Menopause Weight Loss | Loose Hormone Weight

INTRODUCTION

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FollowHolly is a lifestyle plan created for those like-minded people who want to enjoy vibrant youthful health and fitness throughout their life, from preteen through senior years, without the sacrifice of life enjoyment that so often accompanies health and fitness plans.

Why will you be interested in the FollowHolly lifestyle? Because it works for average people, who are not willing to eat packaged diet foods served on lettuce leaves while doing an hour of cardio each day. FollowHolly was created by me, a working mother, with the same demands, tastes, appetites and time crunches to appease as you. This is a way of life, not a diet, with principles you will learn to apply to your own life. The results naturally flow.

I am 48 years old. I am 5'2" tall, and I weigh 108. My weight has ranged from 116 (in high school) to 107 (when I was an actress performing in commercials). In my younger years, I used extremely unhealthy methods to control my weight - fasting, bingeing and purging, the all-protein diet, the grapefruit diet, whatever diet my actress friends were on.

I left acting at age 30 to start law school full time. My eating habits became more healthful, as I was no longer under the constant pressure to be thin, but I didn't have the level of vigor I wanted. Then, over the past few years, my energy dramatically waned. I was having to get up to go to the bathroom 5 to 6 times every night no matter when I stopped drinking liquids, my skin had become very dry, and I was starting to gain weight - only a pound or so per year, but I was concerned. At first I attributed these things to perimenopause, but I was curious enough to start to research. What I learned allowed me to create an entirely new lifestyle that resulted in me easily and naturally losing the few excess pounds, gain a level of energy I hadn't had in years and sleep through the night. Also, the dryness in my skin vanished.

As friends and family noticed the changes in my body and vitality, they started asking me what I was doing. I tried to distill down the research I had done and how I was incorporating these principles into my life. I began sending long emails to them explaining what I was doing. They began to follow my habits and lifestyle. When we would get together, they would follow what I was eating. They would accompany me to the grocery store to see how I was shopping and what I was cooking. They began getting very satisfying results. Word began to spread, the demand for this information grew, and my research has continued. FollowHolly.com was born.

FollowHolly is not just about practical healthy eating habits. We promote other lifestyle changes to create permanent weight loss and a sense of well-being and freedom. I have learned, and proven, there can be no permanent weight loss without reducing stress to at least a tolerable level. The two go hand in hand.

Here are the basic FollowHolly principles:

1. Take at least 6 months to lose each 10 pound increment of body weight.

2. "Opt Out" as a lifestyle. Do not do things just because everyone else is doing them. Evaluate and chose what works for your life, and only do that.

3. Learn to say "No" to demands, requests and invitations to preserve your peace of mind and allow space in your day.

4. Never eat fewer than 1500 calories per day, and preferably more. Deprivation backfires and causes bingeing.

5. Balance the carbohydrates, protein and fat in every meal. The meal should contain approximately 40% carbs, 30 – 35% protein and 25 – 30% fat. You can figure this out by checking the Nutrition Information label on the food. If there is none, don’t stress about having these exact ratios – just make sure to get some protein in every meal. (For instance, include a piece of chicken, low-fat string cheese, an egg, nuts, etc.) Carb heavy meals can be offset by a protein heavy meal the next meal.

6. If you are going to eat a high-sugar carb (for example, frozen yogurt), begin the meal by eating protein first, like 2 string cheeses (160 calories) or a serving of almonds (170 calories for 1/4 cup) followed by a 300 calorie yogurt.

7. "Do It Now" - do not put off anything. When you bring in the mail, sort it, calendar necessities, file, NOW. Backlogs cause stress. Stress causes cortisol to dump into your system, which causes a) cravings for high fat/salty/sugary foods, and b) belly fat. If you cannot Do It Now, it means you have too many things on your plate. Refer to Rules 2 and 3.

8. Meditate 15 minutes per day (preferably as soon as you wake up). There is no better stress reducer.

9. Exercise 45 minutes to 1 hour per day. This can be done in 10 to 15 minute sessions throughout the day if necessary. It is just as effective. Do not take more than one day per week off.

10. Simplify, simplify, simplify. If you can skip steps and get the same or similar results, do it. For example, in recipes, use pre-made items, such as soups, then add to them.

MEMBER SUCCESS STORIES

"I am a tall, 17-year-old strong athlete in very good condition, but I was unhappy being a size 9. I started the..."