Ann Arbor

Member Since January 2007

My Story
Hello ladies. My favorite Christmas gift of all time came from my family on Christmas 2006. The envelope tucked into the tree held a gift certificate for a year's membership at the Ann Arbor Curves. My boss had been a member for awhile and inspired me to at least begin thinking about it...I told my husband I might be interested, then Christmas came and I couldn't make any more excuses. Health wise, I wasn't in horrible shape, not diagnosed (as yet) with any of the chronic diseases that beset grossly obese beings, but I was on my way. My knees hurt (I blamed it on the fact that I'd worked in a restaurant most of my adult life); I found excuses to not climb stairs, either direction; I was short of breath just walking short distances; and I avoided looking at myself in any mirror (forget a full length mirror!). Within weeks of beginning my Curves workout I noticed differences in myself. I had more energy, I could walk further and faster. I began to notice my clothes fitting differently. I lost a little weight... I got excited about exercising! That had never happened before. I began coming five days a week, directly from work because I knew if I went home first, I probably wouldn't go out again.
Then, in April of 2007, my Mother died from complications following surgery for cancer of the uterine lining. Mom was grossly overweight carrying about 280# on her 5 ft. 1.5 inch body. She had type II diabetes, was a breast cancer survivor of 13 years, and had high blood pressure, among other things. Mom's quality of life in her last 10-15 years had been going downhill all along. She couldn't get out and walk around her yard or garden anymore because she couldn't get up if she got down to dig. She couldn't do much of anything except shop (for groceries, of course), bake, and eat. Everyone loved the things she baked - she gave most of it away, but she couldn't seem to ever take off any weight. I understood her dilemma, it sounded like me! Anyway, after my mom passed away my two sisters and I were talking and somehow got on the subject of inherited disease, etc. My oldest sister looked at my other sister and me and said, "We'd all better do something or we're going to be in the same situation in 20 years!" That sentence changed my life!
I returned home and went with renewed vigor to Curves, maintaining 4 - 5 workouts per week throughout the summer. What I noticed happening later in the summer was, the more I exercised the more I wanted to eat! Yikes! Seemed like I was gaining weight. What a vicious cycle we put ourselves through. Anyway, I was struggling with trying to eat a balanced, healthy diet and exercise regularly at Curves. My only problem was not knowing what a 'healthy, well-balanced diet' consisted of. My quantities were too big, I skipped meals, and I didn't drink enough water. Depressing! Christmas came around again and I asked for a renewal of my Curves membership. My daughter came home for the holidays and suggested we go find out what "Medical Weight Loss Clinic" was all about. With much trepidation, I went in with her on a Saturday morning between Christmas and New Years. The cost of their program floored me. How could I justify spending that kind of money on losing weight? I put off the store manager and went home to talk to my husband. The first words out of my mouth to him were probably, "I can't do this, it costs too much money!!!!" I can't actually remember what I said, only what his response was... he said, "You can't afford not to do it!" and "You're worth whatever it costs." I turned around, went back to the clinic and signed up. That began my journey to this point. Since January of 2008, I've taken off 92 pounds. I continue to exercise at Curves three to five times per week...if I don't come to Curves, I do a walking/weight exercise at home. When I began the weight loss clinic, the Doctor asked me what my plan was for the recommended 30 minutes per day of exercise. I told him, "I belong to Curves." He said, "That's great. I love that place. I highly recommend it to all of my female clients, my wife goes to Curves, too." He said (sic) 'the fact that it has a finite time makes it the perfect exercise program for women who haven't been in any kind of exercise routine'. Thank you Curves, you helped me begin the journey to where I am today. With your help and the support of my family and all of my friends, both at Curves and elsewhere, I am now healthy, energetic, (all blood levels - diabetes/cholesterol/etc- are in the normal range now, too!), have a healthy blood pressure, and look pretty good for an old hippie. My profile picture is the "after" photo, see the before photo below. Yes, that's the same person!

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