Weight Loss Wins - How to Become a Weapon of Mass Reduction

That's Fit: You decided you wanted to slim down before your 60th birthday and wrote about your progress in your weekly paper -- what inspired you to take on this challenge in such a visible way?

Carson : Well, I stepped on the scales naked in the morning, without any clothes on naturally (you don't want to add any ounces) -- and it broke. I realize it was time to get fit and lose some weight. I'm laughing and it sounds funny, but it really was like that. I had tried dieting and that didn't work so I knew I had to try something different. I decided I would make it fun instead of grim and find things that were just right for me because I had a torn hamstring from a fall so there weren't exercises I could do. And I'd decided I'd get help. I thought maybe I could write an article in the local paper -- something around the idea that you're never too old to get fit. The editor liked it ... and she called me and said, "If you don't mind we'll make this into a series," and the next day there was this article with me, my weight, my measurements on the front page of the local paper. I hadn't ever told my husband my weight. I hadn't been honest with the department of motor vehicles for years. I went into town that day and everyone said, "Gee if you can do it, maybe I can do it, too." I went ahead and lost the weight and shared my stories as I was going through it. Then I started profiling who was doing it. Then I also offered to help people in the community lose weight.

That's Fit: After telling your editor and your community that you're never too old to get fit, you tried everything from handball and yoga to tennis and kickboxing. Did you ever feel too old?

Carson : I felt I was out of shape. When I did the tree pose in yoga, I kept falling over. The thing that amazes me -- at the beginning, a nurse at the local center tested me and I was in the 90th percentile for heart disease, cancer and stroke because of my weight, my family history and medical history. When they went to test me for flexibility, I didn't even fit in the charts. Four months later, they retested me and I was in the normal range. That's how forgiving our bodies are. That's what prompted me to start helping other people because I realized if I hadn't done this, maybe I wouldn't be alive. Now I'm so flexible... I play tennis 10 to 12 hours a week, and I don't even need an aspirin.

That's Fit: Your book promises to turn readers into a "weapon of mass reduction" -- what advice can you can leave with us to incorporate into a weight-loss or weight-management routine?

Carson : Make it "FIT." Make it fun -- whether it's eating or exercise. Make it just right for you -- individualize. And T, team up, do it together. I don't know any one who can do this alone, it's just too hard. That's my philosophy.But there is one helpful thing to use on a daily basis. A lot of people think you have to starve to lose weight, but in Dr. Edward Abramson's book "Body Intelligence," he says that about 80 percent of what we eat is in response to cues other than hunger. I thought that was pretty high, so I started testing myself and I realized much of the time, most of my eating had nothing to do with hunger. So ask yourself, are you hungry -- do you really want to eat that?

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