From Fat to Fit: Read One Woman’s Amazing Weight Loss Story

An Interview with Success Story, Caitlin Johnson

If you don’t know who Caitlin is, you will soon. She appears in
the June, 2005 Issue of Ironman Magazine. But Caitlin isn’t your
everyday super fitness competitor/model. Let’s face it, many
women look at women in these magazines and wish they were
blessed with their genetics. They think they don’t have your
problems, or your metabolism and they don’t have to work nearly
as hard to look as good as they do. They’re just lucky.

Well, no more excuses. Cat worked extremely hard to get where
she is. And I had the pleasure of interviewing this amazing
young woman. After you read this inspiring interview, you can go
to my site and see some wonderful before and after pictures.

1. Cat, you’ve managed to lose 70 pounds of fat. This is
phenomenal and I congratulate you once again. You should be very
proud of what you have accomplished. Many people are unhappy
with their weight, their job, etc. What was it that finally
motivated you to get in the gym and start eating properly?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but if you are like most people, you
must’ve been unhappy with how you looked for some time before
making the committment to do something about it..

If this is accurate, what do you think kept you from taking
action all that time?

A. 1) When your stuck in a lifestyle that is unhealthy but
familiar it has to been something exstreme to motivate you to
change your life. For me it was the scale and me making 182lbs,
which was 20 pounds away from 200 pounds. In my mind 200 lbs was
too heavy and I decided I could never make that weight and be
able to live with myself.

Second I had just taken a kickboxing class from a teacher that
had the ultimate physique and I could relate to her because she
was short and a female.

Every day I trained with Denise Hart I worked hard because I was
striving to look like her. What kept me from really putting my
whole heart into training before is I didn’t relate to the other
trainers because they were men and I couldn’t relate to them.
Even now as a competitive athlete my trainers relate to me
because they’ve all been athletes.

2. How did you get started with your new liftestyle? In other
words, what changes did you make, or planning did you do, to
give yourself the best chance at success?

A. 2) To get started Denise gave me a plan and I tried to follow
it the best I could. Small meals, no sugar or fat, lot’s of
cardio and two full body circuits.

3. What problems did you have to overcome in order to stay on
track with your new fitness program? You obviously must have
been living a dramatically different lifestyle than you had
lived previously. Some of the popular excuses I’ve heard from
people I’ve trained include “not enough time”(both for
exercising and eating right), “eating healthy is too expensive”,
“don’t see results fast enough”, “weights will make me big and
bulky”, “have trouble sticking with an exercise routine”. What
were the obstacles you had to overcome?

A 3) For me if I have a plan to follow I’m fine. It’s when I’m
not restricted I lose control. In the beginning I had to realize
if I drank 3 beers a night I wasn’t going to lose weight. I also
have quite a sweet tooth so I had to cut my sugaryStarbucks
drinks out.

4) How did you overcome those problems? What specific techniques
did you use to make your dreams a reality?

A 4) Denise would be hard on me and tell me not to waste her
time. She was right and the harder she was on me the better I
was. She use to say “Do you want it”? In my mind that made me
strive far and never give up.

5) Moving forward and knowing what you know now, what would you
have done differently?

A 5) I would’ve signed on with Kim Oddo in the beginning . It
took me four years because I didn’t eat much protein and then
for a few years did the no carb diet which was a total waste of
time.

6. What would you have done the same way, and will continue to
do, going forward?

A 6) CARDIO BABY! It burns calories, raises endorphins, relieves
stress, etc.

7. Do you feel that ongoing feedback and motivational tools
would help in maintaining a fitness program? For example,
appearing in the June, 2005 issue of Ironman must be very
motivational. This won’t be a motivational tool most people can
use. Before achieving that type of success, what types of
motivational tools did you lose to keep going? After all, you
don’t lose 70 pounds of fat overnight and it must’ve taken some
time before you could see the positive changes in the mirror.

A 7) What some people don’t realize is a support team can be the
most important thing in training to reach a hard goal. I truly
believe in having a great trainer like Joanne Rubienstein, Kim
Oddo, Stephen Bauer or Denise Hart.

I personally love to train so I don’t need motivation to get to
the gym but when the results slow down I need someone to tell me
that I can do it. What kept me going was the belief that I could
do it and prove the world wrong.

Sometimes it feels like my job is to prove people wrong. They
talk their talk but in the end I will accomplish what I’m
striving for and they’ll look dumb for saying that I’ll never
achieve my goal. Sorry if that was a little pissy, but I get
tired of people doubting me. If I can drop 40% body fat I think
I can make it to Olympia!

8. If you were to advise a close friend or family member hot to
follow in your fitness footsteps, what would you tell them?

A 8) Run far away and find an enjoyable job! I truly believe I
did all this because of fate. I don’t even really remember the
time I said I want to be a competitor. The diets and training
are tough and rewarding at the same time. I have accomplished a
lot but I also sacrifice a lot of things in life that are
enjoyable.

All I can say is I’m going after a DREAM and won’t give up until
I accomplish it. It’s not only for me, it’s for the general
population that has lost belief in themselves. My advice is to
go after your dreams, believe in yourself and get the right
people to help you. That’s the key to being successful!

-CAT

See Cat’s before and after phots at

http://www.buildleanmuscle.com/caitlin-johnson.html

1. Prev:Low Carb Diet – The Way To Weight Loss?
2. Next:7 Ways to Reduce the High Calorie Cost of Restaurant Eating