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" When I went from being a skinny teenager to a curvy, solid-shaped young woman, I became convinced that I was fat and ugly. So I put myself on a diet, kicking off a decades-long obsession with weight. I would fixate on cutting calories, but the second I stopped, I&amp;#039;d eat my way back to my starting weight and then some. Eventually, I developed an even weirder issue: During the day, I willed myself to consume next to nothing, but in the middle of the night I would wake up and eat anything I could find. I was unhealthy and unhappy. I&amp;#039;d always sworn that I wasn&amp;#039;t a fitness person \u2014 truthfully, I was too embarrassed by how out of shape I was to step foot in a gym. But one day, when I was just shy of 30 and desperate to lead a more healthful life, I threw on some sweats and ran for half an hour. I tried to keep it up a few times a week, though it was tough. I couldn&amp;#039;t even do a mile, and when I tried to push myself to go faster, I&amp;#039;d get tension headaches and feel nauseated. Fortunately a girlfriend offered a suggestion that changed my life: She told me to slow down and &amp;quot;run my run,&amp;quot; meaning to move at a pace that was best for my body (pretty slow, for me). I took her advice and found I could jog for long stretches. My husband helped too. He&amp;#039;s a physical therapist, and he taught me to pay attention to my posture and breathing. Gradually, I began to check in with my body during workouts. For example, I would make sure that my shoulders were spread open while I ran, rather than hunched forward. With my new, more mindful approach to fitness, I dropped 60 pounds. My courage grew, too; I became a regular at the gym and even did triathlons. Best of all, I changed my relationship with food. I haven&amp;#039;t been on a diet in more than 20 years; I realized that obsessing over what I ate triggered my binges. Now there are no forbidden foods on my list, and I indulge sanely, without hating myself. I desperately wanted to share what I&amp;#039;d learned with others, so in 2010 I got certified to teach indoor cycling and offer nutritional counseling. But for years I&amp;#039;d had an even bigger dream: to open a studio where I could show people how to be kind to their bodies. I started taking steps to do that, and in 2013 I gave up a longtime career as a hairstylist to launch my own gym in New York. It wasn&amp;#039;t easy; I had to teach myself how to build a website, design floor plans, and set up prices and contracts. My gym was just 500 square feet when I started, but we&amp;#039;ve gained such a following that this spring we&amp;#039;re scheduled to move to a spot three times as big. People look at me and assume the woman they see today is who I&amp;#039;ve always been, but that&amp;#039;s far from true. For so long, I thought I was the weakest person in the world, when all I really needed to do was find my inner strength. You can find yours, too. This story originally appeared in the May 2016 issue of Dr. Oz The Good Life. The hottest ticket in daytime TV can be yours. Make your free appointment to see The Dr. Oz Show in NYC: www.doctoroz.com/tickets    "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.drozthegoodlife.com/healthy-lifestyle/body/a1601/susan-rappaport-weight-loss-success-story/>