Basic Plus/SATI/STTM/TappCore Category Winner

Cheryl C.

My journey took me from fit, fabulous and forty, to fat, fuzzy and fifty, to slimmer, sexy and sixty thanks to T-Tapp.

Fifteen years ago I was a happy, fit, healthy woman in her late forties. I wore size 10 pants and 12 tops. I worked out three times a week at a gym doing cardio and strength training. I took a daily multi-vitamin but no prescriptions, ate a wide variety of foods, and had mild problems with spring allergies and thin hair. I was married to my soul mate and had a fulfilling career owning my own business.

Then my world slowly turned upside down. First menopause hit and it seemed no matter what I ate or how much I worked out I gained weight and of course I also had lots of other symptoms like hot flashes, poor sleep quality, etc. My husband had an extremely severe heart attack that left him disabled and needing a transplant, which he got 9 months later. Meanwhile I was flying to Arizona once a month as my Dad, a widower, went through chemo for cancer. Three months after my husband’s transplant my Dad died. He was my last remaining adult relative and we were close. A year later my father-in-law also died of cancer. My health declined and I now had high blood pressure, depression and my allergies were so severe I developed asthma. I was taking a handful of meds each day, felt lethargic, and working out had become a dim memory. Next my husband died of complications from the transplant medications. I no longer had any adult relatives.

There I was a fat, unhappy widow with a business that badly needed my attention. So I focused on the business and gradually as it improved my health declined more. I began having goiters and lost even more hair. I had to wear wigs to go out. My doctor sent me to an endocrinologist. He checked for cancer and told me my thyroid tests were at the low end of normal. No treatment needed. Two years later, a new endocrinologist, and the same story again. Two years later I had another goiter and severe brain fog. I found my own endocrinologist who finally began treating me for Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. Unfortunately he would only prescribe enough medication to stop the goiters but was not interested in treating my other symptoms. This is common. Thyroid problems are under-treated and under-recognized a lot. By this time I was a size 22, had been hospitalized with asthma several times, and had brain fog so severe it was affecting my work performance. I took early retirement and then I remarried.

Through an article in the Houston newspaper I heard about T-Tapp. I ordered the More VHS. I tried it and thought it was well done but I was so out of shape I got discouraged since I was not able to do it all the way through. I had such brain fog I didn’t even think to break it up into pieces. The tapes sat on the shelf. I was very depressed and slept ten or more hours each day. I began to walk and do water aerobics since I knew I wouldn’t injure myself doing those and tried to watch my diet. I didn’t lose any weight but I was a bit more limber. Luckily I saw a chiropractor who told me about a local doctor who specialized in thyroid, hormones and allergies. I made an appointment that day. He began to adjust my thyroid medicine, balanced my hormones, monitored my diet and gave me allergy shots. He also discovered I was gluten intolerant so we modified my diet. After a few months my energy normalized, my brain fog lifted, my mood elevated and I dusted off MORE. The first week the VHS player broke but this time I was not going to give up. I called the office and ordered the DVD and got a new DVD player. I worked out with MORE a few times each week, at first in bite size pieces. I was not very consistent; too often I let life interfere. My couch potato inner voice is great at finding excuses not to work out! My moods lightened and my sleep cycle normalized at eight hours so I was able to discontinued the antidepressants. I discovered the forums and decided I need a commitment to get me going. In December I signed up to do Tappy Holidays with Kirsten and ordered Basic Workout Plus. I saw results. By the first of this year I had lost about 55 pounds and I was able to discontinue the blood pressure meds and asthma meds. I continued to do MORE and Basic Workout Plus several times a week and slowly I was losing inches and pounds. I knew it was time for me to get serious about consistency though. I was excited when they announced the dates for this year’s 60-Day Challenge. I never doubted I would enter. My pictures were really hard to look at. No one likes to accept that they are in really bad shape. I still don’t like the final ones but I can see the improvement. I did Basic Workout Plus or Basic+ Tempo daily, I brushed each day, took Alfalfa, and I walked outdoors occasionally using T-Tapp form. Some days it was still hard to psyche myself into doing my workout. I discovered that if I ask myself “Why aren’t you worth 15 minutes?” I can never come up with an answer that will let me out of doing my workout. So ask yourself this question, pause for the answer and when no good answer comes - just push play!

I am so delighted with my results. Consistency really pays off. I lost 26.75 inches and 8 more pounds in the last two months. I am free of all medication except thyroid. I feel great, I am a size 12 now and no matter the official results of the challenge I AM A WINNER and a T-Tapper for life!