I love telling the story of my weight loss experience because my “Wake-Up Moments” led me from living in obesity, depression, and misery, to living a life I love! I hope my story will encourage you to start the journey toward transformation in your own life. My personal journey to fitness changed my entire world. I now wake up in the morning and love the life I live! Chubby Cheeks Are Cute, When You’re Two…
For almost 35 years, it was “all about me.” Almost all of my thoughts, efforts and actions
were focused on my weight. I was always worried -- “How do I look? Does this dress make me look fat?” The self-esteem issues that arose from being an overweight child overshadowed everything in my life; school, friends, and career. Chubby cheeks were cute when I was two, but the years of being overweight that followed were painful and difficult. At the age of 34, I was wearing a size 20. I was miserable, depressed and desperate, and for the hundredth time in my life, I loathed the thought of going on another diet.
Diet After Diet After Diet
I struggled for years with weight loss. I was attending Weight Watchers meetings by age 11. Over the years, I ordered every new diet that appeared on TV. None of them worked for very long; I would lose some weight, then gain it all back.
Exercise? What’s that?
I thought exercise was for people who played sports. I didn't think of it in terms of better health, increased energy, relief from stress, and certainly not enjoyment! I just wasn’t an active person. In fact, I loved to read for hours on end—especially biographies. Reading about other people’s lives seemed to help me escape from my own.
Diabetes?
In 1997, my dad was hospitalized for a few days because of a work injury. On the
other side of the partially-closed hospital room curtain, I saw a man's gauze-bandaged
foot—actually, only half of his foot! I figured he had been in an accident, too, and
asked my mom if she knew what had happened to him. “He has diabetes,” she said. “You can lose parts of your hands and feet. It is a very serious disease. People who are overweight have a chance of getting it, and you should be careful with your weight because you do not want diabetes." Later that day, as we walked up a flight of stairs at the hospital, I noticed I was winded when we got to the top; and my 59-year-old mother was not. I blamed my weight on having had a baby (more than two years earlier), although I knew the real truth.
WAKE UP MOMENT #1: It wasn’t “baby fat,” it was real fat, and it was not only making me miserable and depressed every day of my life—it was also endangering my health.
Desperate Housewife
After the conversation with my mom at the hospital, I decided to start attending aerobics
classes again. I had gone to aerobics many times over the years, but never regularly. So I began to go faithfully, twice a week. After several weeks, I had only lost two pounds. In desperation, I asked my aerobics instructor why I wasn’t losing weight! He asked, "How many times are you coming here a week?" I said, “Two.” “Well,” he said, “you need to come at least five." Five days a week! Did he think I was training for the Olympics? I gave him several excuses why I couldn't devote that much time to exercise. He replied, quite unsympathetically, "Well, what is your priority?"
The Line in the Sand
A week later, I was particularly depressed, so I decided to take his advice and start going to aerobics every day, even if my family had to eat TV dinners for a year! I knew I was approaching 200 pounds, which was the "line in the sand" I wasn't going to cross.
Tired of Being Tired
I began to lose weight, but I was literally starving myself, and had no energy. Protein shakes had become popular as meal replacements at that time. The clerk at the local health food store said I needed 40 grams of protein a day—minimum—for proper brain function and organ health (even more if I was exercising daily). Over the next week, as I filled out my food diary, I noticed a disturbing fact: my protein was nowhere near 40 grams per day! What was I eating, you might ask? "Good foods” such as milk, oatmeal, fruit, yogurt, veggies, salads, baked potatoes, and soups. I ate some protein (chicken and fish), but certainly not enough.
WAKE UP MOMENT #2: I was a carb eater—not necessarily bad carbs, but carbs nonetheless. No wonder I was never able to keep the weight off. Protein builds muscle, and muscle burns calories, so I started drinking a 40-gram protein shake daily for breakfast. After only five days, I couldn't believe the difference—I wasn’t tired…I felt alive and alert!
12 Months to a New Career and a New Life
A whole new attitude toward life started at that moment. First of all, I felt better every
day. My brain, heart, and muscles were finally being fed! I was losing around 10 pounds a month, and I was no longer starving myself. I was eating sufficient protein, fruits and vegetables.
After I lost over 50 pounds, the Bally Total Fitness Aerobics Supervisor, DeAnn Field, asked me the strangest question I had ever heard in my life: "Anita, since you are here every day anyway, why don't you enroll in our aerobics training course and learn to be an aerobics instructor?" I didn’t know whether to faint, or die laughing. Me?
Eight weeks later I was hired as an aerobic instructor. I turned 35 years old that week—exactly one year after the day I “drew the line in the sand.” Within 12 months, I had gone from being tired, depressed, miserable and overweight, to fit, energetic and healthy.
Teaching aerobics is the most enjoyable job I’ve ever had. Over the years I studied for more certifications, including weightlifting, boxing, stability ball, Pilates and sports nutrition. I finally learned you can eat as much as you want, if you eat the right foods. You don’t have to starve to lose weight!
I'll never forget a middle-aged man named David at the YMCA. He came to my classes every week for about a year. He was not very coordinated, and even though he struggled to keep up in aerobics class, he never quit! When I left that job to move to Florida, he told
me his cholesterol and blood pressure had come down and he was so thankful for my
encouragement.
WAKE UP MOMENT #3: Besides saving my own life, now I am able to help save the lives of others.
The Rest of the Story
More than 10 years later, I am still teaching aerobics and encouraging others to get
fit! I teach audio and video classes online called “Journey to Fitness.” I discuss nutrition, exercise, obesity-related diseases, vitamins, and many other topics related to health. It's not about me, anymore! Now it's all about helping others get fit too.
To read my entire “Makeover Story” and see “Before & After” photos, visit www.timetogetfit.biz.
Wake Up! Live the Life You Love!
Anita Stone
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Anita Stone has been a Fitness Coach and Aerobics Instructor for over 10 years. As a Certified Sports Nutrition Consultant, she specializes in teaching nutritional strategies for weight loss and better health. To enroll, go to www.videofitnesscoach.com. Anita is available for lectures, public speaking, and publicity events. To read the Anita’s entire “Makeover Story” and see “Before & After” photos, visit www.timetogetfit.biz.
Telephone: 512-682-0226 (24-hr. Voice Mail)
Web sites: http://www.videofitnesscoach.com, http://www.timetogetfit.blogspot.com, http://www.timetogetfit.biz, http://www.timetogetfitrecipes.blogspot.com.
