Read an Excerpt

CHOOSE TO LOSE

HYPERION

Chapter One

According to government statistics, 70 percent of adults in the United States are overweight, including the 34 percent—a third of our population!—who are obese. Even more staggering is the rate of obesity among our children. No wonder more than half of all Americans have tried a weight-loss regimen at some point. Unfortunately, nine out of ten of us give up our weight-loss efforts within a week, often within the first three days. I witnessed this over and over again in my work as a personal trainer.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) evaluates weight and overweight using a measure called Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI calculates the relationship between height and weight: The more you weigh relative to your height, the greater your BMI. Here's how it all adds up:

WEIGHING IN

Underweight Healthy Weight Overweight Obese Morbidly Obese (BMI under 18.5) (BMI 18.5–24.9) (BMI 25–29.9) (BMI 30–39.9) (BMI 40+)

Average under 110 lbs 110–144 lbs 145–173 lbs 174–232 lbs over 232 lbs Woman (5'4" tall)

Average Man under 125 lbs 125–163 lbs 164–196 lbs 197–262 lbs over 262 lbs (5'8" tall)

What's your BMI? Visit www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi and use the BMI calculator or check the charts in Appendix A.

When I made nutrition plans for my clients, they'd at first think their program was fantastic. But three days or a week later, real life would set in, and they'd surrender. They couldn't hit their weight goals, so they ended up feeling like failures. For me, it felt as if I wasn't doing my job. I had failed to give my clients a plan they could stick with. How to break through that three-day to one-week failure wall? I was determined to find the secret to sustainable weight loss and the keys to improving physical health and emotional well-being. I had to make weight loss easy, fast, and fun.

I knew it was possible to stay motivated for more than a few days or a week, but I also knew we each have a unique, individual, and super-busy life. It became clear to me that all too often our habitual lifestyle doesn't facilitate weight loss. To lose weight permanently, I realized, we must embrace a new lifestyle. To embrace a new lifestyle, we must be equipped with the right mindset, the right knowledge, and the right tools.

A light bulb went off in my head. I realized what my clients needed to know and what tools they needed to make sustainable change in their lives. I started to design a whole new way to lose weight. Now, after years of hard work and incredible results with my clients, I've created a program—The Carb-Cycle Solution—that's effective for everyone.

YOU CAN LOSE WEIGHT

If you work it, The Carb-Cycle Solution will work for you, for the rest of your life. As you change your lifestyle, you'll quickly realize that you can lose weight and keep it off. You'll see the results you want and quite possibly surpass your expectations.

My program, The Carb-Cycle Solution, is a unique twist on the powerful weight-loss method called carb cycling. Essentially, it's a system for eating a high-carbohydrate diet one day followed by a low-carbohydrate diet the next. Alternating high-carb days with low-carb days is a wonderfully balanced nutrition technique. It's easy to follow because you don't feel deprived, and it can bring you amazing and permanent weight-loss results.

There is a reason why I work with the super obese: They have a longer journey than any of us, but they are able to completely transform their bodies and change their lives within just one or two short years. They are living proof of the body and mind's amazing ability to transform. And if they can do it, anyone can do it: especially you.

THE SCARIEST FOUR-LETTER WORD: DIET

Ah, the word "diet." It probably makes you think of restriction, deprivation, and boredom, among other disagreeable things. I want you to rethink this four-letter word. The word diet simply refers to a pattern of eating. That's it! You can have a 5,000-calorie-a-day diet, or a 1,500-calorie-a-day diet. Some diets are high in protein and low in carbohydrates, and some diets are high in carbohydrates and low in fats. There are diets that are high in pizza and low in vegetables. The way you eat right now is your diet.

You're reading this book, so chances are that your current diet—your pattern of eating—isn't working for you. You've taken the first step toward choosing to make changes to your diet. Awesome! As the old saying goes, "If you always do what you've always done, then you'll always get what you've always got." It's so brilliantly simple and true, especially when it comes to the way you eat.

The many popular diets out there have similar themes. They're about counting calories, limiting carbohydrates or fats or meats, following the glycemic index, watching portion sizes, eating in specific ratios, and on and on. Please don't get me wrong: These programs include some bright ideas. They're popular because in one form or another, they've proven successful for some people. But it can be easier!

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

I have designed The Carb-Cycle Solution with long-term practicality in mind. I don't want you to lose weight for just a year; I want you to lose weight for a lifetime. Along with hundreds of my clients, I have been following this plan for many years with ease.

The Carb-Cycle Solution takes the best from the most effective diets out there and puts a real-life twist on the concepts. Real people with real lives and real weight to lose can easily follow my plan. It not only stimulates weight loss, it works emotionally and psychologically, banishing feelings of deprivation and limitation. You'll eat whole, healthy foods and reward yourself with cheat foods as often as every other day. And you don't have to count calories or figure out the glycemic index. This no-nonsense practical approach simplifies nutrition to make it fast, easy, and fun.

The key to The Carb-Cycle Solution, and what most distinguishes it from traditional diets, is its colossal improvement over the others: It doesn't let your body adapt to a monotonous diet and exercise routine. Yet it's so incredibly easy to do. You simply alternate between high-carb days and low-carb days. This tricks your body into maximizing fat loss, conquering the dieter's plateau, and bringing long-term weight loss. You'll drop pounds safely and quickly and learn how to optimize your overall health and fitness.

Another plus of The Carb-Cycle Solution is that you can fine-tune it to suit your needs. You can reach your goal in a couple ways: over a long period of time with lots of flexibility, or in a shorter, more rigorous interval. Either way, the program empowers you to create the body you've always wanted ... while you eat the foods you enjoy! You'll be astounded at how easy it can be to keep your new, fantastic physique for the rest of your life. You are in control.

YOUR LIFE CYCLE

The Carb-Cycle Solution consists of only two parts. The 7-Day Carb Cycle (see Chapter 9) boosts your metabolism so your body can burn fat rapidly. You simply alternate days when you eat a high-carbohydrate diet with days when you eat a low-carbohydrate diet. If you ever hit the dieter's plateau and your weight loss slows or stops, the Slingshot Technique (see Chapter 11) changes up the carb cycling pattern to restart your metabolism, so you can lose even more. In both stages, you have complete control over your nutrition, plus plenty of opportunities to indulge.

It's no secret that the most phenomenal weight-loss success stories start with not only good nutrition but also exercise. Along with carb cycling, you'll start a workout program that you can easily fit into your lifestyle, preferably first thing in the morning for best results. For strength training and body-shaping, on your low-carb days you'll do basic exercises that I call shapers. Each shaper workout takes only 10 minutes, and you can do it almost anywhere. Six days a week you'll do cardiovascular workouts that I call shredders. These are intervals of low-, moderate-, and high-intensity cardio exercise that take just 6 minutes each. Shredders optimize fat burning.

The Carb-Cycle Solution nutrition and exercise program works in 90-day phases. Each month in a phase consists of three 7-Day Carb Cycles plus one Slingshot week, and from one month to the next you increase the intensity of your workouts.

You should notice a difference in the way you look and feel less than a week after you start The Carb-Cycle Solution. How long it takes to reach your goal weight depends on how much weight you want to lose. If you're looking to drop 30 pounds, you can probably reach your goal with one 90- day phase. If you need to lose 150 pounds, it may take several phases to get there in a healthy way.

LET'S GO!

Along with the nuts and bolts of The Carb-Cycle Solution program, this book contains a wealth of insider tips and tricks to keep you motivated, plus ways to chart your progress. Transformation is as much about the mind as it is about the body. Choosing to make a change is the first and most important part of The Carb-Cycle Solution. By picking up this book, you're already heading in the right direction.

You're at the beginning of an exhilarating journey, and I'll be by your side to help you become who you really are. Along the way, we'll celebrate your victories, big and small. So let's get started—it's going to be fast, easy, and fun.

My heartfelt welcome to you!

(Continues...)

---

Excerpted from CHOOSE TO LOSE by Chris Powell Copyright © 2012 by Chris Powell. Excerpted by permission of HYPERION. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---