TA DA!! TIMES UP! The first ever LBD Giveaway is over. I so appreciate everyone who supported me in this endeavor. Through a very scientific method – the names in a hat trick – the winner of the free e-book download is *** Jpresley48 ***!

This is an awesome electronic book chock full of diet, exercise, nutrition, and lifestyle advice. Contact me, Miss Julie, with the email address you want me to send to Tom Venuto. He will then send you the download information so you can download this e-book to your comuter, AND you also receive a copy of his new book. How cool is that?

BUT WAIT! There’s more! Because this was my very first giveaway and I am so blessed because of the people who participated, I am sending a copy of Tom’s new book, The Body Fat Solution to each of the other participants. I just started reading this book this week. It is an amazing book with some of the supportive information from the e-book and more emphasis on the emotional aspects of eating. So if everyone will please send me their mailing address, I will get their copy of the book in the mail. And although I had some of your addresses previously, please send again to ensure accuracy! You’re gonna enjoy this book!! Send your address to: nan@nanloyd.com.

Stay tuned for future giveaways here and over at The Joy-Cafe, which will range from beauty products – gift certificates for a Little Black Dress – more health-related items – and well, who knows? They will be great!
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“The strangest secret in the world is that you become what you think about.” – Earl Nightingale

I dug out an e-book I downloaded in 2006 (for those who don’t know, an e-book is an entire book available to download to your computer and read on your computer or sometimes, print). I remember the first chapter was on goal setting and that I had learned quite a bit from it. Obviously I did NOT follow through with the information, but it is still valid nonetheless. When I was working the program, the program worked. What is best about it is that it some of those principles he teaches work in EVERY area of your life, not just the LBD Journey!

The number one reason for failure in losing body fat – and in life – is the lack of clearly defined, written goals.  One of the best quotes I’ve ever learned was this one, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’re probably not going to end up anywhere!” Can I get a witness? An amen? I am living proof.

Most of us learned in school that our mind has two components: the conscious and the subconscious.  The conscious mind is the rational, logical, analytical, thinking part of the mind.  The conscious mind is constantly taking in information from the five senses.  It then reasons, analyzes and comes to conclusions about whether the input is true or false.

The conscious mind is a lot like the captain at the bridge of a ship.  The captain gives a command and sends it down to the engine room.  The subconscious mind is like the men down in the engine room.  No matter what orders come down from the bridge (conscious mind), the crew obeys, even if the orders are stupid ones that crash the ship into a rocky shore. 

The reason this happens is because the crew (the subconscious) can’t see where the ship is going; they are simply following orders.  Like the ship’s crew, your subconscious mind accepts every command your conscious mind gives it – its sole purpose is to obey and carry out your orders, even if you give stupid ones like “I’ll never see my abs” or “No matter what diet plan I try, none of them work for me.”

Isn’t that the greatest illustration? I am plagiarizing like heck here but I’ll tell you who from at the end. 

Dr. Maxwell Maltz, author of the book, Psycho Cybernetics, describes the human brain and nervous system as a “perfect goal-striving servo-mechanism.”  This mechanism helps you achieve your goals much like a self-guided torpedo or missile seeks out its target and steers its way to it.  Like the torpedo, the goal-striving mechanism of your brain can only work in your favor if you’ve specified a target.  Without a target, your mental “servo-mechanism” will simply steer you towards your dominant thoughts.

We all know that dominant thought isn’t healthy foods and exercise.  Nope.  Those dominant thoughts are what got me in the shape I am in right now!

I am actually going back to the last place I actually was doing very well in losing fat from my body.  I was going to the gym faithfully, eating right, taking the right supplements, and drinking plenty of water.  I wrote my goals down, following this plan then my mom began needing me more and more.  That became my reason for failure. It was an excuse but a pretty darn good one, right?  Right??? Hello?

Anyway, I am going to sit down this week and re-read this book and its principles. They are not “feel good” principles.  They involve writing goals, making decisions, eating right, doing the right forms of exercise, and OBEYING what the book says to do.

My Joy-Café blog tells you on what triggered this need to get more serious about my journey.  It was one of those things that make you go grrrr.

In the meantime, I highly recommend this e-book that I was quoting from by Tom Venuto, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle.  You can purchase and receive it in e-book form, immediately.  He has a new paperback book out, too – The Body Fat Solution – which I received last week from Amazon and am going to sit down and study, too.

I can’t tell you how many programs I’ve bought in to – well, I could but I won’t embarrass myself like that.  It’s ridiculous.  The point is, Tom’s program is not hype.  It is not about taking magic pills.  It isn’t about losing a massive amount of weight in a month.  It teaches life-long principles and it works.  I’m going to prove it, too! It’s part of my Little Black Dress Journey now.

Tom has free newsletters and articles on his website, http://www.fitren.com/. Take the opportunity to go look around and see if you can learn anything to help you on your journey!  There is enough free information there that you can have no excuses not to have victory this year! This is OUR year ladies!  Believe it.

Now for the Healthy Giveaway!  Tom Venuto has generously offered a free copy of his e-book, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle.  He has also offered a free autographed copy of his new physical book, The Body Fat Solution.  Isn’t that amazingly generous!? I will use it in an upcoming giveaway so stay tuned.

You can read about his program and see amazing before and after pictures on the website, “http://www.burnthefat.com/

In order to enter the giveaway,  just answer the following question in the Comments section of this post. There is only one winner of the e-book but the new book will be given away next week to 5 lucky winners:

What is the strangest or funniest diet trick you’ve ever tried?  Was it eating a grapefruit before each meal?  Was it living on crackers and peanut butter (guilty). 

Doesn’t matter what, share it with us.  We won’t laugh.  Promise.  First I’d have to laugh at myself – !  Oh yes, deadline for this giveaway is Thursday morning. 

You’ll really enjoy all the information in this book.  It’s solid! It’s also easy to understand and written in a way that’s easy to read and actually makes you feel like you have a personal trainer sitting right there encouraging you to achieve your goals! If you’re serious about losing excess fat and toning your body so that you look and feel the best you’ve ever felt in your life, these are the programs you need! It’s not for wimps (heh heh); it is for someone who wants to live long and live strong!