Powell - Chris Powells Choose More, Lose More for Life

The recommendations in this book are not intended to replace or conflict with the advice given to you by your physician or other health professionals. All matters regarding your health should be discussed with your doctor. Consult your physician before adopting the suggestions in this book. Following these dietary suggestions may impact the effect of certain types of medication. Any changes in your dosage should be made only in cooperation with your prescribing physician.

This program is not recommended to women who are pregnant or nursing. The author and publisher disclaim any liability directly or indirectly from the use of the material in this book by any person.

Copyright 2013 by Chris Powell

The Image Credits at the end of this ebook constitute a continuation of this copyright page.

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information address Hyperion, 1500 Broadway, New York, New York 10036.

For the hardcover edition of this book, Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4013-2484-1

eBook Edition ISBN: 978-1-4013-0523-9

Cover design by Victor Mingovits

Cover photograph by ABC/Heidi Gutman

First e-book edition

Original hardcover edition printed in the United States of America.

www.HyperionBooks.com

www.abc.com

Choose to Lose

To my amazing best friend, soul mate, coach, and wife, Heidi, who has been by my side from the beginning of this incredible journey. Everything within these pages we have learned, experienced, created, and completed, together. I insisted that the rest of this dedication be written by the both of us.

To our fathers, William Grant Powell and David Grant Lane: one still with us, and one smiling down from above.

You have both taught us some of the most valuable lessons in life. Thank you for teaching us that we are all human, and its okay to struggle. You taught us that we are all perfectly imperfect, and that our challenges in life are blessings to make us stronger. Your examples of courage and vulnerability through your own trials continue to inspire us each and every day. You taught us that unconditional love is the most powerful thing in this world. Thank you for being our heroes.

This book, and the information, motivation, inspiration, and experience within it, could never have existed if it wasnt for the amazing team of people who have come together to make this all possible: Simon Green, Ryan Levine, Karl Austen, Constance Jones, Bonnie Schroader, Matt Inman, and the entire talented Hyperion team.

Thank you to my family, whose love and support over the years has carried me through my toughest times. I wouldnt be where I am without you.

Thank you to our transformation Peeps. Without your courage to allow Heidi and me into your lives, to share openly and authentically, we could never have learned from one another. Our lives have forever been changed and enriched because of you, and for that we cannot begin to express enough our gratitude and appreciation.

Thank you to our team behind the camera: the production crew, trainers, coaches, therapists, counselors, and doctors who have come together to unconditionally support and brilliantly document our peeps astonishing journey through a year of their transformation.

Thank you to our network, ABC, who has believed in our vision and given us a platform to share these inspiring stories of hope and change with the millions who desperately need them.

And thank YOU. Thank you for believing that change is possible. The power that we have within, to believe, is the rare human phenomenon that we believe in. That is what keeps us going. Belief is the magic that makes everything possible, and makes us all extraordinary.

The story behind this book is the story of my life so far, which is truly a lesson in choosing more. But its also the story of my life partnership with my wife and best friend, Heidi. As individuals and as a couple we choose to be on a continuous path toward positive transformation and growth, and through the trials and tribulations we guide each other as best we can. This makes my story our story, which is Success Story #1 in this book. I want to share it with you so you can see that you can experience the same success in your life that weve been so fortunate to have in ours. By choosing to transform yourself into the best possible you, you can write your own story of fulfillment. Your incredible voyage to transformation can begin right now; it starts with making a personal commitment to making your quality of life better by getting healthy and fitand to dropping all those extra pounds (and the emotional weight) youre carrying around!

My story begins when I was fourteen, living with my family in Portland, Oregon. I was a frustrated athlete and a target for bullies because Id always been the smallest kid in school. One day, my parents bought me a weight set, and I chose to transform my life. I built my muscles and became one of the strongest kids in my school, even though I was still the smallest.

Changing my body changed memy whole identityfundamentally. I became fascinated with fitness and the way it can transform not just your body but your life, so in college I chose to major in exercise science and learned all about how the human body works. When I graduated, I became a personal trainer and found my passion for helping other people lose weight and feel better about themselves. I started building a reputation as a fitness expert, making regular appearances on local TV in Phoenix, Arizona.

But by 2008 Id gotten into business difficulties and lost almost everything Id worked for. Things were so bad that I was living in my car. Thats when my journey with my wife, Heidi, began. We first met on December 5, 2008, to be exact. Heidi was down on her luck, too: Shed gone through a divorce the year before and was fighting her own tough battles as a single mother raising two young kids. For both of us, lifes slate had been wiped clean. We were ready for a major change.

I chose to try to figure out who I was, where I was headed, and why I had such a destructive past. I dove into self-help books and life-coaching seminars. During a lunch break of one of these seminars, I saw an absolutely beautiful woman. Boy, was she toned! I went up to her and told her that her arms looked amazing. I swear it wasnt a line (though at first she thought it was)I really wanted to know how she was so fit. Shed been athletic all her life, had gotten certified as a personal trainer when she was nineteen, and had been weight training and playing sports for a long time. We obviously had a lot in common, and as two passionate trainers, conversation sparked up.

But we didnt flirt or try to impress each otherat that point in our lives, neither of us wanted the stress of a relationship. I was focused on figuring myself out, on sorting out why my life was where it was, on digging down to my foundation. Heidi was there for the same reason. When the seminar ended, we kept on talking for the rest of the evening. We were incredibly open, honest, and vulnerable with each other. What a cool way to start a friendship! Our connection was about connectingand about unconditional appreciation and acceptance of how perfectly imperfect we were.