I have been involved in some form of exercising for most of my life. Starting at age 3 with downhill skiing, gymnastic, ballet till age 14 ballet, from the late 1970's craze of high impact aerobics (oh how that hurt my knees!), running, Nordic track, treadmills, Total Gyms, Nautilus machines, Curves Gym to fitness clubs, specifically those kind that offer little to NO assistance. As far back as I can remember I have been very weight conscious and truly NEVER satisfied with my body. This has been a constant struggle and a painful experience. Emotionally it tore at me till I felt hopeless and experienced with bouts of binge eating and throwing up during my college years. Fortunately I was able to get away from this behavior of binging and purging, really not sure how, but I did! However, in my head I still felt trapped in an ugly, dumpy looking body. Funny thing is, I never really was more than 5lbs. to 10 lbs. overweight. Now looking back, I was not overweight, instead I had no muscle tone what so ever! I really was a flabby mess!!! Clothes could hide all that so I kept doing whatever ineffective exercising I was doing and lived completely dissatisfied with my body!

Back in 2004, I was eating breakfast at a local breakfast restaurant and happened to notice a man and women come in to eat in workout clothes. They must have worked together because their shirts had the same logo. I specifically remember how buff the woman was. I was so impressed with both of their physiques it was hard to stop staring! They ate breakfast and left the restaurant. I noticed that they walked in to a local gym across the street; it was then I knew I had to check it out! I was surprised to find out there were no machines just all free weights and personal trainers who worked with you on a training program. I was getting remarried in 6 months and I really wanted to look my best. I joined the gym for a 3-month trial membership, and I'm still there today! It was by far the BEST thing I have ever done for myself!

I have been training at this gym for over 4 years now and have never felt so good about myself. I have changed the way I look by building muscle and losing body fat. I would have never thought that heavy weight training would have helped me to achieve not only a better body, but a much more improved self image! That pain I experienced for years is gone. At age 48 I now look at myself and feel good about me! I still have my moments that I feel dissatisfied about the way I look, but I must say they are short lived! It actually motivates me to work out harder and eat cleaner. That sure beats binging and purging! I feel more confident and have started to accept compliments without putting my self down! Nothing worse than someone saying something nice to you and all you do is deny it! No more!!!

I am faithful to my resistance training and will even work out when traveling. I feel so confident in myself, my weight training and what I need to do in the gym. I don't care if any one looks at me, I know I have to bust out a tough workout and focus on doing just that! Recently after doing a barbell complex in a hotel gym, I had this real buff looking guy come up and ask what I was doing! He commented on hard I was training too! Not sure, but I don't think that is something that many women have experienced.

I now train 5 days a week and feel like it is therapy for me! 3 days of resistance training and 2 days of kettle bell classes. I am in my 40's and I know that if I stop training I will lose muscle mass and gain fat. I realize how important weight training is to maintain a healthy body. I will never stop! I am so grateful for that day when I watched the 2 trainers go into that small gym. It has changed my life for good!