Fit and Fabulous from Fifty Forward!

“The Star You Truly Are” Is Right Here!

Let It Shine!

Have Faith in Yourself. You can do this! Plus Have FUN doing it!

As you read this book you’ll learn to design your own path to accomplish allowing the slimmest, strongest, sexiest possible you shine - and you’ll give your path a name that’s “FUN” for you to say and think about.

When I was 60, I had to drop over 35 pounds, handle a very high cholesterol count and a severe case of osteoarthritis and find clothing that would look good on my now enlarged frame! I’d gained weight and lost fitness between age 55 and 60. I was working intensely on a theatrical project I loved, which was excellent for me. However – I was eating and moving according to someone else’s body’s needs and not my body’s needs.

Hint: Give the path you design for yourself a name that makes you giggle every time you think of it! We’ll have whole chapter on naming your path.

I call my path: “My mini-Qs”! “mini-Qs” stands for the minimum quantity of activities I undertake to reach my goals in terms of being slim, strong and sexy. I “get to do” most of them daily. Some are weekly, some monthly, etc. You’ll be able to follow the path you design for yourself, to peel away everything that isn’t that star you really are. Doing a small number of things each day, week, etc - add up over a certain amount of time & you’ll reach you goal – without having to stress out.

Are you saying, “She calls them “Mini-Qs? What is she, nuts?!”

Believe me, I would have thought the same thing about that name. However, if a lucky thought hadn’t come into my head – a thought that led me to choose that name for my plan - I wouldn’t have peeled away the part of me that was out of shape and not feeling well. The name helped keep me doing…”Drum Roll”: my Minimum Quantity of daily, weekly or monthly, etc. tasks I needed to do to accomplish my goals.

“Everyone gets into a dull routine” is the first line of the song “Monotonous” from the musical revue, “New Faces of ‘52”. Eartha Kitt sang it to my enthralled ears. Do you remember that one?

I wanted to find a word that wasn’t the norm—that wasn’t associated with past failures or the times one shouldn’t eat or what one shouldn’t eat etc., etc., etc. I wanted to find words that aren’t associated with a “dull routine”.

The word “habit” has had a less dull connotation; especially after the book “The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People” by Steven Covey was published. We can get bogged down in semantics, however while it’s great to think of your daily activities to become and stay as fit, strong and healthy as you possibly can be – your will be in the habit of following routines. What I was able to do was to shift my thinking about “routine” and turn them into FUN! You can do this too!

For some reason “routine” and “dull” have become synonymous in our culture. The words “mini-Quota” came to equal the least number of times I would do something and the different things I would eat to get a result. The words literally popped into my head. At the beginning, while I was using the phrase, I didn’t even realize that mini-Quota was the phrase I was looking for. . I could set the mini-Quota of things to do each day so I could reach it. I could then increase my mini-Quota if it was too easy to complete them or lower it if it wasn’t working as well as it could. Most of the “diets” I’d heard of had to do with denying yourself and knowing what you shouldn’t do. Then, I started using just the letter Q, because “Quota” has a connotation of having to do something. I change the wording to getting to do something that leads us to what we want. “Getting to do” something has a positive connotation. * In addition, with “mini-Q” I was concentrating on doing my Qs, rather than on not doing something.

I didn’t have a “No more ice cream, Bobbie!” running around in my head. Instead, my head was holding “Time for that apple!”

I’m thrilled that I discovered I could design my very own path to reach my goals, a path that totally suited my particular body and personality. This allowed me to get my body (and spirit) into shape and keep it in shape and enjoy the process! Remember that I put two-and-two together and designed my path to body rejuvenation when I was in my early 60s. That was over a decade ago! I’ve been in shape and loving it ever since! I, certainly, didn’t do it totally on my own. I researched and asked questions and got helpful ideas and I stumbled upon some great ideas. What I did was absorb the ideas that were given to me and then put them together in my mind in a way that helped me use them to carry out my plan.

By the way, I didn’t make up the concept of peeling away everything that wasn’t my true star-self.

I give credit for that to one of the greatest artists in history – Michelangelo,

When asked how he sculpted the magnificent marble statue of “David”, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni is said to have replied:

“I took the stone and merely chipped away all that wasn’t David.”

If you’re still in your teens or twenties, etc., please note that the principals discussed in this book are exactly the same for any age.

In addition: Please pardon me if my phrasing sounds like it’s coming from someone who was educated in the 1950s and 60s. That said – I‘m able to put my head into your position too. I know that youth as well as age is easier when you feel fit and vibrant and sexy.

People who take coaching classes I give have asked me, “Do you ever find new things come up in my body that need handling?” My answer is: “You bet I do!” However, now that I have a system for handling things I find the simple daily and weekly, etc. steps I need to take to handle them. Once you’ve read this book, if you don’t already know how to take the steps to succeed, you’ll be able to.