JEANNE ZIMET - Photos of her progress from (left to right) June 2004, April 2004, Oct 2005, Feb 2006, Sept 2006, and Oct 2006

Hi, my name is Jeanne Zimet and I'm probably the poster child for the Slow Losers Club. I'm what you would call a “curvy girl,” spending most of my life wishing for narrow hips, thin thighs and wide shoulders, not to mention a few extra inches in height! At 5-foot-2 all those curves makes one look a lot rounder than you would think!

No one in my family is thin. I've struggled with my weight most of my life and while it was always easy to gain a few pounds, losing them seemed to take forever. After two pregnancies, including a c-section, it became harder and harder to lose the weight. In my early 30's I got hooked on exercise. I started with aerobics and quickly moved on to step aerobics, never thinking about the abuse my knees were taking. Soon after I discovered free weights and I was sure I found my answer. I knew I would never have skinny legs, but now at least, they would be strong! I spent 45 minutes in the morning doing step aerobics or using a step machine I bought for my home and one and a half hours at the gym in the evening working with weights six days a week.

This worked for a while, I did manage to lose weight and I was happy with how I looked. In time however, I realized I needed to use heavier and heavier weights. Since we were always told that women don't bulk, I wasn't too worried about the heavy weight. I would happily leg press 400 lbs for reps. Unfortunately, I soon realized that some women can and do build larger, bulky muscles and I was one of them! As I approached my 40's I realized I couldn't maintain this rigorous schedule any longer. After chronic knee and lower back problems I wound up with a shoulder injury that severely limited my time at the gym.

Around this time I read an article in Women's Fitness magazine by Teresa Tapp and decided to try the beginner rehab workout. I loved the exercises and I included them in my repertoire of workout videos. I had everything from Kathy Smith, Reebok Step, Tae Bo, Pilates, and Yoga to the Firm and I would T-Tapp along with all of them. After all, if some is good, more was better, or at least that was my way of thinking. And with it all, I was still struggling with my size. How much more time could I spend on exercising?

Over the next few years many of the videos would go by the wayside, but I would always stick with T-Tapp while trying the next workout craze. Fast forward to 2004, my husband and I moved to Tampa Bay, Florida, quite a change for a lifelong New Yorker. Between the stress of moving, leaving my family in NY and starting a new job, I seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. So I joined the local gym and started working out with weights again and using the treadmill.

I stopped into the T-Tapp office to pick up one of Teresa's latest workouts and discovered that Teresa led a morning class at 6 am not far from my home. This was too good to pass up. So here I am working out with the woman who had been in my living room telling me “Yes you can” for the past few years. I was still going to the gym at night, working with weights and the treadmill. More has to be better, I thought, or does it?

In June of 2004 I decided to participate in one of the T-Tapp contests. I knew I had to give up the weight training and concentrate on just T-Tapp for the contest. I was worried that I would lose some muscle density but to my surprise I was able to lose almost 17 inches and still maintain muscle without using weights. I felt better than I had ever felt before, I was gaining flexibility, my knees stopped hurting, my back wasn't constantly sore and I didn't have to spend two hours a day to get in shape! I knew T-Tapp was the answer for me.

There were many times I would read on the T-Tapp forums about women who would lose two dress sizes in a month. While I had lost a substantial amount of inches, it only translated in about one size for me. Since I'm a combo body type, I lose from all over so the size changes are slower to come by. But I was determined.

By October of 2005 I became a certified T-Tapp trainer and continued perfecting my form and bringing my own T-Tapping to the next level. I stayed away from processed foods, and starchy foods and I continued to lose inches. As of October 2006 I have lost a total of 44 inches, 10 inches from each leg! I currently T-Tapp four times a week for 45 minutes to an hour. I've finally realized that “Less is more” with T-Tapp!

At the annual fitness event that Teresa hosted in Tampa this past October, people that I hadn't seen for a year walked right past me and didn't even recognize me. One friend even told herself that I must be “Jeanne's daughter.”

It has been more than two years since I started my T-Tapp journey, and I'm down two sizes, bordering on my goal size, but I know that it will come. I have longer, leaner muscles and I'm seeing definition in my arms that I haven't had in a decade. My skin is clearer; I look and feel younger at age 46 than I did a few years a go. My shoulder is completely rehabbed and I don't suffer from any back or neck pain anymore. My husband tells me my legs are the thinnest they've ever been in the nine years we've been together and I even wore shorts in public for the first time in years!

I know how difficult it is to stay motivated if you're a slow loser, but with perseverance and consistency, you will win if you don't give up! If I did it, so can you!