Abby and I with the family
A couple days ago I shared with you part 1 of a story on a Mom with 7 kids who changed her whole families life. I received so many comments and private emails from my subscribers about this story and how it really inspired them to look at what they are feeding their kids.
The second part of the story is about the miracles Kim’s family has seen from getting off of the traditional processed and toxic diet. When I was in ND with everyone I had a great conversation with her husband who has lost 45 lbs. He looked awesome and said he loves Tracies webstite, and he is just a sponge for knowledge regarding food. He has a problem I hope all of you get to at some point. He needs to GAIN weight, and is currently eating 3000 calories per day, but can’t keep weight on him. Nice problem to have right 
You can obviously see from his before pic, he wasn’t gifted with great genetics. He has systematically experimented with HIS body to find the foods that HIS body responds well to, and has his hormones very regulated and is eating only high quality foods that his body can process. He has found whole grains (a very healthy thing to eat) doesn’t sit well with his body and his back problems come back right away. I challenge you to do experiments on yourself and track how you feel. Many people have trouble processing dairy, sugar, and grains. Try eliminating one of them for a 4-6 week period and see how you feel and then try another one to eliminate.
Kim and her family before changing their diet
Enough rambling, here is the rest of Kim’s story:
“I was just looking out the window at the kids playing in the yard and realizing what a miracle they are. Our oldest just turned 14, we have twins who are 12, triplets that are 8 and our youngest is 4. I didn’t think we’d be able to have kids. I grew up obese, and didn’t have a normal puberty. In fact, I only had my menstrual cycle one to two times a year.
As a kid, this didn’t bother me so much. It wasn’t until we decided we wanted a family, that I became concerned. I made an appointment with an OB-GYN, who immediately referred me to a fertility specialist. He told me I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. He told me I would never conceive a baby without medical intervention. He put me on some oral drugs that were supposed to stimulate my body to ovulate, but that was unsuccessful, so we proceeded to take fertility shots. We were lucky to have a single baby, twins and triplets. All were healthy and we decided six was enough! We weren’t worried about having any more kids as pregnancy was impossible without medical intervention. Maybe with the way I was taking care of my body at the time, it was impossible, but my niece had me on an exercise plan to help me lose a lot of pregnancy weight. I was losing weight and exercising consistently. To my surprise, my periods started to become more regular. More surprising than More on You are What You Eat: Part 2 of 2
I look forward to hearing your responses to the question at the bottom of the post.
I want to share a story with you that happened to me sophomore year in high school, which was 10 years ago, and the valuable lessons that have helped shape me into who I am today.
It was spring time, which meant prom season. I wasn’t dating anybody, so I needed to find a girl that I would have fun with at prom. I had a list of girls I was thinking about asking, but the one that I really wanted to ask, wasn’t even on my list because I didn’t think I was good enough for her, or deserved it.
Let me back up a moment. I would describe my high school popularity as average, I was a decent athlete but not all-star, I didn’t party like many of the other guys, and I was in all the advanced college classes. So I was friends with everyone, but not close with any specific click. I had average self esteem, but very poor confidence level.
The girl I really wanted to ask was THE GIRL that every guy had their eye on. Not only was she extremely attractive, she had high morals and standards. The only problem was that she had a boyfriend a couple towns away from where we went to school. But word quickly spread in my large high school that her boyfriend didn’t want to go to prom with her and she was looking to go with someone.
I remember that day thinking, could I actually get the hottest and most popular girl to go to prom with me? “No, never I told myself.” As time went on she was not getting asked out even though just about every guy wanted desperately to do so, but nobody had the balls to do it.
I had a conversation with my parents about it and they told me something that stuck with me, “Dustin, you are a great guy and a great catch and you deserve the best. So why not ask her out.”
What, my ultra conservative parents actually encouraging me to ask her out?
This was all I need to take the massive leap of nerves and faith to ask her out.
My prom date!
That evening I wrote a long letter telling her that I wanted to ask her out and that I knew she had a boy friend and I would treat her right. I had a class with her and it was test day, and I had to wait until the end of the class to give her the letter. That was the longest test of my life! I quickly went over to her desk and said, “Hey I was wondering if you would be my date for prom, but before you respond please read this letter.”
The next hour seemed like eternity, but the end of the day came and she approached me (she was very shy) and said yes. To say I was excited would be an understatement. I decided to try to not make a big deal about it, but word spread like wildfire in the 2000 plus student high school, and I instantly became the most popular guy, even if it were just for a few weeks.
High School Basketball
I would be walking down the hall and guys would be yelling things like “Stud” and congratulating me. Even some teachers were congratulating me for taking the chance. I even had a senior who was very popular stop me in the hall and tell me nice job.
The next week was weird because between my excitement and nervousness of prom coming up, I lost my appetite. I weigh about 200 lbs right now and back then I was still about 6’4 and only weighed about 165 lbs. That week I lost 7 lbs!
Prom went off without a hitch and we had a great time. At least I did, I hope she did as well.
Why do I share this story with you?
There were many lessons I learned from this that have helped me achieve all I have since then. I am in a great relationship now and not looking, but if I were single and interested in a girl, I would have no intimidation or anxiety in approaching her.
Here are some of the lessons I learned:
1. Most things that are great in life take risk and chance. Sure there was risk in me asking her, because she could say no and I might feel rejection. But, I decided that the possible positive outcome was worth the risk.
2. Getting told no, isn’t really a big deal. So what if she would have said no. I wouldn’t have had a chance to go with her if I didn’t ask her in the first place. So I was no worse off if she said no.
3. Don’t be afraid to ask. So many times we disqualify ourselves and psyche ourselves out of doing something because we are scared. We need to live our lives in a state of fear, I believe staying in our comfort levels have devastating consequences towards achieving our goals and dreams.
4. I deserve the best and am worthy of it, so why not go for the best. Changing my self image allowed me to see what was possible, when I saw what was possible I took the necessary actions to make it a reality.
5. Celebrate small successes. It is much easier to do something uncomfortable, if you have had small successes in the past. This made it much easier to approach other girls in the future, as well as future clients, and business partners.
So I challenge you! When it comes to your health and fitness, what have you disqualified yourself from by saying you don’t have enough time, you are too old, you are too out of shape, you don’t have the money, you will wait until later, I don’t deserve a healthier body than my family? Whatever limiting beliefs you are telling yourself, stop it now! They are lies that will keep you from getting what you want.
I have a couple great resources if you realize you have been not experiencing the health and fitness in your life that you deserve and can achieve.
If one of your desires is to have a strong core that not only looks good, but is going to keep you from experiencing back pain, I challenge you to invest $29.95 in my Got Core DVDs and put the DVD in and do 1 of the 8 15 minute workouts on the stability ball. Do that 3 times per week and believe that your core will be stronger than ever, and I promise you it will! Click here to learn more about the Got Core DVDs.
Another self limiting belief I hear about those thinking about coming to my Fit Fun Bootcamps is, “I have to first get in shape before I start.” You have no idea how frustrated I get when I hear that. If you are ready to make drastic changes, we are ready to help you transform your life. So if you live in the Dane County area feel free to come check out Fit Fun Bootcamps for a FREE WEEK and see if it is the right program for you.
Here is my question: What limiting beliefs have prevented you from attaining the health and fitness that you rightfully deserve and what belief will you now tell yourself.
I hope that you have been enjoying my moms recipes and nutritional tips each week. I want to thank every one of you who have contributed to the recipes by adding your own in the comments section. My plan is at the end of 1 year, make a cook book will have all the recipes my mom has shared as well as those who have contributed.
Here is a look at some of the recipes so far!
30 Healthy Snacks, 21 Healthy Snacks, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate Tofu Pie, Pureed Vegetables, Roasted Veggies, Quinoa, Chicken, Omelet, Pizza, Guacamole, Hummus, Carrot Soup
Instead of coming up with different recipes and food ideas each week, my mom and I thought it would be More on What Nutrition Recipes or Questions Do You Have!?
If you have been following me for any length of time or have trained with me, you know the first thing I do with a client who sees me for fat loss and has been a chronic long distance cardio person, is tell them to stop immediately!
For many looking to lose weight long slow intensity cardio just doesn’t seem to work. I don’t have all the answers to why, but just look around at everyone in the gym who is on treadmills or ellipticals at a very slow speed. Many are overweight, not all of course, but many. I am not saying running an hour per day 5 days a week will turn you fat, but for many running an hour a day won’t cause much if any fat loss. More on Interval Training: The 21st Century Fat Loss Solution
I just wanted to wish every mom a wonderful Mother’s Day. I also want to give a special shout out to my mom who has been an awesome supportive mom the past 25 years! Thanks for staying home with us all 19 years I was at home. Thanks for waking me up each morning with a healthy breakfast ready hot that I had requested the night before. Thank you for driving me to school everyday, even though I was embarassed by the old rusty vehicles we had. Thanks for being at all my sporting events, even when all I did was ride the bench.
I also wanted to thank the 100 + moms I get to work with each week. Thanks for working SO hard for me. Thanks for realizing you are important and worth investing in. Thanks for changing your lives so you can change the lives of you family and be a healthy example to your children. Thanks for allowing me to live out my dream each and every day!
You may have seen this email floating around, I want to thank Susan Galgon for sending this to me.
WHY GOD MADE MOMS
Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:
Why did God make mothers?
1. She’s the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out when we were getting born.
How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring. More on Happy Mother’s Day!
Today my mom would like to share with you are great healthy carrot soup. This soup can be eaten both warm or cold depending on the weather and your mood.
Here it is!
Just watching Abby do her core workouts gives me an appetite….not to mention those goofy, talented kids doing their balancing/pushup act for all of Madison the other day!
Fortunately, we have a very slimming soup on the back burner for today; yeah, I know, it’s feeling like summer these days, so who wants soup?! It really can be eaten cold, if that’s your thing, or otherwise, just make it lukewarm. But hey, let’s get real: we all know that more chilly days are ahead before serious summer sets in, right?!
Besides, a friend just made this delicious soup for a few of us gals from our Homemaker group at church and I enjoyed it so much that you now get to make it too; she served it with a baby green salad and warm Italian bread, giving us a lo-cal lunch…well, we won’t mention the dessert, okay? Well, get out your big Dutch oven and get ready to do some serious chopping.
CARROT LEEK SOUP:
5 c. water or chicken broth
5 c. sliced carrots More on Healthy Carrot Soup
By now you are probably aware that Madison Fit Fun Bootcamps are kicking off the 2009 outdoor season Saturday May 9th at 8:30 AM at Elver Park. We are encouraging families to come and everyone to bring someone! This first boot camp is FREE, in order for everyone to experience what a boot camp is like. We will have 15 trainers there helping out, ensuring you get the best workout possible.
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*This was filmed last year, some of the locations have changed and the Saturday morning boot camp structure has changed.
Madison Fit Fun Boot Camp is the largest boot camp program in the Madison area. We currently have 5 locations and 9 different camps to make it as convenient and accessible as possible. Most of the camps have 2-3 trainers, giving you personal attention.
When evaluating a fitness program, here are the top 7 things to consider.
1. Program has a proven track record for delivering massive results to each and every participant.
-We have amazing before and after pictures as well as many testimonials talking about the unbelievable results and experiences of the boot campers. Whether you are looking to lose weight, tone up, improve your 5k time, or complete your first triathlon, Fit Fun Boot Camp will deliver.
2. Program is taught by high qualified and experienced trainers that use a consistent training philosophy.
-All instructors are either certified personal trainers, or have at least 1 year of mentorship by myself.
3. Program incorporates some nutritional guidance and extra support.
-We will provide additional handouts and resources for what to eat as well as keeping each other accountable for our food choices. More on Madison Fit Fun Boot Camp
Today in the video we talk about having a workout buddy. If you are looking for a great way to be accountable with others under the guidance of a highly qualified trainer, check out Madison Fit Fun Bootcamps.
The exercise you are about to see is one of the toughest and most intense exercises you can do to target the hamstrings. In most people, the hamstring is underdeveloped compared to the quadricep. This will require a partner, so grab your husband, wife, or friend and give this one a shot! If you are looking for a great butt lifting exercise, you should definitely add this to the list!
I also wanted to give a HUGE thanks to John Hall for all the videos he did with me. I really hope I can get back down to Chicago or have him to come up to do some more video. Be sure to check out his website.
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More on Hamstring and Butt Toning Exercise
I am off to California in a few hours for a fitness conference and wanted to quick write to you and thank you! In the past 7 months I have had nearly 100,000 visitors to my websites and 1000′s signing up for my newsletter from all over the world! 8 months ago, I had no idea how to make a website or start a blog, and 100,000 visitors later here I am!
Some fitness professionals thought I was crazy when I wanted to start a blog that would take me 7 hours a week to maintain, and give away $1000′s of dollars worth of fitness information for free that has cost at least $85,000 to obtain, but I have, and always will believe, that if I enrich the lives of others, and provide value to their lives, all my needs and wants will be made available. I challenge you to live your live this way as well. More on Thank You!
Today’s video is certainly entertaining and will provide you with some smiles watching me not only get dominated by John, but really experiencing some good pain along the way. (I have been told by many of you that you love watch me hurt, you sick individuals )
This is the second to last video I have for you with John and I. We had been going hard for about 45 minutes filming when we got to this one.
Before the video, I want to talk about pushing yourself past limitations. These limitations can be both mental and physical. In nearly every case, the most successful weight loss clients, and highest level athletes that I have worked with, all possess this trait. It is the can-do-attitude and belief that they can do anything, and if they can’t do it, they will try.
An excuse I hear a lot when clients don’t want to challenge themselves is that they are afraid they are going to get hurt. Being safe and staying healthy is one of my most important goals for my clients. I am not talking about doing anything stupid and foolish, but at some point you need to push your body past what it is use to. If you do it correctly it shouldn’t cause you any injuries, but some use that as a reason to not do it at all. Sure there is always a small chance of something happening, but the cost of not trying is much worse.
How do you think I learned how to do all that crazy stuff standing on a ball? It took some practice and a few very exciting falls!
I recently had a new bootcamper who came to class, she wasn’t too overweight, maybe could have lost 20 lbs or so, but mostly had NO muscle tone on her body. She struggled through the workout, but actually did quite well, I was very impressed. The next day I received an email that this person felt overwhelmed and was challenged too much and wanted to quit. After some back and forth conversation she decided she didn’t want to continue, but rather listen to a family member who was a trainer who told her to walk for 30 minutes on a treadmill and do some crunches and lunges. I truly wish this person the best of luck, but gladly refunded her the money and sent her on her way. She was obviously not ready for creating massive change in her life and wasn’t ready to work hard to get it. Anybody can walk for 30 minutes on a treadmill and do a few crunches, but what will that get them? Very little. More on Try Something Extreme!
