Couch potato to sweet potatoes – by Paula

I was always an average sized person with a little extra padding, who never worked out or exercised. After my third baby(all of which I gained 50 pounds each) and after each one, some of the weight stayed around; I weighed 199. I was in shock, I didnt think I weighed that much, let alone looked as big as I was.

I remember crying that I had let myself get this big. When my third baby was 3 months old I started Weight Watchers-which taught me about portion control-no one had ever taught me this-I just thought what ever fit on the plate or bowl or what the resteurant gave me was one serving. I then bought a couple of easy exercise Vhs tapes and got started. It has been a struggle but I always found time to workout-that was my time even if it meant getting up way earlier than anyone else to fit it in my day. Last year I hit a plateau and started eating clean-wow! what a difference in my body it has made and taken me past my plateau!

I enjoy putting good fuel in my body, I do cheat every now and then( I love chocolate and french fries) but when I do overdo it I feel sobloated, so I know to feel good and look good I have to eat good fuel and workout. It has taken me seven years to lose 74 pounds-I am now at 125 lbs and 23% body fat!!! I got stronger and stronger and more advanced and moved on up to Cathe videos!!! Cathe is my all time favorite-her workouts are awesome-I love every one of them!

I cant wait to order the STS dvds-they look hardcore and thats what Im ready for! My twelve year old daughter goes running with me sometimes and has even got my old tiny 2 lb dumbbells that she will workout with, with me! It has been a struggle sometimes and Ive had to push myself and got mad because it wasnt coming off as fast as I wanted, but slowly and surely is best for me. I now workout 5 times a week doing 30 minutes of interval cardio 3 times and 1 hour of cardio 2 times a week and I do one muscle group per day for 30-4 0 minutes, I also take American Karate 3-4 times a week. I want to continue to build my muscles and be strong and ripped at 41! I want to look like Cathe-I have always admired her physique, I dont want to be skinny, I want to have lots of curvy muscles!

It’s not always been an easy journey, there have been setbacks but I always mustered up the energy to keep going, to get back on track, keep doing this for me. There was times it was so hard, times I cried that I was just going to give up, but something in me got me back up and going. I used to hate going to the beach or lake, but now I enjoy swimsuit season! I cant wait till next summer at the beach, I’m gonna look even better than I did this last summer!