Weight Loss Secrets: We dont need no stinkin’ hook!

Look Ma! No dieting!

Oh people. First and foremost Im veering wildly off-course here.

Im phone blogging, Im not editing, Im throwing caution to the wind and words to the internet without my usual “write.stop.put.away.edit.edit.publish.repeat” format.

Is this because it’s the first day of SUMMER AROUND OUR HOUSE?
Is this because I caint sleep because a loved one is gearing up for something superbigkindofstressful today?
Is this because I just phone-read a post by Roni Noone which struck a chord?

I’d say yes. To all three.

In Roni’s post she quotes from an email we recently received from our literary agent. Words which others may have read and grown deflated sparked Roni & me to shout YES!! THEY GET US!!

“…people are really excited about you [Carla] and Roni as authors. They love your style, LOVE your platforms and think you’re a winning combination. The main hangup right now, is that this book doesn’t have that one big dieting hook that will draw people.”

You see, Roni & I are entirely, one hundred percent OVER the notion of a ‘hook’ or diet plan.

The book we’ve pitched is, essentially, a healthy living handbook.

It’s part sharing our stories, it’s part sharing YOUR stories (oooh alert! alert!), part journal, part healthy living resource.

In it we chat about our experiences, share writing exercises, and coach readers to make small changes in the way they view food, fitness and self-confidence.

The book is about babysteps.

Layering of new healthy habits, one upon the other, until POOF! the reader realizes how far she’s come & how much she’s changed/evolved without (all together now!) a dieting hook.

For me the very notion of this sans-diet plan living was born when I discovered the concept of a FITNESS MISSION STATEMENT.

I realized, just as I had a personal, business, family and spiritual mission statements, I needed a framework for the healthy living part of my life.

A framework which was not a specific diet or exercise plan (in the XYZ number of sets & reps or calorie-counting sense of the word) but a series of sentences which provided the backdrop to my days. A healthy living lens through which I viewed each 24 hours.

Once I created this statement—ANYTHING I DID WORKED BECAUSE I HAD CREATED IT & COMMITTED TO IT. (ok so Im shouting into the phone. youll have that. sorry).

Whatever approach I used for diet & exercise worked because I knew my goals, I OWNED my goals, I’d worked through my shit muck, & I had an overall healthy living framework for my days.

For Roni & me it isnt about selling a hook but a comprehensive, lasting approach to healthy living created by you as you work alongside us through the book.

It’s the realization if you dont invest the time to discover more about yourself before you decide which approach to take —- NOTHING will work.

I saw with my training clients if they didnt spend time with me in the office FIRST detailing what they wanted, why they wanted it, how they’d attempted it before and why that didnt work—they frequently failed.

My clients who spent time gazing inward before we hit the workout floor (learning why past attempts may have failed, pondering what sparked them to succeed before, thinking about who they are, what their goals are etc) succeed at a far greater rate.

They created their goals. They owned their goals. ANY APPROACH WORKED (from Pilates to Body Pump. From South Beach to Paleo) because we’d fashioned an overall approach to healthy living tailored only for them.

So, in my loving, rambling, android phone-blogging way I throw it back to you: