Candice Elam - Jersey City, NJ

• RPM Teacher

• Wife and mother of 2

• Participated in RPM class until 5 days prior to the birth of her son Mohammed

I was born and raised in Jersey City. I studied majored in Sociology and minored in Women's Studies at Rutgers University. While at Rutgers, I learned about and converted to Islam in 2003. I met my husband in 2004 and five weeks later, we got married. In middle and high school, I was always involved in sports. Even in college, I didn't worry a whole lot about my health or my weight; I just assumed that it would never be a problem. After marriage, however, my weight started to slowly climb. I spent a lot of time experimenting in the kitchen with fattening comfort food recipes. I bought loads of processed foods because they were cheap and convenient. I rarely exercised because I didn't have the time. My husband and I were still in college and we had to work here, there, and everywhere to make ends meet. I had tried breaking my unhealthy habits with the help of a free website that had diet and exercise tools and support groups. I lost weight, but I slipped back into my old patterns. I hated exercising, and I saw the fact that I had lost weight as proof that I earned the privilege of not having to sweat anymore. Plus, processed foods from the grocery store and take-out from the local fast food place was budget-friendly, convenient, and more interesting than salad. Obviously the weight I had lost found its way back. Though I was back to my old habits, I had picked up two healthy habits that continue to be a part of my life. I started drinking more water and less of everything else and I stopped consuming anything with high fructose corn syrup. The goal of my first diet was to lose weight. Adopting a healthy lifestyle was nowhere on my list of priorities. My first pregnancy was the first time I really gave thought to the consequences of my poor dietary choices. I started eating somewhat healthy again. I still lived on homemade comfort food and take-out, but I ate more fruits and vegetables, and I switched to low-fat organic dairy for my high-calorie homemade creations (doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but you have to start somewhere). More than a year after my daughter was born and 40 pounds away from where I thought I should be, I joined Aurora. I didn't go to the gym consistently. I used my once-weekly 20-minute workouts as an excuse to eat whatever I fancied, and much to my surprise, I gained weight. After a nauseating first trimester, I went back to the gym more regularly in the latter part of my second pregnancy. I planned on having a home birth, and I wanted to be strong enough to get through 30 hours of labor without drugs. RPM and Body Flow were the mainstays of my workout schedule. Lamaze breathing techniques helped me through RPM classes and my son's home birth. I went back to teaching high school history just before my son's first birthday, and I became so involved with the school, that going to the gym fell out of my routine. The weight gained from two pregnancies, lots of unhealthy eating, and almost no exercise had me feeling stiff and achy. In March of 2011, I knew that if I continued to make excuses for myself, I was on the fast track to diabetes, a disease that claimed the lives of three of my family members within the past five years. Since then, being at the gym a few times a week became a non-negotiable priority, and I gradually started eating healthy. I came to love exercising, and now I'm teaching RPM.

E-Mail: candice.elam@aurorawomensfitness.com