Hello my name is LaShanda Fuller.  I am an Elite Certified Fitness Trainer, Nutrition Specialist and Lifespan Coach with The International Sports Sciences Association. My love of fitness began back when I was in the Armed Forces as a Medical Specialist dealing with patient care. Many of the patients were larger than me and having to turn them routinely became very physical and even though I was technically "in shape" the reality was - I was not really fit! As this began to take a toll on my body it became apparent, I needed to get strong so, my love of Bodybuilding began. 

       I never competed because quite frankly I was born a prude.  Yeah, I was the two-year-old girl over in the corner in the pretty pink dress, upset because my ruffled panties were showing!  More power to those ladies who can do it but I just could not get in front of people half naked - I've never even worn a two-piece bathing suit once I convinced my Mom it was a “no-go at this station” by age five! 

       I was always tall for my age! Tall, long lanky legs and arms with no midsection and skinny as a rail. I could eat anything I wanted - and did - never gaining a pound! Every time I went to my Paternal Grandma's house, she tried to stuff me like a Thanksgiving Turkey stating I was way too skinny, and was convinced my Mommy was starving me!  Little did she know, I ate like a bird, meaning eating almost twice my body weight - daily!!!

      Well this changed one year in middle school. During recess I had two girls come up to me, one on each side and ask was I pregnant!!! I promptly responded with an “Are you crazy?!!” and walked away totally insulted.  After the initial shock wore off, I started thinking.  Pregnant? Where’d they get that idea?!  I was a tomboy, so I had no body identity or anything like that whatsoever!  I wore baggy clothes, jeans and big T-shirts - in short - nothing girly so I hadn't really noticed that I started getting thicker in my midsection; luckily I was in the middle of a growth spirt so that summer, I shot up another 3 or 4 inches making me slim again for another few years.

       However, after High School graduation the unthinkable happened! I gained about TWENTY-FIVE POUNDS!!!  Looking back, I realize my poor food choices and the habit of eating all-the-time coupled with a sudden sedentary lifestyle after High School, caught up with me quickly. You see in High School my passions were eating, reading and the intense physical stimuli of school activities.  The school’s activities I engaged caused me to move.  

      I got more girly in High School and on a dare from my Mom I joined the pompom squad, so I was constantly in motion!  When graduation was over and I was still figuring out what I wanted to do, the school activities ended, and all I was left with was eating and reading! Not a good recipe for maintaining a healthy weight especially when the food I was eating was not good for me at all!   It tasted good but was 100% bad for me!

     Even at this time I had realized I’d gained weight, but it finally hit me how much when I decided to join the military. I went down to the Army Recruiting Office to join up and promptly failed the physical entrance exam due to my weight!  Talk about a mind blowing experience! What? Apart from that blip in Middle School, I was the skinny girl!  I was the real deal one who could eat anything and never gain a pound - can you say - mind blown! 

      Well, by the Grace of God I had a compassionate person screening me. She did not turn me away but instead put me on the delayed entry program, told me to go home and lose about 10 pounds, then return because the other 15 pounds I'd lose during Basic Training.  I did this and thus began my military career where I did lose the weight, got into body building and maintained the “skinny” for years.

     After giving birth to my first child, I could still fit all my clothes!  It was wonderful! What I did not realize was I went into post-partum depression soon after so as a result,  I blew up like a Macy’s Day Float! Huge is an understatement!  I later had to face that I weighed well over 200 pounds! This “baby” weight did not come off until fourteen years after the birth of my second child! Let me tell you, de-nial is not just a river in Egypt! My “aha” moment came when I filmed the 90th Birthday Party of my Maternal Grandmother. 

       I kid you not!  I was editing the footage from the party when this huge, overweight woman totally blocked the screen!  I was incensed at this obese woman and was about to complain about how she totally messed up the composition of the frame when she turned around and I saw - with total incredulity - that she was me!!!  When the H, E, double hockey sticks, had this happen?!!  I had no idea!  I turned to my husband and railed at him on why he’d not said anything!  I jumped my Mom, my friends - everyone!  Why was this kept a secret from me?!  Of course, they all looked at me as if I’d sprouted three heads! Of all people in the “know”, the one actually carrying the weight should be in, right? Well, wrong!  I was clueless! Insane right?

       Well, after crying for a week! Yes, I really did cry for a week – then I got busy! My Aunt was so sweet, she offered to let me borrow her exercise video to get me started on my weight-loss journey.  No kidding here either, she sent me a workout with this septuagenarian seated on a chair lifting one to two-pound weights – and I-COULD-NOT-DO-IT!!!  Oh, how the mighty bodybuilder had fallen!  I cried for another week!

     Long story short I went into an intense and grueling program that I wouldn’t recommend to anyone!  It worked though! In five months, I lost eighty pounds! The methods I used were unhealthy and very stressful and hard to maintain so after about three months I gained back around 45 pounds.

        I did, however, maintain around a 35 pound weight loss for about three years.  I began working night shift at a well-known retail chain and when I bent over to pick up some stock to shelve, and punched by self in my stomach, with my stomach I was motivated again to loose the excess weight.  I went into another intensive routine and again lost that pugnacious 45 pounds, maintaining this loss for about a year.  I rebounded during the grief of my Maternal Grandmother's going Home to be with the Lord, and gained about 35 pounds but still maintained around 40 pounds of the original weight loss for another three years. 

      I was heading into my 40s and I was determined to get and maintain health!  This became my focus: HEALTH and not weight loss!  This resolve made my approach different and as a result, my outcome was different!  I lost 65 pounds over a nine month period, for a total overall loss of 100 pounds and have maintained this loss for going on seven years!  It is this approach I want to share with you!  It is a total person overhaul: Body, Soul and Spirit.  It is Bible based and Spirit lead, rooted in personal accountability and focused responsibility. 

      In sharing my story, I wanted you to understand I feel and know the pain of this struggle and will help you every step of the way.  You can do it, just as I did with proper knowledge and determined focus!  Help me, help you as you make your way along the road to a healthier you!   Lets get started!