Dale Richardson Discusses How She Helped Me Lose more than 36 pounds

This is Peter Rosenberg and I'm so glad that you're listening to this podcast. If you're finding it meaningful, I want to ask you for two things. Would you mind sharing it with someone?

Would you mind telling somebody you know who is struggling as a caregiver about this program and what it can mean for them? We have over 800 episodes, more than 250,000 downloads. The need is massive. I can't do it on my own.

I'm still a full-time caregiver. But I'm putting it out there as best as I can. And I can use your help in sharing it with others. The other thing is, would you consider helping support what we do? If you like what you're hearing, if you're finding it insightful, if you're finding it encouraging, please help us do it more. We can't do it alone. We ask that you help us. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver.

This is Peter Rosenberg and this is the program for you as a family caregiver. Healthy caregivers make better caregivers. You've heard me say this many times and guess what? I live it and I have to keep on my toes about this.

And I always tell that to Gracie that she has to keep on her toes and I have to keep her toes on her. But that's a different conversation. This last round of surgeries with her, I was at Denver and where we live in Montana, we don't have a Chick-fil-A anywhere near us. 60 miles away is the closest one now. And that's out on the campus of Montana State and I'm not going to do that.

I'm not going to go 60 miles for that. But when I was in Denver, Chick-fil-A was my kryptonite and I was not eating as well as I should. And I started to pork out a little bit and I gained some weight. And I was not happy about it. And I have a friend of mine we've known for 35 plus years. And we were both raised in South Carolina.

She and her husband are from South Carolina. And then we all lived in Nashville, went to church together, just been friends for forever. And she's just been beating on me.

I mean, just hammering me, just throwing rocks at me, stoning me, hurling insults at me. No, she hasn't. But she was concerned about me. And she said, look, I want you to, I want to talk with you about this. And she shared her own story of how she dropped a good bit of weight and changed her whole life and went to a healthier lifestyle.

And I've done pretty well, particularly when I was doing martial arts and even working out here on the ranch, just doing, just, you know, fencing and all the things that I do out here. I was doing okay, but this, but two months in the hospital really took me down a different path. And so it was time to start making some radical decisions for me. Because I can't afford to get fat. You know, you've heard me say this, I'm no good to greasy if I'm fat, broken, miserable. So I didn't want to be that way.

And you know, when you go out in the forest and the bears are hiding their food, it's time to start losing weight. And so Dale, I said, Okay, Dale, I'll listen to you. And she started talking to me about this. And I started this program the first of March. When did I start it, Dale? First of March what? Well, you're going to make me look it up. Hang on a second.

No, that's okay. It was the first of March, roughly. And I am down 36 pounds. And I've got a bad left knee that I hurt many years ago. March 13th.

March 13th, okay. So here we are now, four months later, less than four months later, 36 pounds, maintaining it. But it's not just losing the weight, it's changing the way I look at food, the way I look at everything. And it's really helped me a lot.

And I don't inflict anything on other people that I don't try myself. And so I took this to heart. And Dale has been an amazing coach.

And I thought, Well, let's just have her on the show. And let's talk about this and talk about the challenges we have as caregivers, because it is very difficult to maintain good physical health while serving as a caregiver. We have a lot of stress, and they call it comfort food for a reason. And both Dale and I were raised in South Carolina, where comfort food is, you know, a lot of food. And comfort food is like a premium. I mean, you can't, wherever two or three are gathered, there's Krispy Kreme.

I mean, you can't, you can't get away from it. We both grew up on sweet tea, and everything was fried. And our fried food was fried twice. I mean, it was just that way. So that's a long introduction. Chicken fried steak, chicken fried chicken, chicken fried, chicken fried, chicken with fried butter on it.

I mean, we had it all. And so anyway, here's my friend Dale Richardson, and she is on the program. Dale, I am thrilled to have you here.

So thank you for indulging me on that long setup. But I wanted people to understand that I've taken this very seriously, and you've been a big part of this. And I thank you for being here. How are you feeling? I'm feeling great.

And I am so proud of you, my friend. I'm so glad that God brought us back together and reconnected us. Back together? We never left. Well, we never, you left. Well, I went to month.

Yeah, but still. No, we have stayed in touch over the years. And you've been quite a blessing in our family in many ways. Well, Freddie and I, your wonderful husband who has more brainpower than any 10 people put together. And we have such a great project that we're working on with our son, that with Freddie, that's going to be very exciting to announce to people down the road here. And so it's just, there's such a, your family is so creative. And I just love that. And your brother is one of my absolute closest friends.

But I don't tell anybody that because, you know, I'm just kidding. Oh, I tell you, Hank is the reason we moved to Nashville in the first place and my sister Mary, because they were in the music business and they said, come on over, we'll introduce you to everyone. And then we all ended up at St. Bartholomew's and that's where we met. And I've got story after story after story of all the music stuff we've done. Dale and her husband, Freddie, are amazing singers, backup singers. They've done jingle singers and session singers and they've done it all.

They're just incredible musicians. And Dale will keep me on my toes. Again, the toes thing.

I do a lot of foot things here on this tour. But Dale keeps me, because she's got such a great ear for hearing the intervals and she knows her theory, her musical theory. So I can never pull a fast one over on Dale. I can on Hank.

Hank's an amazing singer, but I can pull one over on Hank. But Dale actually knows, she's put in the time, she knows the work and she can show her work. And so you can't fake it with, she'll call you out. But she is, I started seeing pictures of you. You started posting on Facebook and other social media and you dropped quite a bit of weight. And I never really, you know, I just, I started paying attention.

I was like, what is she doing? And then when we talked and Freddie and I've been working on this project, I could hear you in the background. Peter, we got to get you healthier.

Peter, we got to get, I couldn't have a conversation with Freddie without Dale chomping in the background. And I mean, she just beat me like a rented mule. And yet here we are. And you closed the deal with the statement that we're going to, that you said to me, said, Peter, your future self will thank you.

And I thought, she's right. And so, but tell us how you started. What happened with you? What was the prompt for you? Okay, I'm going to try and do it in a nutshell. And you know, I, that's tricky.

Yeah, don't even. So what happened was I grew up very, very active. I was always in sports. I was always in good shape. I was a cheerleader. I played golf and tennis and swimmer and, you know, diver, water ski, you name it. I was out doing it.

And then I went to college and gained the freshman 15. And I remember, and the reason this is important is I think we all need to pay attention is I was so used to not being overweight that when my clothes weren't fitting right, I was like, am I using the wrong detergent? Am I doing the washing machine wrong? Are these things shrinking? What's happening?

It never occurred to me that I was gaining weight. Isn't that hilarious? It's like, I don't know if it was my ego or what was going on, but I looked in the mirror and even recently, you look in the mirror and you see what you want to see. And you don't turn to the side sometimes. You just look straightforward and go, I'm doing okay.

But you don't catch yourself as things are changing until you see that candid picture, that photograph at the Fourth of July party with your family in 2021. And you're like, oh, who was that person that was at the party? Oh, my gosh, it was me. That was me. And I didn't recognize myself.

I literally it was like cold water in the face. I didn't realize I had gotten that big. How big were you? How big a girl are you?

I was standing on the street corner and a cop told me to break it up. I was big. Well, let's see, I'm 5'3", so every five pounds on a 5'3", girl, it shows. I mean, if you're 5'7", you can hide it for a few and you can wear blousy shirts and you can get away with a lot. But when you're 5'3", or 5 feet tall, every pound is a statement. So anyway. By the way, do you remember that song that Evie Tornquist did, I'm only 4'11", but I'm going to heaven and it makes me feel 10 feet tall?

I sang that on my senior recital. Yeah, I can't believe it. Yeah, that's hilarious.

Well, here's the thing. I went one summer with my friend Lulu Elam. She had a lake house and invited us and we would go up and I would ski all the time. And I popped up just like I did when I was 8, 10 years old. We skied all our life, you know, slalom.

And I popped up, you know, normally. But that summer, I couldn't get up and I remember thinking, what is going on? John, you're not going fast enough. Kick it. We're going to need a bigger motor.

Oh, well, let me tell you. They were throwing out the heavy things. You know, they were like, lean forward, lean forward. Freddy got thrown overboard.

We got to lose some weight. So what happened was it wasn't that. But I kept making him try until my arms were so sore. I couldn't even move for like three weeks. But even then, I thought it was John's not pulling me the way, you know, I thought it was a boat.

I thought it was a speed. It was like, wake up and smell the roses, girl. And then I went to play golf with Freddy on my birthday because every year we go out and play golf. And I'm always a good golfer. I've been a good golfer, played all my life, and I couldn't hit the ball.

And I thought, what's happening? And Freddy was like, well, just just relax, focus, look at the ball, swing, keep your head down. You know, he kept trying to help me, but nothing, nothing was working. And by the way, Freddy is very thin and in very great shape. It's easier said than done for Freddy. I understand.

Right. But he said to me, you know, he kept trying to encourage me and I said, I don't get it. I really don't get it.

Well, bless his heart. He didn't say, well, it could be because you have like a tire around your waist and you're trying to do this rotation of your arms to swing and you're off. You know, your balance is off.

Well, never occurred to me. Like I said, there were just so many things that were coming. And oh, believe me, I kept feeling worse about myself and worse about myself.

Then what happened was it was around COVID. And my daughter, Maggie, is a single mom and we're helping with raising Pearl, precious Pearl. And she and I both during COVID, we just sort of decided that fun fellowship with the family was the most important thing. It's just to keep the four of us together and having fun since we couldn't go anywhere and eat good meals and, you know, play cards and, you know, just do fun things. But binge on some fun shows and things like that. Just make it an adventure. Well, it adventured right into 35 pounds overweight. So there's not much of an adventure, is it?

No. And it all sort of came to a head when I was going up and down the stairs with my granddaughter in my arms. And she's my first. That was my first granddaughter. I now have four with one on the way in August. And I'm very blessed.

But that was the first. And I was going up the stairs panting and then my knees were hurting. My ankles were aching.

I was like, wait a minute. Is this the way being a grandparent is going to feel? Taking care of my grandkids? What a question to ask. We are up against a heartbreak.

So I want to that's a good place to stop because that is a transformational moment. We're talking with my friend Dale Richardson. This is Hope for the Caregiver. This is Peter Roseberger.

Healthy caregivers make better caregivers. And this is something that Dale and I have taken very seriously, along with a lot of others. And I want you to as well. Don't go away. We'll be right back. Hey, this is Larry the Cable Guy. You are listening to Hope for the Caregiver with Peter Roseberg.

And if you're not listening to it, you're a communist. Get it done. The joy of the Lord will be my strength. He will uphold me all of my days. I am surrounded by mercy and grace. For the joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver.

This is Peter Roseberger. This is the program for you as a family caregiver. Healthy caregivers make better caregivers. I am continuing my conversation with our longtime friend Dale Richardson. She helped me get healthier and still is.

I mean, I'm still on my way. I've not quite reached the target goal of what I want to get, but I wanted you to hear her story of how she got to where she is. And when last our heroes met, she was huffing and puffing to get up the stairs carrying her granddaughter. And her granddaughter was small and Dale was small, too, but she was struggling to get up the stairs. Breathing was heavy and her knees were hurting, her ankles were hurting.

Why? Well, she had gained a lot of weight. And again, we grew up in the South. We're both from South Carolina.

And so we understand about comfort food, but still, you know, they have skinny people in South Carolina. Freddie, her husband's one of them. And it's not fair, but he is.

And he's not, evidently, this hadn't been an issue with Freddie, but it certainly has been for me. And so Dale took it seriously. Dale, what happened?

The moment you're carrying Pearl up the stairs and you're huffing and puffing and you're thinking, this is crazy. What happened? Well, then I, like I said, I saw pictures and I started realizing who is that person?

That is not me. And I kept, I know this sounds funny, but I kept saying, because I'm a performer, we've had, you know, stage, you know, and our daughter Maggie is a performer. She's a singer and musical theater and choreographer.

She's great. And that's another reason why she needed to lose the weight because she needed to fit into her costumes. And we were talking about this because she works on the General Jackson showboat and her beautiful costumes. When she went for her fitting, they were like, oh, we're going to have to change some of the costumes because she had gained weight. And, and she said, mom, I got to get this off. I said, me too.

We have got to do something. I felt like I needed to zip out of a fat suit. And the reason I say that is because I knew the person inside was not the person I was seeing in the mirror, you know, and I just didn't relate to this person that I look like and felt like. I was like, this isn't me and I don't want this for the rest of my life.

So long story short, I called a friend. It's funny because I did a show in Gatlinburg where I, one of the costumes I did, it was called Pop Goes America when the World's Fair was in Knoxville. And one of the costumes was a Dolly Parton because I came out and sang Here You Come Again, and which Maggie sings on the showboat now.

So it's really full circle. And Hank was on tour with Dolly. So there's the Dolly thing. But anyway, so but I had this actual thing that I would put on like a costume that before I put the real costume on, I stepped into this almost like a, it was a foam rubber body that had straps and they zipped it up. And then I was this voluptuous, huge, you know, well over way overdone body, right? And that's what I felt like. I felt like if I could just, can you please unzip me and let me step out?

That's what I felt like. Anyway, so I called a friend who was about my age and she's in the music business too. And I said, you are about my age and you look great. What have you been doing?

And she shared it with me. And so Maggie and I both did this, this new program, a new way of thinking, a new way of doing life. It's a lifestyle change. And it's not just the food and how many times a day we eat, which is real important because eating two and a half to three hours apart during the day, smaller meals, helps your blood sugars to be stabilized.

And it really does help you with cravings and your appetite is, you know, is satisfied with healthy food too, I might add. So I, you know, Maggie and I got on this plan and we both lost, I lost 35 pounds in about four to five months. Maggie lost 25 pounds. So she looks great now.

She's been maintaining, she's on the showboat in her gorgeous costumes. Just so, so happy. Well, I'm not wearing a Dolly Parton costume. Let me just go ahead and just say that right now. I just want to get that out of the way in case anybody's worried about that. I'm not wearing a Dolly Parton costume. I'll tell you that right now. So I don't care how, you and I are going to stop this conversation if that's part of this transaction that I got to wear. No, I'm just kidding. You look great.

But I love that, I love that, well, I love that analogy that I want to just zip out of this because that's, I felt the same way. I said, this isn't me. Because I was always skinny. I mean, I grew up, I was, I was thin because I could eat anything. I was young and I was thin. And when I married Gracie, I was like 160 pounds.

I mean, I was so skinny I could lay under a clothesline and not get a suntan. And it was, you know, and Gracie took it as her mission to fatten me up. I mean, I was so skinny. I was just like starving.

And, you know, and I was just hungry, you know, but it was, that changed over time. And particularly being around hospitals because you eat so much around hospitals. You know, there's nothing else to do sometimes, but just eat. You don't necessarily eat well. Well, that's a good point to bring up about what you eat, you know, because this is not a diet and people are like, oh, you're on that diet. No, no, no.

It really isn't. It is a, you are a spirit. This is the way I see it. You are a spirit. You have a mind and you, and you have, you're in a body. OK. And of course, we as Christians, you know, we say we're our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. And so we need to be good stewards of that, just like we're good stewards of our money and our time and our anything. You know, right. This temple was about ready to be condemned if I didn't do something about it. So it was pretty. So what we do is we take care of all.

I believe that we need to take care of all three. If you just focus on one and you don't take care of the other two, then it might as well be a diet, because then you just go back and go back to what you were doing before after you lose the weight. And it's called yo-yoing. And you just go back and back and forth, back and forth. Oh, I got to get back on that diet now to lose that again.

And then you gain it back and back and forth. That's the thing I love about this is we teach you healthy habits that you're going to incorporate in your life. And that's everything from hydration, sleeping, good sleeping routine. And believe it or not, there's more science to the sleeping thing. I could go into it, but I'll save that. But I mean, I can even help you set yourself up for success in in in those areas that you may have been having struggling in. And it really is important to get a good night's sleep and what you do right before you go to bed and things like that. But there's there's hydration, there's good sleeping, there's emotional, like what you were talking about earlier, emotional eating.

You know, you you know, we deal with that and how here's a little trick. I'll just tell you right now. And this could save you some pounds right now.

When you go to somewhere and you're tempted by something. You can have it. Sure. You can have that doughnut. If you if you want to eat that doughnut, you can have it. It's your choice. But if you say.

No, thank you. Not right now. Not right now. Now, you're not saying I'll never have another one in my whole life ever again. And oh, poor me. I'm a victim.

And I'm, you know, you know, and you have that victim mentality. No, that's not what we're going for here. What we want you to start seeing is if I can just make that decision. Not right now. For this moment.

Even if I say I might could do it this afternoon, but I'm not going to do it right now. And you start building that muscle power and that decision and taking control of your, you know, your, your decisions. Your impulses.

Your impulses. And you are so right about that because I found that I was like, you know, it will pass. And then you get distracted with something else. You move on. You realize, oh, I didn't have to have that.

I'm OK. If you will take a minute and a half, push away from whatever the distraction is. And it could be stress.

It could be anything that you're dealing with. And just literally deep breaths in and out. Big, long count to 10 in and count to 10 out and do that for about five times straight. Don't hyperventilate.

Do it slowly. But it does. It brings down. It brings everything to your frontal cortex.

The back part of your brain is the one that's the intuitive thing where you go, oh, there's a snake. Got to run, you know. Oh, you know. And you make quick, impulsive decisions, like you said. But if you can just take a minute and say, OK, wait, is this really what I want to do? It's called stop, challenge, choose.

So just stop before you do anything and think it through because then it goes to the frontal cortex, which is the part that is the reasoning where you can say, oh, yeah, if my goal is to get healthy, this isn't going to serve me well. So I'm going to choose not right now. I had a friend who quit smoking because she said not right now.

She said if I had said I'm quitting smoking, I never would have quit. But if I just said each time, not right now. You know, and realize it's not for tomorrow.

It's just for today. And you start building up that muscle. So anyway, that is how one tip of how you can deal with. Well, I watched you and then you started really going after it. And then I saw that you were coaching other people and you were on me like a pack of dogs on a three legged cat. And I got to tell you, look, Dale and Freddie and I and Gracie, we've been friends for a very, very long time. And so I knew she genuinely cared.

And she saw because, you know, Gracie was going through these surgeries and there are a lot of them. And it was, you know, it takes its toll. I mean, if you go out and look at a picture of me, you can see how much it takes a toll on it. Because look at me. I mean, I look old.

No, I'm just, well, maybe I do look old. But I was sitting there hugging my granddaughter when we were down in South Carolina. And I told her, I said, I love you, Eilie. And she said, I love your white hair, Pop. And I was like, you know, I have far more white hair than anybody else in my family.

Hey, that's wisdom. You look good. I think men look great. Well, I say that because I'm not quite gray yet.

Well, yeah, but that's easy for you to say. I have all this Arctic blonde hair. Well, I help myself not be, but I think you look very good.

But I finally, when you told me, you said, look, your future self's going to thank you. And it was it was March. It was winter here in Montana. It's kind of great.

You know, we have a lot of winter in Montana. And I was thinking, OK, now we're the good news is we're a long ways away from fast food where I live. And so I made the decision and I started this process and you coached me along with it. You were you were there for me. You said, look, we're going to start slow. We're going to do this and this. And then I would and you're only supposed to weigh in like once a week.

I was doing it every day, sometimes twice a day. So I'm known for my patience, Dale. Yeah.

And ask your brother. I mean, I've known you. Oh, yeah. Peter is the model of patience. But I want to tell you what happened when we come back. We got to take a quick break.

I've talked with my friend Dale Richardson. We're talking about being healthy. And this is not something that someone had done with me. This is going to be a lifestyle change for me because I'll be 61 this month. And, you know, age is not necessarily cure for health ailments. And so I serve Gracie best when I am not struggling with weight and health issues and so forth.

How does that help her? It's all about stewardship. We're going to talk some more about that when we come back. This is Peter Rosenberg.

This is Hope for the Caregiver. Go away. We'll be right back. Peter Rosenberger. He's not a preacher. He's America's care giver.

We'll be right back. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver. This is Peter Rosenberger. This is the program for you as a family caregiver.

Healthy caregivers make better caregivers. Hopeforthecaregiver.com. We're continuing our conversation with our longtime friend Dale Richardson. Dale, you and I, you took me on as a project.

March 13th. Here we are. Less than four months later, I'm already 36 down and maintaining it and feeling great. My left knee doesn't hurt like it used to at all.

And I'm very grateful for that. I noticed the biggest difference when I got up on a horse that I could actually get up on a horse. I didn't have to look around for a rock or something or stop to be able to get up on the horse. And I just was able to just get up on the horse like I used to when I was younger. I'm 61 years old and I'm just swinging up on a saddle.

And these are not small horses we have out here in Montana. And so I noticed the big difference on that. You've been just such an encouragement. You've taught me better things to cook, better recipes, better lifestyle things. Yes, there's some things that I needed to buy, but I got to eat anyway, so I might as well buy this. But it wasn't for every meal.

It was just during the daytime or the way we work it out. And you've helped adjust because I do a lot of physical work out here. And so I need to keep a lot of protein going and you've helped me understand that. I do eat venison and game meat, which is very lean and that helps. But at the same time, I drink a ton of water now that I didn't used to drink. I don't drink sweet tea and I haven't been doing that in a while and I don't drink sodas and I haven't been doing that in a while.

But I'm drinking about 100 ounces of water a day and I've got other things that you've helped me do. Tell me about some of the other success stories, particularly our friend Carol, who is also a fellow caregiver down in South Carolina. And you helped her dramatically. Okay, Carol. Yeah, Carol was a roommate of mine at Columbia College in Columbia, South Carolina.

And we've been friends forever, but we just got back to being together on Facebook, which I really love that about Facebook that you can connect back with friends. Can I just real quick before I tell you about Carol, I just want to tell you that Freddie and I were in ministry for 20 years. And we went to a counselor one time because everybody needs some tweaking in their counseling.

Gracie and I were raised by a pack of therapists. So we went to this wonderful couple counselor and they prayed for us and we just talked through everything and made sure we were good in every area, you know. And at the end he said, I feel like God is telling me to tell you something and I'd like to record it for you. And I said, well, sure. So I'm really glad he did because I typed it out and I've still got it. But what he said to me was really powerful and it was over 10 years ago.

So it's funny how God will tell you something and then it may not come to pass until a while later. But he said, I see you going into the trenches and helping people. And I thought, well, the only thing I know about the word trenches is the war. So I'm like, what am I going to be like a nurse?

Am I going to go into the trenches and help people who are hurt? I mean, what's happening here? I couldn't visualize what it meant. And he also said, and you're going to help like men and women and thousands. And I thought, what? You know, what is this? I'm a musician. My husband's a preacher.

What does this mean? And later I went to a conference of like-minded people that are doing the same thing I am. And someone stood up and said, you know, we're hope dealers and we help people out of the trenches.

And when she said that word trenches, it all came together for me. And I thought, I have compassion. My gift is helps. The gift of helps.

That's one of the gifts in the Bible. And I love helping people. It's my compassion. It's my passion to help people.

Really. And so when I found out that I could actually become a health coach and help people do what I just did, I was just I was so excited. And I love relationships.

I love hearing what people's needs are and meeting them because we meet people from on one spectrum to the other. We've got a three hundred and forty pound person as a client. And we have, I say we, I, who is taking one step at a time and losing has already lost 30 pounds and sees the light at the end of the tunnel. Then we've got people who are too thin and need nutrition. They need a whole different, you know, program. We have all that.

We have it all. People don't know how to properly fuel themselves. Exactly. And so one thing that I used to do is say, I'm going to eat healthy. I'm going to do like a watermelon diet one day and or a week. And all I'm eating is watermelon. And it's just going to help me lose weight.

Well, guess what? There's so much sugar in watermelon. It's good sugar, but it's it's way too much sugar for your system. And your system will say, no, we're not burning fat because we got to take care of all this sugar.

We got to process all this sugar. So that's where you start learning like, OK, I can still have that, but I don't have as much of it. And I only have, you know, and, you know, you start learning what is a good, healthy serving of spaghetti squash? If it's spaghetti squash, why can't I fill up my whole plate with it?

Well, there are certain vegetables that are higher in carbs and moderate and low. So you start learning what is that little healthy serving so that you start learning what that looks like. And then when you go out to a restaurant, you know how to order. And you can even, don't be afraid to ask the waiter, can I have the cheeseburger? But instead of, or not the cheeseburger, what did I have the other day?

I had a turkey club. By the way, the first four days of this, I texted Dale and I said, I want a cheeseburger. I'm hangry. I want a cheeseburger.

Oh, yeah. And we can. You just have to take the bun off, you know, put the bun aside. Anyway, so you can do all kind of fun things and ask them to serve. You can even go to an Italian restaurant if the dish is appropriate. And you can say, instead of serving it over regular pasta, can you please put that over a bed of lettuce? Or can you please put that over, you know, some kind of roasted vegetables or sauteed spinach or whatever?

I mean, you can substitute and be healthier. Anyway, I won't get off on all that, but here's what happened with Carol. She had lost like 80 pounds and she gained it all back.

Not with me, with something else. And then now she's lost 65 and she is just looking great. She's going strong. She is a full time caregiver for her daughter who is in a wheelchair and cannot, she's paralyzed except for just a tiny motion with her fingers, which, you know, she's just an amazing girl.

I love her. And Carol told me, she said, I don't have time. I don't have time to cook hardly.

I don't have time to do anything. So you've got to make this easy. And I said, it is. And that's what's so great about it.

It's very convenient. Well, somebody else, you know, that said, I don't have time. Yeah, you.

That was it. That was the same conversation. And I said, you have to make this, this has to be easy. I told you it would be.

Because I said, Dale, if this is work, I can't do it. I know. And there was a little bit of a learning curve for the first, maybe the first week of just, because I'm just changing things around and I want to make sure I got it right. Right. But it wasn't overwhelming to me. No.

It was just a little bit different. But you, you have coached me through, you send me recipes on things. But I think the thing is, is that you've coached me through it. And that's why I wanted you to have the program because you didn't just, okay, do this.

And then I'll check in with you in a month kind of thing. No, no, no, no. Dale is on you like a hobo into a bologna sandwich.

I mean, she is. Well, Freddie and I were talking about how the body of Christ, you know, Freddie tells this story about the preacher who went to visit someone who was not, hadn't been coming to church. And he opened the door and said, come in, pastor, come sit by the fire. And they went over and sat by the fire and they were watching these logs burning. And the pastor went over and took out an ember or a piece of log, whatever, burning and pulled it out onto the hearth. And then went back and sat down and they watched as that thing burned out quickly. And then the pastor got up, went over and didn't say a word, picked up the ember thing and put it back on the fire. And of course, it inflamed again. And then he said, well, I got to go now. They didn't even talk.

He went to the door to say goodbye and hugged the man. And he said, the man said, I'll be in church on Sunday because that was a sermon in just a visual. No man is an island. We need community. We need each other.

We need to be accountable to people. And not just so I can say, Peter, have you done this today? Did you do that? Did you check your boxes?

No. I'm like, hey, what are you struggling with? OK, let's tweak that. All right, let's deal with that. I really want this to eat, Dale. OK, well, let's figure out how we can make a healthy version of that.

I can make a cannoli. I mean, if you really want, we've got things that can help you do that in a healthy way. Well, one of the things you told me, you said, look, you really did an assessment of my lifestyle, which is how many steps do I take? Well, I'm a full time caregiver.

I take a lot of steps. Plus, I'm out here on this ranch, and we've got cattle out here. I'm on horseback a lot, and you really pushed me to up the protein intake of things. So I look for ways to take more protein, whether it's through a supplement protein powder that you helped me get, or it's me taking just more venison, a bigger portion of venison when I eat dinner, or things such as that.

But just because you cautioned me on that, because look, things like that I wouldn't think about. I was just thinking, OK, I just need to stop eating. No, no, no, you don't stop eating. You just eat smarter for what you're doing, and I realize how many steps I take, how big a life, what goes on in my life.

And these are things that really helped me. And here I am, and I'm on my way. I've set a goal for 50, 50 pounds. I'm going to make it. I'm almost there.

Well, yeah. Because I wanted to give myself a little bit of a cushion for days that are not going to go as well as I'd like. I'm looking at my age, my heart rate, my BMI, all those things. But the goal for me is not to be able to have a skinny wardrobe.

The goal for me is how do I best take care of Gracie? How do I do this? And I cannot do this if I am huffing and puffing, if I am struggling to be able to do basic things.

I just can't do it. I say this all the time. I have it on my Tumblr. I have it on my website.

I have it everywhere. Healthy caregivers make better caregivers. And Dale has helped me get healthier.

And we're going to have this as an ongoing conversation, by the way, because Dale's my health consultant. And she and Freddie, by the way, have done a lot of music with Gracie and I over the years. And I was listening to a recording we did 30-something years ago. And I could hear you guys on backup vocals with it. It was just great.

I love it. And we have so much fun with it. And your brother and I have written many songs together.

And I just love this family. And I wanted you all to know her and meet her. And I want you to take advantage of her. If you feel like you can't. Look, I'm doing it. Okay? I want you to do something I'm not doing. I'm doing it.

So I want you to take advantage of her. Dale, where is the best? What is your website? My website is richerhealth4u. And it's not the number four. It's F-O-R.

It's just like a sentence. richerhealth4u.com. .com. Yes. And I'm going to put this out on my website at peterrosenberger.com.

Under my resources tab, you'll see this. You can go. Just have a conversation with her. This is not going to cost you anything to have a conversation. No. There's no obligation. There's nothing.

Just have a conversation and reach out and say, hey, look, I'm struggling with this. And I heard that Peter was fat and you helped him. Oh. Don't say that. Oh. Don't say that. Well, you can if you would.

I don't care. Gracie said, did you buy some new shorts? And I went down to the Family Dollar and bought myself some $3 shorts because I just didn't have any shorts. I spent $3, Gracie.

And she said, okay, that's all you get, $3 shorts. No, I'm just, you know, I'm enjoying being healthier and I'm enjoying. And by the way, it helps me think clearer too. Oh, yeah. A lot more energy. Think clearer.

I just have to say we have a mutual friend, Sam. And just so y'all know, you know, it's not about exercise, although we will give you things that you can do because everybody can do something even if it's just, you know, hold some cans of tomatoes and, you know, do bicep curls. But here, Sam used to be an athlete, but he's on a rollator because he has neuropathy. So he can walk, but he can't go play tennis like he used to. And he said to me, I'll never be able to lose weight because I can't exercise.

And I said, no, that's not true. We're going to change up the way you eat, and we're going to change the way you think, and we're going to get you healthy. And he lost over 50 pounds, and he is 75 years old. And let me tell you, it's not about your age, anything, whether you're a man, a woman, any, I mean, whether you're young, old, just had a baby or went through menopause. We all go through changes, especially when we get older. That's what happened to me is, you know, and it creeps up on you. If you keep doing the same things that you're doing now and expecting a different outcome, you know what that is. Is that insanity, Peter?

Why are you asking me what insanity is? What are you implying, Dale? I think that's the saying that if you keep doing the same thing over and over. And expect different results. So we have to shift.

We have to change and let your future self do some talking. I haven't been at this weight in a while, and I'm a second-degree black belt. Even when I was doing martial arts, I wasn't quite at this weight. I was in good shape, comparatively speaking, but my instructor kept pushing me to lose a little bit more weight. And now I haven't been this weight in well over 30 years. Have you been to the doctor yet and had blood work done?

Because a lot of our people, I mean, I'm not a doctor, but I have seen a lot of people go and their blood pressure meds, they got off and their sugar levels came down, the diabetic people. I'm scheduled for one. I'm going to do that after I hit my first goal, which is 40. Yeah, good. My first goal, my biggest goal was 40, and then I'm amended to that to do 50. But at 40 pounds, I'm going to go to the doctor and get my blood pressure and all that kind of stuff, and then we'll have this conversation again. Tell them your NSV that I just loved.

That's a non-scale victory. The one about the blue jeans. I love the blue jeans. Yeah, I didn't have to dry my blue jeans. I mean, hang them up to dry because I needed to make sure they shrunk.

They didn't shrink because I couldn't get into them, and now I just throw everything in the dryer and it doesn't matter. That's a good feeling. And then, like I said, just being able to step into the stirrup and swing up on the saddle. And I've got pictures to prove it at PeterRosenberger.com, so you can go out and take a look. Yeah. Go out and take a look and see what you think. And I'll have more pictures. But, Dale, I've got to run.

We're out of time here. This has been such a great conversation. Thank you for having me. And I appreciate this. And your website, again, is? RicherHealthForYou.com.

Perfect. This is a wonderful program, wonderful friend who can coach you through this thing. Don't do this by yourself. Get Dale to help you. If she can't help you, then, you know, nobody can.

No, I'm just kidding. She can. And she helped me. It would be my honor to serve you in that way.

And she gets the journey, and I do appreciate it very much. Dale, it's always a treat. We'll have you back on, and then this project that Freddie and I and our son are working on, Hitch, we'll have the three of us on, and we'll have a good time with that as well.

And maybe, just maybe, just maybe, we might even have Hank back on again. Thanks for having me, Peter. I really appreciate it.

It was fun. Healthy caregivers make better caregivers. And Dale has helped me do this. Go out to her website today and start your journey. Today is a great day to start being a healthier person, okay? Thank you so much for listening today. I appreciate it.

This is Peter Rosenberger. This is Hope for the Caregiver. Hopeforthecaregiver.com.

We'll see you next time. You've heard me talk about standing with hope over the years. This is the prosthetic limb ministry that Gracie envisioned after losing both of her legs. Part of that outreach is our prosthetic limb recycling program. Did you know that prosthetic limbs can be recycled?

No kidding. There is a correctional facility in Arizona that helps us recycle prosthetic limbs, and this facility is run by a group out of Nashville called CoreCivic. We met them over 11 years ago, and they stepped in to help us with this recycling program of taking prostheses, and you disassemble them. You take the knee, the foot, the pylon, the tube clamps, the adapters, the screws, the liners, the prosthetic socks, all these things we can reuse, and inmates help us do it. Before CoreCivic came along, I was sitting on the floor at our house or out in the garage when we lived in Nashville, and I had tools everywhere, limbs everywhere, and feet, boxes of them and so forth.

I was doing all this myself, and I'd make the kids help me, and it got to be too much for me. So I was very grateful that CoreCivic stepped up and said, look, we are always looking for faith-based programs that are interesting and that give inmates a sense of satisfaction, and we'd love to be a part of this, and that's what they're doing. You can see more about that at standingwithhope.com slash recycle. So please help us get the word out that we do recycle prosthetic limbs. We do arms as well, but the majority of amputations are lower limb, and that's where the focus of Standing With Hope is, and that's where Gracie's life is with her lower limb prostheses. And she's used some of her own limbs in this outreach that she's recycled. I mean, she's been an amputee for over 30 years, so you go through a lot of legs and parts and other types of materials, and you can reuse prosthetic socks and liners if they're in good shape. All of this helps give the gift that keeps on walking, and it goes to this prison in Arizona, where it's such an extraordinary ministry.

Think with that. Inmates volunteering for this. They want to do it, and they've had amazing times with it, and I've had very moving conversations with the inmates that work in this program. And you can see, again, all of that at standingwithhope.com slash recycle. They're putting together a big shipment right now for us to ship over. We do this pretty regularly throughout the year as inventory rises, and they need it badly in Ghana. So please go out to standingwithhope.com slash recycle and get the word out and help us do more. If you want to offset some of the shipping, you can always go to the giving page and be a part of what we're doing there.

We're purchasing material in Ghana that they have to use that can't be recycled. We're shipping over stuff that can be, and we're doing all of this to lift others up and to point them to Christ. And that's the whole purpose of everything that we do, and that is why Gracie and I continue to be standing with hope. standingwithhope.com