Welcome to Adobe GoLive 5

------------------------------- ----Remembering back to when I had first made my Total Body Transformation at the age of forty-eight, I hadn't realized then what I realize now, about how to go about changing the very nature of the fat via changing multiple lifestyle factors.

-----Granted, I did know then about the 'lack of firmness' and/or 'looseness' of fat which often occurs with age and with weight (fat) loss. And I learned, through decades of observation and working with people...I learned all about the subtle innuendoes and effects of gravity upon causing the remaining fat to sag, which in turn would pull the overlying skin down along with it.

-----Although very few people realize it, it is this latter scenario which accounts for most all of that 'sagging skin' look that occurs with weight loss and age. It accounts in large part for the pouches under the eyes, jowls, the fatty hanging cheeks, the protuberant abdominal pouch, the undulating fat hanging down from the inner thighs, the jelly-like looseness of the 'love handles,' the sagging butt...you name it. I could go on and on. The 'lack of firmness' and/or 'looseness' of fat is the culprit!

-----...So, what did I do? How did I figure I'd handle all these 'fat' problems at the age of forty eight, at a time at which--as you can see from my 'before' photos--a lot of the damage had already been done? But then again, remember, as I said, I'd been studying this kind of stuff for decades before I made my transformation. And, as you can see from my 'after' photo, after eight months and 100 pounds of fat loss, my 48 year old body became chiseled and toned. No hanging nor sagging skin. Jowls gone. Face and cheeks tight. Pouches under the eyes retracted. So, how did I do it without, at the time, having been able to do much about the 'lack of firmness' and the 'looseness' of the underlying fat?----

-----I reasoned like this. The skin, even at the age of forty-eight, is still really quite young. Despite a certain amount of damage from exposed skin surfaces, there should be enough elasticity, even with underlying fat loss, for the skin to retract. Most people think it's the skin that hangs. Largely, it's actually the 'lack of firmness' and 'looseness' of the underlying fat, as I said above, that is responsible for dragging the overlying skin along with it, so they both sag together--fat and overlying skin--secondary to the effects of gravity.

-----Okay, so how did I figure to handle all this?

-----...Well, I said to myself, since I could do little to change the 'lack of firmness' or the 'looseness' of the remaining underlying fat, I'd just have to go 'all the way' instead, and get rid of all that 'loose' fat throughout pretty much all of my body. After all, 'loose' or not, if the fat's gone, it's no longer there, and it can't possibly have the gravitational effect of pulling down the overlying skin...and nothing therefore should be sagging after I've lost the weight.

-----...And that's exactly what happened, as you can pretty much see from the 'firmness' of my body in my 'after' photos!

-----How I pulled all this off in eight months time and lost about 100 pounds of fat by virtue of my having developed a certain 'state of mind' to be able to do so...well, that's another and separate matter I deal with in other sections of this web site. After all, one thing at a time. We'll get to it. Have patience. I don't want things to get too complicated. The idea here is to help you. Not to confuse your mind!

-----...At any rate, evidently I did succeed. I got rid of about 100 pounds of fat and ended up with the overlying skin being plastered up against only a thin layer of the remaining underlying fat. You see, the way it works, the fat is tightly attached to the overlying skin, as I said, but it is also tightly attached to and plastered up against the underlying muscle. So...by removing most all the fat until only a thin layer remains, the 'looseness' of the underlying of that underlying thin layer of fat hardly cames into play. In other words--and remember this next sentence well...

...The thicker the layer of underlying 'loose' fat, the greater the tendency of the fat to sag secondary to the effects of gravity, while the thinner the layer of underlying 'loose' fat, the less is the tendency for the fat to sag secondary to the effects of gravity.

-----This simple realization enabled me to practically plaster the layer of relatively still elastic skin and remaining thin layer of fat up against the underlying muscle throughout most all my body. The result. I ended up looking cheseled and toned after just eight months.

-----Now, remember this next statement also...

-----...If the layer of fat underneath the skin but over the underlying muscle is thin, well then...when the muscle is worked on and changed and made to be firmer, stronger, larger, and whatever, it would stand to reason that the muscle would be more apt to 'show through' the overlying thin layers of remaining fatty tissue and skin!

-----And again, that's exactly what happened, which, by the way, would account for the much greater toning effect I noticed and which I otherwise could not have achieved. In other words, I had developed a very real 'smoothing out' of the overlying skin!

-----People talk of toning. They usually do not know what they're talking about. If there is any significant amount of overlying fat remaining, you can work on that muscle till doomseday and it's unlikely to have much of an effect on the skin, or on the appearance of 'toning.' It's only when the underlying fatty tissue layer is thin that changing the muscle can result in the kind of 'toning' effect I'm talking about here.

-----For example, you can do all the sit-ups in the world. Fact is, you'll change and firm, and strengthen, and enlarge the underlying abdominal muscles, but these changes will hardly show from the outside if there is any significant amount of fat on the abdomen. And when I say significant, try perhaps no more than an inch in thickness, even less than an inch. It's just common sense. The more fat interposing between the skin and the muscle, the less likely changing the muscle will have an effect on the outward appearance of the skin.But when that skin gets up real close to the abdominal muscles, let's say, less than a half inch or so, watch out...watch for a sudden and marked and wonderfully beautiful transformation of your abdomen. And fortunately, it's this same scenario that works similarly through most all the body!

-----...That's why, the older we get--and by 'older' I am generally referring to over the age of thirty, and younger even...that's why, when you get to the point wherein there's only a thin layer of fat remaining, so too, at about this time, the body suddenly--almost overnight, within days to a week even...the body in toto suddenly begins to take on the appearance of a much younger person than you really are. For the fact is, it is at this 'thin fat layered', muscularly toned and chiseled status that I have been herein describing above wherein the underlying muscles become defined from the outside and wherein the 'looseness' of the thin layer of underlying fat pretty much loses its unsightly effects!

-----I would briefly mention at this time a few problems attendant to this weight loss scenario I've been discussing. First, with the kind of fat loss I've been talking about, 'there goes' the fullness of your face...and 'enter' the 'sallow, sunken cheek look' or the 'gaunt look 'which can come upon your face.

-----...Fortunately, personally, I was pretty much able to get around these problems, but ironically I learned to do so pretty much by accident. I realized by the time I'd lost a lot of weight (and fat) that my face had indeed become much thinner than usual, but strangely enough, I somehow didn't have that sunken, sickly nor gaunt look.

[I would note at this time that with 'fasting'--which I talk about at great length throughout this web site--all faces, mine included, will look too thin and 'sickly,' but 'fasting' is not what I'm talking about here, and it's a whole other matter which actually do have certain amazing benefits, as I'll also discuss elsewhere in this web site.]

Fact is, not having gotten a 'sunken' nor gaunt look to my face despite about 100 pounds of fat loss, I realized I was doing something different, something different than other people who lose large amnounts of fat and whose faces almost routinely do look sunken and gaunt. Actually, it's taken me all these 12 to 13 years or so since my transformation to figure it, to figure out what I was doing, why my face hadn't gotten gaunt.

-----...Well, perhaps you might have already guessed what I was doing that was different. Truth is, it had to do with the 'multifactorial' nature of lifestyle factors which, if you haven't already noticed, I deal with it great length and in great detail throughout this web site.

-----Evidently, from what I've said above, the ultimate objective of losing fat down to a thin layer interposed between the skin above and the muscle tissue below, is to take on the appearance of 'youthfulness.' So, why is it that most older people and other people as they become older and who have lost weight even for so-called 'health' reasons and who become thin--whether through aerobics or eating less or different foods or whatever...they often look old and frail, facially and bodywise?

-----Well, I did say that the methods I've developed are 'multifactorial' in nature. In other words, to satifactorily offset the effects of 'aging' one would need consider a combination of factors more than just diet and aerobic exercise.

-----...For example, just 'one' of many of those other factors has to do with various forms of continuous resistance training rhythmically performed while in an altered state of mind, and which I have called Endurobics^SM (a method of resistive motions which might be considered to be related in many ways to continuous endurance training).

-----But then again, it's not quite as simple as just doing some 'endurance training' to offset the 'frail' and 'aged look' which, as I said, goes hand in hand with the ever so common and routine weight and fat loss programs so common nowadays and which are usually inclusive of a combination of aerobic type exercises and dietary changes. Fact is, one should readily be able to see that the development of the muscular and skeletal systems would be a good bet to offset such undesirable 'aging' related effects.

-----And furthermore, it's not as simple as just lifting weights and doing weight training. After all, especially at older ages without proper precautions as I've had need to consider in the methods I've devised (and which I'll be detailing throughout this web site), one would be more prone to adverse and potentially harmful effects. Why? Because the elderly person improperly prepared would be in harm's way in order to lift the amount of weights necessary not only to strengthen but also to enlarge the muscular system adquately so as to be able to offset the 'frailness' I'm speaking about, and to be able to replace that 'frailness' with the robust and hearty look usually so characteristic of youth!

-----Fact is--sorry gents and ladies--but weight training performed the way it's been routinely advocated for the younger bodybuilder for decades simply does not work at older ages, at least not in the way I'm talking about. For even if the musculature is strengthened and increased in size to some degree with these other 'older' methods (and nowhere near to the degree I'm talking about with my methods), the 'youthful look' I'm talking about is not realized. With these 'other' methods the elderly person, at best, would still be regarded as an 'older looking' individual who also happens to appear fit, but nothing more than that. [see below]

-----...And this also goes for aerobic exercise (besides weight training), which I've noticed after years of observation and first hand experience also tends to enhance an 'older' look in people.

-----No question about it. I would have been met with failure as I'd become chronologically older unless I had devised a whole new way of doing things, within and outside the gym...new methods and techniques involving both my physical body and my mind.

-----All of this would therefore account for the multitude of unusual posturing stances and whole body rhythmic physical motions I've had to make, blindfolds on, while in altered states of mind, and so on.

-----I will leave you with this hypothetical example before summarizing what I've said so far.

-----There is an older individual who does weight training. I observed one such person in a gym the other day. He looked to be quite trim and in shape. But, from my experience in these matters, when I looked closer I could see that underneath those clothes there would be the appearance of a fit but older looking body, much different from that of a 25-30 year old fit and trim body. And furthermore, I would say that this individual could readily be determined to be older by virtue of his face.

-----Overall, he looked to be an older person facially who just happened to look fit and trim, but nothing more than that, no such overall appearance that would make one think he was actually much younger.

-----Evidently, looking fit for an 'older' person is not what I'm advocating in these writings, although there's nothing wrong with being fit at an older age. It's just that I'm looking for something more, the actual appearance of 'youth.'

-----In short, my idea is to have figured out not only how to make the body appear as that of a younger person, but also how to make the face appear naturally younger also. And most significantly I would point out that to attain such status--theoverall appearance of youth--it's not enough to combine dietary changes with aerobics and weight training. That the 'mind' factor must be considered in this regard is of paramount importance.

-----In other words, once again, multiple factors must be considered as acting together. And for the most part, as I have personally seen various aspects of my body aging, I have tried to figure out how to offset those changes--and I have done so quite successfully so far--by changing and implementing the lifestyle factors accordingly (lifestyle factors incorporating postures and motions of the physical body, special dietary changes, and certain thoughts and feelings felt within my mind).

-----Whether I can continue figuring things out as I become older I do not know. But whatever I discover and have discovered, theoretical or otherwise, I mean to report it to you for your edification and benefit and for the benefit of those whom you love.

-----Actually, skin doesn’t age quite as fast as you might at first think it does age. Ironically, the clue that this is so is quite likely already to be evidenced on your body.

-----To understand what I mean, it is first nevessary to point out again that with increased age there is a progressively decreased 'elasticity' of skin, and in turn, a corresponding decreased ability of the skin to retract back to normal after marked a marked loss fat.

-----'Elasticity' of skin is just what it says. There are normally elastic fibers within the skin which have the ability to stretch and retract back, just like a rubber band.

-----You can test the elasticity of your skin at various locations on your body by simply pinching a small amount of skin between your thumb and forefinger, then pulling the skin and stretching or tenting it up, and then suddenly letting it go. The speed with which the skin retracts back is a general test for the elasticity of the skin at the location wherein you tested it.

-----You will find that the elasticity varies from one part of your body to another. For example, if you test the skin on an often 'exposed' or 'unprotected' area of the body ('unrpotected' from the surrounding environment, from the air, etc), such as that of your forearm, you will find that the skin does not retract back to normal as rapidly as when you test the skin on a ‘protected’ area of your body, suchas the skin underneath your undergarments.

-----Do this test at both locations before you read the following. Then you'll better understand how such a 'no brainer' simple little 'skin pinching' test can give you a very important clue as to the fact that your skin doesn't usually age quite as rapidly as almost everybody seems to think.

-----You'll find that 'protected' skin underneath your undergarments usually has a much greater 'elasticity' that of 'unprotected' skin, such as that for the skin located upon your forearm or the back of your hand.

-----...And most significantly, you’ll also often notice that even at very much older ages-- the seventies, even the eighties--'protected' skin such as that underneath your undergarments is often subtle, soft and smooth, just like that of a baby’s skin!

-----It's an amazing irony but that this simple observation can 'undue' the oftentimes lifelong, misguided belief that skin 'ages' so rapidly, so much so that by the 40's and sometimes even as early as the 30's its 'elasticity' is already decreasing.

-----Fact is, people, generally speaking, aren't using their noggin', and are simply not observing 'the obvious,' that they've been looking at the wrong skin, at the 'unprotected' skin, 'unprotected' from the from the sun, from inclement and cold weather, and from the environment in general!

-----And so, the way it really is, the 'aging' of the skin occurs hardly as fast as most people generally think it ages. 'Nature' intended the skin, its 'elasticity' and other skin related factors, to last for many, many decades. And you'll find, depending upon the area of the body wherein fat is lost in any given fat loss program, the skin is often found to retract back much more readily than the average person would think.

-----But then again, retraction of skin depends upon quite a number of factors other than exposure to the environment. For example, I've found that various other lifestyle factors affect the nature of skin quite profoundly (its 'elasticity' and so on), such as the nature and amounts of the foods we eat and the nature and amount of foods we do not eat, and other factors such as the types of rhythmic and other resistive motions we make with our bodies, all of which I will be discussing in due time, in their place, throughout this web site.

-----And remember, even though the 'unprotected' skin of the forearm might not generally be as 'elastic' as 'protected' skin, as I've already noted via the genetically predetermined order of fat loss, the amount of fat under the skin of the forearms is generally not that great, and even if it is great, it's among the fat that is the first to go.

-----So, despite the lack of 'elasticity' of the forearm skin relative to the naturally occurring 'younger' skin at other areas of the body, forearm skin generally does not appear to hang. On the other hand, upper arm skin, especially at the back of the upper arms, is more likely to hang.

-----...And as difficult as this upper arm fat might at first thought appear to be, you now at least have a greater understanding as to what is really going on here, and in turn, you're also beginning to understand and will continue to learn, from a practical point of view, what can be done about it!

-----All of the above observations having been noted, I will now advance to some rather startling and heretofore generally unknown conclusions which logically emanate from the above noted reasoning.

-----For example:

----------recognizing the genetically predetermined order for fat loss...

----------while also recognizing the 'lack of firmness' and/or 'looseness' of fat secondary to increased chronological age and improper lifestyle factors (yet to be discussed)...

----------while also recognizing the lack of 'elasticity' of skin at certain areas of the body more so than at others...

----------while also recognizing that the 'elasticity' or lack of 'elasticity' of skin is secondary to both the nature of 'protected' versus 'unprotected' skin as well as to various lifestyle related factors [as of the 'mind' (how we think and feel), of 'motion' (of the physical body), and of 'meals' (of the nature and amount of foods ingested)...

-----...Well then, recognizing all the above would account for why the ‘younger’ overweight person who loses gads of fat, generally ends up looking better and more in proportion, skin smoother and more toned, than the older person who goes on a weight loss program and who also loses gads of fat, only to end up looking dumpy, out of proportion, often sallow-faced, and with what appears to be hanging and sagging skin and 'loose' fat!

-----Unfortunately, the circumstrance of this dumpy look with 'age,' depending upon circumstances and lifestyle, can occur at much younger ages than one might think, even as early as the age of 30.

-----I would point out another observation emanating from the above observations, 'eye-opening' in its own right, so note this carefully:

-----Being that the 'elasticity' of skin was genetically intended by nature to maintain its 'elasticity' (its 'youthfulness) well into what we would consider advanced age (even into the 80's wherein the 'protected' skin is often still found to be soft, subtle and 'elastic')...well then, it would make sense to consider the possibility that the 'protected' younger appearing skin might actually serve as a barometer or as an indicator as to the real nature of the rate of aging throughout most all the rest of the body, and not just that of the skin.

-----In other words, one might consider:

----------that other organ systems and tissues throughout the body--from the cardiovascular and respiratory and neuromuscular and nervous and skeletal and gastrointenstinal and immune systems, and so on--should really be seen to be 'aging' at the same 'slower rate' as that of the 'protected' skin...

----------and that all these organ systems, and in turn practically all their age related effects on the body, both physically and functionally, might actually be nothing more than premature adverse effects of improper lifestyles...

----------and that the nature of what must be considered to be a 'proper lifestyle', is actually quite alien to what most people commonly think a proper lifestyle should be.

-----I would liken the 'proper lifestyle' more so to that of ancient man than even to what 'modern society' considers to be a 'healthy' lifestyle, for it is ancient man from wherein our 'lifestyle related' genes have been inherited! And there is no getting around or away from our underlying inherited genetics, even if your life depended upon it...and it does!

-----I would note that all this above reasoning and all these new found realizations are all the more reason why, as part of my studies, I have had no choice but to learn all about ancient civilizations as well as about current long-lived but yet relatively primitive civilizations existing in the world today.

-----I had need to study these populations so that I might figure out and develop what I have realized to be the proper 'lifestyle related' life-promoting programs.

-----...And there would be no getting around the fact that such 'programs' would have to be developed and based upon the activities, the thoughts, and the lifestyles of both 'ancient man' as well as that of current long-lived populations of people, who oftentimes have been found to commonly have lifespans of 110 to 120 years and more!

-----But what about the sunken, sallow and 'unhealthy' look to the face which often occurs along with overall body fat and weight loss programs? What can be done about that?

-----Fact is, I have personally observed, figured out and theorized about certain practical methods to offset the gaunt look to the face which sometimes occurs with overall weight loss programs, methods which you are not likely to find in books or pretty much anywhere else, at least not the way I'll be talking about them. From my having spent decades working directly with people and through trial and error and putting many factors together I have come to some practical conclusions about these matters.

-----...Allow me to reiterate some of my observations and conclusions.

-----I’ve observed over the years that in 'youth' there is generally a fullness to the face stemming from the turgor and 'firmness' of the underlying fat, as in the cheeks. As noted elsewhere in these writings, gravity has little effect on cheeks beset with such 'firmness' of underlying fat. But with ‘age’ that same underlying fat loses its turgor and its rigidity... and the resultant facial appearance is far from nice, and varies depending upon circumstances.

----- For example, and again as noted above and elsewhere, the face might take on the appearance of hanging cheeks and gowls secondary to the loss of turgor of the fat of the face as well as secondary to the loss of the elasticity of the unprotected facial skin of the face! But then again, is that all there is to it?

-----In other words, is the cause of the 'unhealthy' look to the face seconday only to these two factors: facial inelasticity and 'looseness' of fat? I thought this to be so when I first made my total body transformation at the age of 48, but since then I have begun to realize that other lifestyle factors might also be involved in the process.

-----It is my more current and advanced theory that the loss of the turgor of fat as we age is not in fact coming so much from our chronological age--from the 'aging process' per say and whatever that entails--but rather, the 'lack of firmness' of fat is likely to be occurring secondary to internal physiological and biochemical and mind/body mental and emotional factors. In fact, believe it or not, I have come to realize that the way we 'think' and 'feel' has much to do with our body physiology internally and, in turn, with the way we look outwardly, even to the point of looking 'youthful' or not looking 'youthful.'

-----I have now introduced you to an amazing theretical concept, that the mind and the way we think can actually affect the physical appearance of the body and of the face, even to the point wherein the physical appearance of one's age can be affected.

-----...To continue further, however, along this line of thinking so that you might understand what I mean by all this and how I have actually gone about utilizing this newly discovered information of mine to personally give myself a more 'youthful' appearance, it would be necessary first to divert discussion to what is variously known as the 'mind/body connection.'

-----Once the mind/body connection has been introduced and understood the way I have come to view it, only then could discussion about the effects of the mind on the appearance of youth have any real meaning.

-----I'm not trying to lead you on a scavenger hunt, but as I've said time and again, the methods by which the body can be changed involve a multiplicity of fields of knowledge as well as methods involving the 'multifactorial' nature of the way the body is made.

-----So I now refer you to the next section on "Mind/Body Interrelations." Again, after understanding these mind/body interrelations and how the phyical body can be affected and changed by virtue of the 'mind,' discussion will then more appropriately continue as to how this knowledge, theoretical or not, can be practically applied to the physcial appearance of the face.

-----Hopefully, I will not sound so brazen as to say that you are about to embark on knowledge hundreds of years ahead of its time. But again, I am a scientist, and my having figured out and discovered what I will be herein talking about and introducing in the mind/body interrelation section even continues to amaze me, and boggle my mind.

-----So if I sound too bold in professing the futuristic nature of this knowledge, please pardon my exhuberance, for the driving force within me is solely the mere thought that with this knowedge developed over time, it will eventually be able to save and prolong the lives of millions of people.