When I was in school and had started participating in sports, I had developed a serious appetite to support my energy levels so when I graduated in 1975 and was gainfully employed fulltime within two month doing a desk job, I continued to eat the way I did when I was in school not to mention the quality of foods I chose were worse and the most physical activity was doing at that time, was to ride my ten-speed bike to get around, otherwise it was public transportation. It took a good year for my metabolism to slow and in time I started gaining weight… By the time I turned 19 I was wearing size 12/14 in women’s pants and my nickname became thunder thighs. On a date night, my boyfriend was cooking me dinner…and I was relaxing in one of his papasan chairs that kind of titled me back and being short, my feet were no where near the floor… I got stuck, couldn’t get out of it when he was calling me to join him. He had to rescue me….that was my defining moment of not only needing to but “wanting” to do something about When I was in school and had started participating in sports, I had developed a serious appetite to support my energy levels so when I graduated in 1975 and was gainfully employed fulltime within two month doing a desk job, I continued to eat the way I did when I was in school not to mention the quality of foods I chose were worse and the most physical activity was doing at that time, was to ride my ten-speed bike to get around, otherwise it was public transportation. It took a good year for my metabolism to slow and in time I started gaining weight… By the time I turned 19 I was wearing size 12/14 in women’s pants and my nickname became thunder thighs. On a date night, my boyfriend was cooking me dinner…and I was relaxing in one of his papasan chairs that kind of titled me back and being short, my feet were no where near the floor… I got stuck, couldn’t get out of it when he was calling me to join him. He had to rescue me….that was my defining moment of not only needing to but “wanting” to do something about my condition which was pushing 125lbs.  I cleaned house of all canned and processed foods, turning to fresh fruits, vegetables, eggs, dairy, tuna, etc.. This is when I technically started working out in 1978 …… started doing calisthenics on my living room floor, and incorporated jogging at first 6 blocks, one mile became two then three, four, up to five miles, then adding stairs or hills, five times a week. This took me up to a year on my own, losing 15 pounds. When I plateaued, is when I joined my first gym Jan 1979 that’s where the love of weights came. This was also when co-ed gyms hadn’t really taken hold .. yet, so Harold Caulkin’s In-Trim Health Studio in West Seattle was Men/Women on alternate days so I only had 3 days a week. Pretty basic, no bells and whistles. Then in the late 80’s/early 90’s, as I moved into a larger club, I transitioned or “crossed over” as they say, and became an aerobics instructor, got certified, taught classes 2 – 3x a week. I still lifted, and worked part-time as an Aerobics Coordinator/Instructor and started personal training.