i'm not perfect (but parts of me are pretty good)

Evolving Toward Wellness
An Occasional Series About SeekWellness Visitors

Sometimes it seems that self-managing lifestyles are too demanding, that only heroes and heroines can pull it off. Not so. While getting started is usually a difficult period of adjustment and sacrifice, once underway, a wellness lifestyle becomes self-renewing because of the daily satisfactions and positive results that occur from carrying out a commitment to excellence. Don't take my word for it. Read the stories of people much like yourself who are doing -- and loving it.

Have you experienced any major changes in lifestyle? If so, please tell us about it and let us know how you got started, what inspired you, helped you make the change, how you feel about it now, what difference the changes have made in your relationships, fortune, health or whatever. Attach a photo -- we might want to make you a star or at least give you some of those 15 minutes of fame that we're all promised. Send me your story now.

Thanks. Enjoy Sherri's story, below.

My Story

by Sherri W. Singleton

Well, it all started when I was about 5...

Actually, that's not true. I was quite thin and fit until my freshman year in college when I somehow managed to add another 10, 15, and eventually 20 lbs. by the time college was over. I am just 5'4" with a very small frame, so even at 128, although I wasn't exactly obese, I was carrying much more weight than than I was used to. It only got worse.

When I graduated from college in 1988 and had a hard time getting the Public Relations job of my dreams, I became frustrated and somehow ended up as Assistant to the Sales Director for a Doubletree hotel in Atlanta. It was a beautiful place to work, but being someone's administrative assistant depressed me a great deal since my personality is not well-suited to sitting behind a desk and typing and answering phones all day while others are out 'wheeling & dealing'. So, I ate Doubletree Chocolate Chip Cookies every day and became more depressed, and became fatter, and ate more cookies, and became more depressed, etc.

As if the cookies weren't bad enough (typical day was two to three cookies - each cookie has 45 fat grams and over 300 calories!!), I started drinking a great deal of wine, ordering Chinese food late at night and I even took to smoking clove cigarettes.

At 24 years old, alone in Atlanta, GA with dates few and far between, I had a lot of time to eat, drink and smoke myself silly. I was truly out of control. My depression got even worse when I realized I had ballooned up to 148 pounds by April 1990!!

I finally decided to take charge of my life, move back home to Pensacola Beach, FL for a while to save money and to decide what I wanted to do with my life. As fate had it, I was immediately offered an entry-level management job with a hotel company and began working very long hours. I enjoyed the management-side of the hospitality industry and since living on the beach was a great setting to begin some sort of exercise program to keep up with the hectic pace, I started walking 3-4 miles per day, 5 days a week along the beachwalk. I also cut out all fried foods and meat from my diet (except seafood) and loaded up on fruits & vegetables. I also limited my alcohol intake to 1-2 glasses of wine per night and stopped smoking.

The change in my mental and physical state was evident to everyone within a few weeks! I had more energy and was able to wear clothes I hadn't worn in years.

I diligently worked my way up the corporate ladder and in 1995, after a 25 lb. weight loss through moderate exercise and healthy eating, I was convinced to try strength training with weights to lose those last few pounds and increase my strength. I absolutely fell in love with weight lifting and started a 3-day per week program. I also switched from walking to running and began entering local road races which, since I'm extremely competitive, forced me to set running goals for myself and work very hard to achieve those goals.

I lost another 15 lbs in just a few months and felt great! On my 30th birthday, I felt and looked better than I ever had before. Shortly after that, I began to help friends see how easy living a healthy lifestyle could be, and finally decided to work towards building a new career of helping others to get IN CONTROL of their bodies.

I became a Certified Personal Trainer through American Council on Exercise in 1999 and started my company, IN CONTROL Lifestyle Management, Inc. full-time in September 2000. I now work out of two beautiful personal training studios - Trainer One in St. Petersburg and Synergy in South Tampa. My services include one-on-one personal training, nutritional counseling, wellness workshop facilitation, and on-line training programs. I write for several association newsletters and speak to corporations and organizations regularly.

I love what I do and want to spread the word as much as possible about how fabulous a healthy lifestyle will make people feel!

Thanks for the opportunity to share my story Don -- Take care!

Sherri W. Singleton, CPT
IN CONTROL Lifestyle Management, Inc.
(813) 244-3145
www.incontrolforlife.com

August 2001