Team Beachbody Guest

What can I say here that hasn't already been said and won't sound clichéd? Okay, I'll try.

Like many, I was an overweight kid. But I think it was more to do with who I was mentally and emotionally. Food was the comfort. I didn't see much stock in exercise or eating right because I thought that's all there was to it. Talk about being wrong! Growing up, I was chastised for being a fat kid, but my parents never found reason enough or enough money to buy the healthier foods needed to lose my weight. Ironically, they had money for cigs and not for fruits and vegs, then would chide me for being fat. So the vicious cycle got monsterly out of control.

My first child came at twenty-five and I was 175 pounds. When she was born I was well over 200 (223, I think), but I was too scared to get an accurate number. Our second child came three years later, but she was stillborn because I suffer from a blood disorder I learned of in my first pregnancy: beta thalessmia. Its symptoms mimic Sickle Cell Anemia. When my body was compromised (as in the case of pregnancy), my sometimes odd-shaped blood cells would die in the veins and deprive my cells of much-needed O2/CO2 exchange and other vitals. And only pain meds took this ache away. So did water, time and sleep.

Food was my comfort when Sara was stillborn in 1994. By then, I gone to the 260s and I didn't care. I thought my beta thal "sickle-cell like" attack was my fault and I couldn't shake that guilt.

Three times in the month of August, 1997 while pregnant with my son, I had attacks. Doctors induced me in early September and my son, now 11, blesses our family.

But I grew to a speech-stopping 319 pounds and the only reason I know this is because my school made me get a physical for re-admittance. When I saw pictures of myself at a friend's shower in 1999, that tore it. The days I had school and worked full time I walked half the bus route to the subway and took an even longer route home. Doing this dropped 89 pounds off my frame from 1999 to mid-point, 2005.

Because I'm a Beachbody Coach--and I will be, as long as it takes to grow this business, that's fine by me--I'm honored, humbled and amazed I can live the life and walk the talk for many others looking to care for themselves on this journey. I haven't (yet) achieved my ideal bod, but each day I push play, I get there. The thing I love so much about this company and my own name LogicalSol Fitness is the fact I don't HAVE to already have shed my weight before I get to lead someone in the trenches with me. Think about it: If you and your leader both have to lose fifty pounds, which would be more relateble: Someone who already lost it or someone losing it with you? Not knocking someone who has lost it, that's fantastic! There's something, though, while IN this struggle that makes it easier to account to your customers and Coach to know this "Current" will be an "After. There's a big segment of "Currents" in America eeking to be "Afters." Let's be "Currents" together to be "Afters" together!

And because I'm a chronic disease sufferer, I have to KPP 5-6 days/week to keep the beta thal at bay. The last full attack I was hospitalized for was January, 2005. It's been four years and the only thing major I got was a twinge in my back from weird weather remnants. Although the clock's reset from the time a crisis ends and the next one begins, the timespan between each one gets longer--thanks to pushing play!

Weight loss is one piece in the complete human being puzzle. With Beachbody, I've gained a confidence I never dreamed could ever be. I'm writing more and could get a book deal from something close to my heart and will offer a great cause for it, too.

I'm 65 pounds out from my ideal weight but those who're in these trenches with me to lose as much as I do can be inspired to know it's a struggle. It will always BE a struggle even AFTER the excess is gone. Writing's no different in this case, too. The beauty with Beachbody Coaches being this much out in pounds as I am, is being able to lead by example, not lead AFTER the fact.

More so from being a chronic disease sufferer, many family members died from cancer or other bouts of poor health. I can't add to that long list of names no longer here with me and I'm determined to defy genetics! I may have a blood condition, but it doesn't have to have me.