Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Everyone has a story that makes me stronger. I know that the work I do is important and I enjoy it, but it is nice to hear the feedback of what we do to inspire others.
I am kinder to my body. I don't try to prove anything to myself or others. I keep thinking about the need to go slower, gentler and maintain a sense of humor about it all.
I start phone calls at 4 A.M. to cheer people up. The housebound, people in the hospital. People who, after decades, still can't get over what happened 10 or 15 years ago.
I really created my career out of my own compulsion. Because I knew if I owned an exercise studio and I had to teach my classes there, I wasn't going to gain my weight back.
Some people like to look at pictures of themselves before they lost weight. I don't particularly care for that. Whenever I was overweight, it was a very sad time in my life.
Most workouts are way too aggressive. Thousands of lunges wear out the body. It's not healthy for the one with the bad back, bad knees, diabetes. I'm never going to do that.
My parents always told me to be myself. I was always funny and silly as a kid. And I would always make them laugh. And they always told me to dream big and follow those dreams.
I don't know about you, but every time some joker points me out as I walk through an airport wearing extra-small Dolfin shorts, a tank top and leg warmers, I get a little upset.
People are still grasping for the miracle, and unfortunately, there are no miracles, if you do not exercise for a year, and let your body remain dormant, then you will gain weight.
For 40 years, my formula has been to love yourself, move your body and to watch portion size. But the No. 1 thing is to love and value yourself, no matter what you've been through.
I'll tell you who makes me laugh, in a good way, and I'd love to have a date with her: if I could just have a salad with Lady Gaga? This would be my - I would almost probably faint.
All of a sudden, I'm thinking that if I keep eating the way I'm eating, I'm not going to live long and I'm going to die. Having those thoughts as a young person can be very haunting.
For many years, my formula has been to love yourself, move your body and to watch portion size. But the No. 1 thing is to love and value yourself, no matter what you've been through.
Our children are obese, either have or being threatened by diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and not socially adjusting properly to others because of a lack of fitness.
I used to think that if someone gained their weight back, it was my fault, but all I can do is be God's motivator and try to instill the motivation in others so they do it themselves.
I've been offered big money to promote machines. And high-protein diets, when that was really popular. There was always some new powder or diet plan that somebody wanted to put my name on.
No one is perfect... absolutely no one. Like precious stones, we have a few flaws, but why focus on that? Focus on what you like about yourself, and that will bring you happiness and peace.
I've never swayed from who I am. People have seen me on television, and they know what I'm like and they know what I do and they respect me for what I do. They know that I'm huggy and kissy.
I put a spell on people so they don't know they're working out... An enchanting spell, where they just don't think about it, or over think it, and then at the end they go, 'Wow, I feel good.'
Puberty for me was graduating from Thousand Island salad dressing to Caesar salads. It was like going from hot dogs and hamburgers to beef stroganoff, or from ice cream in a cone to creme brulee.
You know, if your parents didn't have you, they'd be living in a nicer home, driving a Mercedes-Benz, with money in the bank and a boat. But noooooo. They had to have you! You've got to give back!
My way is the sensitive, emotional way, because that's who I am. A day doesn't go by where I don't sit and cry, listening to the stories. I try to be the clown and court jester and make people laugh.
I'm a real paradox. Because I'm a very serious person, and I take my work very seriously. But I wrap it up in a court jester and a clown and make people laugh and make them feel good about themselves.
Every day after school, for three hours a day, I would sell those pralines on the street corner. I was just eight years old. I'd bring the money home to my parents and say, "This is just the beginning."
I could be hit by a Sara Lee truck tomorrow. Which is not a bad way of going: 'Richard Simmons Found in a Freeway in Pound Cake and Fudge, With a Smile on His Face.' Let's face it. We don't know anything.
When I go to teach, that's not my workout. It's my show. I'm 134 pounds - I'm a teeny thing. I work out 11/2 hours a day and eat 1,600 calories. I can't stray because I have to fit into these Dolfin shorts!
When I was growing up, I did not exercise at all. I was raised in the French Quarter in New Orleans. If I saw someone running, I would call the police because I thought they stole something on Royal Street.
Sleep is critical to me ... at least eight or nine hours a night. I start to slow down my body and my mind at least 30 minutes before I get into bed. I don't watch any disturbing or invigorating TV at night.
When you're feeling down, sad, lonely, negative, you don't want to take care of yourself - and the weight problem and the diabetic problem and the heart attack and stroke problems and high cholesterol set in.
People have been frying foods since Jesus was on this planet, and there is always going to be greasy, fried, salty, sugary food. It is up to the individual to walk in and say, 'I don't want those fries today.'
I'm such a huge fan, and I've done classes of all Lady Gaga music. And she's just someone who evokes freedom and love for her fans and passion in what she does. Lady Gaga, I'll take you out for a salad anytime.
Sometimes it's just 'Oh my God, I love the taste of fried oysters on French bread with mayonnaise and an order of French fries.' I'm not going to lie to you - I deal with that temptation every single day, many times.
My father offered me a dollar for every pound I would lose as a kid. It didn't work. And it doesn't really work in the long run. Who are you competing against? It's you. You need to be doing this for you and only you.
I might as well be gay. And not just because I love rhinestones and Barbara Streisand. But because Im a sensitive person who is supportive of gay people the same way Im sensitive to grossly obese people and ugly people.
I show them the funny part, the silly part, the laughing part, the crazy part and then the really deep, deep part where I'm talking from my heart to these people. Because I've been through everything they've been through.
Truthfully, everyone knows how to eat right. They know the difference between oatmeal and a jelly cream doughnut. They know how to walk. Everyone has this in their brain. When I started, we didn't have all this knowledge.
I have two rules for living in the world. I never say anything negative about anyone, because that won't get you anywhere. And two, if people confront me with certain questions, if they are not right, I will not answer them.
Everyone in Senate is a hurdle, but everyone in there has children. Everyone in there has grandchildren. No one wants to see our kids continue to gain weight, have high blood pressure high cholesterol, diabetes, and depression.
We overweight people, we say terrible things to ourselves. Oh, you wouldn't believe it. 'You fat pig. How can you do this? You're a disgusting jerk.' And that gets you nowhere. That gets you right back into a bowl of pasta fregula.
Comedy, not screaming at someone, can make someone lift their legs higher. There is a way to do a push-up and a sit-up, and it doesn't have to be so complicated. Everyone is putting a difficult twist to it and making you do way too much.
But if you pick up every other magazine, it is the peanut butter diet, or the cabbage soup diet, and then you go to the radio and you hear that you can drink some solution and you will lose weight overnight. It just does not work that way!
Miley Cyrus, like all of us, needs to be loved. We all come from complicated parents I understand her, and I love her, and I think things will be different with her. But you know, in the music business, sometimes you have to shock a little.
If anyone's depressed for any reason, whether a relationship has fallen apart or they're having money problems, wearing feathered wings and a tutu takes you into a whole other world. A whole new woooooorld, a world of bright and shining stars!
Miley Cyrus, like all of us, needs to be loved. We all come from complicated parents... I understand her, and I love her, and I think things will be different with her. But you know, in the music business, sometimes you have to shock a little.
After I talk to so many people who are so unhappy about their weight and so depressed that they don't see any rainbows in their life, after I talk to about 30 of those, then I try to walk away and pet my dog, just do something that makes me happy.
I never sold any of those "lose 10 pounds every week" scams. I've not changed my tune in all these years. I've seen everything pass by me, and I've been offered millions of dollars to put my name on products that were just lies. And I never did it.
If you want to get the body you've always dreamed of, you have to earn it. You can't buy it, you can't rent it. You have to earn it. My formula has always been love yourself, move your body, watch your portions. And it sounds so easy, but it is not.
I get an abundance of e-mail every day, some say 'dear Richard, can you call my husband, he weighs 400 pounds...' or 'my 14-year-old is 200 pounds...' or 'I just got divorced, no one wants me, I am 500 pounds.' So I pick up the phone and I call people.
I try to be the clown and court jester and make people laugh. At the same time, you have people in the hospital who have had gastric bypass or lap-band surgery and they still have to work out. If you don't work out and eat healthy, you'll look like a melted candle.
How do you get motivated? By knowing your worth. Americans do not know how worthy they are. You deserve to be healthy, but a lot of times, people have, as childs been told - as a children been told that they're no good, that they're never going to be anything else.