My Personal Story of Transformation

Let me say, that I was never a skinny teenager. Growing up in Switzerland, I always had to work hard to keep my figure in check. You could always find me close to the bakery or sweets. With that said, heart break was the best diet when I was 16 years old. Couple of month later I met my husband. Lucky me!

We got married in 1996. As Newlyweds we moved to the US and had our first son in 2000.

I gained some weight during pregnancy. In my third trimester I got diagnosed with borderline gestational diabetes. With keeping meals balanced, I was able to control my blood sugar naturally.

Pregnancy was a beautiful experience for me and I had enough time to study for my Nutritionist Certification.

After having a healthy little boy in 2000 – with the doctors OK in week 6 – I started to hit the gym. The baby weight came off surprisingly fast and I was back in shape in a couple of months. Thinking that I did the work and now I’m safe, I stopped working out – not sure why.

On a 2002 Asheville summer vacation, I realized that I gained close to 20 pounds. I was so mad and unhappy. My husband and I decided to try the EAS Transformation Challenge. Just days after getting back from Asheville we got ourselves into the gym again and started eating balanced meals.

The EAS 12 Week Transformation Challenges

Placing in the first 6% of all competitors was a great personal accomplishment.

The Nutritionist Certificate was a great idea and I loved helping others like me. Everything was going great and I was never happier in my life.

Then in 2003 we decided to have another baby.

This pregnancy wasn’t going as smoothly as I hoped. I developed gestational diabetes again. This time they had to give me oral blood sugar lowering medication. Most of my third trimester I felt sick and low on energy. As a side effect, I gained lots of weight, the scale showed 221 lbs.

My second son had to be delivered by C-section. We are very thankful that the little guy was as healthy as can be, even though I had medical problems during pregnancy.

The baby weight put me in a dark depression and I couldn’t really cope with being overweight. At the same time, my dad was diagnosed with Colorectal Cancer.

Even though I was miserable, I managed to lose 20 something pounds for a beach wedding in Key West. After attending the wedding, my weight kept creeping back up again and I didn’t have the strength to stop it from happening. Meanwhile my dad was getting worse.

It wasn’t until the end of 2005 that I realized my dad is losing the fight with cancer and I needed to get my act together. At this time we were traveling in Australia and decided to cut our journey short – I had to see my dad.

Sadly, 10 days after we arrived my dad died in the hospital.

Nothing made sense after that and nothing was important anymore, not even my health. It took me about two and a half years to get out of that funk.

Slowly but surly, I kept reducing my weight and started to see the end of the tunnel. During hard times, Tae-Bo and Chalene’s Turbo Jam kept me motivated to stick to my workouts.

With my Personal Trainer and Nutritionist Certificate, I felt ready for almost anything that would come my way.  Just before moving back to North America in 2007, I managed to get back to my healthy self.

This is me from pregnancy in 2004 to 2007

You see, I went through every possible hurdle you can imagine.

• Death of a Parent
• Depression
• Moving (two times)

The most important things I learned:

1. Never give up!
2. Even if it might take years to come around!
3. The Knowledge alone doesn’t mean success – determination is the key!

Now, I wish you all the success and determination you need to make it through your weight loss challenge.

Stay Healthy!

P.S. everybody has a story, what’s yours!