A HEALTHIER YOU

Monday, November 15, 2010

It's not easy to make a physical transformation. In fact, we spend our hard-earned money trying anything and everything to get us where we want to be but rarely succeed because our expectations leave us empty when the reality of what it takes to transform eludes us. I have seen very few people achieve a physical, mental and emotional transformation.

Kelli Barrett, a certified personal trainer and my dear friend, is one of the few people I know who managed to go from a more than 220 lbs. unhappy woman to a healthy, capable and rejuvenated woman who changed her whole life because she was tired of failing herself with every fad diet and unused gym memberships that had plagued most of her adult life. This time, instead of setting a goal weight or starting a crash diet when hitting the gym, she made the decision to just start with hitting the gym.

"I went to a group exercise class and almost threw up afterward because I was so out of shape!" Kelli said.

With her mind made up, she kept her commitment to showing up at the gym again the next day, and the next day, and the next day. Now, three years later, health and fitness is not only a way of life for her and a full time career, it's also her calling.

When Kelli made the decision to make significant changes to her diet, she enlisted the help of nutritionist Monica Bearden, author of The Baby Fat Diet, to help her cross over from eating "pretty well" to eating a whole food diet that changed her body and her mind about what she eats and why she eats it.

When asking Monica what is the one thing people can do to start getting healthy, she answered, "Eat breakfast. Eat cereal with at least 5 grams of fiber and add some fruit. Or have oatmeal and an egg. If you like yogurt, add some healthy nuts and a piece of fruit. Make healthy choices when breaking that fast in the morning."

Many of us struggle with the fact that our jeans don't fit or wonder how much weight we can lose in time for our class reunion or other special occasions, but what Kelli did that mattered most in her final transformation is worked on herself from the inside out. A benefit of her hard work just happens to be that she got rid of her fat clothes and her size 6 jeans fit nicely and consistently.

As soon as podcasts of the show are available on my blog, this show will be the first I post. For more information about nutritionist Monica Bearden, visit www.babyfatdiet.com.