I have had a constant up and down battle with my weight. Grew up in abusive home and I think I coped with my stress with eating. I played sports but ate a lot . When I was in a good place...was able to lose weight easily and loved weightlifting, esp in Medical School where I actually started weight lifting. Then you add babies and the weight goes back on...Was tired of looking chubby and not liking what I see after the third child. Easy to lose the weight after the first two children. After baby #3 I was a short chubby 150 pounds and full size 10. After two years getting down to 130 and full size 6...I thought I looked ok. But still with no real muscle tone and lots of cellulite. I was a fat thin person...so Started running ...and lifting more than my children. I didn't like being the super skinny marathon runner so added bodybuilding in and wanted to prove runners could have and add muscle. I'm always up for a challenge and once I got injured w/the endurance running, I decided to do a figure competition. in which I placed 1st in Masters, 2nd in Novice and 2nd in my Open class. I still am enjoying running and have found the strength training has helped me become faster. I just placed 3rd in my age group in my last 5K running w/an average pace of 7:54.

Running and lifting have been great escapes for me during my most stressfull times..of medical school, husband's deployments, etc...plus it shows me how strong I actually am. I've improved my body so much it is better then it was when I was 20. I like proving that being over 40, a mother, a professional, etc isn't a death sentence on having a fit and sexy body. I'm not going to lie...it's not easy...and much of this is diet..discipline and focus. I also like being an example to my family, esp my two daughters.