Average to Lose + Health Improvements Category

Diane S.

I decided to enter the T-Tapp 2011 January Jump Start Challenge, because I hadn’t T-Tapped in four and a half years and I wanted to get back into my T-Tapp groove. Yes, I had gone from a size 30 Womens and maintained a size 12/14 Tall, for several years, with T-Tapp. Yes, I had been a T-Tapp trainer from 2002 – 2006. Yes, I had appeared in T-Tapp workout videos and the video of the “Yes You Can” seminar. Yes, I am a T-Tapp success story both on the T-Tapp Web site and in Teresa’s “Fit and Fabulous” book. Yes, I was a T-Tapp True Believer! So, why had I stopped T-Tapping? The answer lies in my long struggle with depression and my relationship with my half-sister. (My parents were both widowed before they met, and my sister was adopted by my father. I always considered her my sister, not my half-sister.)

I started the January Jump Start Challenge not even knowing if I would finish it. When I realized how much I was changing, mentally and emotionally, as well as physically, I decided that I wanted to win the Challenge. I want to show everyone who has ever stopped T-Tapping that you can become a Re-Tapper and achieve even more success than you did when you T-Tapped for the first time! Anyone can be a T-Tapper, but only people who have fallen off the T-Tapp wagon and climbed back on that wagon can be Re-Tappers!

My sister Nina was in a fragile state of health. She had Type 2 diabetes, was a heavy smoker, was extremely sedentary, ate a diet high in sugar and carbs, and had Bipolar II Disorder. Her bipolar disorder was the cause of her early retirement from the Federal Government. In March of 2009, Nina fell in her home and was unconscious and lying with all of her weight on her left leg for an undetermined number of hours. Her survival, after six weeks in the Intensive Care Unit, was a true miracle, according to her doctors. Sadly, they had to amputate her entire left leg.

Nina was never able to move back to her home. While in the hospital and, later, in a rehab center, she was very happy to be alive – happier than she had been in at least 20 years. After moving to my mother’s house which had been made ADA compliant, she lost hope that she could actually complete the physical therapy necessary to learn to walk with her prosthetic leg. Nina became suicidal and was admitted to a hospital psych ward. After having yet another psychotic break in an assisted living facility, it was decided that the only solution was to move Nina to a nursing home. Approximately one year after moving to the nursing home, Nina unexpectedly died of a massive heart attack on November 6, 2011, at the age of 57. Our only consolation was that her death was swift and she didn’t suffer.

I began this January Jump Start Challenge story with Nina’s story, because Nina and her bipolar disorder have affected almost every facet of my life since I was 13. That was also when my father died. A few months after my father’s death, Nina had her first mental breakdown. For the rest of my life, Nina and her mental and physical health were never far from my mind.

In hindsight, I realize that my father’s death and Nina’s breakdown triggered my first bout with depression. I have struggled with depression ever since then. In 1990, after closing my aerobics studio for large women, I became so depressed I was unable to get out of bed for a few months. I was diagnosed with major depression, and I have been on antidepressants almost constantly since then.

My struggle with depression is the main reason I stopped being a T-Tapp trainer. Starting in 2005, I was having fleeting thoughts of suicide for the first time, although I never seriously considered ending my life. Suicide is the ultimate selfish act, but depressed people, like me, often think that their loved ones would be better off without them. It’s not that the suicidal person thinks of death as the goal, they just want to stop the pain. For me the pain consisted of debilitating feelings of failure, guilt, unworthiness, self-loathing and hopelessness.

On the plus side, I was and am so fortunate that T-Tapp brought horses back into my life. A woman, who owned three horses at the time, saw me on the T-Tapp Trainer page. She proposed trading personal T-Tapp training for riding her horse, in 2004. Eventually I began riding her black Morgan stallion, Ebony, and I was in heaven! I eventually bought a son of Ebony that I had ridden, for six months, and fallen in love with. Without my horse and my dog, I don’t know how I would have coped with major depression. Some days, I felt like they were all I had to live for, besides my mom and sister.

I have also had issues with anxiety. I have had occasional anxiety attacks and three or four full-blown panic attacks over the past 15 years. I take anti-anxiety medication, as needed. My anxiety is a by-product of my depression, and, recently, a symptom of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The PTSD is a result of things I have seen, especially in ICU, and heard since Nina had her leg amputated. I am now seeing a therapist who specializes in grief counseling as well as depression and PTSD treatment. I have discovered that many people have had episodes of PTSD which largely go untreated. I had my first bouts of PTSD when I heard my father dying of a heart attack and then witnessed my sister’s psychotic episodes.

When my sister died, almost four months ago, at first I was in shock. Between March 2009, when Nina was in ICU, and November 2010, when she died, I spent 23 weeks in Florida helping and supporting my mother, Jean, and Nina. In total, I spent almost six months, during a 19 month period, in Florida helping my mom cope with something no mother should ever have to do – taking care of a daughter in a nursing home. When I was at home in Maryland, I was often depressed, stressed and anxious. I worried about Nina, but she was being cared for by the nursing home staff. I worried even more about my mom, because she was alone in Florida, trying to do her best for her daughter who had been a source of pain and stress for so many years, thanks to that horrible illness – Bipolar II Disorder – the most serious form of bipolar disorder.

During the three weeks in November I spent with Jean, last year after Nina died, I spent most of my time in bed, often sleeping for 12 – 15 hours a day. When I wasn’t sleeping, I was reading. I only left the house to run necessary errands. I lost 10 pounds, and it was obvious that some of that weight was muscle, because I lost a lot of my physical strength thanks to my three weeks of almost no physical activity.
That was the beginning of a grieving process that continues to this day. With the help of my grief counselor, I am now having more good days than bad, on the whole.

In 2008, I fell off my horse, while jumping a fence, and tore my groin. My groin muscles have been extremely tight since I was a nine year old first taking riding lessons. My groin tear was as painful as anything I have ever experienced. I began physical therapy (PT) as soon as my body was able, and the PT stretching exercises were very effective. Unfortunately, like many PT patients, as soon as I wasn’t in constant pain, I stopped stretching.

My January Jump Start overall goal was to feel better mentally, physically and emotionally. My first specific physical goal was to use the stretches built into T-Tapp to help alleviate the pain and tightness I was still feeling in the left side of my groin.

I also wanted to get my waist back. The waistline that menopause had stolen from me! T-Tapp had given me an ideal waist-hip ratio, and menopause combined with a lack of T-Tapp wreaked havoc with that ratio. I also wanted to lose inches all over, because I had gained 2 -3 sizes in the years since I had last T-Tapped.

Most importantly, I remembered how good T-Tapp made me feel all over. It made me feel comfortable in my own skin, and I craved that feeling and wanted it back!

My main metal and emotional goal was to use T-Tapp to help me cope with my grief. T-Tapp had made me mentally stronger, when I Tapped consistently. I needed to regain the boost to my self-esteem that T-Tapp had given me in the past. I knew that consistent T-Tapp would help me beat depression and anxiety. I wanted T-Tapp, combined with the hard work I was already doing with my therapist, to help me love myself again.

Before I describe my results, let me tell you about my exercise regimen. I have been pretty active since I stopped T-Tapping. I ride my horse, walk for 45 minutes to an hour three times per week, and do an aquatics workout, in a heated therapy pool, once per week. I temporarily stopped my aqua workouts for the Jump Start Challenge.

I had gained a few sizes since my last T-Tapp workout in 2006, but I had lost 30 pounds since January of 2010. Twenty of those pounds were due to adding the heated pool workouts, to my exercise schedule, and watching my portion sizes. Ten of those pounds were due to what I call the “grief diet”. I lost 10 pounds when my sister died in November, and I managed to keep them off over the holidays.

The January Jump Start Challenge gave me everything I had hoped for and more! Back when I was really into T-Tapp, I never dreamed that I could ever become an even bigger fan of T-Tapp then I was then, but that is just what happened! I felt better, in every way, after my FIRST T-Tapp workout on January 28th 2011, and it was more than just an endorphin high!

For this Challenge, I used the Ladybug workout which was released shortly before I stopped T-Tapping. I had never done Ladybug, and I was an instant convert! I love Teresa’s tips, tweaks and improvements to the T-Tapp workout that I remembered. Although I know it’s not the case, Ladybug seemed to have been designed just for me!

One of the biggest benefits of the January Jump Start was that I made a commitment to T-Tapp, and I kept that commitment. That alone was a huge boost to my self-esteem. It wasn’t always easy to add T-Tapp to my already active lifestyle, but it was well worth the effort (and increased sleep time in order to rest and recover). I now feel less depressed in general, have fewer episodes of anxiety and took less anti-anxiety medication during the challenge. I feel mentally stronger and able to face the work involved in beating depression and anxiety and working through my grieving process.

The biggest physical improvement has been the improvement to the left side of my groin where I had the groin tear. My left adductors aren’t as tight, and I haven’t had any pain episodes. Horseback riding, specifically jumping and staying out of the saddle in two-point position while cantering and galloping, causes tight hip flexors, and my hip flexors are much looser since returning to T-Tapp.

Off and on, I have had severe chronic pain in the right side of my trapezius (the large muscle that spans the neck, shoulder and back), since the day I learned to use a computer mouse in 1991. This persistent pain is called trapezius myalgia, and it is very common among women, in particular, who do computer work. At times, it felt like there was a knife stabbing me in the back of my right shoulder; the pain was that intense. The only thing that has ever relieved that pain “permanently” was Primary Back Stretch (PBS). I put quotation marks around the word permanently, because when I stop doing PBS, eventually the pain returns. During the recent years when I wasn’t T-Tapping, I tried other stretches to relieve my trapezius myalgia, but nothing I tried was very effective. PBS relieved my trapezius pain in 2000, when I T-Tapped for the first time, and my trapezius pain did not return until I stopped T-Tapping in 2006.

For almost five years I have been plagued by this intense, intermittent pain in the right side of my trapezius. Primary Back Stretch came through for me again in 2011! From the first time I did PBS for this Challenge, my trapezius pain went away, and it hasn’t returned. I continue to spend hours every day on my computer and my trapezius is pain-free. What a wonderful feeling! T-Tapp is truly a rehabilitative series of movements that often brings pain relief, and I am grateful that PBS is working its magic for me again.

After just a few T-Tapp workouts, I felt lighter and more energetic. My walking workouts are done with horses. You could call me *Walks with Horses*, as opposed to *Dances with Wolves”! I help bring horses from their pastures to their stalls, often two horses at a time. I had so much more energy, I could push myself to walk faster, even up hills, to the point that bringing horses in became an interval workout for me. I concentrated on using T-Tapp techniques while walking with horses, and I felt a much greater range of motion in my hips and legs, thanks to Ladybug!

One of my mental struggles, during the Challenge, was with the frequency of my T-Tapp sessions. I spent the entire Challenge thinking that I wasn’t doing enough. Although I am a proponent of “Baby Steps”, I continue to struggle with “All or Nothing” thinking.

During this Challenge, I did a four day Ladybug Standing boot camp, and I did the Ladybug Standing workout only three times in addition to that boot camp. I did the Ladybug Basic Plus four times and the regular Basic Plus once. Add in five short floor work sessions (two of which were done immediately following my Basic+ workouts) and one T-Tapp Basic Four (Primary Back Stretch, T-Tapp Twist, Balance and Thread the Needle), and you have all the T-Tapp I did for the Jump Start Challenge. I can’t believe I only did seven Total Workouts in 30 days and got such terrific results!

I was so worried that I wasn’t doing enough, I measured myself on February 7th, about 10 days into the Challenge. I could not believe it, but I had already lost 16.375 inches after only five workouts! I continued to have doubts about the “easy” T-Tapp schedule I was on, and I worried that my inch loss had stalled, or, even worse, I was afraid I had regained some of my lost inches. So I measured myself three weeks into the Challenge on February 20th. Wow! My new inch loss total was 25 inches. And at the end of the January Jump Start, I had lost a grand total of 32.375 inches!!! I still can’t really believe it, but the tape measure doesn’t lie.

I have never had such incredible inch loss with T-Tapp before. While inch loss was not my primary goal, I must admit that I would not have been able to stick with it if I hadn’t lost inches. Inch loss gives us a measurable number in addition to all the other, more important health improvements that can be impossible to quantify. The promise of inch loss is what led me to try T-Tapp, in the first place, and I still want to fit into smaller sizes!

Why did I get such great results as a 52 year old post-menopausal woman? There are several reasons. First of all, Teresa keeps tweaking and improving the T-Tapp moves, and those improved moves were a big part of my success. For anyone who has done the Ladybug Standing workout, all I have to say is “Double Dip T-Tapp Twist”! The Ladybug workout was ideal for me, because it is designed for women with hormonal issues, and I officially achieved menopause status on September 25, 2010. The fact that Teresa is just one year older than me works in my favor. She has a vested interest in working on improving T-Tapp and making it more effective and more health-enhancing for baby boomers like me.

During my time away from T-Tapp, new T-Tapp Retreat Series DVDs that emphasize stretching were released, and that makes me so happy. My groin tear has made me all too aware that flexibility becomes more and more important as we age. My flexibility suffered without T-Tapp, and it has improved greatly thanks to the January Jump Start.

During this Challenge, I concentrated on my form and on pushing myself to my personal max. That was crucial to my success. I worked harder at T-Tapp than I ever had before. I was shocked to have quite a bit less muscle soreness than I did in the past, but I don’t miss that soreness one little bit! I believe that the lymphatic pumping of my regular walking schedule helped flush out the lactic acid which helped prevent soreness.

I believe that muscle memory was also a critical success factor for me. I was already physically active, and I think that if my body could talk, it would say, ”What are you doing to me? Oh yeah, I remember this T-Tapp stuff. Might as well go ahead and cinch in those muscles and burn fat, because that’s what we did last time!”

I would love to win a spot at the next Beauty Boot Camp, so that I could learn all the new T-Tapp tips, tricks and tweaks. I would also like to show everyone that by that time this summer, I will have continued to T-Tapp, and I will look and feel even better, in every way, than I do today.

Consistency, attention to proper form, and pushing to your personal max will bring success to all T-Tappers, newbies and veterans alike. What I want everyone to know is that if you have stopped T-Tapping for any reason, you can get right back on the T-Tapp horse and achieve even GREATER success than you did in the past. Do NOT beat yourself up for not Tapping. No judgments! We are all human, and you can start small with just one move - Primary Back Stretch, Hoe Downs or Organs in Place and Half Frogs, if you prefer floor work, and build your T-Tapp practice from there.

Re-Tappers Unite! Start T-Tapping and all you have to LOSE is inches! Even more importantly, you will GAIN so much more. You can start winning battles with depression, anxiety, and good old garden-variety stress. You can gain increased energy, strength, flexibility and endurance. Yes, YOU can!

I used to tell people that LESS is MORE with T-Tapp, but my 30 Day results have shocked and surprised me. Achieving my remarkable results – both inside and out – have made me a bigger T-Tapp cheerleader than I ever was before, even when I was a trainer! I could not be happier that a friend convinced me to give the January Jump Start a try. (I am in her debt forever!) I started T-Tapping again at a low point in my life, and my future is looking brighter now. I still have sad days, but I have faith that I can reach the light I see at the end of the tunnel, and that is more than I could ask from any workout program.

VIEW THE OTHER 2010 60-DAY CHALLENGE WINNERS!