Heather Ann Petrie

Ten years ago Heather worked as an administrative assistant for a major Des Moines, Iowa Hospital. She was near 300 hundred pounds having tried every exercise and diet on the market she was still unhealthy and not to mention miserable at her job. Having almost miscarried a pregnancy because of her weight she had a major wake up call. Her weight wasn't only dangerous to her, but to her unborn child. Literally one day she deiced to stop fooling herself with excuses. She made the choice to stop abusing her mind and body with food. With that choice she vowed to never view life as an over weight person again. She embraced fitness and real healthy eating as a life time change. Not for a few weeks, but FOREVER. She walked into her kitchen and threw away EVERY unhealthy (that included diet and non diet foods!) food in her fridge, pantry and cupboards.

As soon as she got the go ahead from her OBGYN she started walking 2 miles a day. Soon walking turned to running, biking, kick boxing, weight lifting. She took off near 120 pounds and finally felt free of the weight and emotional addiction to unhealthy food. Unfortunately, just when she thought she was the healthiest she had ever been, she had her first onset of Multiple Sclerosis. Sadly once she had that first exasperation most of the symptoms never went away. The symptoms were sever, but she never gave up on exercise or healthy eating. Her symptoms were: blurry vision, memory loss, muscle cramps, muscle tears, twitching facial muscles, slurring/stuttering speech, drop foot, slow motor skills and even the ability to form thoughts into words and speak was touch and go! Her digestive system was slowing down and the weight loss was creeping back on. She needed the exercise to at least have the endorphin release, but she had worked up to 3 1/2 hours of exercise a day to keep her weight off! The weight was going back up and she just couldn't spot reduce areas that showed signs of tale tell obesity. At the time she didn't realize she was caught in a terrible cycle; traditional exercise was all she had known to keep weight down and her mood elevated. And yes fitness buffs she was switching up her program, adding in whey protein shakes, changing calorie in take, working with a trainer etc. All the while extreme exercise was failing her, causing inflammation which was keeping the MS from going into remission (relief of symptoms). Yet she refused to accept defeat.

Soon after moving to the East Coast she read about Teresa Tapp's exercise program and out of desperation, gave it a try. She did only Teresa's one hour a day program and in the first 4 weeks she lost 18 inches and actually began to spot reduce areas of concern! Even better and much to her surprise a majority of her MS symptoms began to subside! The change in her body inside and out from doing an anti-inflamatory exercise with fast inch loss kept her intrigued enough to become a T-Tapp Fitness trainer. She maintained her determination to reach farther into health and wellness. She included important supplementation that her body was lacking and has brought progressive MS into remission with out relapse in over 8 years! Today Heather is Nationally Certified Personal Trainer and a Senior and Master level T-Tapp trainer with almost 6 years experience. She blossomed her career into a Lifestyle and Food Psychology Coach, Licensed Massage Therapist and Nutrition Manager. Heather owns her full time Inspirational Body Works Studio in Clive, Iowa. It has become Heather's mission to educate other people on the awareness of healthy living. She has been Public Speaker for almost six years, has been featured in the Des Moines Register Community Pages, Women's World Magazine, People Magazine and Good Morning America. She has been a stand in Co-Host on Mac's World Live, 'Skywalk Talk with Liz and Mac'.