Being in shape doesn't just mean looking great.
It means living independently
and as comfortably as possible for a lifetime.

Between the year 2003 when my second son was born, and the year 2012, my weight was higher than I wanted it to be. I just couldn't take off the additional layer I had gained when I was pregnant. It wasn't a lot. Ten pounds, sometimes as much as fifteen. But it wouldn't budge below a certain point. Then I got serious and started riding my stationary bike. My kids were still little and we watched old sitcoms on YouTube during the hottest part of the day while I rode as many as ten miles a workout. I showed them how Mary Tyler Moore and Rhoda had changed the world as the two "modern" women stretched the boundaries of what was socially acceptable - and I pedaled and pedaled. I made healthy foods and adhered more strictly to the healthy way of eating I had had most of my life. It wasn't easy, but the pounds came off, I was back to what I considered an acceptable weight, a couple of years went by, and my weight stayed where I wanted it to. For a while.

When Everything Changed

At some point in 2014, it was as if someone had flipped a switch. I started gaining weight almost overnight. It wasn't a slow progression or a total change of eating habits. I did stop exercising as frequently, but that didn't explain all of it. By this time, I was approaching menopause age, so I figured that had at least something to do with it. The weight kept coming on like an unstoppable train. I had my thyroid checked. Everything was normal. I ate less, exercised more, and while I didn't gain additional weight, I couldn't lose a pound. If that stubborn digital readout went down one day, it went back up the next. I teeter-tottered around 163 pounds, and I'm only 5'4". I knew I was at an unhealthy weight, and what was worse, it was mostly around my waistline...the most unhealthy place it can be. I am a classic "android" shape, which,puts me in a higher disease risk category, like it does for millions of other people.

And Then I Came Up With a Real Plan
(because I'm determined like that)

In January 2017, I tried a new approach. I checked computer sites that had calculators to see how many calories I should be consuming. I usually got answers well over 2000 calories daily according to my high activity level. I was a caregiver at the time and my job was very physical because the person I was taking care of was mostly non-ambulatory. I was baffled.

I found a notebook around the house and started writing down every bite I ate. I was surprised to learn how quickly the calories added up, but I was well under the target I was supposed to be consuming and I still couldn't get the weight off. I ate less, kept writing down what I was eating, started exercising regularly, and the weight barely budged downward. Completely disgusted, I cut my consumption back to between 1200 and 1300 calories a day. My friends cautioned me, but I was careful about what I was consuming and I listened closely to my body for signs that it was under stress. I have no choice about that. I have hypoglycemia. Starving myself to lose weight is not an option. Finally, a few ounces at a time, the weight began to move downward. Every morning I weighed myself, and every day I continued to write down what I ate. For me personally, the calculators that provided and estimate of my daily caloric intake needs were way off, and that was my biggest problem. A simple notebook helped me figure that out.

Ten months later, I had lost 27 pounds. It was and continues to be some of the hardest work I have ever done in my life, because I am still not able to eat many calories daily; and I have spent many days lifting weights and doing High Intensity Interval Training on the limited space of my bedroom floor. In the summer of 2017, I also spent many hours riding my bike up and down hills, always blowing out the door as early as possible to beat the blistering California heat.

How I Got Here from There

All of this changed the direction of my life. Losing weight is hard work. Keeping it off is hard, too. I don't think it has ever been more difficult for anyone than it was for me. (I'm one of those people whose metabolism seems to have taken a vacation in another country and decided not to come back.) I've learned many strategies during the many years of struggling to keep my weight down, and I learned even more when it spiraled out of control in my early fifties. I'm still learning as I navigate this decade of my life, and all of the physical changes that means for a woman. About halfway through those ten months of 2017, I made the firm decision that I wanted to help other people reach their weight loss and fitness goals, no matter what their challenges.

Losing weight is one thing, but getting back in shape is an amazing experience. It's like getting a new car - or in my case a slightly used car - after riding around in a beat-up old truck from the 1970s. I figured it was just my age that made me feel like a train wreck every day. I was wrong. Yes, at my age it still hurts sometimes. I work around a bum shoulder from a car accident when I was in my twenties, an inoperable cyst in one wrist, chronic pain between my shoulder blades from some dumb idea I had when I was a teenager, chronic pain in my feet from a couple of medical conditions, and relentless bursitis in my left hip. But I keep on working out, because all of these problems are worse if I don't, and my weight would shoot right back up. After all these months, I still have to keep my calorie consumption surprisingly low, especially considering my activity level, but I've come to accept that's just the way it is, and I make every calorie count.

I built my business to help people who are just as frustrated as I was. In the summer of the "Year of Weight Loss 2017", I went back to college at the age of fifty-three to become a Certified Nutrition and Fitness Trainer. What do I want to do most with this? I'm not always sure because it's an evolving education and lifestyle, but one thing I am certain is that I want to help people over the age of forty stay strong, flexible, fit, and I want to give support to clients who are ready to achieve a healthy weight so they can live the rest of their lives being as mobile and independent as possible.

If you're in that category, or even if you're still young and you're frustrated with your weight and fitness level, click on the Contact page, get in touch with me, and I'll see what I can do to help you. Or just give me a call. I have a lifetime of experience to share with you.