HOW LEANER STRONGER SOONER TURNED A FIFTY-SOMETHING CUTIE INTO A LEAN AND FIT BABE

I lost my middle-age spread. You know, all tha t dangerous visceral adipose tissue that is so harmful for heart-health. I lost the back fat. You know, the weight you never even realized you had because you don’t see yourself from behind. I lost the round face and even some of that tell-tale neck wattle that Nora Ephron talks about hating.

My goal in joining the Leaner Stronger Sooner program was not primarily for the weight loss, although I knew that would be an inevitable benefit. What motivated me to join the program was a desire to change my night-time eating and wine-drinking habits. As a professional massage therapist, I tend to see clients well into the evening, and as a result I usually arrive home after 8pm, generally starving. I’m a gourmet cook and nutritionally aware so I prepared healthy meals. It’s just that I was eating them with a lovely glass or two of wine at about 9:30 pm, which though very European, was bad for my digestion and my waistline – and I noticed I was gaining a pound or two each year. I could see I was headed in the wrong directio n and needed to make a significant change.

I learned about LSS just before the holidays and by New Year’s Day, I had made my resolution. On January 1, 2009 my scale read 143 pounds. As I psyched up for the beginning of the program which officially began in late January, my awareness alone began to shift my choices and by the time I was assessed the first week of LSS, I weighed in at 138 pounds – off to a good start!

So here’s the secret I learned from LSS that truly changed everything for me. One word, metabolism. I have never been a breakfast-eater and LSS inspired me to find a breakfast routine that I actually look forward to. Then to continue eating nutritious fuel, er, I mean food, all day long. So that even though my schedule changed every day, I began to structure my thinking around when I would have breaks and what I would have handy to eat next.

I tried to switch larger meals shared with my husband to earlier in the day, sometimes for lunch or sometimes at 3 or 4 o’clock before I was headed for work. I used the tips received in e-mails and the blog to help plan meals and snacks in a nutrition-savvy way. I created really wonderful, satisfying, tasty meals. I kept a food journal (Vitabot has been a fun education, an awesome tool) and limited myself to 1500 calories/day.  I stopped drinking wine at home except for on special occasions.

I never allowed myself to get really hungry and I never felt deprived. What I discovered shortly after I shifted my habit to eating all day long is that after work I wasn’t really so hungry anymore. I might feel like a small meal or a taste treat, and as long as that fit that into my caloric requirements I knew I was on track.

Of course the other significant aspect of metabolism is exercise. Now, I love to move my body and have always stayed active with Pilates, yoga and walking. The LSS program gave me the resources and the motivation to pump up my program to a new level of fitness.

The sessions with my great coach, Kris, and the extra workouts provided in workshops, along with the 20 cardio sessions upstairs and attending more Pilates classes made for a kick-ass workout schedule. I found myself at CBB 4-5 times per week. I started to feel amazing! 

As the combination of proper nutrition and challenging workouts began to integrate in my body, I experienced a natural high. Enhanced energy, more clear thinking and intuitive skills are the tools I rely on in my work. When that fat-burning metabolism kicked in, my body truly rewarded me for treating it right.

The first part of my body to respond was my skin which visibly improved in a very short time. I began sleeping better. My digestion improved dramatically. As the fat began to fall away and the lean muscle increased, people called me the incredible shrinking woman, although the scale budged very little. So I decided to step it up a notch as the program advised, integrating high-intensity spurts in the cardio workouts. This step really made the difference for the weight loss.

With LSS, I have dramatically changed my body, and I certainly want to acknowledged the role of the awesome Pilates training that literally is “the core.”  Pilates is a system that structurally changes the body to bring it into optimal alignment through core and strength-building and spine-flexibility. As an energy bodyworker, I am particularly aware and practiced in listening to bodies and teaching my clients to go inward to listen to theirs, making changes from the inside-out. Pilates is the optimal tool for learning what that feels like. My increased vitality is used to benefit others in my daily work. I enjoy setting a good example and educating my clients about how they can look and feel better, and live in their bodies, too.   

LSS has indeed been a life-altering experience. I  am enjoying getting stronger and leaner and literally have been feeling half my age. I accomplished the goal I set out within a few short weeks, that of changing my habits. Along the way, I also learned some important things about myself. For instance, I am not addicted to wine. I’m addicted to wine glasses! Now I enjoy the ritual of pouring my sparkling water in a wine glass when I come home at night, splashing in the Pom juice and popping in a few blueberries for a very satisfying drink. Learning how to limit my alcohol intake is a remarkable shift in my entire life. Thanks LSS.

Betty Mantz

LEANER STRONGER SOONER FOR SURE!

I have been a member of the Leaner Stronger Sooner program for the last 12 weeks. My goal was to loose 10 pounds. I have lost 5 pounds, 6 3/4 inches and 4% body fat!  I have gained far more than I have lost in so many ways.  I would like to share my experience of what I have gained.

I am not new to fitness and exercise. I’ve had personal trainers, been a member of various gym’s, classes, curves, yoga, aerobics, home workouts, power walking , just to name a few. Pilates has been a new and rewarding experience as well as Creative Body Balance..

I love the energy at Creative Body Balance. It is a friendly unpretentious environment with the highly skilled trainers. The classes are extremely effective and fun. I look forward to the classes as well as my time with Lisa. I don’t feel I have worked near as hard as other programs with much better results. Even though I only lost 5 pounds, my body is beginning to change in ways I thought I was too old to experience. I feel my core is stronger, my posture is much better, and my overall muscle tone is tightening and I look better in my clothes. I feel for the first time in many years I can become fit, even at my age….soon to be 58. I am getting compliments from friends asking “what have you been doing, you look so slim?” or “you look stronger” My husband continually compliments me on my body and how it is changing. Love that!

I love the informative emails from Guru Tina and my Aqua team captain Lisa on nutrition and all the added classes and workshops that CBB is offering. You just know they are both committed to what they love and they do it so well. All the trainers are great.

The Vitabot food diary is a great way to not only track calories but overall nutrition. My diet is pretty solid, but Vitabot is a good way to stay honest and check what nutrients are deficient or out of balance. It also gives you foods that you can introduce to correct. 

I have enrolled in the next session, not to win a trip, but to stay committed to my health and fitness. To stay connected to a great team of professional, fun people that are committed to what they love. I want to continue to learn more about Pilates and continue to create the body that I thought I was too old to have.

So, 4 sure I am a winner! I have succeeded in finding a place, a community, that I can learn, grow, be fit and have fun! ………Cheers!

Sincerely and Joyfully,

Judy Rush 

HOW LEANER STRONGER SOONER TURNED A FIFTY-SOMETHING CUTIE INTO A LEAN AND FIT BABE

I lost my middle-age spread. You know, all tha t dangerous visceral adipose tissue that is so harmful for heart-health. I lost the back fat. You know, the weight you never even realized you had because you don’t see yourself from behind. I lost the round face and even some of that tell-tale neck wattle that Nora Ephron talks about hating.

My goal in joining the Leaner Stronger Sooner program was not primarily for the weight loss, although I knew that would be an inevitable benefit. What motivated me to join the program was a desire to change my night-time eating and wine-drinking habits. As a professional massage therapist, I tend to see clients well into the evening, and as a result I usually arrive home after 8pm, generally starving. I’m a gourmet cook and nutritionally aware so I prepared healthy meals. It’s just that I was eating them with a lovely glass or two of wine at about 9:30 pm, which though very European, was bad for my digestion and my waistline – and I noticed I was gaining a pound or two each year. I could see I was headed in the wrong directio n and needed to make a significant change.

I learned about LSS just before the holidays and by New Year’s Day, I had made my resolution. On January 1, 2009 my scale read 143 pounds. As I psyched up for the beginning of the program which officially began in late January, my awareness alone began to shift my choices and by the time I was assessed the first week of LSS, I weighed in at 138 pounds – off to a good start!

So here’s the secret I learned from LSS that truly changed everything for me. One word, metabolism. I have never been a breakfast-eater and LSS inspired me to find a breakfast routine that I actually look forward to. Then to continue eating nutritious fuel, er, I mean food, all day long. So that even though my schedule changed every day, I began to structure my thinking around when I would have breaks and what I would have handy to eat next.

I tried to switch larger meals shared with my husband to earlier in the day, sometimes for lunch or sometimes at 3 or 4 o’clock before I was headed for work. I used the tips received in e-mails and the blog to help plan meals and snacks in a nutrition-savvy way. I created really wonderful, satisfying, tasty meals. I kept a food journal (Vitabot has been a fun education, an awesome tool) and limited myself to 1500 calories/day.  I stopped drinking wine at home except for on special occasions.

I never allowed myself to get really hungry and I never felt deprived. What I discovered shortly after I shifted my habit to eating all day long is that after work I wasn’t really so hungry anymore. I might feel like a small meal or a taste treat, and as long as that fit that into my caloric requirements I knew I was on track.

Of course the other significant aspect of metabolism is exercise. Now, I love to move my body and have always stayed active with Pilates, yoga and walking. The LSS program gave me the resources and the motivation to pump up my program to a new level of fitness.

The sessions with my great coach, Kris, and the extra workouts provided in workshops, along with the 20 cardio sessions upstairs and attending more Pilates classes made for a kick-ass workout schedule. I found myself at CBB 4-5 times per week. I started to feel amazing! 

As the combination of proper nutrition and challenging workouts began to integrate in my body, I experienced a natural high. Enhanced energy, more clear thinking and intuitive skills are the tools I rely on in my work. When that fat-burning metabolism kicked in, my body truly rewarded me for treating it right.

The first part of my body to respond was my skin which visibly improved in a very short time. I began sleeping better. My digestion improved dramatically. As the fat began to fall away and the lean muscle increased, people called me the incredible shrinking woman, although the scale budged very little. So I decided to step it up a notch as the program advised, integrating high-intensity spurts in the cardio workouts. This step really made the difference for the weight loss.

With LSS, I have dramatically changed my body, and I certainly want to acknowledged the role of the awesome Pilates training that literally is “the core.”  Pilates is a system that structurally changes the body to bring it into optimal alignment through core and strength-building and spine-flexibility. As an energy bodyworker, I am particularly aware and practiced in listening to bodies and teaching my clients to go inward to listen to theirs, making changes from the inside-out. Pilates is the optimal tool for learning what that feels like. My increased vitality is used to benefit others in my daily work. I enjoy setting a good example and educating my clients about how they can look and feel better, and live in their bodies, too.   

LSS has indeed been a life-altering experience. I  am enjoying getting stronger and leaner and literally have been feeling half my age. I accomplished the goal I set out within a few short weeks, that of changing my habits. Along the way, I also learned some important things about myself. For instance, I am not addicted to wine. I’m addicted to wine glasses! Now I enjoy the ritual of pouring my sparkling water in a wine glass when I come home at night, splashing in the Pom juice and popping in a few blueberries for a very satisfying drink. Learning how to limit my alcohol intake is a remarkable shift in my entire life. Thanks LSS.

Betty Mantz

LEANER STRONGER SOONER FOR SURE!

I have been a member of the Leaner Stronger Sooner program for the last 12 weeks. My goal was to loose 10 pounds. I have lost 5 pounds, 6 3/4 inches and 4% body fat!  I have gained far more than I have lost in so many ways.  I would like to share my experience of what I have gained.

I am not new to fitness and exercise. I’ve had personal trainers, been a member of various gym’s, classes, curves, yoga, aerobics, home workouts, power walking , just to name a few. Pilates has been a new and rewarding experience as well as Creative Body Balance..

I love the energy at Creative Body Balance. It is a friendly unpretentious environment with the highly skilled trainers. The classes are extremely effective and fun. I look forward to the classes as well as my time with Lisa. I don’t feel I have worked near as hard as other programs with much better results. Even though I only lost 5 pounds, my body is beginning to change in ways I thought I was too old to experience. I feel my core is stronger, my posture is much better, and my overall muscle tone is tightening and I look better in my clothes. I feel for the first time in many years I can become fit, even at my age….soon to be 58. I am getting compliments from friends asking “what have you been doing, you look so slim?” or “you look stronger” My husband continually compliments me on my body and how it is changing. Love that!

I love the informative emails from Guru Tina and my Aqua team captain Lisa on nutrition and all the added classes and workshops that CBB is offering. You just know they are both committed to what they love and they do it so well. All the trainers are great.

The Vitabot food diary is a great way to not only track calories but overall nutrition. My diet is pretty solid, but Vitabot is a good way to stay honest and check what nutrients are deficient or out of balance. It also gives you foods that you can introduce to correct. 

I have enrolled in the next session, not to win a trip, but to stay committed to my health and fitness. To stay connected to a great team of professional, fun people that are committed to what they love. I want to continue to learn more about Pilates and continue to create the body that I thought I was too old to have.

So, 4 sure I am a winner! I have succeeded in finding a place, a community, that I can learn, grow, be fit and have fun! ………Cheers!

Sincerely and Joyfully,

Judy Rush 

Every Morning!

 How they feel....The intense agenda of the Monday morning staff meeting, the stress of the clock on the dashboard, the inconvenient traffic signals, the inability to digest enough coffee on an empty stomach, the clothes that are too tight and the hellish day that awaits them!! 

How I feel...The irreplaceable solitude after completing my 6:30 workout, the fresh blooms on trees, the vibrant flowers, the crisp cool air, the pure and refreshing water, the wonderful work day that lies ahead and the bead of sweat that runs down my face to remind me of my completed workout! 

These illustrations depict what I see and how I feel every morning coming home from Creative Body Balance! 

Ironically, my journey through the Leaner Stronger Sooner program began in the drive-through of McDonald's!  I had finished a business luncheon just an hour before when an intense phone call heightened my stress immensely!  Having learned to "eat when stressed," I went to my local "artery-clogger" and ordered not one, but two hamburgers!  My clothes were unbearably tight, a headache from dehydration and literally miserable!!  Out of control and needing help, I called Tina as I finished my last hamburger.  Whether she knew it or not, I was desperate!!  Never before had I felt so terrible and weighed so much!  Her energy, ideas and support saved me! 

But the leap of success started with two additional components:  the LSS program and my new best friend--Sarah.  Tina knew I needed additional motivation, but more importantly, I needed someone who would truly push my limits!  Sarah has been perfect!  Although a third my size, she has triple my drive!  She can read me like a book; she knows what encourages me and she knows what discourages me!  She reviews what I have eaten, how I have felt and what successes have occurred. She has found numerous ways to both reward and punish my choices!  Her ability to continually notice even the smallest changes in my physique has been so invigorating.  For every morning that my alarm rings at 5:45AM, she has transformed my dread to excitement!  Excitement to...see her, see the sweat and see the results!!!  She deserves more credit than anyone!!  Never again will I live a life without daily workouts! 

Just as I developed an addiction to seeing Sarah and the intense workouts, I discovered my handicap:  my career!  As a real estate professional, my career requires constant social interaction!  From breakfast meetings to cocktail parties, my every day is complied of networking, inevitably centered around food!  I have daily opportunities to attend free catered luncheons, happy hours and numerous individual appointments, typically at a dining establishment of sorts.  I was forced to find the power within!  I have learned to select specific restaurants, make healthier choices and realize that it is possible!!  And furthermore, I have discovered many people are both respectful of my choices and even envious!  Finding the willpower within and remaining strong in my decisions overcame my handicap! 

Two phrases that have assisted my success:  "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels!"  and "Eating to live instead of living to eat."  And I repeat them on an hourly basis.  The enable my motivation to remain resilient! 

The Leaner, Stronger Sooner program has been life-altering!!  Am I leaner?  YES!  Am I stronger?  YES?  Was it soon enough?  It was the absolute perfect way to jump start my life-style change and see so many results, yet learn so much along the way!  Never before have I seen or participated in a program which enables success for your time at the gym, but educates someone for the remaining 23 hours of the day!! 

My first set of goals has been accomplished!  My next set has just been written.  I am so thankful for the opportunity to take control of my life!  I have overcome my biggest obstacle, my biggest fear and the single biggest factor affecting my self-confidence!  I am alive and living my dreams....every morning! 

Blake

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