Team Beachbody Guest

I am 39 years old, married, no kids but we have a cat named Noah. I was one of those people that struggled with my weight my entire life. I have been heavy most of it. I lost weight in high school but it was not healthy. I just quit eating. I had lots of trouble with my stomach and the doctors could never figure out why. Back in those days they just didn’t know much about eating disorders but I definitely had one! I was down to about 135 lbs and had a 27” waist.


I did keep it off for a number of years but I think that was because I did a lot of partying. Drinking was about the most important to me at the time. I met my first husband and married him 10 months after we met. We liked to eat out all the time. I did cook but my ex just never liked to eat it. He preferred Taco Bell. I think I am a pretty good cook but I can’t make food that tastes as
good as take out pizza or tacos.


I don’t know what my weight was but I got so big I had a hard time fitting in my little Ford Escort. I preferred to blame it on the car shrinking some how rather then the fact that I just got too big. I even broke the drivers’ seat of the car!!


I had some success on a plan called Form-U-3 but it was short lived. Looking back, I think it was partly the plan itself was just wrong and set people up for failure. My ex didn’t like me being skinny, because he was so worried that I would leave him, so he did everything he could do to sabotage me. It worked!


We ate pizza almost every night and sat for hours playing video games. My attitude was “if you can’t beat them, join them”. What I didn’t realize was what I was doing to my body.


Fast forward past a bad divorce, financial issues, getting laid off to moving to Omaha, NE in 2001. I met my new hubby and moved to Omaha to work and be closer to him. I was so much in denial about my weight at the time and
started to have many physical problems. My feet started to really bother me along with my back. Most of the problems were on the right side of my body because my right foot is severely over pronated. I had been having back problems for years but my denial kept me from seeing it was my weight.


I went to a new chiropractor and he finally sat me down and told me that I was not going to get any better until I lost some weight. I was never offended by his honesty, in fact I embraced it. I tried the Atkins Diet and that just didn't do anything for me. I lost about 10-15 lbs but that was it. At least I was a little thinner when we got married!

I finally just got to the point where I couldn’t hardly stand for more the 5-10 minutes at a time and just walking to my car was painful. My doctor was about ready to have me on high blood pressure medication and who knows what my cholesterol levels were because I always made up an excuse for her not to check it. My podiatrist told me I would never be able to run and that walking was probably always going to be painful.


We had a personal trainer purchased for us for a Christmas present in 2004 and started working with him after January 1, 2005. I started to get stronger but I wasn’t really losing any weight. I continued to work out and joined a
popular online weight loss program in January of 2006. I was impressed by the show the Biggest Loser and what those people were able to accomplish. I figured if they could do it, so could I.


My blood pressure dropped from being pre-hypertension to about 116/65.

My resting heart rate has dropped to about 45 bpm and when I am completely relaxed and just waking up, it runs about 39 bpm.

My cholesterol is extremely low. My LDL (bad) is 50 and my HDL (good) is 90.


Against all odds, I can also RUN! I run all the time now and I love every minute of it!! My pain levels are minimal now and are tolerable.

How did I really do it? Calories in/Calories out, working out 6 days a week, doing cardio and strength training, core training and just quit sitting around and getting out and living life.


In January of 2008, I became a Beachbody Coach because I wanted to help others who struggle like me. Since then, I discovered Turbo Jam and loved it so much I started taking REAL full contact kickboxing classes in June of 2008 and use Turbo Jam as my "between" class workout.


Oh…and I recommend investing the extra money on a good pair of tennis shoes and a heart rate monitor.


I look forward to getting rid of these last pesky pounds and bulking up!

If I can do it, anyone can do it!