CHARLOTTE SIEMS' FIGURES OUT A 'WEIGH DOWN' WHILE T-TAPPING HERSELF SKINNY

When you see Charlotte Siems for the first time, you see a lithe, toned, tall attractive woman—the picture-perfect pilates-esque body, one assumes she is athletically gifted. So it comes as quite a shock when Charlotte describes herself as a couch potato, someone who had never exercised in her entire life (until recently), and so ‘not athletic’ it isn’t even funny. Even more shocking is when Charlotte tells you she spent 25 years in a rocking chair either pregnant or nursing babies. It’s a ‘whatcha-talkin’-bout-Willis?’ moment. Surely she’s exaggerating…25 YEARS?! She jests not. The Siems’ have twelve (yes, 12—this is not a typo) beautiful children ranging in age from 25 to two. The real life Cheaper by the Dozen family!

This ‘super mom’ is 48 and has amoungst her brood a two year old AND four year old! No, none of the children are adopted. She gave birth to all of them, in the, ahem, ‘normal’ way (one weighed over 11 ½ pounds!). Oh, and did I mention, she homeschools all of her children, graduating five to date. If ever a woman should have ‘permission’ to carry some extra weight, surely Charlotte Siems would be that woman. And indeed she was. Following the birth of her eldest child, at age 22, she started packing on the pounds, and with each birth she put on a little more.

Charlotte’s weight topped out at 258 pounds following the birth of her 12th child, 2 year old Sophie. At 5’11” she wore a size 22W and starting have knee problems and blood sugar issues. So when Sarah and Tyler, her two oldest children, announced their respective engagements she wanted a lose a size or two in time for the weddings. Hearing about Teresa Tapp’sT-Tapp Program from a blogger (large family logistics blog) she ordered the video.

According to Charlotte, T-Tapp emphasizes using proper form & going to your max. It promotes a graceful, long, lean silouette. And, Charlotte says, T-Tapp builds muscle density quickly and so well that your metabolism increases. According to the T-Tapp site: "T-Tapp is a series of copyrighted, sequential movements designed to put the body in proper functional alignment. Its special sequence of comprehensive, compound muscle movement helps establish better alignment as well as increased strength and flexibility of the spine, better neuro-kinetic flow, lymphatic function, and increased metabolic rate. Its physical therapy approach to fitness makes it safe for those with shoulder, hip, knee, neck, and back concerns. Yet, it delivers a challenging workout for all fitness levels!"

Charlotte did not change her eating habits for the first four months, just exercising 3-5 x/ week for 15 -30 minutes in her bedroom with the door shut. With just the exercise she shed 20 pounds and two sizes. At that time she felt so good she decided she should add a change in her eating habits to the program and recalled reading Gwen Shamblin's Weigh Down Diet years ago. She went to the Weigh Down Workshop site and signed up for an online class.

For those unfamiliar with Weigh Down it's a Bible-based weight loss program. According to Charlotte, some of the program principles that she has found most helpful include: if you have a craving you can have it as long as you’re hungry, stop when you feel full (eat slowly), food journaling, take small bites, and use a salad plate instead of a dinner plate. One of Charlotte's mantras is 'you can only taste the food when it’s in your mouth'.

Motivated by a deep spiritual connection she says she didn’t want 'to be a reproach to her children or God'. In addition, she feared she would be the stereotypical mom of a lot of kids and she didn’t want to be. Of her 12 kids, two are still very young and require a lot of physical running, carrying, playing and she wanted to be able to be that energetic mom. She also felt inspired to 'make God and her hubby (Henry, a senior pastor) look good'. She has continued to stay motivated by keeping focused on these things, through daily prayer, and by reading success stories of others over and over again. In fact, while she was losing the weight, she cut out the stories from People magazine’s ‘half their size’ issue & regularly visited the T-Tapp site to read and re-read success stories (she is now one of them!).

Charlotte challenged herself to deal with emotional issues, one breakthrough came when she said to her husband, “eating is the only fun thing I do.” Wow. Remaining prayerful, she searched for answers and today Charlotte reports that God and family meet her needs, not the food. Throughout her journey she never had an end-point in mind. Charlotte kept saying to herself, “just 20 more pounds.”

That ‘20 more pounds’ has turned into an astounding loss of 109 pounds (and counting). What’s remarkable (aside the fact that she did all this while raising 12 children) is that she has no hanging skin (something she credits to T-Tapp’s skin brushing routine)! She feels blessed to have found T-Tapp on her very first attempt to find a program. Today Charlotte weighs 149 pounds (and is still losing inches). She wears a size 4--yes, read it again, she is 5'11" tall, she was a size 22, gave birth 12 times and now wears a size 4. After visiting (via phone) with Charlotte I can say with all sincerity that she is a woman who transcends stereotypes and is such a fun, positive person she is certainly an inspiration to women in all walks of life (because really, who could be more busy or create more excuses than a homeschooling mom of 12?!)!

Charlotte's advice if you’re just starting out: start small, don’t make any dietary changes in the first month (per T-Tapp)…if you find yourself on a plateau, shake it up, try something new, cut back on your food, pay attention to the ‘feeling of full’, have a new awareness. Don’t give up but also don’t give yourself permission to throw in the towel.

From the rocking chair to rockin' a size 4 pair of capris, this woman of faith has shown the world a Weigh Down through T-Tapp.

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