Erin's Hoop Journey- How She Lost 70 lbs. Hooping!

   “I love my new body and my new way of life. My hoop has changed me forever!” I was very overweight when I started hooping in the fall of 2009... Although I have battled with my weight for most of my life, I had experienced recent traumas that significantly effected my health and overall fitness levels. Life has taught me that although there are many things I have no control over, there are some things that I do. My Hoop Journey I had been through a treatment for cancer, and stacked with a subsequent pregnancy, my “Hoop journey” met me at a time when my weight was at an all time high. I weighed 230 lbs! It was at that point that I decided I needed to change my life. I felt that I could change my unhealthy path by beginning to live a healthy lifestyle.But as I started to change my eating habits, I realized that I had been through this before. Time and time again in my life I had restricted my diet with some degree of success; but the weight would always return. This time, I knew I needed to do more; I needed an activity that would get me moving and keep moving. The problem was that I really hated to exercise. I tried all types of activities but I never found anything that I enjoyed doing, and each activity would eventually just fade away. That is, until the day when I read an article online about Michelle Obama hooping on The White House lawn, to promote physical fitness. I was instantly intrigued…it looked fun! The only problem in my mind was that as a child I could not hula hoop at all! I was relentless in my online research about hooping and I decided I needed to give it a try.My husband heard my chatter about the hula-hoop and surprised me one day with a plastic kid’s hoop. He did not realize that I needed an adult sized hula hoop- but I didn’t let that disappoint me. I purchased a larger, adult-sized hoop online, and read up about how to waist hoop. I practiced this in my bedroom for a long time. I continued researching hooping online, and found Hoopnotica.I was immediately drawn to their style of teaching and how graceful the Hoopnotica Master Trainers were with their hoops; I wanted to be like them! I had never been considered graceful! I ordered the Hoopnotica program and watched the DVD chapters in my bedroom for months. I loved how I could just let go and free my mind while I was hooping. I felt an immediate stress relief when I hooped, and my weight was just melting off with every pass of the hoop. I became obsessed with it. A year later, I decided I wanted to dig deeper. I needed to find a hoop class. Sadly there were none in my area, but I did find a few hooping classes over an hour away. One of them was taught by a Hoopnotica Certified Instructor and instantly knew that was the class I needed to take. I drove for over an hour to take my first hoop class where I met a wonderful instructor and now, a good friend. This woman encouraged me to become a certified Hoopnotica teacher myself and I decided to go for it! I had two months to prepare for the training and I worked my butt off everyday for my teaching certification! In February 2010, I became a Hoopnotica Instructor and I am now certified in three levels! I completely amazed myself with my endurance during the training. If you would have told me the year prior that I would be training others to learn a form of physical fitness, I would have never believed you. Now I find so much satisfaction in teaching others Hoopnotica! I love that my classes are filled with joy and laughter; and teaches people that exercise does not have to be traditional or boring. Name: Erin Age: 37 City: Minotola, NJ Occupation: Hoopnotica Instructor Height: 5’6’’ Past Weight: 230 lbs Current Weight: 160 lbs