I hear so many amazing stories, and get asked so many great questions, whenever I host a live Q&A, like I do at After Hours With Cristy.

Each time I get a few questions, but some I get asked at every event.

Since people are so curious about these three things, I’m gonna answer them here for you, too:

Question #1: What can I do about my loose skin?

Here’s what I recommend for loose skin.

First, get ALL your weight off. Fretting about loose skin when you’ve still got 60 pounds to lose is borrowing trouble. Let’s tackle one thing at a time.

Once your weight is completely off, get with a personal trainer and do heavy weight lifting three times a week for a full year.

Don’t hurt yourself (hence hiring the trainer), but focus on safely lifting heavy weights. Start with bodyweight exercises, like squats and pushups, in your own home. Your body needs to work up to heavy weights, and again, you need to get help from someone qualified.

If, after a full year of consistent weight lifting 3 times a week, you still have loose skin, that’s the time to look at a medical procedure, IF you want to.

Waiting a full year also gives your skin time to tighten up on its own, which it often does.

Do not leap straight to a medical procedure, and whatever you do, wait until ALL your weight is gone. That’s job one – to first lose ALL your weight.

Question #2: My LDL cholesterol came back high. Why is that?

A couple things on this one. First of all, we’ve gotta stop demonizing LDL cholesterol, and calling it “bad” cholesterol. That’s like saying firemen who show up at the scene of a fire are “bad.”

LDL cholesterol is released in response to an “injury” (in this case, inflammation of the artery caused by consumption of sugar and high amounts of carbohydrates), just like firemen race out in response to a fire.

Second, when you begin losing weight on a high-fat diet like Code Red, the fat’s gotta go somewhere. It’s released into your bloodstream, along with all the hormones, toxins, cholesterol, and triglycerides stored in all that fat. (Drinking your water helps flush all that out.)

Triglycerides may go up a little, initially, but your body will metabolize them.

However, your body cannot metabolize cholesterol, so it floats around in your blood stream for a while, until your body can excrete it.

Until then, your cholesterol may read what today’s medical tests designate as “high.” A lot of people actually see their cholesterol go down.

Another thing to remember about cholesterol is that it’s just ONE indicator of health, just like your weight is.

There are many other factors, and we wanna look at them all together, not pick out one and freak out about it, because doing that paints an inaccurate picture of your health.

Plus, if you were to take a cholesterol reading now, and then again two hours from now, they’d be different. ONE reading is not enough for an accurate profile.

Question #3: How do I get more sleep?

Since Code Red Rebels know sleep is the number one rule in weight loss, if they’re not getting it, they want help getting more.

Before leaping straight to the Ambien, however, we wanna look at other factors, and consider other sleep aids.

The first thing to do is evaluate your sleep hygiene.

Is your room dirty and cluttered, or dark and clean? How about your pajamas and your sheets?

Sleeping in clean clothes, and on clean sheets, can make a ton of difference.

Maybe you need to turn on a fan, or a white noise machine, to drown out little sounds keeping you awake. Maybe it’s the opposite, and you need it as silent as possible.

If you’ve got pets or kids in the bed, are they kicking you in the ribs, or lying on you and you won’t move to a more comfortable position?

A weighted blanket is another great option.

Start and stick with a bedtime routine. It’ll train your body to expect that sleep time is coming. Your routine can be anything from a hot bath with candles to simply changing into your pajamas, washing your face, and brushing your teeth.

Make your sleep a priority over TV and other distractions, and think twice about staying up late on your devices (especially without your Swannies. If you don’t own a pair, head to SwanwickSleep.com and use the coupon code codered to save 15%).

If you do need a sleep aid (even I take one), again, then like I said, let’s not leap straight for the Ambien. Start with something like melatonin, or sleepytime tea, and work your way up. I take a generic form of Unisom, called Kirkland Sleep Aid. You may be someone who needs a prescription sleep aid, but try some gentler ones first.

A final thought about sleep: Difficult emotional issues sometimes cause sleeplessness, so if you have any of those going on, it could be that they need addressed.

Finally, if nothing works no matter what, consider getting a sleep study done. Sleep is not just critical for weight loss, it’s critical for health in general, and it’s worth it to figure out what’s going on.

So there you have it: Three questions I get at every live event Q&A.

And speaking of live events, I’d love to see you at the next After Hours With Cristy.

To see when I’m coming to an area near you, head to www.CodeRedLifestyle.com/AfterHours.