The Times-Georgian
By Ginny White
June 25, 2000

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Just Breathe Your Way to Weight Loss
Local Retiree Did Just That and Now She's on Television Telling Others Her Story 

Vi Carr before Oxycise!

Just breathe - that's how this 62-year-old lost 30 pounds and dropped several sizes within the span of only seven months. Her results were so good, this Carrollton retiree was included in a testimonial infomercial for Oxycise!, the program method by which she lost the weight. "A really successful weight loss program is one where you find what is right for you." Carr said. And not only that, it must be "something you can continue for the rest of your life." Now in the toning stages of her weight loss, Carr decided to lift weights a few times a week. She said she feels great.

Carr was contacted by a production crew and requested to participate in an infomercial for Oxycise! In March she flew to Colorado and met with 17 other successful program followers from around the United States and Canada. Everyone met at founder Jill Johnson's home in Denver.

"You could stand in her kitchen and look out the window over the sink and see a panoramic views of the Rockies," Carr said. "Turns out there were two other ladies from the Atlanta area on the same flight as me."

A professional makeup artist did everyone up for the camera crew who interviewed each participant about their success with Oxycise! International, Inc.

"I was probably the oldest one there," she said.

And that day was exciting and exhausting.

"I flew out and back on the same day," she said. "I got home 1:30 Sunday morning," Carr said.

Explaining more about why she liked the program in the first place, Carr said it wasn't sweaty or a time waster.

"Everything you do is for a purpose," Carr explained. "Oxycise! Is very effective in burning fat but without a lot of time and money invested."

She said there are 30 positions of low-impact stretching during which deep diaphragmatic breaths are inhaled and exhaled.

"Most people don't have an eating problem," the Oxycise Web site said. "They have a breathing problem."

"Fat leaves your body through carbon dioxide!" said the site, meaning the more deep breathing you do, the more fat you lose.

"The inches just fell off," Carr said.

"You harness your body's natural ability to burn fat and increase your energy and vitality," said Johnson.

"Everyone who follows the Oxycise! Lifestyle achieves results," said the site, which guarantees their products 100 percent.

The basis of how Oxycise! Works is that fat is expelled as a waste product in the form of carbon dioxide while exhaling. Johnson's site claims that properly exhaling accounts for significantly more expulsion of fat than urine and sweating.

Science seems to agree.

"All body functions are breathing related," states Dr. Robert Fried in the book, "Breath Connections." Proper oxygen delivery to all parts of your body is crucial to health and well-being."

Explaining that aerobic exercise increases available oxygen which is delivered to the body via the respiratory system. Breathing gets air - and oxygen - into the bloodstream.

"Thus, proper breathing, and correcting common breathing disorders, is the ultimate form of aerobics," he said.

Carr said it makes sense.

"The most essential ingredient - oxygen - is totally free,' she said. "There's plenty of it everywhere."

But she doesn't rest on her laurels the rest of the time.

"My routine is Oxycise, walking about two miles, working with weights and the Toro Track at Bonner (Fitness Center)," Carr listed. "I try to eat healthy and drink about 96 ounces of water each day,"

Though that is a lot of water, she breaks it down and makes hourly and midday goals for herself.

"I always had eaten fairly well, but I started consciously eating more vegetables and fruits," Carr said. And if she planned on a large meal in the evening "sometimes I will drink a Slim Fast for lunch."

But "the more water you drink, the better it is", Carr said. A recent study at the University of Southern California, by Dr. Robert Girandola, professor of exercise science, found that Johnson's program was more effective that riding a stationary bicycle.

In fact, the subjects burned 140 percent more calories.. . . than riding a stationary bicycle,' the site quotes Girandola. "I can certainly see a variety of useful applications for Oxycise! - especially for those opposed to or unable to accomplish traditional exercise."

Oxycise! Is also as successful as the breather wants to be.

Within three months last summer, Johnson was told of three women who lsot 11 pounds, 25 pounds and 40 pounds.

"Each of them had put different amounts of focus and care into their efforts," the site explained. "Each of them were excited, because they went at their own rate."

And Carr is accustomed to doing things here way.

She got her bachelor's degree about 15 years ago, works out five times a week and uses the Internet to chat with friends. Not all things expected of a 62-year-old.

"I go on the Internet everyday," she said. "The chat room on Oxycise!, if there's anything you want to know about, you go to the Internet."

Maps and directions, financial information and news are the things Carr names as reasons to go online. And getting on the web wasn't difficult either.

"I've worked for so long, I'm somewhat computer literate," Carr said, clarifying that she doesn't understand how a computer's parts actually work.

Something that may play a role in Carr's stamina and mental flexibility is the fact that she hardly watches television.

"I don't watch sitcoms," she said. "Larry King, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy - I guess I watch more cable news."

Involved in her church, Carr volunteers for data entry at the First Methodist Church in Carrollton and is a member of the women's missionary group equivalent, the Friendship Circle.

"It's a group of women who get together for Christian fellowship," she said. "Sometimes someone comes and speaks to us."

She also attends the Agape Sunday School service in addition to regular worship services.