Balance Your
Life, Balance By Jennifer Tuma-Young
When my mother, sister-in-law, and I opened our Curves franchises in 2001, we had no idea what to expect. My moth- er was a hairdresser turned realtor turned Curves owner who had never before had her own business. I had worked for a pharmaceutical company, and my sister- in-law was an interior designer. Our skill sets were mixed, but we had one thing in common: our love for helping women.
My mother is a nurturer. She listens, empathizes, and drops everything to help anyone. When she was a realtor, she often would try to talk people out of buying homes because of the water in the basement or the noisy neighborhood or the crack in the foundation (and then she’d feel terrible if they went ahead and bought the place anyway). She looked at every client as a member of her own family. Because of this, she had to leave the business. She had also developed tendonitis in her legs that was so bad she could barely walk a few feet without pain overtaking her.
My sister-in-law is a helper, a confidant, an advice-giver, a problem-solver—and as icing on the cake, she has a keen Stacey London-like sense of style. Danielle is my go-to wardrobe consultant.
August/September 2012
At the time Danielle and my brother were engaged. Rich was my antithesis when it came to working out. He owned a fitness center and actually won the title of Mr. World Fitness. He has several certifications in personal training, nutrition, massage therapy, and exercise physiology. He was the first person to turn me on to health, and taught me everything he knew about nutrition and fitness when my health was at risk with borderline diabetes. It was a huge wake-up call for me, and so I forced myself to go to the gym (kicking and screaming) and eat healthier foods. The diagnosis actually made me realize something else
– how little I actually practiced self-love. Sure, I preached it. I was “girl power” all the way in college. I believed we should love ourselves no matter what (and still do believe that!). But when I found out I was having blood sugar issues, I went to a nasty place of negative self-talk. I would never say the things I said to myself to anybody else. The light bulb moment led me to my brother, seeking his guidance to begin nurturing myself in a healthy, balanced way.
I took Rich’s advice on fitness and nutrition, listened to my own inherent wisdom of practicing self-love, swore to my mother that I would never ask her if my butt looked big again, and set out on a quest to live a life in balance. Releasing weight happened almost naturally, no longer as my “goal,” but more of a benefit to making a personal commitment to living well.
It was kind of ironic, and a bit shock- ing. I had always searched for some kind of “magic pill” to take off weight. But I learned there was no magic: eat healthy foods in moderate amounts, and move regularly. There are diets that promise rapid results, but the test is in turning the diet into a way of life. And, really, if rapid results mean feeling deprived, exhausted, or focused solely on a number, what good
Your Scale
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