ‘tools’ in our exercise ‘kit’ we plan to enjoy life with a healthy body and good health.  We’re in this for the long haul!

We’re excited to say that our new lifestyle continues and our health is improving.  We’re learning to boost our metabolism and burn calories through exercise that’s best for our bodies.  For more details about how you can do this in How to Boost Your Metabolism, click here.

How to Boost Your Metabolism is the perfect book to help you get started on the right foot. See how easily you can reshape your metabolism to burn calories at a rate you've never experienced before!

Natural Sleep Remedies Warning: If it takes you longer then 30 minutes to fall asleep, then you are suffering from insomnia. "Who Else Wants To Sleep From Lights Out 'Til Sunrise Without Staring At The Ceiling For Hours – Leaving You Feeling Fresh And Ready To Face A New Day!" 

Warm regards 

Rowena and Antonio

From the Team

http://mightydigitaldownloads.com

My mother-in-law wants her son fitter not fatter.  That’s why she is happy to see 'less' of him these days.  She’s heard that he’s discovered body type exercises that are a prefect match for him and she’s thrilled with the result. 

 This is the woman who has waited for the day when we will buy the house next door to her, move in and never leave.  She is the same person who will never fully adjust to the idea of her son living in another city. So, what has happened and why is happy to see less of her son these days?

 It’s all related to her own deteriorating health over recent years and the path she wants her son to avoid. She was an overweight mom and knew nothing about the importance of well tailored body type exercises for many years. She developed high cholesterol, suffered a serious stroke and has newly diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes so this means that now she MUST take care of her health and diet on a daily basis. 

Now she weighs less than at any time in her married life. Her cholesterol levels have dropped but, unfortunately, her life is ruled by diabetes. She wants her adult kids to take their health and well being seriously, by following a good diet, and exercising regularly.

When she learned that her son had lost his first 11 pounds and has more energy than ever, she smiled.  She wanted to know more about his discovery that he has an endomorphic body type.  She’s curious to learn how he has formulated a new diet and more about the new body type exercises he has tailored to match to his body. 

She understands now why he has always struggled  to drop those extra pounds (especially around his waist) and how he is increasing his metabolism to lose weight and develop muscle stamina.  She can see that his choice of the right body type exercises is critcial to his success. 

The last time my husband visited his mother, she noticed his reduced body fat and trimmer waist.  She said that he looked as lean and handsome as he did on our wedding day, like his ‘old self’.  She is delighted that he looks so much healthier and has even started regular body type exercises that are right for her.

As we left, she waved us Goodbye from the front door and called happily to her son, ‘Be seeing less of you’.  She meant it!

PS. Oh my goodness, she just called to say that the house next door is on the market… 

Warm regards

Rowena French

For the Team

www.mightydigitaldownloads.com

Rowena French loves healthy living through weight loss and exercise. Exercising without results? My man lost weight and got fit with the right body type exercises. My free gift helps you do this. The Best TYPE of Exercise for your Body TYPE tells you how

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