The 7th day of Xmas Transformation Book List; "The Swing"

What would a transformation book list be without my own story, The Swing?  I've never really promoted my own book in the sense of hard sell. (which is why it wasn't on the 1st day!)  Maybe because I feel embarrassed about asking, or telling anybody what they should spend their money on, but The Swing is a damn good book!  If you can get through the second part of the book, that explains the hows and whys the kettlebell swing works so quickly and efficiently, and don't want to pick up a kettlebell, then I don't know what to tell you!  All too often I hear people that are overweight claim "I've tried everything!" to which I answer, "yeah, you've tried everything but eat right and exercise consistently"!  "Trying" has nothing to do with changing your overweight life to a normal weight life.  "Doing" is the key.

But The Swing is not about weightloss as much as it is about transformation.  How crazy is it that this formerly life long fat girl now has your attention? That this former fat girl is teaching you how to train the kettlebell swing?  That this former fat girl can look back on the last 8 years and say, with confidence, that it's never been a struggle, a fight, a burden, a drag, but instead it's been a joy.  I've replaced the idea of "maintenance" with a new idea, "permanence"!  I'm finally the person I knew I was, no longer acting out all the perceived wrongs of my childhood (well, most of the time, lol!).  Enough drama.  If you don't own The Swing then please consider getting a copy. If not for you, maybe someone you care about, or if you are a trainer I truly believe it's a book you should have in your library for clients.  It's the perfect substitute when you can't be there to answer all their questions and keep them motivated and excited to train with you again!

Another book that I highly recommend is "Mindless Eating" by Brian Wansick.  Sure, there are many good books on diet and exercise, but sometimes too much information paralyzes us.  Mindless eating has a simple approach; learn how the food industry and our own food scarcity mindset can trick us into eating much more than we may think we do....which is why food journalling is so important.  Educating ourselves about retail trickery helps us to identify how much unconscious eating we do based on "feelings", not facts (real hunger).  One of the points Michael Pollan makes in "Omnivores Dilemma" (another good book) is that the food industry doesn't care if we actually eat the food we buy, only that we buy it!  I just ordered another copy of Mindless Eating on tape to play in my car.  I loaned out the two hard copies I had but never made sure to get them back.

Here's the thing....as I just mentioned, we can paralyze ourselves with too much information.  I really and truly believe we already know, deep inside ourselves, the answers of how to get, achieve, and create the things we truly want in our lives, including how we want to feel.  We are not dummies.  Calories in, calories out.  Use muscle, don't use muscle.  Move toward our best health, move away from our best health.  We make the choices and there are no secrets.  If you can lose 1 pound then you can lose 100 lbs.  If one person can do it, then it can be done.

A blast from the past!  Here is a short video taken in 2009 when I got the chance to be on The Dr Oz Show promoting Tim Ferriss's NY Times best seller "The 4 Hour Body".


ps last year The Swing was released in paperback, but you can still find hardback copies at a great discount! http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00B2S4IKW/ref=tmm_hrd_new_olp_sr? ie=UTF8&condition=new&sr=&qid= The hardcopy is a grgeous book but the benefits of a paperback are that it's easier to keep open if you are following along with the written workouts....you decide. Thank you all for your interest and support.  I greatly appreciate it. 

pps  Although I think Ominvoire's Dilemma is a great book, and I do recommend it, I also feel that it can further induce too much paralyzing fear of the foods available in this country.  At the end of the day, organic, not organic, grass fed, hormone free, gmo free, seasonal, pasture raised, etc is for you, your conscious, and your budget to decide.  Me?  I chose not to live in fear.  I managed to lose over 100lbs never buying "organic" produce or grass fed beef and I became healthier than I had ever been in my life.  Preparing and cooking my own homemade foods and meals is most important to me.