I can not speak for every body, but I can speak for myself. When I would cook dinner in the past, it consisted of the most fatening ingredients I could get my hands on, and of course everything I was making was deep fried or pan fried, in oil.  To say that fried chicken was may favoirite and that I would make that at least three or more  times a week for dinner or for  lunch, would be an understatment in itself.

Then, I had my surgery, and I lost my desire all together to be in the kitchen and cook. I would spend a few minutes just to prepare my Focus28 shake and leave as fast as I could. I honestly didn’t trust myself to be in there for any period of time.  Normally, this was strange considering that it used to be my favorite room in the house.

As I went food shopping one day, I saw a sign in the supermarket, they were offering cooking classes. This gave me a great idea.  I needed to relearn how to cook, because I had no idea how to do it properly and healthy, so why not give it a try.  At this point, I was 1 1/2 months out of surgery and doing well.  It was time I started cooking for myself.

I took 3 classes, which they offered and not only did I learn some great new recipes that were very simple to make and very little time to prepare, they were very helathy!   I was able to ask the instructor to teach me how to cook the foods I loved most in the healthiest way possible.  It was the best class I had ever taken.  I now had a new lease on life, healthy eating and cooking.  I felt great and so very confident.

Now of course my deep fried chicken was thrown out the window, but the instructor was able to give me some excellent grilled chicken alternatives.  I now have some new favorite dishes.  I cook them a few times a week and some of them I am able to change the recipe slightly for a completely different taste.

If you are or were a terrible, unhealthy chef as I was, I strongly advise you to check in your community to see if anyone is offering cooking classes.  Through my research, I found out not only do some supermarkets offer this,  some neighborhood resturants do as well.  It is a great way to learn how to cook new things that you can work into your diet, and to learn how to keep it Healthy, which is most important.

This will also give you back that sense of power you once felt!  While taking control in your kitchen, with your food, you will begin to see the major changes in your life, not only with your eating habits, but with everything that goes on around you.  It took me a bit to learn, but this is part of the “Lifestyle Change” that the Bariatric Community talks about.

I hope my little information and advise can help you.  Do not be afraid to try new things, it is the only way you will survive.  Good Luck to you all!

Katherine Adams

Focus 28 Customer

www.focus28wellness.com

I was reading a parenting magazine that had an article for mothers who were trying to get back into shape after just having a child. The ideas in this article were pretty good, so I thought to myself, well why can’t I revise them to fit into my schedule.

The plan I set for myself was to put one hour a day aside for me and my children to play. I then incorporated my workout into the play time and my children where none the wiser, and I really didn’t feel like I was working out until the next day when the pain set in.

I had my 4 year old sit slightly above my feet and slightly on my shin. While sitting upright,

 I would raise my legs slowly with him ontop to where my knees where almost level with my thighs. I did this till I could not do it anymore. The first week it was 10 times by week 4 it was at 25 times.

Next, I would take my one year old and lay him on my shins as I was laying down with my legs bent and raised. I then brought my legs into my chest a number of times and again, until I could not do it anymore.  After a few weeks I was able to increase the number of times I could bring him into my chest almost 4 times the amount from when I started.

Lastly, I again took my four year old, sat him down behind me with him facing my back while I was sitting indian style. I took one of his bouncing balls and we would play hot potato, with the exception of me being able to turn around. He would pass the ball to me on my right and then to my left which forced me to have to keep twisting my waist in order to get the ball from with each pass to give it back on the opposite side.

In about  four to five weeks, my legs where becoming slender and they were starting to show some muscle tone. From bringing my knees to my chest, my stomach was also becoming smaller and defined. Last but not least my waist size went down almost one and a half sizes from the twists and all this from playing with my kids.

Everyone is winner with this. You get to spend some real quality time with your children, they have a whole lot of fun and so do you, and to top it off, you will walk away from it with loosing inches from your waist and thighs and your stomach gets toned as well.

Good Luck to you!

Katherine Adams

Focus 28 Customer

Focus28wellness.com

“Live and Learn”! Now there is a great statement for you. It is the uttermost truth that you have to live by in order to learn.  For some of us, it takes a lifetime to learn things, but it is the information that we pick up along our journey that teaches us.

I might have spent a good portion of my life trying to shed pounds, but now at the age of thirtynine, I understand I am who I am.  I have learned that I am only myself, and nobody can change me but myself! Ha ha go figure,took me all that living and learning to come up with that.

I now know that my body is a temple and I should treat it with respect and love, and that means taking care of it and maintaining a healthy diet.  I still have a lot more living and learning to do , but at least I have my temple under control!

Kerry Timmins

Focus 28 Customer

kerrytimmins@yahoo.com

www.focus28wellness.com

I always try to keep healthy foods and snacks in my kitchen at all times. I keep out a bowl of fresh fruit for everyone to pick on throughout the day.  I know I must look like a crazy lady when I go food shopping due to the things that I do when I am there.

When I am doing the grocery shopping, I make sure that I take the time to read absolutely everything that I want to pruchase. Not only do I read everything, of course I have to compare products too.  I carry around a calorie counter as well.  This just makes it easier to decide on what items I really need to purchase as opposed to the items I really do not need. 

My friends, at this point, now refuse to shop with me! They think that I have gone off the deep end and lost my mind. The reason they think this is simply because they do not have the patience to read the important nutritional facts on what they are buying, and probably because most of them do not have weight problems.

I want my children to eat the healthiest of foods, and if that means that I wil have to look a like a crazy woman while I shop, well then so be it. They deserve the best and I have to give it to them. Years ago, when I would go food shopping , I put no effort into it and that is why I ended up as big as I was. Now, I know better, and I take my time, follow my list, eat before I go, and actually shop for what I went there for and nothing more.

When we take the time to treat ourselves to the better things, we will see results.

Kerry Timmins

Focus 28 Customer

kerrytimmins@yahoo.com

www.focus28wellness.com
 

Okay, so the summer is quickly approaching, and I am not ready,  physically or mentally for the season to be here so soon.

I can not speak for you, but I know that I use to dread the thought of having to, dare I say it, “Work Out”.  The time alone that I thought it would take away from my day just did not seem worth it.

As it turns out, there were some little tricks that I was lucky enough to pick up along the way, that now working out is not a chore. It is a daily routine that I have incorporated into my quite time, when the children are all fast asleep.

Here are just a few tips that have worked for me with helping me to LOOSE some inches around my waist line.

1.While sitting Indian style on the living room floor or where ever you catch up on your TV shows, grab a broom stick or a mop stick, which ever you have, rest it on top of your shoulders - behind your neck and just start twisting left to right with your upper torso only.  Do this for 5 minutes a day until you gradually get it up to a half an hour per day. This worked great for me.

2.Once you are half way through your show, start doing some sit ups or crunchs. Don’t feel like you have to concentrate on counting how many your doing, your body will let you know when its time to stop.

3.By the time your  program is over, you have just worked out for one full hour without over thinking it. Another benefit to this is that you have just given your metabilism a jump start from all that moving, not to mention you also just lost calories and are working towards losing inches too.  How great is that?  

I suggest that you measure your waist the first day you start this, then again in a week and so forth. I promise you will be pleasntly surprised at the out come, just as I was.

It does not matter how much you workout initially, as long as you are doing something. Your body will respond to what ever you do as long as you are doing it!  Exercise is not supposed to be a task or something that you hate to do everyday.  It is meant to help build endurance and of course, help you physically.  By exercising on a regular basis, it will help us look better in our favorite outfits.

Make sure you enjoy whatever workout you put together for yourself, if you are not thrilled with it, you will not continue it.  Don’t allow yourself to fall into that pattern. You are better then that, I am better then that.  It’s time we show the world that very same thing.

Katherine Adams

Focus 28 Customer

www.focus28wellness.com

I know firsthand how hard it is to stay on track, especially in the beginning of your weight loss journey.  I have put together just a few helpful tips that have helped me through the hard times, and keep me going to this very day.  It’s all about the changes you make to your daily routine.  The smallest change can make a huge difference.   

Here are a few tips I stick to on a daily basis in order to maintain my current weight.   I would like to share them with you, just to show you that they are small changes, but they work. 

·         I do not eat past 7pm

·         I drink plenty of water throughout the day

·         I eat 3 healthy meals a day and two healthy snacks.  These meals consist of Focus 28 Soups, Oatmeal, Cereals, and the snacks are Focus 28 healthy snacks.  It is very important to get the proper protein and nutrition

·         I walk everywhere I need to go

·         I exercise for 25 minutes, in the morning after breakfast is the best time for me

·         I put time and effort into my meals, I think it makes them taste better and keeps them healthy too! 

There are so many little things that you can do to help you in your journey.  

Good Luck, Stay Healthy, Stay Motivated!

Kerry Timmins

Focus 28 Customer

kerrytimmins@yahoo.com

www.focus28.com

“Everyday is a gift!”  That is why they call it the present.  I love that saying; I feel it just couldn’t be truer.  Through my experiences in life, I know that we are not promised tomorrow, so that is why we need to start living and getting motivated today.  All those days that I wasted, being overweight and being utterly unhappy have been wasted for me. I wish I could trade them in for happy days.  

Although many years have passed, I have finally begun to treat my days as a gift!  I could safely say “it feels fantastic!”   When your body feels good, so does your mind, and I really believe that. At least with me, it’s a proven fact.  I have lost all of my weight, I am maintain a healthy lifestyle, I am extremely happy.     

My advice to you is to unwrap each new day as if it’s Christmas or Chanukah.  Start treating yourself to things you deserve. Get motivated; get happy, it’s definitely worth it.

Kerry Timmins

Focus 28 Customer

kerrytimmins@yahoo.com

www.focus28.com

Being happy is a task that has not come easy for me.  I am happy to say that “I have never been so happy in my life!”  I am wearing things I never thought I could, I am  eating all the best and healthy foods I could, I exercise on a daily basis, and I drink plenty of water. My life is finally falling into place and it feels terrific!  

Still somewhere in the back of my head, I worry about my weight. I guess that feeling will always be there.  I am terrified of becoming the person I was ten years ago!  I have come so far, and the thought of going back, well, you could only imagine.  

I work hard, every day, to ensure that I do not fall back into those old, terrible habits.   That little voice in my head, you know the one, we all have it, is always there to stop me from being who I was, years ago.  

The more I think about it, I’m glad to hear that voice on occasion, because without it, I might just revert to my old habits. It’s that tiny voice that stops me from having that slice of pie, or that glass of soda. It might sound strange but kudos to that tiny voice in my head! 

So about that voice in my head, I have come to grips with the fact that I am not insane, that everyone has that voice on occasion.  I have come to the reality that without that voice in my head, I wouldn’t be happy today. 

Focus 28 Customer

Kerry Timmins

kerrytimmins@yahoo.com

www.focus28.com

I am sure that everyone is feeling the “pinch” these days with the difficult economic times. I know we have felt it here. I cut back on things in my household and one thing I cut back on was my own well being by not keeping up with taking my Focus28 vitamins and protein products.  I thought I could save some money by using some less expensive “store bought” products. Boy was that a BIG mistake!

Within a week of going off my Focus28 chewable multi vitamin and not eating or drinking my Focus28 protein products, I felt lethargic and my hair started falling out. Not just a little hair, handfuls of hair! I had to take a nap every day too.  I could feel the difference, and I realized, I cannot put a price tag on good health. Focus28 products keep me healthy; they are specifically designed for people like me who have had weight loss surgery. Other brands just cannot compare!

No more skimping on myself! I need to stay focused and healthy.  Focus28 products are well worth the money spent.  There is nothing more important than your health.

Focus 28 Customer
Jennifer Savage

ccjjcwlr@gmail.com

When we hit a