My husband Jonas joined me for the first time for a workout. We had so much fun together. It was kinda weird bonding for the first time in this way but overall a great experience. He has decided to join me in a commitment for 2009 to get fit/healthy and get sexy six pack abs. I am very happy to have an exercise partner.

You see since starting low carb cooking I personally have been able to lose 23lbs. But since my cooking was high fat my husband has gained 20lbs. He is not restricting his carbs so the extra fat is adding to extra pounds around his waist. He does love my food that I cook!

When we met in college he was doing weight training but nothing like High Intensity Interval Training. Back then he had six pack abs so it will be no time till he gets them back. Our goal will be a sixteen week challenge. On April 25th we will show his before and after pictures (he is a bit shy about them). I will post mine as soon as I get them done.

Benefits of Exercising with a Partner

• It is motivating and encouraging.
• It holds both participants accountable.
• You can spot problems with exercise form.
• It is more fun (the more fun it is the better chance you are going to stick with it).
• It pushes you harder because it creates a slightly competitive mood.

Posting this publicly encourages accountability. I am excited for the results. I welcome everyone to join in this six pack abs journey. I will be adding some exercise videos of exercises that we have been doing.

Many Blessings,

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In order to reduce appetite and trick the mind into feeling full, scientists at the Institute of Food Research in Norwich, England have come up with engineering foods that make hunger go away. There seems to be something wrong with natural foods and that scientists have to tinker and experiment with them to make them suit their ideals. Scientists know that fats decrease hunger and they are going make these new foods digest similarly to fats. They are going to copy what happens when you eat a high fat meal.  These new engineered foods would be products like breads and yogurts. So even though these foods may be low in fat, your body is tricked into thinking that you have eaten a high fat meal and therefore the appetite is then suppressed.

Doctors admit that curbing appetite is one of the key ways of combating the obesity epidemic that we have today. Other scientific methods of curbing appetite have been chemical injections and interfering with the digestive system by implanting devices. To me, this sounds rather horrifying. Methods that have been previously used were Orlistat that would block fat absorption but resulted in an unpleasant side effect of diarrhea and gas.

Here are 5 Natural Ways of Suppressing Appetite:

- Eat fat. I like to eat fat at every meal. Eating fat can curb and eliminate cravings.
- Eliminate refined carbohydrates and sugars from your diet. Whenever we binge it is never on steak and eggs. It is always on ice cream, crackers, cakes, chocolates. Next time you have a craving, go for the steak and eggs and watch your hunger disappear.
- Eat fibre. Eating fibre has been scientifically proven to reduce appetite. Fibre acts like fat. A hormone called cholecystokinin is sent to the brain to convey messages of satiety.  When fibre is eaten high levels of cholecystokinin have been found in the blood. High fat meals also had the same results.
- Don’t eat processed food. Ingredients in these foods such as aspartame, sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Monosodium Glutamate, refined wheat flour – all of these increase hunger.
- Having a protein in your snacks. A snack of a boiled egg and veggie sticks, a handful of almonds or seeds, some yogurt or kefir will keep you feeling full.

What are your thoughts and ways that you curb appetite? Do you agree that we should be engineering foods to decrease appetite?

I would love to hear what you have to say.

To your health and fitness,

Catherine Osthaus

P.S. Fatloss starts with your thoughts and mindsets. To acquire Unstoppable Fatloss take the 21 day challenge.

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There are many things in life to be desired for – whether you are striving to lose a few pounds, stick to a diet, to get a pay raise or to quite smoking. So what do you think will get you there? Will it be self discipline or motivation?  I actually have found the answer to this question in a parenting book!

I have been reading this book called the Secrets of Discipline-12 Keys for Raising Responsible Children by Ron G. Morrish. The word discipline sounds harsh and punitive but the true meaning of it is to train and it comes from the word disciple which means student.

So lately I have been finding myself bargaining with my children to get them to do what I ask. There are many examples of this throughout the day like “get dressed and then you can have some breakfast” or “clean up and then we can …” or “eat your salad and then you can have a dessert”. This is called bribery and it is exhausting and frustrating. This way of parenting establishes a “what’s in it for me” attitude. And if the reward is not good enough then soon the kids will lose interest in what needs to be done.

The alternative to bribing children to do what you ask them to do is to set expectations and routines for them. “No” and “Failure” are not acceptable. The only other option is to succeed.

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An example of this would be getting a child to clean up their room. If your child is young you can set a time limit of 15 minutes so the task does not seem overwhelming. And then stop when the time is up even if the room is not totally cleaned up.

Mom says: Let’s go and clean up your room. (Notice there is no choice in this statement)
Child says: No!

Mom brings the child to the room.

Mom says: ok honey, pick up the books and put them on the bookshelf.
Child says: No!

Mom takes the child’s hand and gets the child to pick up the books and put it away on the shelf.

Mom says: ok, let’s pick up the Lego. I hold the box and you pick up the pieces.
Child says: ok!

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This is an example out of the Secrets of Discipline and it is what happened to me when I implemented it. My daughter had no choice but to clean up her room. I stood by and directed her movement. I told her what to pick up and where to put it away. This is what training is all about. There is no room for failure. The only other option is success – you do it until you get it!

Practice makes perfect

Once a behavior is established you need to practice it to perfect it. If you have ever been on a sports team you know how important practice is before a game. Also before you get a drivers license you need to practice how to drive before you take the driving test.

*Without practice, failure is very likely.*

Do you practice during a game or test? No, you practice before.

So with any behavior that you want changed you need to practice it until it you do it without thinking about it!

Creating Self-Discipline

Cleaning up is often horrible chore. But the more we think about how horrible it is the less likely we are to do it. So we get rid of choice and just clean up without thinking about it. The cleaning up just got less painful and with practice it will become a routine. This is self-discipline. We train ourselves to do things that seem painful until it becomes habitual.

Motivation

Motivation is defined as a psychological reason for an action. Motivation is great for short term. You can get pumped to do something but if you stop being motivated then failure is likely to happen. So what happens if you get off track? Well negative thoughts will start to beat down those motivating thoughts and soon giving up and failure are likely. Motivation is only a short term solution.

Conclusion

For true success we need to build concrete routines and practice those routines until we don’t need to think about them and just do them!

To your health and wellness,

Catherine Osthaus

Ps. Check out Scott Tousignant’s Unstoppable Fatloss program. It’s like having a personal trainer in your home. A trainer to tell you exactly what to do and how to lose that unwanted fat. There is no more choice to fail. It is not an option. Practice a routine and do it!

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I have been following the Atkins Diet for 2 months now. When I started I weighed in at 134lbs and today I broke through to 118lbs! That is a total loss of 16lbs in just 2 short months. I am thrilled to say the least. I am also 2 pounds lighter then when I got pregnant with my first daughter! But I did not start Atkins for the weight loss. I started Atkins because I had a severe Candida reaction which was not pleasant at all. For Candida I am also taking Oil of Oregano. For the most part, I don’t notice the Candida symptoms anymore. They are still there but they are diminishing. I may have to stop eating cheeses and only eat fermented dairy. Dairy has lactose in it which is a sugar and Candida loves sugars.

Other benefits of this diet are the huge improvement in my digestion. This is partly due to the Candida dying off and also because of the drastically reducing fruit intake. You see fruit digests really fast and fats digest slower. So when eaten they get mixed together and the sugars from the food start to ferment causing gas and bloating. I find this especially true when eating nuts and fruit probably because of the fiber in the nuts is slow to digest.

Eating less is also a huge benefit of the Atkins diet. I am surprised when I do groceries that my cart is only half full when every week it used to be filled to the brim! This must be due to stabilizing of the blood sugars. I also love fats. Our bodies need healthy fats. Fats are satisfying and they digest slower. This reduces the amount of food you need to feel full. If I feel a slight urge to cheat I go straight for the fridge and grab an avocado. This stops the cravings! I love it.

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