About
I grew up in a family with 5 siblings, none of whom I resembled at all. They were all born slender with dark hair and eyes, and then there was me – fair hair and eyes, and quite chubby. I was blessed with the weight and self image challenge from day one, that unbeknownst to me would become my life long journey to master, and help others facing that same challenge find health, wellness and self love.
I see how God’s divine plan has shaped my life and helped me become the person I am today, blessing me with this opportunity, amazing life and this incredible journey. Now at 63 years young, I can finally say that I have conquered my weight challenge, love who I am, love and respect my body and have unshakable confidence. I want to share my journey with you and all that I have learned on it, and if it resonates with you, I would love to help you on your journey.
From a young child, I struggled with my mirror reflection and my body image as I compared myself to my siblings, class mates and all those around me. That struggle was reinforced daily, seeing what women looked like on TV and in magazines, and realizing that my body didn’t look like theirs. I was made fun of and called hurtful names, which created so much depression, sadness and a lack of self love. I didn’t like who I was. I didn’t say nice things to myself. I used the word hate when referring to my body, and cried – a lot. I became obsessed trying to figure out how to get my body to look like theirs and thought that my physical body’s appearance defined who I was as a person. It became the center of my existence. I tried every diet in the world – tried chewing tons of gum – tried smoking to take away my appetite. Nothing worked. The more I failed, the more I ate, allowing food to become a crutch to bury my daily sadness and frustrations.
My Mom knew I was upset over the way I looked, and my body weight. She would say to me, ‘if you don’t like the way you look, do something about it’. So I did. In my late teens, I started working out at a health club called Spa Lady. I parked myself right up in the front row during every exercise class. I was a model student. I was there every day – doing cardio until the cows came home. Cardio, cardio, cardio! One day the instructor failed to show up to teach the class. The class members begged me to lead the class because I was there daily and it appeared I knew what I was doing. So I did it – I led the class. The truth was, I didn’t know what I was doing. I just jumped around and mimicked what I did in every other class – cardio, cardio, cardio. The crazy part was the members loved it! They thought it was awesome, and thus I started a following and started my fitness instructor journey. I had zero knowledge about positive eating habits or the integration of strength work into workouts, but that would come on my journey. I kinda did it backward. I started teaching, and then went to get my certifications and my fitness education. Back then, they didn’t teach about nutrition, they just taught about different ways to exercise and different types of classes. I learned as I went.
On my journey I soon came to realize that working with a bunch of female instructors was pretty challenging. The ‘Instructor Business’ was more about your popularity than your skill set. The focus wasn’t on the actual members getting healthy and strong, it was about how many members you could lure into your class and convince them the other instructor wasn’t worthy. This ‘mental gymnastics’ was at every gym that I worked at and was an unhealthy emotional energy sucker. Then a door opened! An opportunity to buy my own gym! I jumped at it! Having my own gym meant I could change the focus to be on the actual individual, and help that person change not just their physical body, but their life. I wanted to show people how they could incorporate fitness as a lifestyle to not just change their body, but to change the way they see themselves and to be able to develop self love. This would change their whole world around them, and how they see themselves! I didn’t want anyone to go through the pain that I went through trying to figure out how to change my body in order to love myself. I wanted to share with others what it took me over 55 years of my life to realize: that God gave me the body that he gave me for a reason, and there is so much more to who I am than just what my physical body looks like.
I see now that I was given this body and presented this journey so I could help guide and inspire others who are on similar journeys to learn how to love, respect and embrace the body that God gave them, because HE gave it to them. God doesn’t make mistakes. We are to love, nurture and fuel our bodies correctly, and there are healthy ways to do this. Not with starvation, fad diets or drug injections – but with healthy clean eating, a consistent balanced exercise routine, a positive attitude, a healthy supportive community and a belief in yourself that you CAN and you WILL, using positive words and thoughts.
I am proud to offer a gym where we encourage our members to change their attitude to a positive, healthy attitude instead of an attitude of defeat and negativity. We show people that they truly have a unique strength within them, and help them pull out the AMAZING that’s inside of them because we were all MADE to be AMAZING. We reinforce that, YES, it is hard work. Nothing is easy that’s worth having. However, when you have a community that loves and supports you and your every win – whether it’s lifting that heavier weight that you’ve been trying to achieve, getting a higher box jump in, working out five days a week, or just taking that first step through the door – it’s such a huge difference! The Arise Fitness community is so loving and caring, showing a genuine love and support for each other. We expect hard work and maximum results, and expect you to work to your highest potential. We expect you to push yourself. The classes are challenging and bring results.
The results are incredible and our members see amazing body transformations in increased strength and muscle tone, weight loss, fat loss and overall fitness. Their transformation increases their self love, self acceptance, self awareness, self confidence, and their motivation to keep coming back. They realize this isn’t just a fad that they’re going to come in and do for a month or two, but it’s a lifestyle change and a healthy community that’s now a part of their life. They experience an increase in the quality of life that overflows into their family life, relationships, and work life. As their confidence grows, their success grows and their love for themselves and others grows.
Arise Fitness is here when you are ready to take that first step and become part of our community that will change your life! We welcome you with open arms!