Let me start by telling you every summer for me, had been my own personal nightmare. I did not want to wear shorts, and definitely did not want to wear a bikini… I had been covering myself up at the beach for years, never feeling like I looked good enough to walk around in my bathing suit – I wouldn’t even get off the chair without a cover up on, but until I saw a picture that my daughter took of me on the beach, I had no idea how far I let myself go. I guess all my bad habits had finally caught up to me. To be honest – I’m still not totally comfortable taking pictures in my bikini, but I decided this would be the year that I would not be embarrassed to go out in public in shorts, or on the beach without a cover up! The first thing I did was to set a goal, which is very important. I found a bikini picture my husband Mark had of me taken 17 years ago and thought “Let’s see how close I can get to this picture”, talk about a daunting task. Would it even be possible for me to get in anywhere near that kind of shape again?

 
I thought – sure, why not, being married to a personal trainer, how hard could it be? I’m here to tell you, it was hard! I quickly realized what my downfall had been year after year – my food hadn’t been as clean as it needed to be. Have you ever heard the saying “you can’t out train a bad diet”? – Well, now I understand what that means. Plus Mark pointed out that I was sleep walking through my workouts. Honestly, I am not a fan of working out… In fact, I never really was, but there is no way you can reach your fitness goals without it.

Much to my surprise 4 months later, and I have to admit I was totally shocked by the results; I actually dropped 17 lbs and almost 20 inches!!! Not too bad for a 47 year old, menopausal women! This was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done – and if I can do it – you can do it… but why was I able to do it this time? Well the answer to this is two fold – One was my very loving and supportive husband, who I mention earlier is a personal trainer, and two – Valerie Waters Red Carpet Ready fitness program and forum. You may be wondering why I needed another fitness program when my husband is a personal trainer…. Well, honestly – have any of you ever had your significant other tell you what to do, or even worse, try to push you outside of your comfort zone… I’m here to tell you – it is NOT a good idea… He quickly realized if I was going to succeed it would have to be on my own terms, which is why he introduced me to the idea of Valerie Waters, a celebrity fitness trainer, he has followed and admired for a number of years (http://valeriewaters.com/), – and yes, she was the perfect fit for me… Bottom line – the key to all of my success was not only her workout program, but the support of the women in the forum… This is what I can do for you – I can and will be there for you every step of the way – to motivate you, to encourage you, and to help you find a way to break through the roadblocks preventing you from reaching your fitness goals.  

“Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.”-
~Earl Nightingale

This is so true – if I didn’t decide to finally take charge of my body- I’d still be 147 lbs, unhappy with myself and still complaining about how I can’t lose weight…. but as of today I am 20 lbs lighter and 26 inches smaller. I feel good about myself, and know anything I want, with a bit of effort, can be done!

So let me help you take charge of your health and fitness, help you find a way to take time for YOU, and help you get what you want out of life!
Hugs,
LA