As a personal trainer and motivational speaker, Barbara Press is devoting her life to helping others meet their health-and-fitness goals. To look at this dynamic young woman now, you’d never guess that she once weighed 250 pounds.
“I turned my life around, and I tell everyone who asks me that they can, too,” says the Oxnard, California, resident. “But I also tell them that if they’re not willing to give 100 percent, they shouldn’t even bother getting started.”
It was her own willingness to give 100 percent that transformed Barbara from an overweight, out-of-shape 20-year-old into the fit and trim 33-year-old that she is today. Her 115-pound weight loss was spurred by a man whom she barely knew.
“We were on our first—and last—date when, for reasons that I still can’t explain, he started telling me that I was too fat,” she recalls. “At the time, I was hurt and angry. But his insults persuaded me to turn my life around. If I were to run into that guy today, I’d thank him from the bottom of my heart.”
Once Barbara made up her mind to slim down, she went at it with gusto. “I worked harder at that than at anything that I ever had before,” she says.
She read as much as she could on all aspects of weight loss, then began making changes in her diet. She concentrated on controlling her portion sizes and making healthy food choices. Within 1 year, she lost 60 pounds.
Inspired by her progress, Barbara added exercise to her weight-loss program. She walked regularly, working her way up to 5 miles every day. “I got addicted to it,” she says. “My day just wasn’t complete without a good workout.”
After taking off those first 60 pounds, Barbara set a more modest goal: to lose just 10 pounds a year. She consistently surpassed that goal, and by age 26, she had dropped to 135 pounds.
One year later, after losing her job in the insurance industry, Barbara enlisted in the navy at her brother’s urging. She served as a physical fitness coordinator for 6 years. “If I hadn’t lost all of that weight, I never would have been gotten into the military,” she says. “Slimming down definitely changed my life.”
During her stint in the navy, Barbara allowed her weight to bounce back to a more comfortable 155 pounds, where she is still holding steady. These days, she’s a full-time student, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in health education. She works as a personal trainer at a local gym and has her own health-and-fitness business on the side. And she’s often invited to speak about weight loss and health to various groups in her community.
When new clients visit Barbara for the first time, she asks them to spend a day or two thinking about whether they’re ready to commit 100 percent to a fitness program. “I want them to understand that getting healthy isn’t something that they can work at for a couple of days and then forget about for a while,” she says. “Anybody can do a fitness program and feel great. But you have to be ready to give what it takes.”
WINNING ACTION
Contemplate your ability to commit. Take Barbara’s advice: Spend a day or two carefully considering whether you’re really ready to commit to eating better and exercising more. You may realize that now is not the time or that slimming down isn’t a high priority for you or that you’re doing it for the wrong reasons. As the first of the
Ten Commandments of Weight Loss says, you have to believe in yourself and make yourself a top priority in order for weight loss to happen. When you’re really ready, that’s the time to get started. Then nothing will stop you.
*133\89\8*
