Grand Prize Winner
More to Lose - Under 50 Category

Aleah K.

Before I gush about my awesome results from my T-Tapp 30 day challenge, I feel it is necessary to give you a back story on my struggle with weight loss. So here it goes!

Growing up, I had always yo yo'd in weight, wasn't too much of a chubby girl through my grade school years, but when I "became a woman" at 12, I really started notice that my body started to become increasingly more chubby as the years went by. In my family it was important to clean our plates at dinner because, my dad worked so hard to put food on the table. That was installed in me at a young age, as well as my love for sitting on the couch and watching as much TV as possible, devouring a whole bag of chips and salsa, or 2 tuna sandwiches instead of 1. This caused me to be 20-40 lbs overweight through middle school and the first half of high school. My freshman year I buckled down, and started to diet, work out at a local gym, and started doing a Richard Simmons workout video (which to this day, still know by the back of my hand). I managed to get down to a healthier weight but, still had about 20/25 lbs lingering over my head. Although it did increase my confidence as a sophomore in high school, I knew I was still a little more hefty than some of the other girls in school.

Being 5' 7", big boned, my metabolism just wasn't solid due to yo yo dieting and fluctuating exercise. I managed to loose a little more during that year because my school offered an aerobics class where they introduced me to a better nutrition and exercise regimen.

Then a bomb dropped; my parents informed me that we would be moving back to Minnesota from where we lived in Canon City, CO. My father was a truck driver and we moved around a lot, and I finally felt at home in CO. As a young teen this was devastating! We moved the summer before my Junior year. That whole summer all I did was watch TV, and eat as much food as I could get my hands on.

I was bulging out of my size 14 pants, my face was bloated, and to top it... starting a new school year in a new high school. Luckily, I met some of the best friends I have ever had and they are still my best friends to this day! The summer before my senior year I began biking every where, naturally just started watching what I ate, was so busy having fun, the weight just started to fall off! It was no longer important for me to catch a whole night of TV, or eat my chips and salsa. This made for a really good senior year! I was down to my lowest weight of 148 lbs, and finally knew what it was like to not have the extra 20 lbs lingering.
My Father was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2000, this effected me very much emotionally although I didn't recognize it was, this really started the fall back into over eating, only this time I was SO afraid to gain the weight back, I unfortunately dabbled in bulimia, which soon became a practice. My parents got me the help I needed, but there were many weak moments of relapse for years to come. My bouts with over eating were sometimes so over powering.

I can say now in 2011 that I have successfully conquered my problem with bulimia, and have not relapsed in 5 years, but that didn't stop my over eating, so that is when I really started to pack it on.

After High school I got a job at curves for women, I became a "fitness technician" my job was to start people on their memberships, teach them to use the equipment, and measure them monthly. My boss even nominated me to run the weight loss class, that featured a high protein diet. (that was very similar to the Atkins diet) my boss and co-workers some how convinced me that I needed to loose more so I did the diet as well. This sent me on my journey back to yo yo dieting, after eating all protein and going back to eating carbs like I was used to, the weight packed on fast! I gained at least 20 lbs after the protein diet, so it was a struggle to get back into my weight loss routines.

Between then and now, I went to makeup school out of state I went up to 200 lbs (which was my highest weight at the time), I have gained and lost probably 100 lbs in the past 10 years. After graduating and moving home, I lost 25 lbs with Jenny Craig and gained it all back plus more, I stuck by my father and family through what became a 10 year battle with terminal kidney cancer, moved more times than I can even count, and dealt with a pretty bad bout with depression due to it all. On February 14th 2010 I lost my father after the cancer metastasized to his bones and brain. This was a very hard time for me and my family, he was so inspiring and such a fighter. He raised me to be a good person, and when I would work hard on losing weight he was one of my biggest cheerleaders. This one is for you dad!!!!

This is when it all came full circle and led me back to T-Tapp and the 30 day challenge!

This past year I hit my highest weight ever at 220 lbs. My mom told me about this program called T-Tapp, she had already ordered the set, and had been following it for a couple of weeks. She gave me the 15 minute basic workout to try and I did it for 2 weeks straight and noticed my pants were already loose! I didn't really change my diet at all..so I thought to myself, what would happen if I did change my diet? I put that, and the workout on hold over Christmas (don't we all?) which I shouldn't have, as a result I gained 5 MORE LBS! GAH!

My mom took me to a T-Tapp class with trainer Jennifer Klever, and it kicked my butt! She told me about the 30 day challenge and I jumped on it! We did our measuring and pictures on the 27th of January, when I saw my pictures, I was devastated. Believe it or not the one that made me most emotional was this picture of my back. My arms were so big, and my back was bulging from my tank top. My elbows were dimpled, and my triceps were on the verge of hanging over my dimpled elbows. This was the back of a heavyset woman, this time it was me. I went home and cried, as I posted my pictures on my profile, I joined the under 50 more to loose category.
I did the 15 minute work out daily, I took Sundays off, I did my body brushing every other night along with taking the Alfalfa and Fibertox.

The month to follow was wonderful, I felt invigorated, and motivated. My mom, a good friend of mine, Tiff, and I would send text messages to each other in the mornings with motivational sayings and/ or what we did that day, like extra hoedowns, or doing the T-Tapp twist in the bathroom stall at my job, etc.

My good friend Tiff would come over every Thursday and we would do the 15 minute workout, and then make a healthy dinner before sitting down to watch a movie. The body brushing became one of my favorite things to do before bed.

I would attend the occasional class with Jennifer, along with my mother, and Tiff. It was always so much fun.

Last night we met to measure and take new pictures, and I lost over 22 inches! The first picture That I just had to look at was my back, we slowly turned to screen of the camera to take a look, crossing my fingers, low and behold my back didn't look so fat anymore! I was so happy I teared up and wanted to do back flips! My mom lost 21, Tiff lost 15!! Nearly 60 inches gone because friends were caring for friends!

I am so happy that my mother (Jean) found T-Tapp and shared it with me. I have found a new purpose, and I see the light at the end of the tunnel for the first time in many years. It is so much more than a workout program. It has lifted my spirits, not to mention it has really helped my mom and I stay close through the hard times dealing with the loss of my father and her husband. We plan to continue this as a new lifestyle. I plan to get back to my healthy weight, in a healthy amount of time. THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING of my journey to better health and wellness....

Thank you Mom, Jenn, Tiff, and T-Tapp!

VIEW THE OTHER 2011 JANUARY JUMP START WINNERS!