Moving top left to top right in the collage: In 2000 I started to have a weight problem. I was graduating high school and no longer playing sports (I think that exercise was keeping my weight in check for the most part). I moved out on my own and started eating cheap, processed food that I could afford on my meager wages. Lots of nights partying at the clubs til the wee hours didn’t help, either.
In 2007 (Tulum pic) I was married to my first husband and had ballooned up to 298 lbs. I was miserable in my own skin. Shortly after my divorce in 2009, I got pregnant with Elena by an ugly, short, fat guy who treated me like absolute shit. It took me having Elena to realize that I had been careening downhill for way too long. I asked myself why I kept attracting the same toxic relationship after another. The answer was clear as I looked hard at myself in the mirror: I just didn’t think too much about myself. Ouch.
I vowed to do something about my extra weight, and my health in general. See, I had gotten used to, in my 20s, spending 2+hours most nights at Fitness 2K, to no avail. The scale barely budged, even though I had put on a lot of muscle mass. I wasn’t losing much fat on the horrible diet I was on. I decided to take out loans to get weight loss surgery in Mexico with a pioneer of the gastric sleeve surgery: Dr. Guillermo Alvarez (who’s wonderful btw).
Now I know I could have accomplished the same goals using Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) but I didn’t know about RTT until years later. Anyway, I got a gastric sleeve in 2011. It only took under a year to drop 171 lbs., down to 127 lbs – my lightest weight as an adult. I was a size 00 XS and I felt FABULOUS trying on clothes (and putting on a bikini for the first time ever!)
The gastric sleeve made my stomach roughly the size and shape of a banana, so clearly my diet had to change. I was full after only a few bites so I stuck to mostly protein and vegetables. I had to change my mindset on a lot of foods. I gave up on sugar and pop (a withdrawal that was well worth it).
Second row of photos: I had a new body to sculpt and more energy to work on it. I did my first round of P90X (though I forget the year) and packed on big-time muscle mass in 3 months, especially in my arms, traps, shoulders, and calves. I was taking nutritional supplements like protein shakes, recovery drinks, and supplemental pills. I felt INCREDIBLE.
But as great as I felt internally, my body was not the way I wanted it to be. From shedding all that weight so quickly (and bc I wasn’t a spring chicken anymore) I had a lot of loose skin to deal with. All that work and muscle couldn’t replace the flab. I took out even more loans to get plastic surgery – and I did the whole shebang with Dr. Joseph Poggi (excellent dude!) – lower and upper body tucks and I got a breast augmentation to boot (I lost my girls during the fat loss and wanted them back!).
After my nip/tuck I got addicted to pain pills. I was so thin because I ate even less than usual (pain pills kill your appetite). No wonder I was less than 130 lbs.! But after I kicked the habit, that weight was just not sustainable, once you get your appetite back. I healed in myriad ways and I moved forward once again.
I eased into a more easy-going lifestyle after P90X round 2 and stayed the course with eating as clean as possible. This lasted for a few years. Then I got sick. It wasn’t the fault of “anyone” but my esophagus had developed a lot of inflammation due to acids coming up from my newer stomach. My surgeon here, Dr. Jeremy Howes, told me my gastric sleeve would have to be converted to a gastric bypass.
I was scared to death. I had already begun my training for RTT, so I knew what RTT was capable of doing to help me. I had a colleague do a session on me for my upcoming surgery, to help me calm down, feel uplifted, and heal quickly. I had surgery in 2018 a couple weeks later. I was wheeled into surgery with a smile on my face and confidence in my heart. I woke up in recovery 15 minutes after they put me in a bed feeling normal and positive. My mom was astounded that I was so coherent.
Since my conversion I have gone through a few phases of optimizing my nutrition and supplementation. I still eat as clean as possible. I did Keto for awhile but it’s not too sustainable, although I keep as much away from grains as possible. I get my blood tested regularly and supplement as needed. A month ago my screen came back normal on everything except my hormones.
Third row of pics: My weight has crept up since COVID (staying home eating and drinking all the time has taken its toll on me, like most of us!). I take biohacking seriously, and regularly consume an activator from Lifevantage that reverses cellular oxidation within the body. I’ve been taking those products since last summer and got my husband on them, as well. We feel AWESOME!
We started working out again (yeah we took a long hiatus) with a more reasonable program we can complete at our home gym. I try to cook a balanced dinner every night, and we don’t keep junk food in the house. We also don’t allow our daughters to eat junk when we can control it, so they start off on a better path than we did. I teach mindset to the kids, and I practice it myself. That’s been a journey, too, realizing that the things I’ve told my mind are “bad” for me tend to manifest into problems when I consume them (dairy, for instance).
Today I am still focused on keeping control of my nutrition, staying on supplementation and activators that benefit my body from the inside out, and reducing my alcoholic intake (empty calories). It’s a process! I don’t want to get back down to 130 lbs., but I have a goal to maintain a more manageable weight that’s good for me. It’s important for me to keep up a great muscle tone and increase my strength training. I absolutely cannot stand cardio, but I know, as my mentor Marisa Peer says, I have to make the unfamiliar familiar in order to change my habits, so that’s the next step: making cardio exercise familiar.
I’m so excited to share my journey with people because I now know that it’s all about MINDSET, no matter what your starting weight (or issue) is. Now I can perform a hypnotic gastric sleeve without surgery using RTT! All it does is subconsciously reprogram you to change your mindset regarding food and eating habits, or implementing fitness practices into your daily life. It’s amazing, and I’ve had such great results from clients – from stopping eating sugar and pop, to replacing junk food with nutritional meals, to going to the gym 5x/wk and pushing it to the limits. My clients have dropped anywhere from 15 lbs to 80+ and growing (still in progress!). All from changing their mindset.
And of course it’s not just about dropping pounds; your goals are your personal desires and can be whatever you want them to be. You only need ask, and I can develop a personalized session for you! I share my story so that everyone understands that I’m not judgmental – chances are, no matter what your issue is, I’ve been there (or damn close to it!) and I get it! Life is tough. Everyone has issues. Not everyone is brave enough to ask for help, though. Not everyone is ready to put in the work to transform.
But when you are, I can help! Just send me a message! Don’t spend 18 years in pain and misery like me. Don’t spend the upwards of $25k altogether (geez, maybe it was more than that with the 4 surgeries I had to get here). And certainly don’t declare bankruptcy because you can’t pay off your enormous medical bills.
I can help you prevent ALL of that! In just 1-3 sessions. It’s real and it works. And I’m not selling you any products (unless you want to get on the same ones that I’m on that make me feel wonderful hehe). I’m happy to answer any questions anyone has, or just commiserate. I know how difficult the journey can be. I’m right there with you, Tribe!
