"My Revelation: You Can Look Better in Your 40's than You Did in Your 20's"

"In the summer of 2010 I was 39 and at 5’2” I was a TIGHT size 14. Being this size was weird to me as I had been a small person most of my life so I never really thought of myself as being this big. In my late 30’s after many years of infertility and medical treatments, the stresses of adoption and parenting and compounded with the stresses of work and a brief period of unemployment, my solution of filling those emotional holes with food had reached an all-time high. I was at my highest weight ever at nearly 155 pounds.


One night, while reading books to my son, I could feel my jelly belly, and I set a goal. For my 40th birthday I would give myself a better body than I had in my 20’s I had 6 months to do it. The question was … how would I get there? If there is a diet program or book I had tried it. I loved walking and casual bike riding and the occasional yoga class but honestly I was not a real workout fiend. I tried a local morning boot camp program a few times but in my then state, each time I walked away feeling intimidated, overwhelmed and just out of place. Within the next few days I saw an ad for RevelationFitness and gave them a call.

Mariah is VERY motivating, after one chat on the phone I was IN. She and Jim came and met me at my house to do my evaluation and orientation and I was pumped. I did not want to have my measurements taken and take those before photos though!Once I saw those photos, I was truly mortified. It was a real wake up moment for me. I also had a LOT of ideas in my head, which I threw out…. “I’m nearly 40, I’m latina, I’m just built this way, I work full time, I travel a lot, I’m a mother of a toddler, I need a female trainer, years of yo –yodieting have ruined my metabolism, I can’t eat this or live without eating that”, goodness what excuse didn’t I have? Mariah and Jim smiled knowingly and kindly asked, “well, let’s talk about what motivates you…”


I signed up for a 12 week revelation and lost 20 pounds,transforming from that TIGHT 14 to a comfortable 8 (or a snug but proud 6). The dress that I wore for my first photo shoot was one that I had worn to a wedding 13 years prior and although I weighed about the same as I did at the time, I actually had to have it taken in by about 1-2 inches because I was physically so much smaller. Once I saw what I was able to accomplish I wanted MORE so I signed up for another 10 weeks and lost another 12 pounds and went down to a size 2/4. In fact,my motivational size 6 jeans became my baggy jeans in Challenge 2. From July to December, I was making almost a weekly trip to Goodwill, going through 5 sizes of jeans and skirts from 14 to 2. I also underestimated the investment in workout clothes where I felt like the incredible shrinking woman going from XL to L to M to S and finally XS. In fact for Christmas, the best moment, and gift I could have received, was scavenging the racks for anything in a size XS, which I hadn’t done in almost 20 years.


Despite my IDEAS about what kind of trainer would be best, based on my temperament, they matched me with Keith who turned out to be the IDEAL trainer for me. I truly could not have achieved this without him. He kept my workouts interesting and tailored to my physical needs. He kept me accountable and focused (or on several occasions had to get me refocused) on the end game despite the days when I wanted to jump in to a bucket of butter and M&M’s or devour an entire bowl of stuffing and sweet potatoes. On the days when I didn’t believe he convinced me to at least “let go” and he maintained a steady sense of humor about my need to over think and control…well… everything. Like water to stone, he kept me going each time pushing me just a bit further and ultimately helped change my body completely.


RevelationFitness works. It is not for the meek however. You will work hard, you will be pushed past your comfort zone, you will make tough choices and sacrifices and in return you WILL be rewarded. You will watch in amazement as the numbers on the scale (or tape) keep going down and down again, you will smile mischievously as you pull smaller sizes from that rack, the tears that in the beginning meant you could not do something become tears of joy as you jump higher, sprint faster, fun faster, lift more or even complete your first or longer race and the compliments from those who watch you transform will become the fuel that keeps you going."

See outtakes from Reveal #303's After Shoot yesterday in the post below.