Author Archives: Carol

A Safer Way to CrossFit: 3 Ways to Prevent Injury for This Trending Workout

Before I actually became a member of a CrossFit gym, I heard all the cautionary tales of injury, over-training, and the crazy way of training “THEY do over there.”

Was I apprehensive? Of course, but I approached this NEW experience as I have done others in the past and that was to find out what it was really about by seeing it with my own eyes and experiencing it for myself.

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I’ve come away with three things that you can use for yourself and apply to ANY new (or old) fitness experience to keep yourself safe, too.

Know Your Body

You know your body better than anyone else, so if you are asking your body to do something it truly is incapable of, it will let you know. If you work your body into the ground over and over again, without giving it proper rest and nutrition, it will shut down. It doesn’t take a CrossFit class to do this; it can happen with Pilates, yoga, or even regular weight training. (more…)

Posted on October 18, 2024 by Carol

“I’m Here, Alive and Well and Thriving.” A Breast Cancer Survivor Used Exercise and CrossFit to Aid Her Recovery

It’s been a while since I’ve written about my breast cancer journey, so I thought that since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it would be an appropriate time to check in.

First and foremost, I’m doing awesome! This past July marked my two-year survivor anniversary. In the past two years, I’ve been through five major surgeries, countless “minor procedures,” six rounds of chemotherapy, and am now on hormone therapy for the next 3 ½ years. If it seems like a lot to read, imagine going through it. But…I’m here, alive and well and thriving.

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Although I’ve been through a lot, I attribute my success and ability to cope to three things:

  • My Faith in God and His awesome power
  • My husband, Alvin; my family, friends and followers standing by me all the way and pushing me to keep fighting
  • Exercise

Without these three elements firmly entrenched in my life, I shudder to think what kind of shape (physical, emotional and mental) that I would be in right now.

Faith and family, I’m sure you can relate to how important these are to you when you need them most; but exercise?

Let me explain. This is not just any old type of exercise, but serious, vigorous, out-of-breath, leaves you crawling exercise. I first heard about how important exercise is to cancer recovery from a guest on my radio show. She was diagnosed with Stage IV Lymphoma and survived. While on the show she said that she attributed her success to vigorous exercise. This point stuck in my mind and when I was faced with a similar situation, I put my plan in motion. (more…)

Posted on October 10, 2024 by Carol

The Grass is Greener on the Other Side of Breast Cancer Survival

You always hear that saying about people looking for the greener grass, but they never find it. However, I’m here to tell you that I’ve actually found the greener grass. It’s on the other side of cancer survival. I’m a survivor and I don’t need a doctor to tell me that I am clean, I know it already and I feel it inside.

I say the grass is greener because before my diagnosis, I was just living my life, day to day. I would say I was happy, but I was only putting in half the effort. It’s like when everyone around you says you’re “on fire,” but you know down deep inside you the fire could burn better and brighter. No one can do anything about making the fire burn better but you.

Then you get this life-changing diagnosis and you think that you may die sooner than you expected, but you get a second chance and WOW! What a difference. (more…)

Posted on March 7, 2024 by Carol

Opting for Chemotherapy: Have I Been Poisoned?

By Carol Dunlop at OptimumBodySculpting.com

When I first informed friends and online followers that I had been diagnosed with breast cancer and had decided to move forward with chemotherapy, I received so many opinions that I couldn’t think. In the end, I had to fall back on the old saying about opinions—everyone has one—then move on. Wow! I heard everything from “Wait, don’t do it!” to “you’re being poisoned and your body will never recover” to ”why?” It really took me by surprise as to how deep peoples’ opinions run. I also received a lot of positive feedback, but you always remember the negative more, don’t you?

So after I digested everything and scratched the rest, I opted for the temporary “poison.” I didn’t feel that pumping my body full of supplements with their own side effects was worth the risk of maybe not working. I can honestly say that the chemo has been …well, not that bad. Yes, I did get sick, so sick that I couldn’t get out of bed for a couple days, but of the five treatments, so far, to have just one like that has to count for something, right? And now I’m on my last one. Yeah! Double Yeah! I feel that I have been through the fire and back with this whole process. It really isn’t over because now I have hormone therapy to look forward to. (more…)

Posted on March 1, 2024 by Carol

Winning Prescription for Breast Cancer Recovery: Keep it Simple, Stupid

When I first began my breast cancer journey, I couldn’t get enough input of what to expect and craved glimpses through the journey of others. I wanted to know what mine would be like. Now that I am finishing up the middle part—chemo—I have some room for reflection on my journey thus far.

Deciding to have the mastectomy was the easiest part of this journey, for me. I wanted to have the least possible chance of the breast cancer coming back and I figured it would be a great opportunity to sculpt my body. What woman wouldn’t want that? Dealing with the pain from the mastectomy and the reconstruction, now that was a whole other story of survival, whew! I have a high pain tolerance, but believe me; pills were in plenty of supply. The only thing that I had to worry about was taking too many or staying on them for too long, but my husband kept that in check.

Getting chemo was a HUGE stressor for me. I lost 10 pounds before the first treatment from stress and worry alone. Then I had the first one, gauged my body’s reaction, and moved on to the next and the next. Now, I’m at the end, the last one YEAH! (more…)

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Carol

Georgia Cheerleader Strong in Mind and Body

Anna Watson, University of Georgia cheerleader, doesn’t allow things like being the only girl in the weight room or putting on some muscle intimidate her. She welcomes the challenge. Georgia cheerleaer Anna WatsonShe even claims her faith in God and wears it boldly. Even when she was denied a lucrative fitness modeling contract because she didn’t want to take the legal steroid Anavar—to put on more muscle—she stood strong in her convictions. “It was definitely something I was tempted with more than one time,” she said. “[The agent] made it sound as good as he could.”

“I don’t serve a modeling agent. I serve the Lord,” Watson said. “I’m not going to compromise my morals and my beliefs just to take pictures. I believe that my body is a temple and a beautiful creation, so I don’t want to put anything into it that can harm it.”

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Posted on January 31, 2024 by Carol

Mary Tyler Moore Should be Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award for Diabetes

When Screen Actors Guild (SAG) president Ken Howard called Mary Tyler Moore to inform her of being awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award, she said that she thought he was calling her to ask her to present something to someone. Mary Tyler MooreMoore, who helped to create two of television’s most memorable and groundbreaking roles, The Dick Van Dyke Show’s Laura Petrie and The Mary Tyler Moore Show’s Mary Richards, feels honored at all the attention. She says that she looks at the SAG award as a reward for doing something good.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show featured Moore playing the role of the main character, Mary Richards, and ran on CBS for seven years. Mary Richards was a single, career woman in her thirties who had just broken up with her med student boyfriend, whom she had supported for the past two years. Now here she was starting over, making it on her own without having been married and she wasn’t seeking a man to support her.

Mary Richards was the first “real ‘grownup’ career woman on TV.” She was a real person who displayed real insecurities and fears. You couldn’t help but to like her and by the end of each episode you just knew that she would “make it after all.”

Although Moore is appreciative of the SAG award and other honors that she has received, she is most proud of the work she has performed for juvenile diabetes and animal rights.

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Posted on January 30, 2024 by Carol

Demi Moore Health Crisis Gets Worse with Whippit Use

Oh Demi! Has a series of bad or questionable decisions put her on the edge? Demi Moore, who put herself solidly into pop culture history with her appearance on the 1991 Vanity Fair Cover naked and very pregnant, has seemingly hit rock bottom.Demi Moore

Demi’s health has been in question for months now, as she appears to have been steadily losing weight since claims emerged of her estranged husband’s cheating ways.

Once known for her toned physique, she now looks like a shadow of her former self. To add insult to injury, she was recently hospitalized after a 911 caller reported she was semi-conscious after doing whippits.

Whippit is the street name for nitrous oxide contained in a small metal canister and usually used for recharging whipping cream cans in restaurants. The whippit charger is sold separately and users inhale it from the canister to receive a quick high.

The 911 caller, reportedly a friend, said that Demi has been going through a lot lately. On November 17 2024, she announced that after six years of marriage she was filing for divorce from her boytoy husband, Ashton Kutcher. In a statement she said: “It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I have decided to end my six-year marriage to Ashton. As a woman, a mother and a wife there are certain values and vows that I hold sacred, and it is in this spirit that I have chosen to move forward with my life.”

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Posted on January 28, 2024 by Carol

Home Workouts for Dads

Stay-at-home dads want to stay fit, just as their female counterparts do. One dad, in particular, Gavin McInnes, solves this problem by creating a video that gives you ideas about workouts that you can do right in your own home, with “equipment” found around the house.

McInnes keeps the workout interesting and funny by getting creative with his choice of “equipment.” This video was originally shot in 2024. McInnes used his children, now 5-year-old daughter Sophie Whiterabbit and now 3-year-old son Duncan Whitethunder, as the “equipment” or weights.

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Posted on January 27, 2024 by Carol

Jillian Michaels Body Revolution Just Released

Move over P90x and Insanity, there’s a new workout on the market that promises you’ll get “dramatic results at an accelerated pace.” Jillian Michaels, America’s Toughest Trainer, Jillian Michaels Body Revolutionhas just released Jillian Michaels Body Revolution—a 90 day fitness and diet plan that promises to give you the secrets for what really works when you’re striving for weight loss and total body transformation.

Michaels delivers her same “in-your-face” style that you have come to expect from her from her days on NBC’s The Biggest Loser TV show. Participants in the program are directed through a 3-phase weight loss program comprised of 15 30-minute workouts along with an accompanying meal plan, plus some more goodies that will help you achieve weight loss success.

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Posted on January 27, 2024 by Carol

Endoluminal Incision-free Bariatric Surgery Debuts

The first-ever endoluminal incision-free bariatric surgery was performed on January 22, 2024, at the 3rd Annual Apollo Bariatric Surgery Conference (ABSCON 2024) in Chennai, India. Endoluminal Incision-free Bariatric Surgery DebutsThis operation was actually the first ever known endoluminal revision of a prior sleeve gastrectomy performed in the world.

The operation, which was shown via video link to 80 surgeons attending the ABSCON 2024 conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chennai, was performed by New York bariatric surgeon, Dr. Elliot Goodman and assisted by Dr. Rajkumar Palaniappan of the bariatric surgery service of Apollo Hospital in Chennai.

The 27 year old, male patient had previously undergone a sleeve gastrectomy in 2024 and has since lost 33 pounds. However, his weight stabilized and he had actually regained 4 pounds within the past month.

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Posted on January 25, 2024 by Carol