I’ve struggled with my weight all of my life. I went from being a chubby kid, to a slightly overweight teenager, to an obese adult. I packed on 40 or 50 extra pounds — I was clinically obese and clearly a health risk and l kept active all my life. Playing sports was my past time that kept me away from negative elements in school and from bad boys that wanted to do more than play sports

At 50, my body started changing and at 55 l was really feeling how much my body wanted to change and I wanted it to gracefully change, because my joints took longer to warm up, my diet wasn’t working anymore and l had a love for fitness and worked out all my life and now my midsection wasn’t responding like when l wasn’t 50 plus but, I wanted to age gracefully so I decided to take control of my life in a big way.

For the love I have for cycling as a sport my cycling coach introduced me to a health and wellness coach Maria Horstmann owner of Be Fab – Be You. Her first months in business, she needed a few as she called it “guineea pigs” to test out her business and programs. One of the programs Maria offered was Blood Sugar Balancing Program. I thought l’d be a great candidate for the program. I scheduled a free 45 minute consultation with Maria, l knew the minute the consultation started that Maria would quickly become my health and fitness coach, I could and still feel Maria’s passion for helping others as she too had a love for sugar, she walks the talk and is fit as a fiddle.

Maria’s first order of business was to teach me that weight loss is a physical and mental game. I needed to believe that it was possible, because otherwise, well, it just wasn’t.

Maria pushed me to go 100 percent, and she pushed me to do things I would never have done on my own. Maria could see the potential in me and wanted me to see it as well.

Size, more than a target weight, was the most important thing to me. When I went down a size, I would buy myself an item of clothing I had my eye on — clothes were my goals! I had to really work to get an article of clothing, but it was worth it. Within a few weeks, I’d replaced my usual dessert rewards with something even better — a new and improved me.

My main goal was not only getting to the right size it was also weight loss and ridding my cravings for SUGAR, I had an insatiable appetite for sugar and it was bound to kill me. My mother died of pancreatic cancer and l was headed in that direction if l didn’t make a lifestyle change soon.

We focused on setting goals and using a food journal to keep me accountable. I learned how important whole foods are to a healthy mind and body, so Maria conducted a farmer’s market shopping tour to show how to shop for whole foods. Another one of her recommendations was to cook meals. In other words, eat my own cooking. That meant l had to learn how to cook and it has changed my life and relationship about food forever.

I took several cooking tips from Maria and now my palate has a desire for whole foods and as of today 98% of my meals l prepare and love. Another one of Maria’s recommendations was to work out 3 days a week 60-minute sessions with her and 2 days on my own. Maria’s personal in-home gym is warm and welcoming as she applies her training in an intimate setting.

My numbers are in and they tell the truth about being consistent with working out and eating whole foods. My BMI Body Mass Index was off the chart at a whopping 42% and ideally, it needed to be less than 25%. I really felt bad on weigh-in day looking at those numbers I didn’t think l would survive the program. The real truth is in the numbers though.

In 90 days l went from a 36.5 inch waist to 33.2 inch that’s 3.3% fat lost. I went from a 42 inch belly to 36.6 inch that’s 5.4% fat lost. By the end the 90 day program, I had lost about 9% of body fat and 28.4 pounds to boot.

I took everything I learned from Maria and went on to lose a total of 30 pounds, I now wear a size 8. Yes I said 8 never in my adult life have I’ve ever been able to fit a size 8 dress. Not only that, I no longer have to take high blood pressure meds, Yay! No more prescriptions.

The only thing l take is Standard Process supplements. Maria also taught me to love myself more and put myself first. It’s not always easy, but I’ve realized that I’m worth all of the hard work. But I’m continuing to push myself to new heights so that I never stop growing and developing. There is very little I am too afraid to try. Maria is truly my life-saving coach.

My mission is not complete until l can share my experience with others. The sky is the limit with you put your mind to something.

Cheers to a Strong Healthy You!

– Kathy A. Thacker