"I am a 31-year old female physician who simply grew tired of being overweight. I have always been on the portly side, averaging a size 12-14 since I was 10 years old. Despite being considered svelte by Louisiana standards, I was never happy with my body. Things (weight-wise) took a turn for the worse upon moving to New York five years ago. Within the span of one year, I put on a whopping 40 pounds, well above the "intern 10" upon starting my stressful surgical residency training. Since most of my time is spent in the OR for hours on end, I found myself always eating now in anticipation of not eating later. However, I always found time to eat later as well...and then some! This combined with inactivity led to an exponential rate of weight gain! The scary thing was, I did not realize it and even worse, continued to gain weight over the years. My daily attire consists of scrubs, which makes it hard to appreciate size differences.
It should have dawned on me when I went from a size Large pair to an XL, but it did not. I wrote it off to sizing variability! However, I recall one of the few days two years ago I actually managed to squeeze myself into some jeans to run an errand. While going to sit down at a bus stop one cold winter day in NY, I (and everyone else at the bus stop) suddenly heard a ripping sound. Shortly thereafter, I felt the cold winter breeze hitting my bottom. The sound was so distinct, I'm sure every one knew what I had feared: my jeans ripped completely up the back! I was mortified. I quickly hopped into a cab, hoping I could get in quick enough so that onlookers could not see the color of my underwear! That was the first time since I moved to NY that I realized how large I had gotten: 2-1-7! That was the last day I stepped on the scale and fell into a deep depression thereafter. On top of that, both diabetes and hypertension run rampant on both sides of my family. My father died at the relatively young age of 53 due to heart disease. With this gene pool, I knew that I should have been extra vigilant about my health, especially since I should be an example for my patients as well. However, I have found that being aware of the risks of obesity and having the knowledge to lose weight does not always translate into the actions. However, things were about to change!....
I went on a series of diets sometime after that, too many to recall, with no results. By May 2006, I decided enough was enough! I resumed my running in a quest to achieve a better body, deciding to complete the NYC marathon as my goal to keep me motivated. For months on end, I consistently logged anywhere from 3-9 miles per day during my training and worked out with a personal trainer to cover my resistance training, yet I was frustrated that it never seemed to make a difference in the number on the scale. Despite the modest losses, I was still an obese runner! I completed the NYC marathon in November '06, which was the most grueling experience ever, and essentially ended my life as a runner. I haven't run since, and since running was the only form of exercise that I knew, my fitness regimen came to a halt.
Enter Slim in 6: I saw the infomercial one morning and decided it was worth a shot. I was hesitant because home workouts have never been my forté. I have a huge collection of exercise DVDs that are still unopened! I simply just get too bored. However, being frustrated about being in a nearly six-month plateau, I convinced myself that things would be different this time around with Slim in 6.
I began Slim in 6 on Feb. 5, 2007. About two weeks in, I felt my motivation failing. I reread the Slim in 6 insert that came with the DVD for encouragement. This time around, I noticed it referenced the online community as an additional source of support. I promptly logged onto the forums that night, finding a thread of encouraging women that began Slim in 6 the same day I did, and I never looked back! This was just what I needed. Before long, I was logging in several times a day chatting with others about the program. I made plans to meet in WOWY for workouts. There were many a day when I did not want to get out of bed, but did so because I knew I promised to work out with others. Since then, I have completed I completed two rounds of Slim in 6, Slim Series, and the [Slim Series] Express workouts. I tried to get into the Power 90 and Turbo Jam so many rave about online, but I always come back to Debbie! It's what works for me.
Fast forward to now: there is barely a day that goes by where someone at work asks me if I'm still losing weight. I laughed every time I was asked because I know my workouts and eating have been far from perfect, and that my weight has been the same, if not up even since the holidays. However, after consistently being asked and slowly realizing that I had to downsize my Medium size scrubs to a Small, I stepped onto my scale one evening and decided to check my weight AND body fat. As expected, my weight was the same, but to my surprise, my body fat was now 26%! I kept rechecking because I thought my scale was wrong. I've never seen any body fat reading be preceded by a 2! To say I was ecstatic would be an understatement.
I am so grateful that I purchased those DVD's that faithful morning! Never in my whole health/fitness history has any workout program made such a difference in my body! I am still amazed at my transformation! I recall when I met Beyonce Knowles, being struck by how sleek and toned she looked in person. I was fortunate enough to get a couple of photos taken with her. When the photographer e-mailed me the pictures after the meet & greet, I was floored because standing side-by-side, we looked the same size. That was the first time I saw the transformation everyone else did.
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| Beyonce & I @ Madison Square Garden in 2007 |
If anyone told me two years ago that I would be waking up at 3AM every morning to work out before going to work 12 to 24-hour days, I would have declared them insane! Now, many call me insane for doing exactly that! However, now that I have seen how my body is capable of morphing with the right training, I continue to do so just because of the shear excitement about what's in store for the future! I can't thank Debbie & Beachbody enough!"
