father’s suicide while I was in the hospital having emergency surgery to
deliver my daughter.
It’s really difficult to express the extent of the challenges that I was facing
mentally and physically. But when I felt like the walls were caving in, my
thoughts turned to Gilad and his inspiring, motivational fitness routines. I
immediately began to do what I could to exercise. I felt like I could win my
life back through fitness. There were many days I could not do it all, but I
pushed myself and struggled until I worked the mental and physical pain
out of my body. I was determined to win and knew that exercise could get
me through. I would often awake in the middle of the night and put on a
Gilad workout video and just do it until my fears went away. Working out
with his encouragement gave me hope.
It took a lot of hard work, but I pushed hard until, finally, I lost 92 pounds,
gained control of the autoimmune disorder, maintained my mobility and
regained my quality of life. If it wasn’t for that guy on the beach in the tight
spandex pants with the bird, I truly believe I wouldn’t have known about
fitness. Gilad instilled in me the empowering feeling of believing in myself,
inspiring me to succeed, overcome adversity and be a success story.
Oh yeah, there’s more… I finally wrote Gilad and told him about his
inspiration and the positive way it had affected my life. All I wanted was to
thank him; I never really expected that he would read my letter. Guess
what? He not only read my letter, but I ended up in Hawaii on an allexpense paid trip to work out on the beach with Gilad and his friends. (The
bird wasn’t there. You’ll have to ask him what happened to that bird.) It was
a dream come true for me. All I wanted was for him to read my thank-you
letter. I got more than I ever imagined. As if that wasn’t enough, I was
called back to do another promotion in Hawaii. It happened again, and I
enjoyed every moment of it!
My life has taken a turn for the best. Tragedy turned to triumph and I’m no
longer sulking in self pity. I have a new career path and fitness goals. I truly
believe that miracles can happen and fitness is so healthy, mentally and
physically.
When Gilad was inducted into the Fitness Hall of Fame, I was there for the
ceremony. I also was honored to meet many other fitness celebrities such
as Linda Shelton,Tony Little, Keli Roberts, and John Abdo. Meeting all of
these fitness experts was so uplifting; I have never felt so inspired!