It was July 14, 2001 and there I stood alone in the spotlight, arms raised in triumph, tears welling up in my eyes. Who would have imagined that I-just a year and a half earlier a horribly depressed, size 24, defeated and demoralized by my own body--- would so soon stand gleaming, lean, well-muscled, on a bodybuilding stage accepting the trophy as Colorado's champion novice bodybuilder of the year?

By January of the year 2000----the dawn of a new year and a new century---I, struggling to raise a young child and care for a disabled husband, had forgotten about myself entirely. How does one go from obese to a national bodybuilding champion? If you're saying, "I have no idea," you have lots of company.

I routinely have to convince people that my "before" pictures are really me---and that my outer self changed only after I transformed my inner self. Since that first victory on a bodybuilding stage, there have been many more bodybuilding shows, more acclaim, articles in local newspapers and national magazines, even an appearance in a best-selling fitness video and a show on Discovery Health. And now I, along with my husband, own and run a burgeoning business that we have christened Customized Physiques, LLC, teaching others the nuts-and-bolts of changing their bodies and their lives. I have gone on to obtain the titles listed below:

• 2003 Colorado State Women's Body-building Champ
  
  
• 2001 and 2002 5th Place Heavy-weight in NPC national level Team Universe Champion-ships