This is a guest post by Deb from FITTEAM Global. We all know how to lose weight and inches and feel  better  about ourselves!  I have been a nurse practitioner for 15 years now….and have spoken with countless people on a daily basis telling them things they already know!   1)   Have only complex carbs – simple carbs like white bread and pasta turn almost immediately to empty “sugar” calories in your body   2) stay away from refined sugar!  Aside from an occasional treat, none of us should be eating sugary snacks on a daily basis   3) DRINK YOUR WATER!  Very few people drink enough water.  How much is enough?  Roughly half your weight in ounces of water a day!  Yes, it’s a lot.  Yes you will go to the bathroom a lot.  But your body needs it!  A dehydrated body cannot excrete fat efficiently!    4) Watch calories….about 1200 a day is the limit for an overweight woman who wants to actively lose weight and   5) Stop nighttime snacking, period!  And this might be a new one for you – have your breakfast later in the day.  Contrary to popular belief, not having breakfast first thing in the morning does NOT slow your metabolism.  In fact, if you can follow a concept called “intermittent fasting” you will lose weight and inches much faster! What was even more frustrating to me the last 12 or so years since, is that not only do I keep seeing the same patients 2 or 3 times a year, and repeating these concepts, and seeing them come back at the same weight or heavier…is that even with the knowledge I have, I WAS UNABLE to do it myself!  I understood the concepts, the physiology of it all, I certainly understood the vast health benefits of being at a healthy weight AND the vast health detriments of being overweight.  So why couldn’t I do it?  For me, it was simple willpower.    I was hungry.  When I was hungry, I was, for lack of a better word, bitchy.  I felt deprived all the time, frustrated I had to skip dinner or happy hour invitations because I was  “on a diet”.   I may have lost a few pounds here and there, but when I didn’t feel like being hungry anymore, I would start to gain the weight back. Being a nurse practitioner, patients would approach me all the time with various programs to ask what I thought.  Many of them sounded ok, and I would wind up trying them myself.   This way I could have personal knowledge of the product or plan – AND I was desperate to lose weight myself.   For liability reasons I will not name them  – but I have spent almost $100 a week for processed food and had to drive to pick it up, I’ve spent $400 a  month on frozen food that came to my door, I’ve tried freeze dried food for about $400 a month,  I’ve tried powdered shakes for breakfast and lunch….NONE of these things were effective for me.  Temporarily yes….but these were just that – temporary fixes.  None of these programs taught me anything about eating – they were all just temporary and expensive, with no “long term plan”. In the spring of 2015 I saw an ad on Facebook for  FITTEAM GLOBAL.  “Two drinks a day, eat real food, guaranteed weight loss” the ad said.  It was after the holidays, I was feeling terribly overweight and depressed, and figured why not?  I had tried everything else.  I ordered the product and was pleased to see a month supply was only about $110.  It was the least expensive thing I’d ordered in all my years of trying to lose weight.  When I received the meal plan I was even more excited.  There was NOTHING on there that would be specific to me.  All healthy, non-processed, “grocery aisle” type food that I could feed the rest of my family as well.   I looked at the concept of “intermittent fasting” (basically trying to keep 16 hours between when you finish dinner and start breakfast) and that “only water” should be consumed, and thought – ok,these will be tough, but I’ll try.   The first week I was amazed.  After just a day or two, my coffee, which I insisted on still having – sat on my desk in my travel mug, untouched – water intake accomplished easily!   It  would get to be amost 11am before I even thought about food – 16 hour fast, done!   Cooking dinner for my family and skipping the carb (no carbs later in the day on this plan) and dinner, done!  No night time snacking was a little harder of a habit to break – but after the second week I was done with that too.   As a health professional I absolutely advocate for regular exercise daily – or as often as possible.  However, I was never able to incorporate regular exercise into my plan – and I was still seeing success! My weight fluctuated that first month, and at the end of it I was down 4 lbs.  Not quite the amazing results I was hoping for – but I began to notice other things.  I was getting  home from work and looking forward to walking the dog instead of taking a nap before dinner.  The “weight of the world” was lifting a bit from my shoulders.  People at work were noticing the weight loss, even though it was only 4 pounds.  I had never measured myself, but my pants were fitting better and my face was showing it.  I felt more focused and less overwhelmed at work.   I decided I felt so good, that  4 lbs down was better than 4 lbs up – and I got my second order.   By the  3  ½ month mark, I was at my goal and down 25 lbs!!  I honestly never thought I would ever be at my goal weight again.   My kids talk about “before Fit” and “after Fit” because my mood, my energy, and my patience are so drastically improved. In mid June, 2015 I was so impressed with my own results, and had seen and read so many amazing testimonials through the support network with FIT – I became a rep and have never looked back.  The gratification of having life-long friends tell me that seeing a post or talking to me about FITTEAM has changed their lives is amazing.  I am working now with over 100 customers with varying degrees of success, and I couldn’t be happier.  FITTEAM is not only an amazing product that works, an amazing supportive company, but it is a tremendous opportunity to help people as well.    I take my  position as coach very seriously, and work hard every day making sure everyone I am working with is getting the most out of the program.    I take pride in the fact that the company offers a money back guarantee on first orders – and they stand by it.  Aside from pounds and inches, there is literally very little to lose when you give FITTEAM a try, and a tremendous amount to gain! Debbie Parrella RN, MSN, FNP-C