THE POWER OF FREQUENT MEALS

Why are frequent meals so important? Although your goal is to get as much good food as you can past your fat cells and into your lean muscle tissue, you must be wary. Your lean muscle tissue can handle only a certain amount of food at a time. In other words, after you eat that amount, the cells in your muscles shut their doors and don't allow any more food in, no matter how nutritious it is, until it has burned up the food already there. So where does the excess food go? You guessed it: straight to your fat cells.

Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. (I'm going to be mentioning calories here, but I'm only doing so to illustrate my point, not to make you think you have to count calories to succeed in this program.) Let's say it's lunchtime and you have the type of body that needs 500 calories to keep functioning until your next meal. But then you sit down at lunch and ingest enough food to add up to 1,000 calories. That excess 500 calories (no matter where it is coming from - chicken, fruit or cookies) is most likely to be stored as fat.

Are you getting the picture? If at some point during the day you eat a very large meal (which almost all of you do), you're liable to saturate your fat cells. And don't think you're doing yourself a favor if you overeat at one meal and then wait several hours before eating another meal. By then it's too late. Your body has already taken the extra calories from that first meal and sent them to its fat cells. What's more, all you're doing by waiting several hours to eat again is building up your appetite to the point that you'll almost certainly overeat the next time. In fact, your fat cells will play a vicious game with you if you try to lose weight by under-eating. The more meals you try to skip in the hope of losing weight, the more your fat cells (sensing an oncoming famine) will send out those notorious enzymes in order to grab most of the calories you ingest when you finally eat again.

Moreover, when you spend too much time between meals, your body isn't going to want healthful food. Every study done of eating patterns has found that the longer you wait between meals, the greater the amount of high-fat food you will consume at the next meal. Let's say you're trying to get lean, and you have a cup of coffee and toast for breakfast. Then you eat a salad and yogurt for lunch. Then you go from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. without eating. When you walk into the house, exhausted and hungry, what do you think you're going to want to eat? Certainly not a healthful meal like a grilled chicken breast with steamed broccoli and brown rice. You are craving fatty foods and sugar - the very things your muscles will never take in.

This craving is a physical need, not just a psychological one. Your body is shutting down and requires energy in a hurry, and sugar and fat are two of the best ways to get that quick fix. The reason you also crave fat is because you want food that is instantly satisfying and fills you up fast. It's a fact: Under-eating always leads to overeating. Skipping meals will set off an increased craving in your body for the very foods you're trying to avoid.

HOW CAN YOU EAT SO OFTEN?

Let me stop and guess what your thoughts might be at the moment. You think there is no way you can eat so much food four or five times per day, and you believe there is no way you can even find the time to squeeze in so many meals per day.

The fact of the matter is that most of you are already eating five times per day. There's no question about it. What many of you are conveniently ignoring is the caloric impact of your little 60-second "snacks" that you have in the mid-mornings and mid-afternoons. You're also forgetting about that quick graze in front of the refrigerator right before you go to bed at night. You don't realize that those little snacks are usually so high in fat and so loaded with calories that you may as well be eating a full meal.

Let's consider the typical American diet. Doughnuts or a couple of bagels in the morning, then lunch, then a vending machine snack in the afternoon, a big dinner and then ice cream late at night. That's five meals. And as you're going to learn tomorrow, if you ate the right foods that many times per day, you'd be overwhelmed by the amount of food you could eat. You'd be even more overwhelmed by the fact that you'd start losing weight.

YOUR DAY 1 EATING GUIDE

Your task for Day 1 is very basic. You're not going to find any recommendations on what to eat - that will start tomorrow. I only want you to eat five meals today, each one coming approximately every three to four hours.

Please note: I'm giving you five meals each day because I count the snacks you're eating already as meals. (Considering the kind of quick food you probably eat during a normal snack, a snack is almost always higher in fat and often higher in calories than a regular meal.) Moreover, if you ever happen to note the times you eat during an average day, you will probably realize that when you include your snacks, you might be eating more than five times per day.

Another critical point to remember: This week, your third meal and fifth meal will look more like snacks and low-fat desserts. By next week, however, we will make those into light protein-carb meals just like the others.

I'm offering you times of the day you can eat, but again, I want this program to provide flexibility. You can decide when to have your first meal. Just make sure you start eating in regular intervals after you finish that first meal.

For instance:

EVENING PEP TALK

I know to those of you who have spent much of your adult life trying out fad diets, I might sound a little bit off-the-wall. You are still stuck on that wildly outdated theory that our days should consist of three meals - breakfast, lunch and dinner. But what I'm giving you is the result of reports from the top researchers in the field who have studied permanent weight loss and determined exactly what it takes to get fat off your body forever.

Some of you are probably wondering what I'm holding back. I'm not holding back. I'm not holding back a thing. This is what true progress is all about. It's about moderation and balance. It's about creating small daily habits that will give you the ability to eat well for the rest of your life. You will never turn back once you see your body change.

SLIMDOWN TIP:
SLOW DOWN YOUR EATING

You can make surprising changes in your eating behavior just by slowing down the speed at which you eat. A lot of people who eat too much of the wrong foods don't even know what they're eating because of how quickly they race through their meals. Today, time yourself and see if you're taking a bite of food every 5 or 10 seconds. Ideally, you want to do it somewhere between 15 and 30 seconds, and if you can hold out longer, that's even better.

Keep this in mind, too: Your brain needs about 20 minutes to recognize that you have eaten enough to satisfy your body's needs. If you eat more slowly during this 20-minute period, you'll consume less food but feel equally satisfied at the end of those 20 minutes, as compared to faster eaters who will consume much more food in those first 20 minutes but will have no idea how full they are until much later when they can barely move off the couch.

Proceed to Day 2

THE EASY TRUTH ABOUT MUSCLE TRAINING

I admit, I was once a bodybuilder wannabe. I devoted my life to the gym. But today, my workouts are a lot easier and shorter, and I don't feel like I am missing a thing. I want to let you in on a little secret. If you closely watch a big-time weightlifter do a series of repetitions with weights, you'll notice that the time he is actually lifting is about 60 seconds or less before he takes a long rest.

Essentially, that's what you'll be doing, except you won't be producing the stereotypical "pumping iron" muscle. This will be lean, silky, beautiful muscle. You'll be taking your long-dormant skeletal muscle tissue (which right now probably feels like fat) and you'll be rebuilding its elasticity and tone.

I can't tell you how many of my old-school colleagues give me a hard time about the idea of my 60-Second Workouts. They say, "Oh, come on, who can get in shape in 60 seconds?"

And I always reply, "Hey, I've met a lot of people who have turned their lives around with just one 60-Second Workout." As time passes, they add more 60-Second Workouts each day. I know people who were unable to get through 30 seconds of a 60-Second Workout, and a few weeks later were doing a dozen of them per day.

Despite all the huffing and puffing you see at health clubs, the truth is that the most elementary resistance exercise - leaning one arm against the wall, placing your two hands together and pushing - stimulates the kind of muscle activity that can burn calories. It's not the weight you use that counts, it's how you use the weight.That's one of the beauties of the 21-Day Slimdown. Rather than being inundated by a lot of restrictive instructions on how to work your biceps, triceps and abs, you only need to use your body weight on some simple exercises. In later weeks, you occasionally might use cans from your pantry as dumbbells, and somewhere down the road you might even join a gym. But that's up to you. All you have to do in this program are quick, easy exercises you will always be able to fit into your schedule.

In the Exercise Guide, you'll see photos and descriptions of the 60-Second Workouts. Some work your upper body, some your lower body, and there are others that stretch your muscles and give you the critical elasticity to keep your muscle tissue vibrant.

YOUR DAY 2 WORKOUT

For today, your goal is to complete two 60-Second Workouts. Let's do an upper-body and lower-body workout. (As we continue through the program, I will not require you to do any specific workouts. In this program, any muscle-building exercise, regardless of where it is on the body, is going to get results.)

The first workout for you to do is what I call the Modified Push-up. Instead of being on the ground doing the far more difficult Marine-style push-up, this is a push-up you can perform from your desk at work, kitchen counter or dining room table. Stand about three feet away from the desk or table. Lean forward at an angle and place your hands, which should be shoulder-width apart, against the object. Do push-ups for about 60 seconds, or as long as you can last. The slower you perform the push-ups, the better your workout will be.

Now, let's do a lower-body workout: Standing Heel Raises. Stand with your feet together, go up on your toes, and when you come down, let your heels just barely touch the ground. Repeat over and over for 60 seconds, or as long as you can last.

If you were laughing before at the idea of 60-Second Workouts, I bet you aren't laughing now. I doubt very many of you are able to go the entire 60 seconds. That's normal. Now do you realize what kind of workout you can do in that short space of time?

EVENING PEP TALK

There's no other way around it: To make your muscle cells work more efficiently, you've got to work them out. Allowing a muscle to go unused not only compromises your health, but also keeps you from full physical potential. Not as much blood travels through an unused muscle, which means that muscle won't get enough oxygen and calcium, which in turn means your tendons and ligaments become fragile. 80 percent of all low-back pain may be attributed to muscular deficiency. Studies also show that those who do not do any kind of muscle toning are more likely to develop osteoporosis, a condition in which your bones weaken and you start to hunch over as you get older.

If you're worried you're going to look like a bodybuilder, forget it. Research professors on women's health have verified that a basic resistance exercise program (i.e., something like the 60-Second Workouts) will lead to phenomenal gains in a woman's strength with very little change in the overall size of her muscle. Instead of worrying about your appearance as a result of the 60-Second Workouts, you should be celebrating the fact that what you'll see is a decrease in the size of your hips and thighs because of the significant amount of fat that you'll lose. You don't get bigger. You only look better. Who can complain about that?

I have no doubt you are quickly going to realize your time to exercise is precious in your life. But like everything else, don't overdo your workouts. Relax. More weight is not great. You don't gain through pain. To me, pain only means one thing - you're hurting. And I think by now you know all too well that if you feel pain or burn out too quickly, you're going to call it quits.

YOUR DAY 2 EATING GUIDE

Are you continuing to spread out your meals evenly? If you are the type who has tried all your life to eat twice per day at most, you're probably wondering if you can make yourself eat every three hours. All I want you to do is try. Add meals, whatever they are. You have to get yourself into the routine of meal frequency. If you are the type who nibbles and eats all the time, then try to limit yourself to five specific mealtimes every three hours. Don't get impatient and think there is so much more to do. Just by spreading out your meals, you are reconditioning your body to lose weight.

Let me again show you how to spread out your meals:

SLIMDOWN TIP:
VITAMINS

My feelings about vitamins have flip-flopped in the past few years. I once believed you should take everything that was made, from liver tablets to protein powders to megavitamins. Then I went through a phase where I felt no vitamins were necessary. Today, I believe vitamins have a place as long as they are used in moderation and not as substitutes for healthy eating. Here's what I would do: Take a good multivitamin or packet of vitamins as recommended. It's a great addition to your program because even with the best eating, you can still use some added vitamins. For those of you who are vegetarians, a protein supplement such as a protein powder can help.

Proceed to Day 3

THE NEED FOR BALANCE

Here is the beauty of eating this kind of balanced meal. You will be eating twice the amount of actual food you usually eat in a typical high-fat meal, and you'll still be taking in fewer calories! I can't tell you enough that by eating more high-quality foods, you lose weight faster!

Every time you eat, it is important for you to remind yourself that all calories are not created equal. The calories you get when you eat a french fry are far different from the calories in a baked potato. If you eat a bite of food that contains just 1 gram of fat, you will have ingested 9 calories (those are called fat calories). But food from 1 gram of starchy carbs provides 4 calories, and food from 1 gram of lean protein also has just 4 calories.

Do you realize the implication of these numbers? Here is what you could substitute for 2 teaspoons of butter: 1/2 cup of oatmeal, four egg whites, 2 cups of broccoli, 4 cups of lettuce or 1 1/2 cups of air-popped popcorn. That's a heck of a lot of food. At the University of Alabama, doctors asked a group of volunteers to eat low-fat foods until they felt full. The doctors then asked another group to eat high-fat foods until they felt full. On the high-fat diet, the volunteers usually started feeling full after having about 3,000 calories per day. On the low-fat diet, the volunteers started feeling full after eating just 1,570 calories per day.

I was once on a national talk show, and without my knowledge the producers had prepared five meals that fit the 21-Day Slimdown. They rolled all the meals out on a table in front of me.

The hosts stared at the food and then looked at me dubiously. "You mean to tell us you can eat all this food in one day and actually lose weight?" one of the hosts asked.

"Easily," I said. "I can do it because all the food you're looking at is composed of starchy carbs and lean protein. That kind of food doesn't get stored as fat. Do you realize that one hamburger, a large order of fries and a chocolate shake have more calories than four grilled chicken breasts, two baked potatoes, 2 cups of rice and 6 cups of fibrous vegetables?"

The hosts' jaws dropped.

"And do you know that your 12-ounce soda and candy bar are equivalent in calories to the 10 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal and toast that I eat in the mornings? And here's the kicker. That kind of food you're eating is more inclined to go to your fat cells and make you look fat. My food acts like fuel."

The hosts weren't sure what to say. I think I had made my point.

The lean protein and starchy carb combination is the ideal way to regulate your blood sugar level, fuel your muscles and give you the immediate energy to function properly. It keeps you from experiencing sugar cravings that can lead to wild chocolate binges, and it can prevent those insulin-caused peaks and valleys that can make you pig out.

Most important, if you eat the proper balance of starchy carbs and lean proteins at every meal, you are essentially shooting the equivalent of jet fuel into your body and forcing your metabolism to operate at a much more rapid rate! The faster your metabolism, the faster your calories are burned off.

Let's say that you were very conscientious about spacing every meal evenly apart during the day. But in one meal, all you ate were starchy carbs (for instance, a large baked potato), in another meal it was all protein (a serving of chicken the size of your palm) and in another meal it was all fibrous vegetables (a large salad). The problem with this kind of eating is that your muscle tissue will only take in so many carbs and so much lean protein at a time. If you eat more than the proper amount of starchy carbs and proteins at one meal, your muscle tissue won't be able to absorb it. Off to the fat cells the excess carbs and protein go.

On the other hand, if you don't eat a protein and starchy carb at each meal, your blood sugar might lower too quickly and lead you to binge on high-fat foods. With a balanced eating program, the desire for fat significantly diminishes.

YOUR DAY 3 WORKOUT

Again, it's very simple. You must complete only two 60-Second Workouts. For your upper-body workout, do a Bicep Curl. Stand with your knees and hips slightly bent to create a slight forward tilt with the upper body. Keep your back straight and shoulders back, and your arms should be straight down at your sides with your elbows slightly bent. Now, raise your lower arms as far as possible without moving your shoulders or upper arms. When you reach the top of the movement, squeeze the biceps, then slowly lower them back down and repeat for 60 seconds. If you wish, you can hold a soup or vegetable can in each hand while performing the exercise for extra resistance.

For your lower-body workout, do the Reverse Lunge. This is a great overall leg exercise. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart with your knees and hips slightly bent. Hold your arms to your sides. Take one foot and take a giant step backward. Plant your toe firmly against the ground with the knee only slightly bent. Hold for a couple of seconds, maintain your balance and then return to your starting position. Make sure to keep your back straight. Then begin again, this time stepping back with the other leg.

EVENING PEP TALK

By now, you've had your first 21-Day Slimdown meal, and I promise you, your fat cells are in trouble. In the coming days, as you add more Slimdown meals to your eating guide and start your exercise program, your body will start going through incredible changes! Just hold on. As long as you follow this program, it will be impossible for you not to lose weight!

YOUR DAY 3 EATING GUIDE

As I said earlier, we're going to take it slow as we move into our eating plan. Today, all I want you to do is try to make Meal 4 perfectly balanced. As for the other meals, I want you to find ways to cut back your normal intake of fat or at least substitute slightly better foods for the ones you normally eat.

Below is a list of sample meals. But please take note: You do not have to eat those foods if you don't like them. If you hate turkey sandwiches, for example, then come up with a different protein to eat. Forcing yourself to eat foods you hate is a guarantee you will quit this program before the week is over.

SLIMDOWN TIP:
DETERMINING HOW MUCH FOOD YOU NEED

Here is the standard rule I follow for men and women: Your protein (such as a piece of lean meat) should be able to fit into your hand, your starchy carb should be about the size of your fist and your fibrous vegetable should be able to fit into a small cereal bowl. That's it. If you're a larger person, you might add a little more food, but anyone staying within the above parameters is going to be on track.

You never really have to carry around one of those 500-page books that tell you the calorie content of everything. If you're eating the right kinds of food at each meal, and if they are approximately the sizes I mentioned, the number of calories and fat grams will take care of themselves. You just have to make sure you're getting the right balance and right proportions of food!

Proceed to Day 4

THE POWER OF WALKING

If you take small but consistent steps - a theme you will hear echoed throughout this program - then you will make great strides in reshaping your body. That's it, ladies and gentlemen. When people ask how much I run, how many aerobics classes I take or how long I ride my bike, I look them square in the eye and say, "I walk. I put on some tennis shoes, and I walk."

Walking burns calories just as effectively as running, cross-country skiing or playing a vigorous game of tennis. It only takes a little longer. According to one study, 150-pound women who walked three times a week for an hour automatically lost 15 pounds, and that's without any change in their food intake. In another study, researchers at the University of Georgia had overweight students and staff do treadmill work four times a week expending 300 calories per session. One half did the treadmill work at high intensity, while the other half went much more slowly but for a longer period to reach the 300-calorie level. Astonishingly, both groups lost an identical amount of fat - 5 pounds!

Besides continuing your work on your eating program, all you have to do today is walk around the block. Walk more than once if you wish, but all I'm asking for now is one time around.

You don't want to make your walk a leisurely, casual stroll, but you don't want to walk so that you end up huffing and puffing. Throughout your cardio program, if you ever find yourself gasping for breath or if you can't carry on a normal conversation while walking, you're going too hard and not burning fat as efficiently as possible.

Is there a voice in your head saying, "Oh, come on, Larry! How can you burn enough calories to lose fat by walking around the block?" No doubt you've seen those charts in other books that tell you doing a triathalon or going cross country skiing burns more calories than walking. And of course, you've noticed those great, muscular bodies of professional athletes and said to yourself, "I've got to work out like that athlete if I want to look like him or her."

Sorry, but you're misleading yourself. The goal here is not to become a professional athlete, nor is the goal to exercise the way you did when you were 16 years old. Your goal is to get the physiology of your body to change so that it turns into a far better fat-burning machine.

You can do any type of cardio you wish. If you want to jog, rollerblade, swim or take aerobics dance classes, great! But in my program, I'm going to focus on walking because that's what I see the majority of people doing. Even in health clubs filled with extravagantly complicated machines, it's always the treadmills that are in the highest demand. Walking does everything for you that you need to accomplish to get the fat off. The Cooper Institute of Aerobics Research, the Dallas organization that invented the word aerobics, no longer says it is intense, vigorous exercise that leads to healthier bodies. The institute's exercise physiologist, Dr. John Duncan, says, "We now know that metabolic changes occur at very moderate exercise intensities."

Did you hear that phrase?
Metabolic changes? That's right, you can speed up your valuable metabolism by doing something other than running and intense sports. And as I've said over and over, the speedier your metabolism, the more calories you burn.

YOUR DAY 4 WORKOUT

1. Do two more 60-Second Workouts. This time, pick your own.
2. Walk around the block. Suggested time: 15 to 20 minutes. Don't act like you're wandering, but don't race around the block either. The most effective walking pace, according to researchers, is going more than one mile in 15 minutes. That's about 120 steps per minute. If that speed is too fast for you right now, no problem. Just walk. You'll get there. Remember, you expend the same number of calories walking a mile as you do running a mile. It just takes you longer.

EVENING PEP TALK

I hope you realize just how far you progressed today. For those of you who have done no cardio exercise in a very long time, your simple walk probably had the same physical effect on you as a 5-mile run for a conditioned athlete. In that one walk around the block, you got your body's long-dormant furnace going, and it began gobbling up calories far faster than someone who's more conditioned and has been working out longer.

Stay with it. Although I'm not going to ask you to walk again for a couple of days, you can walk all you want. If you feel yourself get tired and want to slow down, then by all means, slow down, but keep moving. With each step you take, you transform your body into the finely tuned engine it can be. Stop thinking your body is worn-out, rusted and overweight. Every time you walk, you stoke your inner furnace. Furthermore, besides sending oxygen to the fat cells, exercise sends more oxygen to the brain and makes you feel far more alert throughout the rest of your day in everything you do.

In other words, if you start moving your body, you start changing your life.

YOUR DAY 4 EATING GUIDE

To make egg whites, all you have to do is crack an egg gently in half and hold each half in either hand. Pour the yellow egg yolk from shell to shell while letting all the egg white drip into a bowl below. You want to get rid of the yellow yolk because that's where all the fat is in an egg. If you're not sure you like egg whites, add two whole eggs to two egg whites to get used to the taste.

SLIMDOWN TIP:
MORNING EXERCISE

I have found if I wait until later in the day to work out, I usually have so many things that come up I run out of time or am just too exhausted from my workday to do anything except collapse when I get home. To avoid this, I work out early in the morning when I am at my freshest.

If you set your alarm 15 or 20 minutes earlier each day, you could have time to get in all the 60-Second Workouts you wanted. If you set it 30 minutes earlier, you could get in a walk. I know you probably don't like getting up earlier than you have to, but once you do get up and moving, you'll always be glad you did.

Proceed to Day 5

HAVE A COUPLE OF MEALS READY

So what am I asking you to do? Spend hours in the kitchen? No, just the opposite. If this begins to feel like a marathon cooking program for you, you'll stop this program in a heartbeat. I want you to learn to have meals ready quickly. Preparing meals before you need them saves you tremendous time and money, and anyone with minimal cooking experience can be prepared.

In this program, I'm going to suggest that you always have a couple of meals ready at any given time. That's all you need to do. There are some people I know on this program who prepare a week's worth of the right kind of food. They pop a dozen chicken breasts and/or fish fillets on the grill, put ten baked potatoes in the oven, boil beans and steam vegetables on the stove, make a salad, store the food they're going to eat those first three days in the refrigerator and put the rest in the freezer. After three days, they take the food out of the freezer, let it thaw overnight and reheat or microwave it the next day. Voila! They have a meal!

Let me tell you how I prepare meals. The night before, I make a protein-carb meal replacement drink (see today's Slimdown Tip) and put that in the refrigerator for my first meal in the morning. Often that same night, I may prepare for the next morning's second meal by cracking open eggs and putting the egg whites in a bowl with chopped vegetables. All I have to do is throw the concoction on the stove to make an egg white omelette. I also pull food out of the freezer (something like a grilled piece of lemon-pepper chicken with some rice and steamed broccoli), thaw it and carry that meal out of the house with me in a little plastic container.

Be sure the container you choose to bring to work is microwave-proof, just in case you'd like to heat it up. The last thing you want is a meltdown.

Trust me, once you get into the habit of bringing your own food with you each day, it's no different from making sure you have your car keys. There are truck drivers on this program who are on the road so often that they carry coolers full of North-quality food. That way, they can get their meals in all day long.

"But Larry," you're saying, "this is not exactly what anyone would call gourmet eating."

Today, we take a big step forward and boost the number of 60-Second Workouts. This time, try to do four or possibly five workouts. Pick any five you wish, and make sure to include one or two 60-Second Workouts that are in the stretching section of the Exercise Guide.

It's also time for your second of three walks for the week. You'll walk 15 to 20 minutes. Did you know that sucking in your stomach as you walk is a type of sit-up that over time can tighten your stomach muscles? When walking, lightly swing your arms and keep your elbows bent at a 90-degree angle. This swinging motion alone will help you walk a little faster and will certainly burn more calories.

YOUR DAY 5 WORKOUT

Today, we take a big step forward and boost the number of 60-Second Workouts. This time, try to do four or possibly five workouts. Pick any five you wish, and make sure to include one or two 60-Second Workouts that are in the stretching section of the Exercise Guide.

It's also time for your second of three walks for the week. You'll walk 15 to 20 minutes. Did you know that sucking in your stomach as you walk is a type of sit-up that over time can tighten your stomach muscles? When walking, lightly swing your arms and keep your elbows bent at a 90-degree angle. This swinging motion alone will help you walk a little faster and will certainly burn more calories.

EVENING PEP TALK

Don't lose patience. We're still adding all the building blocks to the 21-Day Slimdown. Every little thing you're learning to do now will pay off in a big way later. Here's something to think about. Did you know that each time you drop 10 percent in your body weight, your incidence of heart disease decreases by 20 percent?

That's right. More than 900,000 Americans die of heart disease every year. The reason so many die from heart disease is because of their high levels of cholesterol, which is mainly caused by excess fat. With every extra pound of fat you take in, you're adding a lot of extra blood vessels in your body - miles of them. These blood vessels drain away the very blood other organs need. Foods with a high amount of fat can also clog your arteries, which makes it more difficult for blood to circulate.

Every little thing you can do to knock fat out of your body is a great, great victory. You must never forget this. The grim reality is that, over time, fat can kill you. Nearly 90 percent of the 11 million Americans suffering from diabetes have what doctors call type 2 weight. Did you know if you are an overweight woman, you have a much greater chance of contracting uterus, womb, ovary and breast cancer? Did you know if you're an overweight man, a high-fat diet puts you at greater risk for prostate and colon cancer?

Give yourself a pat on the back. You're doing far more good for yourself than you even know.

YOUR DAY 5 EATING GUIDE

For Day 5, I want you to prepare a meal you will eat later in the day. Let's make it easy. Grill some extra chicken today, then use some of it for Meal 2 (which you'll see below) and some for Meal 3.

SLIMDOWN TIP:
MEAL REPLACEMENT PRODUCTS

One way to ensure you get in all your meals each day is by relying on powdered meal replacement products that you blend in a glass with iced water and a piece of fruit. In the past, you had to hold your nose to get these drinks down your throat, but now they taste great and provide a good balance of protein and carbohydrates. You can get them at almost any grocery store.

Clearly they shouldn't be a major part of your eating program. You should always look for something to eat. Studies show that if you don't actually get something to chew between your teeth, you'll never feel full no matter how many meal replacement drinks you have per day. Still, I have no objection to them compared to some of the other high-fat foods you can eat. Moreover, the protein in these powders serves as a nice alternative if you get tired of so many protein dishes during the day.

Proceed to Day 6

HOW TO PLACE A SPECIAL ORDER

The Restaurant Guide is devoted to specific low-fat dishes you can order at different types of restaurants. If you're going to a cafeteria or steak house or even a Chinese restaurant, this section (along with this program's Restaurant Guide) will show you what to order. It will also give you an array of techniques when ordering to make sure the kitchen keeps the fat out of your food.

As you get started on this program, I want you to initially focus on a few easy guidelines. All you need is a little knowledge and a little confidence, and restaurants will give you the kind of low-fat meal you want. You're not going to catch every high-fat slip the restaurant makes, of course. But through some simple requests, you can eliminate the equivalent of one shot glass full of cooking oil, another of melted butter, another of salad dressing, and another full of sugar. That's a lot of fat calories you're knocking out of your diet, especially if you eat out a lot!

I WANT YOU TO GO OUT AND HAVE A MEAL AT A RESTAURANT, AND WHEN YOU DO, FOLLOW THESE EASY SUGGESTIONS:

1. Ask that your entree (fish, chicken or beef) be grilled with no oil. That's all you have to say: "Would you cook it with no oil?" You would not believe how many hundreds of fat calories you keep out of your body just by doing that.
2. If you think meat cooked in such a way won't be tasty enough, then order a sauce on the side for flavor. But do not, I repeat, do not spear your food first and then dip it in dressing. In that case, your food will be slathered with calories. Instead, dip your fork in the sauce and then spear your food. That gives you enough of the flavor you need without getting too many calories. Do the same thing if you are putting salad dressing on your salad.
3. Ask for vegetables that are steamed, boiled or sauteed in water. Again, say to the waiter, "Could you make sure the vegetables are not cooked in oil or butter?"
4. Ask the waiter to remove any pre-meal temptations, such as butter, bread, crackers or tortilla chips. A pre-meal roll with butter is the equivalent of a couple of orders of vegetables.
5. Finally, be specific about these requests. You will never feel worse than when you order what you think is a low-fat dish and learn later that it is loaded with fat. For example, you sit down for breakfast in a restaurant and proudly ask for an egg white omelette without cheese. But because you forgot to ask that no oil or butter be used, that omelette could come out swimming in fat. If you'd special ordered it, you would have brought the fat content of that omelette down to almost zero.
6. If they mess up, don't fret. You tried.

YOUR DAY 6 WORKOUT

Complete five Sixty-Second Workouts. Include at least one stretching workout.

EVENING PEP TALK

Some of you have told me it's hard for you to work up the courage to special order. You say you get a little embarrassed in front of the waiter or the people you're eating with, and so you say nothing. I've seen hard-driving businessmen and women - tough negotiators at the conference table - turn completely passive at a restaurant table.

I have spoken to restaurant associations around the country. I know restaurant owners want to keep you as a customer. If you order food to be cooked a low-fat way and it comes out too high in fat, nine times out of ten the restaurant will send the food back to be re-done. The manager and waiter want to make sure that you get what you have ordered. I've even gone to major banquets where all the food is fixed the same, and I've grabbed one of the people who work there and said, "Excuse me. I'm on a special eating program. Will you help me out here?" And in the middle of those banquets, they bring me what I ask for.

Special ordering at restaurants will soon be second nature for you. But until then, one good way to beat the psychological barrier you might be feeling is to call the restaurant in advance and ask about the low-fat, non-oil dishes you could order that evening. During the 21-Day Slimdown, dining in restaurants can be as much fun as ever. And what will make it especially fun for you is that you can realize how much good food you can eat and walk away from the table knowing your program hasn't been sabatoged by a high-fat meal. It's an empowering feeling to know that you control what you eat, rather than letting someone else control you.

YOUR DAY 6 EATING GUIDE

Since we're focusing today on special ordering at restaurants, all five meals are designed to help you at restaurants. I'm not saying to go out and eat every meal at a restaurant today, but depending on what time you are out at a restaurant, here are examples of meals to order. Obviously, when you're at home today, choose meals from the selection I have already given you from the previous five days.

SLIMDOWN TIP:
DON'T FORGET WATER

A terrific secret to a better body is getting lots of water in it - as much as eight to ten glasses of water per day. Half of your body weight is composed of water, and each day your body naturally loses up to 12 cups of water. Replacing that water and keeping it circulating through your system is a secret weapon for better health because it helps wash out toxic waste and helps supply oxygen and nutrients to your muscles and organs.

Water is also very important for weight loss. It takes up a lot of room in the stomach, which keeps excessive hunger at bay. Most significantly, if you aren't drinking enough water, your body will sometimes misinterpret its own thirst as a food craving. Experts say your hunger pains are often our body's request for more water. The next time you want to eat between meals, try drinking water. You may find that water is just the thing to quench your hunger as well as your thirst.

Proceed to Day 7

SOME "ACTIVE REST" TIPS

Here are some ways to add active rest to your life for today:

1. Park your car at the far end of the parking lot and walk further to your office.
2. Take a flight of stairs instead of the elevator every now and then.
3. Find ways to move around in your office. Walk to the more distant water cooler rather than the one by your desk. Walk to the corner mailbox. Pace around your office when you're thinking. At the least, don't sit for more than an hour without getting up and stretching for a few minutes.
4. If you are at home most of the day and there are stairs in your house, take a break every hour or two and climb them. Remember, as far as weight control is concerned, it's not how many flights you walk at one time, it's how many you walk over the course of the day.
5. Mow your own yard. When you do yardwork, use manual tools (hand mowers, rakes, snow shovels, etc.) instead of power tools whenever you can without exhausting yourself or risking injury
6. When you have packages to unload from your car, take them into your house one at a time to increase the number of trips back and forth.
7. Play outside with your kids five minutes longer than usual.
8. Walk the dog.
9. Give up the remote control.
10. Or better yet, while watching your favorite shows, try to squeeze in a few of the 60-Second Workouts we'll talk about on this program.

Are you getting the point? I've been around a lot of people who spend most of their lives molding and perfecting their bodies and spending thousands upon thousands of dollars with personal trainers. But the path to good fitness hardly requires such obsession. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, two doctors recently determined that the average person could improve his or her heart by simply climbing stairs for six minutes per day!

Other researchers say that basic routine activity (getting up, getting dressed, lifting things, walking around, doing housework, going out in the evening and so forth) will burn 25 percent of your total calories, and that's if you are only moderately active.

YOUR DAY 7 WORKOUT

1. Five 60-Second Workouts.
2. Walk for 15 to 20 minutes. Consciously lengthen your stride this time. The effect will be to naturally increase your energy output.

EVENING PEP TALK

Can you believe that you are about to finish your first week on the program? I bet you've quickly realized that a cornerstone of your success in the 21-Day Slimdown is being ready for every hour of the day. If you know what you're supposed to be doing as the day unfolds, you're going to progress much quicker.

An invaluable tool for me to stay on the program is to take my daily calendar and write down everything I need to do that day. This guarantees that I achieve all my eating and fitness goals. It's not just a to-do list. I mark down the exact times when I should be eating my meals and what I want those meals to consist of. I mark down the times when I am going to take my walks. I also include shopping lists for the grocery store. If I am going out to eat at night, I put down exactly what I wish to order so I won't be tempted to order a high-fat dish. I even write down when I'm going to prepare and cook low-fat food at home. I also schedule other personal time to stay focused on my goals. In fact, on my personal calendar, I also write down 10 minutes every day for what I call Goal Time.

I highly recommend that you create a similar calendar. You might have one of those black leather personal day planners as I do, or you can use a regular spiral notebook. It doesn't matter. Just use it to keep yourself on track.

Merely by keeping a journal, your awareness of your habits will soar. It makes a huge difference in your long-term success. When you keep a written record of your eating, you'll find yourself more driven to get through each day of perfect eating. When you keep a written record of your workout times, you'll start enjoying the pattern of your workouts more and you'll hate it when you break the regularity of your workouts. Your journal will keep you moving forward. That's what counts, not postponing your program until tomorrow, not waiting to work out until "someday," but making sure success is heading your way right now!

YOUR DAY 7 EATING GUIDE

A quick way to bake a turkey breast is to put it in a cooking bag. Add seasonings, shake it and bake it in the oven for 20 minutes per pound at 325 degrees.

SLIMDOWN TIP:
DON'T FORGET YOUR FIBROUS VEGGIES

Although I have been concentrating this week on teaching you about the importance of lean proteins and starchy carbs, I don't want to de-emphasize the glory of fibrous veggies. I don't claim that you must always have them at each meal, but they are important throughout the day. High-fiber foods reduce the blood levels of insulin, a hormone that can overstimulate the appetite. High levels of fiber intake have also been associated with a decreased risk of developing heart disease, colon cancer, constipation and diabetes. Although starchy carbs like potatoes, beans and rice have fiber in them, a starchy carb is more calorically dense, while a fibrous vegetable is basically water with nutrients. Whereas a cup of corn (a starchy carb) has about 150 calories, a cup of green beans (a fibrous veggie) has about 50. Fibrous vegetables can add flavor and variety to your meals and help fill you up without overloading you with calories.

Proceed to Week 2!

YOU'LL LOSE YOUR DESIRE TO CHEAT

If you're wondering why I'm not particularly fearful of you having cheat meals, it's because I have seen people get on this program who are scared to death they won't ever eat their favorite foods and within a few weeks realize they didn't want to cheat as much as they thought they did. For the first time in their lives, looking good and feeling great have become so important to them that they actually lose their taste for the fatty foods they loved.

While you may not believe such a thing will happen to you (you're perhaps thinking right now that there is no way you'll ever give up your love of cheese fries), I know it will. As you get more experience following this program and keeping your body well nourished with the right foods, you won't feel the same cravings for the wrong ones. In fact, you will actually get bored with fattening foods!

YOUR DAY 8 WORKOUT

1. We're boosting your workouts. Today, go for five 60-Second Workouts and include a couple of the stretching exercises.
2. Today you're also moving up to a 30-minute walk. Remember, you can break this walk up into two 15-minute walks, or even three 10-minute walks. Use a treadmill, walk at the local mall if you don't want to be outside or walk with a friend for some company. A walking partner also helps you judge your pace. To maintain the best fat-burning pace, you should be able to carry on a conversation the entire time you walk. You'll work up a mild sweat, which is fine, but if you can't keep a conversation going, you're working too hard.

EVENING PEP TALK

In the 21-Day Slimdown, working out your mind is as important as working out your body. Your mind is as important as any of the other muscles of the body. That's why, during our Evening Pep Talks this week, we are going to work on techniques to strengthen your self-confidence and determination so you'll stay focused on achieving your goals.

I want you to repeat this sentence:

"I am the single most important thing in my life."

It sounds a little weird, doesn't it? In order for you to be the best person you can be, you first and foremost have to take care of yourself. When you treat yourself as the most important person in your life, you will start nurturing yourself with the same passion with which you nurture anything or anyone you love. I once heard someone say, "Love yourself first, and everything else falls into line."

It's true. And that is exactly what will happen to you on this program. As you go to sleep tonight, I want you to think about your body as a temple or perhaps as your very best friend. You treat it with care, you never neglect it and you never endanger it. If you make the commitment to yourself tonight that your body is precious, you will not fail.

YOUR DAY 8 EATING GUIDE

SLIMDOWN TIP:
BEWARE OF FAT FREE FOOD

Although I've been suggesting some fat-free alternatives for you to use in place of your usual fattening foods, fat-free products should remain a minor part of your program. You cannot rely on them to get you lean. Most fat-free products contain a very poor balance of lean protein and starchy carbs. Fat-free hardly means calorie-free. The calories in fat-free food are the classic empty calories that your body sends to your fat cells. Many of you eat fat-free food all day long, believing you are doing something good for your body. But what you're doing is putting on a lot of weight because of the poor nutrition of the food. Never forget that what makes you lean is a good balance of lean protein and starchy carbs. Fat-free food is merely a temporary measure and nothing more.

Proceed to Day 9

HOW TO EAT IN THE MORNINGS

One of the biggest complaints I hear from people who don't know my program is, "Larry, I'm not sure I'm right for the 21-Day Slimdown because I don't like to eat egg whites, which I always hear you suggesting." I will say this until I'm blue in the face: If you hate a certain food that I suggest in your daily Eating Guide, you don't have to eat it. If you hate egg whites, don't eat them. There are plenty of other foods to eat. What's more, if there is a food you especially love, like bacon, don't think you can never again eat another piece of bacon. That's ridiculous. Of course you'll eat it, regardless of what anyone says.

All I want you to do is come up with a few ways to not rely on the fattier foods as much as you have in the past. I want you to have days where you cut down from three pieces of bacon to one piece or mix egg whites with whole eggs to remove a few fat calories. Substitute low-fat Canadian bacon or fat-free ham for regular bacon. There are terrific, low-fat morning meals such as the Cheese Grits and Egg Muffins offered in the Cooking Guide.

I recognize that you might not always get in the perfect protein-starchy carb balance in Meal 1 - it is sometimes very difficult to get in that protein - but it is important to at least get a protein in one of your first couple of meals. Whenever you get a good protein-starchy carb meal at the very start of the morning, you've set up your body to get leaner and leaner as the day goes on.

Without enough protein early in the day, your body will experience protein shortages that cause your blood sugar levels to fluctuate, which will then lead to often uncontrollable cravings for more fat or sugar later in the day.

YOUR DAY 9 WORKOUT

1. Five 60-Second Workouts.
2. For extra credit, try to do three Active Rest exercises. Either get in some yardwork, clean your living room windows or walk around the house while you talk on the phone.

EVENING PEP TALK

Tonight, we're going to talk about another way to keep your mind focused on your goals. Do you remember when you were a kid and you cut out magazine photographs or bought posters of your heroes and heroines? Although you didn't know it, what you were doing was envisioning a future for yourself. You were giving yourself an image of what you'd like to be. You can do the same thing in this program. I have suggested to people that they cut out a photo of someone whose body they admire. I'm not saying to find a photo of the perfect beach body. Get a photo of an attractive person who obviously takes care of himself or herself.

Will the picture itself give you a better body? Of course not. But it will give you a focus. Seeing someone else who has done the things you dream about can be a great inspiration for you. You could put the picture on your refrigerator and stare at it every morning as a way of helping to put a mental image of what you want to be in the forefront of your brain.

This process is called visualization. Another way to do this is to write down the way you think you'll look and what kind of clothes you'll be wearing. Write down the way you notice other people admiring you for the effort you made to change your body. Write down the positive, confident feelings you know you will gain if you have that better body.

By visualizing this image of yourself over and over, you are doing nothing less than reprogramming your mind. You are imprinting upon your subconscious the fact that you are someone who is going to achieve whatever you set out to achieve. You will turn your dream into a reality.

YOUR DAY 9 EATING GUIDE

MY SPECIAL FRIES

After microwaving, boiling or baking a potato, shave the potato into thin pieces. Cover a cookie sheet with foil and lay out the pieces. After putting the potato slices on the foil, sprinkle with spices like garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper. Put the potato slices in the oven and broil until brown and puffy. Flip them over with a spatula. Broil some more. Pull out the sheet and you have perfect, non-fat fries.

SLIMDOWN TIP:
STAY AWAY FROM FAT-BURNING POWDERS

At every health food store are products that advertise themselves as "fat burners." The products are a form of powder or juice that are supposed to help you burn off fat and increase your energy. Some products even boast they can absorb fat. Read the fine print. At most, they absorb three grams of fat - that's about half an eyedropper. Compared to a high-fat meal where you get 60 grams of fat, the benefit is tiny. The other fat-burning products are filled with additives that might have some slight impact on how lean you are, but the only people who will see the results from these products are those who are already extremely lean with little body fat. In the end, you'll never be sure what you're getting. One organization studied 300 of these products and found nearly a quarter of them had no fat-burning ingredients whatsoever. Moreover, they caused side effects such as high blood pressure and heart palpitations.

So why chance it for so little reward?

Proceed to Day 10

DON'T FORGET MEAL FIVE

The time has come for you to do something else. You must also begin treating your last evening meal, Meal 5, as a protein-starchy carb meal. One of the great misconceptions about eating is that if you eat late at night you will get fat. Well, if you eat what most people eat late at night (drive-through fast food or a dessert) you will get fat. But when you eat a muscle-building meal that speeds metabolism, you will get lean no matter what time it is.

A well-balanced Meal 5 also keeps you from a fatty nighttime binge, and I'm sure I don't have to tell you how uncontrollable a late-night binge can be if you haven't gotten in all your meals throughout the day. I've heard dozens of stories of people who will go through the entire kitchen looking for everything sweet. Why are they doing that? Their body didn't get the proper balance of foods during the day. A final, well-balanced meal goes a long way in keeping those fat cells quiet. One thing to be wary of during this meal, however, is that you've lost a lot of fluid during the day and will also be tempted to pour yourself a big glass of orange juice, which can be devastating to the progress you've made. If you're thirsty, make sure you drink lots of water late at night along with Meal 5.

YOUR DAY 10 EATING GUIDE

YOUR DAY 10 WORKOUT

1. It's time to push our 60-Second Workouts. From now on, we'll progressively increase them. Today, do eight 60-Second Workouts. Don't panic. You can do one workout each hour if you wish, but try to do two or three in a row so your muscles will get a sustained workout.
2. Complete 30 minutes of walking.

EVENING PEP TALK

How's your confidence level today? One of the best ways to build your confidence and stay focused in this program is to surround yourself with like-minded people. Just one good friend can make the difference. This is someone who also might be trying to lose weight and will go through the program with you, or someone who has already been doing the program and can talk to you during those times when the desire to backslide rears its ugly head.

Ironically, some of the people you love the most or perceive as your closest friends can often turn out to be your worst enemies when it comes to losing weight. They will often do some subtle and perhaps subconscious things to discourage you from losing weight.

They might be well-intentioned, but they could very well provide you with negative reinforcement. "Uh-oh, how long will this program last?" they'll wisecrack. "Are you going to last three days on this program? Maybe stretch it and go four days?"

If you have friends who are also overweight but aren't doing anything about it (which means they are probably feeling guilty about their lack of action), they might tell you, "Well, you don't look like you've lost any weight," or, "You know everyone loves you for who you are, not for how you look."

You have to realize that others might feel threatened or jealous by your commitment and may try to make you feel inadequate. There will be someone going to lunch with you who will ask that you have a dessert. When you say no, he or she will inevitably say, "Oh, come on, it won't hurt you. Just eat less tonight at dinner." When you really start getting successful in this program, you are likely to hear such lines as, "I hate all this low-fat stuff you're cooking now," or, "Aren't you embarrassed to take food with you to work?" "Please, you're not going to put us through that special ordering, are you?" "You're not going to do any 60-Second Workouts while we have company, are you?"

Not only do such comments hurt your feelings, they can undermine your confidence. I don't mean to be hard on you when I say this. I know it's extremely difficult to withstand social pressure. But you have to elevate yourself above people whose primary way of feeling good about themselves is to see others not succeed.

Never, ever be embarrassed about your desire to lose weight, and never apologize to anyone about your goals. Don't let anyone stand in the way of your decision to go after what you want! It is not egotistical or selfish to put yourself first when it comes to losing weight. You'll find a great empowerment when you start saying to others, "I want to go to a different restaurant because it has better food for my program." You'll understand how wonderful it is to stand up for yourself when you politely say to a waiter, "This fish is swimming in oil. Can you please take it back?"

In time, your newfound confidence will have a marvelous effect on those around you. They'll see how happy you are and how proud you've become, and soon they'll want to do exactly what you're doing, too.

SLIMDOWN TIP:
STAY AWAY FROM CANDY

Are you thinking, "Well, Larry, we all know candy isn't good for you." Actually, many of you still believe that some sort of candy is a great way to get an instant burst of energy when you're feeling tired. This is a big-time fallacy. A single candy bar contains far more sugar than you need in one day, and the sugar from that candy bar sets off a major chemical imbalance in your body that, in the end, will cause you to get fatter.

Because that one candy bar causes your blood sugar levels to rise to astonishing heights, your pancreas reacts by producing an excess of insulin to deal with all that sugar. The result? The sugar from the candy bar initially makes your spirits soar, but then the large dose of insulin depresses the level of blood sugar and your body suddenly slows down. You start to feel moody, irritable, tired and ultimately hungrier. What happens next? According to studies, you tend to eat a second candy bar because you think the first one didn't do its job. The cycle goes on and on and on. When I feel plagued by a low energy level, the one thing I like to do is take a walk. It not only gets my heart pounding, but it also helps release more endorphins in my brain to make me think more clearly and effectively.

Proceed to Day 11

WILL YOU BECOME TOO MUSCULAR?

Let me stop and tell you that I know you are wondering, as you see the increased number of 60-Second Workouts, whether you should be concerned about becoming too muscular. Not in the least. Do you know what causes that over-bloated look on weightlifters at gyms? They're eating too much fat. Muscle-building exercises don't make you fat; they make you lean. Muscle is to your body what gold is to the economy - the basic foundation and dynamic source of energy. In fact, simply by firming you up, the 60-Second Workouts can make you drop a dress size without a major change on the bathroom scale.

And don't worry about using dumbbells in the upcoming days with your 60-Second Workouts. That's still not the kind of workouts that can make you "look huge." Combined with your eating program, the muscle-building exercises in this program knock out the heaviness around your hips and thighs. You get nicer, more shapely legs, and your love handles melt away. Believe me, these exercises are a lot less painful and certainly less expensive than plastic surgery.

I admit, I have borrowed a few pages from bodybuilder handbooks. Whether you love them or hate them, bodybuilders have attained a muscular development and a body fat level that was unheard of years ago. But in the 21-Day Slimdown, you are not going to "get huge," to use the bodybuilder's lingo. You are not going to build bulging muscles, nor will you ever get sore. Instead of trying to lift as much as you can, you are doing deliberate and controlled movements that focus on the muscles you're supposed to be working.

So enjoy yourself. Every time you perform a 60-Second Workout, you are taking another step toward rediscovering your curves and muscles.

YOUR DAY 11 EATING GUIDE

YOUR DAY 11 WORKOUT

1. Perform nine 60-Second Workouts.
2. For extra credit, do another walk. Try to walk in a hilly area today. You can decide the amount of time.

EVENING PEP TALK

Do you remember a couple of days ago when I had you state, "I am the most important thing in my life?" Perhaps you thought I was having you do that only for dramatic effect. What you were doing, however, was called an affirmation, and affirmations are very valuable tools. Despite their simplicity, affirmations can help drive home your belief in your own abilities.

For centuries, people have known the power of affirmations. According to ancient Hindu tradition, once we state something over and over, it becomes a mantra, a frequently repeated thought that molds and shapes our future. The theory is that when you make an affirmation out loud, your statements are getting to your subconscious mind and transforming it so it will work to bring out the best in you. On the other hand, if we focus on our fears and insecurities, what we are really doing is inputting very negative information into our subconscious. Tell me, would you rather have a subconscious that is working against you, or one working for you?

Right now, as you're reading this, stop for just a moment and smile. Take a deep, relaxing breath and just smile. Notice how the smile changes your whole state of being. Now say, "I love improving my body."

Say it again:

"I love improving my body."

I know, I know, it sounds silly. At least it does right now. But you're working on your subconscious and throwing off the shackles of your old limited thinking patterns. Scientists say that on a typical day, the average person thinks about 60,000 thoughts. Even more startling is the fact that 95 percent of those thoughts are the same ones you had the day before. Through affirmations, you are able to install new, more empowering thoughts. Your mind has a vast, immeasurable potential that often remains untapped.

Your affirmations don't have to be fancy, long or drawn-out. Here are some more you might want to say before you go to bed tonight:

"I am more fit today than ever before, and I am getting fitter by the moment."

"I'm happier, and my body is growing stronger."

"Every step I'm taking is progress."

"Whatever I do today, I am able to do a little bit more tomorrow."

"Whenever I eat a perfect meal, I am supercharging my body."

"Whenever I work out, I am burning off hundreds of calories."

"Every day, in every way, I am getting better, better and better."

Feel free to create your own affirmation. Choose something that has special meaning to you.

Like many of you, I once thought affirmations were sort of goofy. But as I've learned, the more positive thoughts I have had about my body, the easier it has been for me to stay lean. By saying out loud what it is you want, you will give credit to what you are doing.

SLIMDOWN TIP:
INTERVAL WALKING

Here's a way to get an extra boost out of your walking program: every now and then, try something called interval walking. That's when you alternate your basic walking pace with some high-intensity spurts. For example, first start off for 10 minutes at your regular moderate rate. Then pick up the pace until you're breathing harder (but not all out) for a couple of minutes, then slow back down to your regular speed that lets you catch your breath, which will probably be slower than your initial walking speed. Then pick up the pace again for another couple of minutes, and so on and so forth.

This kind of training allows you to burn more calories per minute and will keep you at a higher metabolic rate throughout your walk. It's going to help with the afterburn effect, too. You'll be burning fat at a higher rate even after you stop exercising. The more intense the exercise, the greater the afterburn effect.

Proceed to Day 12

IMPROVING THE BEEF, POULTRY AND FISH IN YOUR DIET

In recent years, meat producers have adopted new breeding and feeding methods that have reduced the fat content of their animals. Even so, beef is still a major source of fat in the American diet. In general, you should eat beef less frequently, and even then only with care because even when beef appears lean, it still has more than 30 percent fat. Cuts such as round tip, top round and top sirloin have less fat than other cuts. When choosing those cuts, look for the ones that have the least amount of visible fat or marbling throughout the muscle. The longer you cook it, the more fat will be burned off. The fattiest cuts include ribs and tenderloin. Also, stay away from liver, kidney, heart and tongue. Finally, keep your portion sizes very, very small. I recommend about 3 or 4 ounces per serving. That's a portion that is approximately the size of a deck of playing cards.

I must admit that, as much as I love a good steak, I tend to go with poultry or fish on this program. In many cases, it provides a high-quality protein, and most important, it is lower in total fat than beef. Seafood, such as cod and haddock, gets about 8 percent of its calories from fat in a typical serving. And even the high-fat, dark-meat fishes such as salmon give you a less-saturated fat than beef.

Always go for white meat in chicken and turkey. Dark meat can be as high in fat as beef. And always go for skinless white meat. Dark, skinless chicken meat contains about 8.3 grams of total fat in a typical 3-ounce cooked serving, and 43 percent of its calories come from fat. In comparison, white skinless chicken breast contains 3.8 grams of fat in a typical 3-ounce serving, and only 23 percent of the calories come from fat. And listen to this: If you leave the skin on that chicken breast, the number of calories from fat doubles.

YOUR DAY 12 EATING GUIDE

YOUR DAY 12 WORKOUT

1. Perform ten 60-Second Workouts. This is the most we'll do for the week. Schedule them on your daily calendar so you are certain you will get them all in.
2. Another mandatory walk for 30 minutes.

EVENING PEP TALK

You've already learned to do several things in the Pep Talks this week to build a more powerful attitude - visualizing yourself at your best and using affirmations to stay motivated. Tonight, I want you to work on pushing negative thoughts out of your mind altogether.

Can you imagine going for the rest of the night without thinking a single negative thought? Can you spend the next two or three hours with a 100-percent positive mental attitude? That is what truly confident and successful people do. They can turn their backs on negative situations by saying, "Don't give it another thought." They specialize in putting positive thoughts into their minds and keeping them there.

Try this. Take a few moments tonight to recall some pleasant, positive experiences. Count your blessings. Recall the many good things you have to be thankful for: your spouse, your children, your friends, your health, etc. Recall the good things you saw people do today. Recall your little victories and accomplishments. Go over the reasons why you are glad to be alive. You might write all these thoughts down on a sheet of paper.

Conscientiously visualize yourself putting those thoughts into what I like to call your "memory bank." In time, those thoughts, as you dwell on them, become the dominant thoughts in your memory bank. The negative thoughts have more trouble taking up space in your brain and trying to draw you off course.

Psychologists say that what you are doing is reconditioning your mind. You are developing a mode of thinking without limitations. By pushing a positive attitude on yourself, you are not trying to look unrealistically at life through rose-colored glasses. Rather, you are celebrating the wonders of life. You are seeing the cup as half-full rather than half-empty.

Remember, winners are always looking for opportunities. They deal with problems as soon as they arise. Instead of focusing on the breakdown, they move forward by focusing on finding solutions - right now! - with zest and drive.

SLIMDOWN TIP:
VARY YOUR CARDIO ROUTINE

One of the best ways to boost your walking program is to take your act on the road. Find new parks or neighborhoods. Take walking vacations in other cities. Just to see how you feel about it, go to your local gym (you can usually pay a daily fee without having to join) and do nothing but walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes. Time flies when you're on a treadmill, and you get to watch everyone else around you working out.

And just to remind you about something I said a while back: If you get tired of walking, you can do something else for the cardio phase of your program. You can attend a dance class, complete an exercise video, jog, run long distances, ride your bike or even buy a stationary bicycle. Rollerblading is amazingly effective, as are stair climbers at gyms. I know people who have cross-country ski simulation machines in their homes, and I know people who swim an hour per day. If you keep variety in your program, you'll never get bored.

Proceed to Day 13

ON THE OTHER HAND, BEWARE THE LURE OF LOW-CARB DIETS

There are many so-called "experts" who have received a lot of attention in the past because of their concept: the low-carb, high-fat diet. The theory behind these diets is that without any carbohydrates for energy, the body will turn much more quickly to stored fat. Furthermore, say the low carb, high-fat advocates, if you eat extra dietary fat in the process, you'll feel full longer, which means you won't eat as much. Somehow, the extra fat you're eating won't really affect your weight all that much, so what you are being given are recipes that, according to a study by the American Dietetic Assocation, contain anywhere from 41 to 85 percent fat. (Remember, I suggest that your foods contain only 20 percent fat.)

Yes, it is true, if you suddenly deprive your body of all carbohydrates, you'll lose weight quickly. But you're not losing body fat. All you are losing is water weight, which is not going to stay off for very long. You can't possibly exist in such a nutritionally unbalanced and unhealthy state for the rest of your life. Sending your body into some unnatural carbohydrate-less state will leave you feeling tired and irritable and without any energy, and it can make you more prone to disease, especially if you follow these diets and start eating much more fat. This style of eating may lead to heart disease and some forms of cancer. What these books also forget to tell you is that the no-carboydrate diets might eventually lead your body into a condition called ketosis, which is a nutritional disease that can ultimately cause liver and kidney damage.

The reason we are fat is because we're eating too much fattening food! Carrots, rice, potatoes and proper amounts of pasta don't get you fat. Fast food, fried food, cake, candies and the like get you fat.

YOUR 13 EATING GUIDE

YOUR 13 WORKOUT

1. Ten 60-Second Workouts.
2. You want some great extra credit? Find an office building and walk up three flights of stairs and back down again.

EVENING PEP TALK

Here's another way for you to work tonight on getting more negative thoughts out of your brain: Whenever a negative thought hits, immediately stop and try to rephrase it as a positive thought. In regards to this program, for instance, you might feel guilty (which is a negative thought) if you happen to blow your eating program one day and devour a high-fat meal. What if instead of sighing and thinking, "Wow, I was bad," you immediately imagine yourself succeeding (which is a positive thought). You imagine yourself sitting down to eat a perfect meal. You imagine the happiness you feel eating that meal. You imagine how it's making you healthier and how it's changing your physical appearance. If you have those images in your head when you sit down at your next meal, you will eat a perfect meal.

I want you to learn to talk to yourself in a different way. It's very important that you learn to monitor the sentences you say to yourself, replacing phrases that weaken you with phrases that empower you. That means getting the words "can't" and "don't" out of your vocabulary. If you ever catch yourself saying or even thinking the words "bad" or "stupid," take a minute to change them to positive ones.

Don't say, "It's going to be difficult to cut back desserts."
Say, "This is going to be an opportunity to get lean."

Don't say, "Losing weight is a struggle."
Instead say, "Losing weight is a great journey."

Instead of telling yourself, "I was bad to have the piece of cake."
Say, "I did eat that cake, and I will be more careful at my next meal."

Instead of saying "I must deprive myself of lots of food to lose weight," rechannel those negative thoughts into a more positive and accurate attitude.
When you face a difficult situation, say to yourself, "I'll win," not "I might lose." When opportunity appears, think "I can do it," never "I can't."

In other words, let all variations of the thought "I will succeed" dominate your thinking process. When you constantly worry about getting fat (a negative thought), you are actually programming your subconscious to stay overweight because you're letting the fear of fat overwhelm you. When you stare at yourself in the mirror and say, "Gosh, it's going to take a long time to lose weight," you are already trying to rationalize failure, which means you are more likely to fail. You are more likely to succeed if your brain is being given thoughts that success is the only option.

The important thing to remember is that you can find ways to break up the negative voice inside you. You can interrupt that voice and then destroy it. No one is forcing you to listen to your negative voice. You can turn it off whenever you wish. And it is at that very moment when you really start doing your best.

SLIMDOWN TIP:
BUY DUMBBELLS

As your workouts are progressing, it is probably time for some of you to start holding light dumbbells in your hands during your 60-Second Workouts. Hand weights are a great investment. If you want to economize, you can even use 1-gallon jugs of water. You'll be amazed at the results. If you have been following the workouts, your body has begun to quickly recondition itself, and if you want to improve on that level of fitness, you need to add some resistance. You are ready to move to the next step in which your muscles begin to reshape your body in a stunning, beautiful way. With less fat on your body, you'll really see more results in a hurry. But again, you don't have to do it. You'll get great results if you just stay with weightless workouts.

Proceed to Day 14

NEW SNACKS FOR YOUR PROGRAM

If you're going to eat between meals, having the right kind of snacks in your house becomes absolutely critical to losing weight. If you're willing to throw out all your greasy, salty snacks and your sugary desserts, then try these:

1. Fresh fruit, dill pickles and fresh vegetables.
2. Fat-free chips and crackers, rice cakes and low-fat pretzels. Use them with dips such as picante sauce, picante sauce mixed with fat-free cream cheese, picante sauce mixed with fat-free dressing or fat-free spinach dip.
3. Air-popped popcorn. (Try lightly spraying the popped corn with butter-flavored cooking spray, then sprinkle with Cajun seasoning, chili powder or fat-free cheese.)
4. Fat-free yogurts, low-calorie frozen treats and artificially sweetened puddings
5. Low-fat vegetable soup
6. A cheeseless pizza

YOUR DAY 14 EATING GUIDE

YOUR DAY 14 WORKOUT

1. Ten 60-Second Workouts.
2. 30 minutes of walking.
3. End-of-the-week bonus: Do extra stomach crunches. One of the great myths of fitness is that if you do more sit-ups, your stomach gets smaller. Not true! Only proper eating can take care of that, but I've discovered if you do enough crunches until you feel a tightening of stomach muscles through the rest of the day, you'll be far more aware of what you eat to keep your stomach from getting bigger!

EVENING PEP TALK

Did you feel completely refreshed as you went through the day today? If so, I bet it had a lot to do with what you have been doing to your mind this week. By trying to rid yourself of negative thoughts and by going to bed thinking only positive things about yourself, you unknowingly gave your subconscious a chance to exhale. Instead of being burdened with a lot of depressing junk, your subconscious was able to luxuriate in more creative, nourishing thoughts.

The more positive thoughts you have about yourself, the more you will base your decisions upon those positive thoughts. The more you say to yourself, "I can succeed on the 21-Day Slimdown," the more you are guaranteeing success. When you say to yourself affirmations such as "I am the most important person in my life," or, "I deserve to do something good for myself," good things will happen. Without that jolt of self-esteem and without that fervent belief in your own value, you will allow yourself to stay stagnant. You will think you are too old or too out of shape or too busy or too whatever to get the body you want.

As Confucius said many years ago, "Good people strengthen themselves ceaselessly." And that's exactly what you're doing.

Congratulations. It's on to Week 3.

Proceed to Week 3

HOW TO STOP YOUR EMOTIONAL EATING

I am not about to mislead you into thinking that this program is going to prevent stress and tension from entering your life. We live in the real world. As good as you might be at this program, there will be times when you'll be caught with your guard down, when stress will rear its ugly head and you'll want to eat to swallow your negative mood.

That's why you need good, solid strategies to keep your moods from determining how much you eat.

Here are a few proven techniques:

1. When you're angry or upset, go out for a 10-minute walk. Such a move gets you away from food, and the exercise that comes from it will calm you. Did you know that when you exercise, your body releases endorphins that will combat stress? A 10-minute walk is a great answer.
2. When you get upset or stressed, stop and ask yourself questions. And ask them out loud for emphasis. What has happened to upset me? How will food help me deal with this? Is it worth risking my new body in return for a few seconds of gratification through food? By taking a breather, quieting down your mind and asking some logical questions, you will start realizing the futility of using food for emotional relief. At the least, such a move will help you delay your first bite of food, and every minute you can delay yourself from eating will work to your advantage.
3. If you still find yourself headed toward the kitchen and you're not exactly sure why, stop dead in your tracks and ask yourself why you want something to eat at that very moment. Often, that moment of reflection is enough to turn you back around. Seriously, as simple as it sounds, you want to keep asking yourself questions. Am I really hungry? Are these true hunger pains I'm getting? Or am I eating to fulfill some other need? You might not have answers, but by taking the time to ask the questions, you will be throwing roadblocks in front of your seemingly impulsive need to eat.

YOUR DAY 15 EATING GUIDE

YOUR DAY 15 WORKOUT

1. Ten 60-Second Workouts. Do four upper-body workouts, four lower-body workouts and two stretches.
2. A 30 to 60 minute walk.

EVENING PEP TALK

Clearly, there are ways to deal with emotional eating without spending thousands of dollars at a psychiatrist's office. Indeed, you can work some magic in your own life simply by believing the statement "I am in control." I hate to say it, but that is about as much a magic formula as I can offer. By taking control by saying you alone and not your emotions will determine what you do, you can make your life much more special. Such control doesn't mean deprivation. It means liberation.

When I need emotional reinforcement, I make extra affirmations about myself and the benefits of this program. It keeps the negative voices from getting too loud inside me, and it keeps me focused on what I need to do. Here's a unique idea: record a series of your own affirmations and play them back to yourself during your daily walks or while you complete tasks around the house. You can be as creative as you want, talking at length about the joys of dropping a dress size.

You can also read the following affirmation into your recorder:

• I am not afraid to be slender and healthy.
• I am open to new challenges.
• I am able and willing to commit to anything that's important to me.
• I can stay committed no matter what.
• From now on, I am committed forever to my body.
• Even if I stop, I know I can start again.
• Nothing will get in my way.

SLIMDOWN TIP:
AVOIDING SUGAR CRAVINGS

Many of you think you have such a big sweet tooth that you will still crave sugar on this program, especially at night. How can you avoid sugar cravings? There is an easy answer: Make sure you don't miss meals, and make sure that each meal is balanced with protein and starchy carbs. When you get a sugar craving, it almost always means you are under-eating during the day, either by missing meals or having portions that are too small. If you must address the craving, look at my suggestions for fat-free or very low-calorie desserts in the Cooking Guide. These are far, far better than a sugary eating binge.

Proceed to Day 16

STRATEGIES TO KEEP YOU COGNIZANT

The way to start breaking the overeating habit is to follow one rule: Never let your mind wander during meals. That's what I had to learn to do, and it helped immeasurably. I had to concentrate on what I was doing and focus on eating only the food I was supposed to eat. I firmly believe that if you can just become aware of what your eating behavior is and if you can keep your mind alert so it will send out warning signals the moment you start going overboard, then you'll break your overeating habits.

But how do you do that? How do you make sure you stay focused and only eat the amount of food you're supposed to eat at that meal?

Try the following strategies:

1. Put your fork down between each bite. Allow a full 30 seconds to elapse between bites.
2. Never eat while standing up. Many weight-loss experts say that if you're standing, you're not paying attention. If you're not paying attention to your eating, you're not in control.
3. Don't watch television or read a book or newspaper while eating. Stay focused on your meal.
4. When sitting down to a meal, don't leave serving bowls on the table. That way, you will have greater resistance to having seconds. Before you sit down for your meal, place all of your leftovers in storage containers and put them in the refrigerator.
5. Leave the table as soon as you have finished eating.
6. Put your watch or a clock in front of you and let 20 minutes elapse before you make a decision about whether to eat more. Don't forget the rule that I told you about earlier - that it takes 20 minutes for your brain to realize your body is full.

YOUR DAY 16 EATING GUIDE

YOUR DAY 16 WORKOUT

1. Ten 60-Second Workouts. Do four upper-body workouts, four lower-body workouts and two stretches.
2. For extra credit, do the interval walk we talked about last week.

EVENING PEP TALK

I hope before you go to bed tonight, you read these techniques again on staying focused during a meal. Perhaps right now, while you are still supercharged to do well on the program, you think you won't need them. But in the future, if you ever feel yourself slipping, these little tricks will be very important in keeping you focused and, most important, keeping you in control.

SLIMDOWN TIP:
USING ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS

There was a report released that said aspartame, the ingredient in artificial sweeteners, could lead to brain cancer. Although the report scared everyone, it has since been thoroughly disproven as having no scientific basis. Meanwhile, there have been numerous studies conducted on aspartame, and one study in particular was conducted based on a human using 50 times more aspartame than anyone would ever consume. It was abundantly clear that aspartame was not as bad as critics suggested. If you want to avoid artificial sweeteners, that's fine with me. Be sure to use aspartame in diet sodas, puddings, desserts, coffee or tea, in moderation. However, if you feel uncomfortable using artificial sweeteners, just cut down on the sugar or honey as a sweetner, and you should be just fine.

Proceed to Day 17

HOW TO FACE SOCIAL PRESSURE

If you're in a social situation, here are some ideas you can use to stay on your 21-Day Slimdown.

1. Don't go to a social event on an empty stomach. It's smart to get in a well-balanced lean protein and starchy carb meal before a big event so you won't overeat the wrong foods. I even recommend that if you are going out in the evening and suspect you might be tempted by high-fat dishes at the restaurant, have a light meal beforehand. You won't be so hungry when you walk into the restaurant that you go overboard.
2. Don't go for the appetizers or hors d'oeuvres at a party. It's rare to find foods like this that are low-fat. They are also finger foods. You can throw down a dozen high-fat appetizers throughout an evening and convince yourself you're doing nothing wrong because each appetizer is so small.
3. Don't study the high-fat foods and say, "Wow, that looks so delicious." You're sending a message to your subconscious that you really want these foods, which means you'll probably eat them. Also, what you might not know is that many of our hunger impulses begin visually. They start with the eyes, not with the mouth. So in this case, out of sight is truly out of mind.
4. Take other defensive measures. Make a point of keeping a glass of seltzer water or diet soda in your hands at all times.
5. Never, ever worry about turning down someone who wants you to try something. All you need to say is, "Thanks, but I don't want any right now."You can use the same excuse when asked later, too. And there's always the great health excuse: "Oh, sorry, I'm allergic to dairy."
6. Be proud of the fact that you are different. If other people give you a quizzical or slightly scornful look because you refuse food, it's because they want to justify their own social overeating. Don't let them draw you in.
7. Enjoy the party!

Head straight for the bar and ask for a diet soda or sparkling water. It's always more difficult to eat when you have a drink in your hand.

YOUR DAY 17 EATING GUIDE

YOUR DAY 17 WORKOUT

1. Are you ready to bump up again? Today, you're going to do fourteen 60-Second Workouts. Make sure to include stretches.
2. For extra credit, try a different light cardio activity.

EVENING PEP TALK

You can't eliminate all the negative people in your life who might envy what you're doing, but the fact is that most people have great admiration for those who hold fast to this program. So tonight, congratulate yourself. Take some pride in what you're doing, and vow to yourself that, starting tomorrow, you won't feel the slightest bit of embarrassment in social situations when you tell others about what the 21-Day Slimdown is doing for you. Tell them about the way you have fit proper eating and fitness into your lifestyle. Share the stories of your own success. I think you'll be astounded at the crowd that gathers around you.

As a matter of fact, I want you to go so far as to make sure others know how important you are to yourself! I'm not telling you to be arrogant and self-absorbed, but how you act determines how others react to you. To be important to others, you must think you're important. To gain the respect of others, you must first act as if you deserve respect. It's that simple. The more respect you have for yourself, the more respect others will have for you.

SLIMDOWN TIP:
MAKING "BETTER BAD CHOICES"

My friend, the well-known Houston nutritionist Keith Klein, has invented a great phrase to describe another way to cheat. He calls it making "better bad choices." These are foods that won't get you leaner, but certainly will prevent you from getting much fatter. They are the foods you look for when you're at a sporting event, movie theatre, or some place with a very fixed menu and almost all of it is high in fat. There are going to be times when you reach certain emotional states and you will come home and see food as a comfort. You know those days. You want a big helping of good old comfort food. This is when you need to have the right kinds of Better Bad Choices in your kitchen: sugar free frozen treats instead of ice cream bars, dried fruit instead of candy, fat-free brownies instead of cookies, and baked potato chips instead of fried potato chips. If you're going to cheat on potato chips, then at least cheat on the ones with the fewest calories. If you need a big dessert, look at items such as the Key Lime Pie and the Banana Pudding in the Cooking Guide. I guarantee you will have trouble telling they are low-fat!

Proceed to Day 18

HOW TO GET BACK UP

Have you ever noticed that one of the toughest things to do in life is to leave your warm bed in your cold room? The longer you lie there and think about how unpleasant it will be to get up, the more difficult it becomes, but there's no way around it. You have to throw off the covers and put your feet on the floor, and once you take the first small step out of bed, you realize it was not that difficult to get out of bed.

It's the same thing with a backslide. The longer you wait, the harder it is to get started again. Don't wait even one extra minute to begin your recovery. Put aside any disappointment, frustration or anger you are feeling with yourself because that only postpones the effort you must make.

Always start back in small ways. Take small steps just as you did at the very start of the program. Don't demand perfection of yourself right after a setback. Don't set unrealistic goals for yourself to try to catch up. Far too many people set themselves up for greater failure after a relapse by imposing strict rules and guidelines that cannot be followed for life. This program is a lifelong journey, not an overnight trip. Like any road you travel, there will be bumps, red lights, yellow lights, detours and unexpected stops.

I suggest you review what you learned in the first week of this program. Go back to look at the first week of the program and set up an easy day of eating and exercising for yourself. Take a look at your Personal Mission Statement again. You also may take out a sheet of paper, mark a vertical line down the middle and in the left side of the page list all the benefits of sticking to the 21-Day Slimdown. Write down anything that comes to mind. (I've already lost 15 pounds, I have more energy, etc.) On the right side of the page, write down all the consequences you know will come if you continue to backslide. (I'll be out of shape, my belly will come back, etc.) You might also want to spread some motivation around your home. Put a note on your bathroom mirror with a sentence about achieving your dreams. Stick a note to the refrigerator door about the wonderful things that a properly balanced meal will do for your body.

YOUR DAY 18 EATING GUIDE

YOUR DAY 18 WORKOUT

1. Once again, complete fourteen 60-Second Workouts.
2. A 30-minute walk.

EVENING PEP TALK

Now here's the most important thing to do when you backslide. Make sure you do at least one thing before the day is over to help you get back on the program. Don't make the mistake of telling yourself at the start of the day that you're going to do something and then not keep your word. As odd as this sounds, it's very important early on in this program to establish trust with yourself. Each time you break a promise to yourself, you chip away at the supply of your own trust until you eventually are plagued by self-doubt.

Let's say you get up in the morning with the goal of doing some exercising, but as the day goes on, you say, "I'm too tired. I'll work out later." When later comes, you still don't do anything, but this time you say, "I'll do it first thing tomorrow morning." When tomorrow morning comes, you think, "I have too much to do. I'll wait until this weekend," and so on. After a few times of doing this, you'll develop such a negative mindset that you might stop believing you can accomplish whatever it is you want. Then you're in danger of letting your backslide turn into a total collapse.

When the backslide comes, make a small promise to yourself to recover for that day and then keep your promise, whether it means taking a short walk or eating one good meal. If you have to, do one 60-Second Workout tonight before you go to bed. It's a way of letting your subconscious know you're still serious about getting lean and staying lean. If you wish, zero in on one aspect of the program you really want to focus on that day, and after you have kept your promise, congratulate yourself. When getting back on the program after a backslide, it is better to make fewer commitments and keep the ones you make rather than making too many and breaking them. Let me tell you, after all the work you did last week on thinking and acting in a positive manner, you do not want get back in the position of being overcome by negative thoughts.

SLIMDOWN TIP:
USING SALT

I don't worry all that much about salt. Why? The table salt that you add to food is not the culprit when it comes to high sodium in this country. It's the fast food, processed food and greasy food. If you eat according to the guidelines of this program, you will not be using highly salty foods. (If you are pregnant, you need to watch your salt intake, and if you have high blood pressure, you should, of course, cut back on salt.) I don't suggest you dump a lot of salt on your food, but a light sprinkle is okay. Salt is a great flavor enhancer.

Proceed to Day 19

USING VISUALIZATIONS

Remember how we talked about visualizations? Visualizations of who you want to be are perfect techniques for dealing with social pressure. During weak periods, I work harder than ever at visualizing myself at my absolute best. It is a technique used all the time by professional athletes who get into slumps. A baseball player who is in a hitting slump, for example, envisions himself taking his stance at home plate, swinging at the ball, connecting and watching it go over the fence for a home run. He visualizes this scene over and over. Researchers call this cognitive restructuring, and it really works. Golfers imagine hitting the perfect shot to help them improve their swing, and basketball players imagine making 50 free throws in a row using perfect form. You, too, can use visualizations to imagine yourself following the program perfectly. By running a kind of home movie about yourself in your brain, you will develop renewed confidence. You can visualize yourself eating a perfectly balanced meal. You can visualize yourself doing twenty 60-Second Workouts. You can visualize yourself at the perfect weight.

Don't be skeptical. Researchers know these visualizations work. They work because they motivate you to turn them into a reality. They help bring back your self-esteem. They make you realize, once again, that you can be in control. All you have to do is relax and let the positive part of your mind work for you. Your mind is much stronger than you can ever imagine.

Here's a sample visualization. Imagine looking at your body in the mirror and smiling because you are a lean, thin, vibrant person. Imagine yourself in the kind of form-fitting clothes you've always wanted to wear. Imagine yourself possessing the elegant muscle tone you've always wanted. Imagine the inside of your body operating as a beautiful clean engine and running on the purest of fuel.

Do you see? When you create such visualizations in your head, you're not just daydreaming. You're really doing something to make your dreams come true.

YOUR DAY 19 EATING GUIDE

YOUR DAY 19 WORKOUT

1. Now we're up to fifteen 60-Second Workouts. This is your last hard workout day, and we're cranking up the number of workouts just to give your muscles an extra push.
2. Walk 30 to 60 minutes.

EVENING PEP TALK

Do you remember how I told you at the start of the program that this is a program about progress, not perfection? It's true. I never expect you to get through this program perfectly. If you do this program at only 50 percent, you'll still make progress.

What I care most deeply about is that you don't get discouraged. You can have some kind of backslide every single day, but as long as you're doing the program in some fashion you're doing a lot better for yourself than you were before you started this program. That's what matters to me.

So stay positive. Be proud of yourself. Smile. As time goes on, there might be more relapses, but the great news is that there will always be even more progress as long as you keep trying. That's all it takes.

SLIMDOWN TIP:
SMOKING & WEIGHTLOSS

Many of you are smokers, and you know that in the past when you've quit smoking, you've had a tendency to gain lots of weight. I expect some of you are wondering if you should be especially afraid of doing the 21-Day Slimdown because of all the food you are eating. The answer is absolutely not. The reason smokers gain weight is not because they have quit smoking. They gained weight because they have begun eating more of the same fatty, processed foods they've always eaten. If a smoker quits smoking and goes on this type of eating program, he or she will lose fat and increase lean muscle tissue. The simple solution to losing weight after having smoked is to follow this program - nothing more, nothing else.

Proceed to Day 20

YOUR DAY 20 EATING GUIDE

YOUR DAY 20 WORKOUT

1. Complete a total of twelve 60-Second Workouts.
2. Walk for 45 to 60 minutes.

EVENING PEP TALK

As you go to bed tonight, I want you to say three words out loud: moderation, balance and steadiness. Yeah, yeah, I know, they are very boring words for a pep talk. But as you know, they have been the keys to your success. You cannot follow an eating and fitness program for the rest of your life that forces you to act in an extreme manner. I said it at the start of the program, and I'll say it again here: Any program you can't do for the rest of your life is not worth doing for a single day. If you want to be successful, you must commit yourself to taking small steps that require moderation, balance and steadiness. It's because of these words that you will be able to transform your body, shed your old identity and step forth boldly into the future. You might not see it yet, but these small steps are growing larger and larger, and the results are becoming more tangible. Just as a downhill skier starts off slowly at the top of the hill but quickly becomes unstoppable down the slope, you too are building momentum to reach your ultimate goal of a lean, healthy body.

SLIMDOWN TIP:
GETTING TIGHTER ABS

Many of you are getting great results on the program, but you're wondering if there is something extra you can do to get a tighter stomach. You are doing all the stomach crunches described in the Exercise Guide, but you just can't seem to get rid of the fat around your midsection. I'm sorry to tell you this, but doing sit-ups and stomach crunches or any other abdominal exercise is a pure waste of time when it comes to removing the extra fat around your middle. That doesn't mean abdominal work isn't good for you. It tightens your muscles there so you do look fitter. But the only way to lose that extra weight around your waist is through the 21-Day Slimdown Eating Guide. An increase in your cardio activity can help slightly, but the true secret is to cheat less and reduce the foods you're not supposed to eat. All in all, there is no exercise substitute for the eating program.

Proceed to Day 21

HOW FAR THIS PROGRAM CAN TAKE YOU

I get letters from mothers, business executives, grandparents and students. All of them have stories to tell about the way the program has helped give them the strength and confidence to be able to create a better life. I remember once talking to a land surveyor named Willie. When I met him, he weighed 435 pounds. One day he blacked out at his job site, was sent to the hospital and was told by his doctor, "Willie, you can either lose weight, or you can struggle for the rest of your life." Willie heard about the 21-Day Slimdown, started following it and ended up losing 135 pounds in less than eight months. A year later, he had lost another 90 pounds.

I said, "Willie, has there been any downside to the program?"

He said, "Larry, the program has slowed down my work output."

"What do you mean?" I asked, a little baffled.

"I have trouble getting work done because so many people come up to me asking if I will tell them about this program I found to help me lose weight."

There was also Sandy Friesenhahn, a Dallas woman who had struggled with her weight for almost her entire life. She thought she had no time for herself because she was working two jobs and taking care of kids. But then her wake-up call came. She told me she had to do something to feel confident about herself. She was tired of feeling embarrassed in public about the way she looked. She didn't have time to go to a gym, she later told me, and she didn't have time to whip up perfect low-fat meals. But she took my program, learned how to get in her five daily meals simply and quickly, learned to get in her workouts, and lost so much weight and body fat that many people who saw her in a swimsuit told her she should enter a beauty pageant. Sandy did...and became a finalist for Mrs. Texas!

Let me tell you one final story about the power of this program. I will never forget how I was doing one of my live weekly radio broadcasts at a shopping mall, and a man walked up who looked vaguely familiar. I kept staring at him, and then it hit me. It was the most feared coach from my high school. When I attended high school, he truly made my life miserable. He had a crewcut, a very bulky physical presence and a fiercely intimidating manner. At the time, I was a boy who had just left New York and was completely out of place in Dallas. I wore a black T-shirt over my soft, flabby body, and I wore an earring as a fashion statement. The coach found me irritating from the moment he laid eyes on me. He instructed the high school football team that if they were seen talking to me or befriending me, they would do extra laps at practice.

Part of the joy of leaving high school, I thought, was getting away from that coach. And then after years and years, there he was standing in front of me. Although I was by then considered a national fitness expert, I reverted right back to my adolescent state.

"Oh, my God," I thought, "what is he going to do?"

The coach took the microphone that was available for the audience and asked, "Do you remember who I am?"

"Yes, sir," I said, my voice shaking.

"Well," he said, "I'm down here to tell your listeners something. I came here to say that I once made your life miserable, and I'm now here to ask your forgiveness. I was recently diagnosed with cancer, and my doctor said, "You need to follow this Larry North program because he has the right idea on getting fit and eating right." The coach paused. "And I'm here to tell your listeners this program saved my life. I have gotten healthier than I have ever been before. I have a newfound sense of energy, and I feel like I'm beating the cancer. Larry, I believe my success is because of this program."

YOUR DAY 21 EATING GUIDE

YOUR DAY 21 WORKOUT

You'll love this. After all the work you've done this week, treat yourself to a day of rest. In fact, give yourself a reward. See today's Slimdown Tip.

EVENING PEP TALK

Remember that bottle of champagne I told you to buy when we were just starting this program? It's time to open it. As we conclude, I want you to know, from the very bottom of my heart that I am honored to have had this opportunity to work with you.

I think one of the reasons the world is so full of frustrated people is that they know they have great potential but they have never stuck to their vision of what they could become. It is not that they don't want to change, but that they don't want to commit to change.

They look at people like you and think you must be very lucky to have found such a niche. They are probably asking themselves, "How did you get so lucky?"

Hey, as you know, luck had nothing to do with it. You simply made a decision to change, and then you stayed committed to change. It's that commitment to continue to change that makes you so special!

I know this is the end of the program, but it is really just the beginning. Have you ever heard the saying, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life"? That's exactly where you are. In so many ways, your journey is just the beginning. All you have to do is keep believing in yourself and keep believing in this program, and the journey will take you places you cannot imagine and lead you to horizons you never knew existed.

I WISH YOU GODSPEED AND BON VOYAGE.

All the best,
Larry North

SLIMDOWN TIP:
GIVE YOURSELF A WORKOUT REWARD

Because you've been pushing yourself harder this week physically than you have in a long time, it's time to treat your body with a little TLC. You can take a long, luxurious bath or pamper yourself at a hair salon, but I'd like to suggest something that makes you feel better than ever about your body. Have a professional massage therapist give you a soothing, uplifting massage.

A professional massage costs money, but it's amazing how it will connect you to your body. During a massage, the points of tension and stress in your body seemingly disappear. If you're in deep stress, it can help you relax. It also helps prevent injury by working out some of the pain in your body. It is a remarkably healthy endeavour, and you feel pampered with the soothing strokes of the massage therapist. The experience of being touched and pampered can be so nourishing. After a massage, you will really love your body and be more attuned to taking care of it.