Angie's World

Before joining Angie’s World my life was nearly paralyzed by my listless, fatigued and overweight body.  In my late 30’s I became a mother of two boys, a full time student and a caregiver for my elderly mother.  By the time I reached 40 I was consumed with stress and I found myself eating unbalanced meals on a regular basis.  In an effort to regain my life, I tried every diet on the market; only to face hunger and fuel my addiction to food.   However, the worst crimes that I committed against my health were avoiding time for myself and facing my health issues with a defeatist attitude.  I became married to baked goods, bleached flour and sugar rather than life.  My ability to care for everyone but myself was apparent in my mind, body and soul.

My husband is from Turkey and he grew up eating unprocessed food and a Mediterranean diet.  In our house in Turkey we do not own a microwave or a can opener.  We are adamantly against the eating habits of Americans and I cook complete meals daily.  If we had it our way we would have a cow in the backyard to make our own yogurt! My husband never understood how I was gaining weight because we ate as a family together daily and we ate incredibly healthy meals.  My husband and I adamantly believe that as a wife and mother, I am the center of our household and the health of our family greatly depends on me.  What my husband didn’t see was my addiction to overeating baked goods and my late night binges.  I avoided traveling to Turkey because I would be the typical overweight American, which is what everyone expects of an American overseas. 

At the beginning of 2009 and at the age of 40, I turned to Angie’s World to help me regain a sustainable life of balanced eating and exercise. I was reluctant because I feared an introduction to intimidating body builders with little sensitivity to my current unhealthy situation.  Or worse, an emaciated consultant whom would tell me that my answer to success was eating 1200 calories a day of prepared meals and rice cakes at a shocking $150 dollars a week.  Side note: I don’t really like people; I have a low tolerance for narcissistic people who produce more damage in this world rather than helping fulfill the common good of society.   After a series of tests, I was faced with scientific proof that years of late night eating, skipping meals, stress and a lack of exercise was affecting more than just my physical appearance.  My health was in danger and as a mother and role model, my family’s health was in danger.

I was pleasantly surprised to find kind, caring and highly intelligent people at Angie’s World whom genuinely cared about my success and were pained by my situation.  Angie and my trainer Wilma were confident that success was mine if I just followed the clean eating program designed for me (which was 1500-1800 calories, not 1200) and I began exercising and weight training. 

Angie’s World constructed a new way of life for me to follow, which included a balanced eating plan, a vitamin regimen, exercise, relaxation and necessary sleep (imagine, sleep is important to a healthy lifestyle).  I never called the program with Angie’s World a diet because the word diet conjured up fear, deprivation and failure.  It turned out that the commercial diets I tried were not providing enough calories or the proper fuel necessary to have more energy or to manage a sustainable weight loss.  Angie’s World helped me focus on my fat and muscle percentages rather than the number on the scale.  Angie’s World introduced me to clean eating and the eating plan was easy to follow and offered enough nutrition to avoid hunger.

Weight training was a new experience for me.  Especially free weights.  I was intimidated by the weight training area in the gym.  Wilma set up a weight training program that made me face my inhibition towards the free weight section and concur my fears.   I learned very quickly to never act too comfortable because Wilma was ready to push my boundaries.  Wilma enjoyed mixing up my routine and introducing new things to my program. I often accused her of training me for the French Circus.  And I am sure that I also accused Wilma of losing her mind on many occasions.  But Wilma understood the level of my strength and she had great confidence in me.  As the training sessions progressed, I gained the same confidence in myself. 

I simply followed the program, met my trainer and stuck to clean eating.  Let’s be honest nobody is perfect and let’s face it; a girl cannot live without chocolate. I will admit that I splurged a couple of times.  I even accidentally ran into a pan of my homemade baklava once or twice.  But as my body got stronger and leaner I started bouncing back from occasional splurges faster.  I realized that I could maintain my weight and fitness level if I just jumped back onto the program.  I have reached a sustainable lifestyle.  I have lost 30 pounds and lowered my body fat by 9%. I am still on the program and I will continue until I have reached my desired weight and body composition.  The most surprising reward from my experience with Angie’s World is that I beat my addiction to food.  And the most fulfilling reward is the healthy eating habits adopted by my family.  Now at the dinner table we discuss how strong we are from eating healthy food and my boys don’t only ask to see daddy’s muscles; mommy’s muscles usually receive a Wow!