Rubenesk Mom Paints a New Picture of Herself

Dear Friends:

Most of my life I've been somewhat overweight. As a child my grandmother called me "chubby", during adolescence I was referred to as "pleasingly plump". As an adult I ranged from being what some kindly referred to as "voluptuous", "curvy" and some even would comment on how I resembled the old paintings by Ruben or as some would say "Rubenesk" to later just being just plain overweight. I'll have to openly admit I tried every diet I could get my hands on. Nutri-System, Jenny Craig, The Adkin's Diet, The Diet Center and the list goes on and on. I did have a love for weight lifting and exercise, which has been in my favor through the years, but it still didn't achieve that lean look that I've always wanted. I felt like I was in a constant battle to keep that scale from going up. After I had my son, my weight seemed to be even MORE unstable. I lost 20 lbs with Weight Watchers only to find that I gained half of it back as soon as I ate anything off the plan. Not to mention I felt like I was sentenced to a lifetime of deprivation. At times it was a vicious cycle of eating, gaining, getting depressed about it and eating MORE. I continued to workout with weights though out this battle only to find myself covering up myself more and more when I went into the gym. I was strong but no one would ever know that I lifted weights because of the layer of fat that covered that hard-earned muscle. And on all the crash diets I found that my strength would diminish and I would end up less muscular than ever, even though my scales would read 10 ? 12 lbs less. And again, the scales would pop right back up when I got OFF whatever diet plan I had been on.

THEN, I passed my 40th birthday and the scale continued to creep up. One day last fall (2002) I was surfing the web and came across the www.physiquetransformation.com. I started to browse the photographs and there were some of the people that worked out right in MY gym in Colorado Springs. Not only THAT but these were the very people that I had admired from afar thinking they must have been blessed with good genetics. Little did I know, they weren't much different from myself, but they had the secret knowledge. One of these people was Jo Morales, who is now my PTS (Physique Transformation Specialist) trainer. One day I decided to just talk to her a bit. She arranged an appointment and from there my life changed. I started conditioning probably not unlike MOST women, thinking "Gosh, this is an awful LOT of food". But having seen these people in the gym, I knew that something must be working for them so I trusted what they told me and kept on eating. My conditioning lasted 7 weeks.

I'm in fat burning still, even as I write this, and Jo and I have fine-tuned my goals and expectations. I originally wanted to get my weight down to 125. But as I approached that weight I realized that I could achieve so much more. I no longer settle when it comes to seeing what my body is capable of doing. I'm leaner than I've EVER been in my entire adult life AND I'm stronger and more muscular also. Who would have guessed that being over 40 would look like THIS? NOT ME! My goal weight now is 115 and it's only a matter of time and I will be there.

This has not only been an education in nutrition, but also in EXACTLY how MY body reacts to every element of food that I put in it AND the cardio and weights that I impose ON it. I felt like I went into this, blindly, hoping and trusting in the process and I am coming OUT an educated woman. I can now honestly say that I know my body. That education alone was worth every effort I put into this. And I can now enjoy the body I always dreamed of having. I plan to carry this further and go on a muscle building rotation after this fat burning rotation is complete. Then, who knows what next year will bring. Maybe competition. That's MY thoughts.

Thanks for listening and good luck to you all.

Frances Treat