Danielle – With the Broken Metabolism

My name is Danielle and I wanted to share my story with you because I feel as though if you struggle with your weight, you be able to relate to me.  I am 36 and have never been in such great shape – all through the education and support of Susan.

My story starts a long time ago with issues with food, but I’ll shorten it by starting just a few years back.  I found myself in a very bad relationship, didn’t like my job and was going through a transition of childhood friends to adult friends, not knowing who was staying and who was going. The way I dealt with this was by not eating.  See I am one of those people who when stressed out I tend to not eat, and in all fairness, when I did eat it was NOT healthy.  In my mind I figured I had saved up all those calories so I could eat whatever I wanted…wrong!!!  It was over the course of 5 years that I had done so much damage to my metabolism and put on a whopping 80 lbs., which brought me to 210 lbs.  I never saw it.  I didn’t look in the mirror and I certainly did not weigh myself. I was 31 years old, shopping in not so glamorous clothing stores, shopping for a size 16, thinking well this is just who I am…wrong again!!!

Then I started to get sick.  Nothing I ate agreed with me.  I stopped going out to socialize.  I wasn’t a big drinker and I was so afraid to eat.  So I started going to doctors asking what was wrong with my stomach.  No one had answers because there was nothing medically wrong with me.  So I decided this was no way to live and I sought out the help of Susan.

In my mind Susan was going to fix me.  She had the cure!!!  On my first visit I realized Susan doesn’t have the cure, but she has SO much knowledge and dedication to help me learn and to support me though what I needed to do to be healthy.  Ironically I didn’t go to Susan to lose weight.  I went for her help with my stomach.  But when I saw the weight come off, I was ALL IN!!  Susan taught me why I needed to eat, and what I needed to eat to make me a healthy person.  She took the blindfold off of me on how many calories are actually in certain foods and explained the mathematics of it all.

I took what Susan taught me and made it my everyday life.  This is NOT A DIET.  It is a lifestyle – and one that if you are reading this you should make!!  It’s not just what you put in your body either.  It’s how you use it.  I became very involved in physical activity.  I added a personal trainer to my support team, which was made up of Susan, my family and friends.

That was 5 years ago.  It took me a year and a half to take off 70 lbs., and I have kept it off.  I am now in a size 6, and no one believes that I am as old as I am.  I made changes in my life as well.   Sitting in a cube at work was not who I was anymore.  I was healthy and active.  I am now a personal trainer at a gym in my area.  I want to help people like I got help.  I share my story with all my clients to show them it takes time but it is possible, and that is why I am sharing this with you.  It is not in a pill or a fad diet.  It comes from your heart and the desire to be healthy!