Grand Prize Winner
Ladybug Category

Angela C.

On November 17, 2007 I was 149 pounds wearing size 12/14 pants. I felt I was in a downward spiral, feeling 15 years older than my 46 years. I wanted to regain my health and feel good again and lose weight. I hadn't excercised for 9 years except for my 2004 2-month introduction to T-Tapp, in which I had purchased the Total System DVD. In 2004 I happily lost 1-2 sizes in 2 months but soon was pregnant with our 6th child, and typically I was fatigued and had extreme "afternoon sickness" lasting 5 months. So when I started again in 2007, I had 6 children ages 18 months to 17 years (4 under 8 years old from my 9 year marriage) and was a homeschooling 4 children. I remembered my success from 2004, and became determined again after reading the many success stories on the T-Tapp web site.

Health-wise, I was dealing with peri-menopause, Fibromyalgia that brings fatigue, feeling just as tired as when I went to sleep, and stiffness upon waking or after staying in one position for too long along with anxiety and depression and stomach disorders, all it seems, after 4 car accidents. I also had Scoliosis ('S' spinal curve since birth), sciatica nerve pain from hip to knee, chronic low back pain along with weak abdominals from a vertical and also a horizontal surgery from 2 ectopic pregnancies.

While standing or extended walking I experienced heel pain (Plantar Fasciitis) - irritation and inflammation of the tight tissue that forms the arch of the foot.  I was diagnosed at age 19 with low thyroid and hormonal (endocrine system) imbalances since age 11, later resulting in 9 miscarriages. Further in my story I expound on how T-Tapp managed or healed all my conditions!

For weight management I went to extremes, from severe dieting, when I was in college, which turned into anorexia (from emotional pain) and later becoming bulimic. For exercise nothing lasted more than 1-4 months; ranging from weight lifting, long-distance running, swimming, and many video workouts including yoga, aerobics and Callenetics. Thankfully I bicycled for about 1 month, during which I met my husband, Scott, on week-long ride across Iowa (R.A.G.B.R.A.I). Most workouts I found to be boring or tedious, hurt my joints, didn't feel good due to Fibromyalgia, or didn't give me quick or desired results. But with T-Tapp I discovered a life-long approach to fitness with proper body alignment and muscle activation that I am consciously using throughout my day. I got quick and lasting results.
 
So, when I started  T-Tapp again, November 18, 2007, I went from size 12/14 pants, to four months later, being in a size 8 pants, losing 9 pounds and 15 inches. Beginning the 60-Day Challenge in the Ladybug division on April 11, 2008, I had a  belief-system that weight-loss was 'all-important'.  I soon discovered that inch loss and a strong 'core' and improved health is what truly matters since during the 'challenge' I lost 13 more inches, and the scale registered only a 5 pound loss. I went from a  size 8 pants to a  women's size 4 (a girl's 14) which is what I wore as a senior in high school. So, in 7 months I lost a total of 6 clothing sizes, and only 14 pounds for a total loss of 28 inches.

Special help during the 60-Day Challenge included travelling 11 hours from home to Indianapolis to a ‘master clinic’ to learn from Teresa Tapp herself on 4-26-08. I remember that I had just purchased a tight 5/6 pants that I couldn't wear, but packed anyway, and the next morning at the hotel, I tried it on and they were loose! I lost 7.5 inches during the first 15 days of the contest which included the clinic with Teresa. Teresa kept correcting my form, as I was leaning backwards during most of the moves which wasn't really working my abdominals 'to the max' for the first 4 months. I am thankful for hands-on 'form-tweaks' through  a clinic, seminar and personal training sessions! That night, in the wee morning hours, driving 11 hours home, I was Flying on a Dream....seeing and hearing my dreams again, and knowing that 'all things were possible'. I envisioned myself in my new tie-dyed purple T-Tapp shirt and wearing a tiara, and having 'Princess' added to the bottom of the shirt. I saw myself as a winner (and even beautiful)! So I remembered my dreams and purpose, and knew I had a ‘voice’ and that I needed to share with other women, which was my dream, at age 19. I see this as MORE than a 2-dimentional neuro-kinetic connection with the mind-body. I knew that there was a 3-dimentional connection between the Mind-Body-Spirit.....because I was reconnecting with my 'dreams' after 27 years! I had just had an 8 1/2 hour clinic with Teresa.....and new 'connections' had been made. My journey with T-Tapp was a large part of 'finding me' again.

Heather Petrie (Senior T-Tapp Trainer in Iowa) gave me 2 personal training sessions during 'the Challenge' really showed me what 'tuck butt' and 'knee-litle-toe' (KLT) really felt like. Since she is also a National Massage Therapist, worked on my abdominal and hip muscles that needed a lot of attention due to pregnancies, and a vertical and horizontal scar from ectopic pregnancy surgeries. Doing Ladybug Floor and Organs in Place I believe are ‘all important’ to getting a flat stomach. It is possible, after 45, and birthing 6 children, with T-Tapp to get the figure I dreamed about getting again! Body brushing became a habit, and my skin actually 'craved' the attention! I took Alfalfa supplements and B-12 spray. Used Pyruvyl Glycine spray during workouts which really made me sweat, and I felt was 'burning fat' quicker. Can I mention the great results I have with WhiteBrite? I had been suffering from a gum infection. Thankfully, I got the WhiteBrite in the mail, after reading one of Teresa’s monthly newsletters mentioning ‘gum health’. Within 4 days the infection was gone. Within a few weeks all gum bleeding I had been experiencing for years with my bridgework was healed. I have never experience another ‘bout of infection or bleeding gums again, and it is the only thing I brush my teeth with now.

It was a struggle to do my workouts, with all the above physical and mental issues. I had just had my 9th miscarriage, and I wanted a new start and healthy outlook on life. I believe Scott was the ONLY reason I continued to T-Tapp beginning November 18, 2007, and even into the present. He continued encouraging me to get out of bed almost every other morning, even though he was running a full-time "at home business" and phone calls along with whining (kids & me), 3 kids in diapers; made getting in our first 15 minutes extremely challenging. Then, he'd 'take over' mostly and I could do the rest of the Ladybug workout. He endured through it all, listening to my dream, and making doing T-Tapp possible for me. He is my true friend and T-Tapp partner.

On May 1st (3 days after realizing my dreams again - after a 8 1/2 hour workout with Teresa) I woke up at 2 am, remembering what had happened over 9 years ago. My future husband, Scott and I were traveling down the road in 2 separate cars. We both had a flash of insight that "Angela is going to have a car accident and be in a coma".....
Well, on July 4, 1999... I had a car accident.

May 1, 2008 I did an internet search...for "COMA" and I found description of a "coma" in a telescope... and "lense distortion" and "the light wasn't coming through". What this meant to me was that my 'vision had been distorted'....and that I had lost ‘who I was’ basically. For 9.9 years of my life I was coming "in and out of myself". I felt foggy and disconnected a lot of the time.  My husband knew that the woman he had married was still somewhere inside of me. I believe I have T-Tapp to claim for a jump-start to my 'final recovery' since I understood years before that anytime there is an 'imbalance' between the Mind-Body-Spirit man, then everything is affected and unbalanced. I believe that my extreme 8 1/2 hour left-right brain ‘Neuro-Kinetic’ workout in Indianapolis that ‘something connected’ again , after the car accidents' extreme stress and trauma.
 
With T-Tapp I have no heel and knee pain anymore. Chronic Sciatica pain, which I suffered for 8 years is gone. No longer do I have constant pain shooting down my leg from my right hip, but instead have gained a firm, youthful behind. I had lost a lot of muscle mass through the years, and it had become uncomfortable to sit for very long.  I like to do T-Tapp Basic+ each day at least, since I achieve a feeling of homeostatis, decreasing stress and increasing my over-all energy level. I do at least a 12-min. 'basic 3' (PBS, TTT, HD) or 'fantastic 4' (PBS, TTT, TTN, HD) a day to alleviate the musculature imbalances from Scoliosis, and the muscle spasms due to Fibromyalgia.  I no longer have chronic low back pain while standing, or hurt my back when lifting children, which was a constant concern. Instead, I have strong core muscles which of course includes back and abdominals. I used to frequently sprain my right ankle, ever since age 15, and later broke it when I was 23; even walking on gravel could result in twisting it.  Now, I enjoy strong ankles, which is many times proven since I swing-dance with my husband, which includes a lot of unexpected foot movements, twists and turns in high heels (I wore only flats from 1986-2008).

I have recently been diagnosed with Chronic Reverse Polarity (CRP), and receive treatment from Keith Smith, Master Herbalist and Founder of Chronic Reversed Polarity. I have found CRP to be the underlying cause of my physical and emotional illnesses. It is a disease of the physical electrical system, that can change the way the body is capable of dealing with immunity, mentality and general overall condition. With rest, proper diet and nutrition, polarity work along with the proper herbs, I have been completely healed of depression, which has plagued me since puberty. I look expectantly to receiving complete healing from Fibromyalgia also. Thankfully, I have T-Tapp to alleviate many of my Fibromyalgia symptoms in the meantime.

Over my lifetime I have developed a compassion for women, and want to help women love themselves, no matter what age, size or circumstance of 'life' that ‘happened’ in their journey to discovering self.

Angela's ta-da photo at the 2008 T-Tapp Fitness Retreat

Scott and Angela Crawford at the 2009 T-Tapp Fitness Retreat