amazing
Paula Ryan
Age: 36
Height: 5-foot-3
Weight: 134 pounds
Started Curves: November 2000
Curves facility: St. John’s,
Newfoundland, Canada
Pounds lost: 55
Inches lost: 46
Dress sizes lost: 5 to 6
For the last three
years, Paula Ryan
has been taking
charge of her own
fitness. Now, she’s
also helping other
women achieve
their goals at her
newly opened
Curves.
Counting Down
the Pounds
BY MEGAN OTHERSEN GORMAN PHOTOGRAPH TERRY RICE
Paula Ryan tried gyms.
She tried commercial
weight-loss programs. She tried willpower. And she did lose a
little. But it wasn’t until she tried Curves that she lost her postpregnancy weight—and regained her pre-pregnancy self-esteem.
HOW I GOT THERE “I have two children—a 5-year-old and
a 3-year-old. I gained 52 pounds with my first. My second
was born 20 months later, and I was 60 pounds overweight. It was terribly depressing. Between pregnancies, I’d joined a gym but was done within a
week. The atmosphere—particularly all the
men around—didn’t appeal to me. After my
second child, I joined
“I am more active,
a commercial weight-loss
healthier, and more
program—but I wasn’t wild about
that, either. Then my sister-in-law opened attentive to my
a Curves here in town. I liked it from the body. It’s changed
how I interact with
moment I walked in the door.”
CURVES REALLY WORKS “With the the world.”
conventional diet program, I restricted what I ate, but I didn’t
exercise. Once a week, I went to a meeting then came home
and was in glee because I’d lost a half-pound. I felt I had to be
able to do more. Then I joined Curves and began exercising.
Plus, I was meeting women with the same goals and concerns.
When I first joined, there were women there who were much
smaller than I was, but they felt the same way about themselves
as I did. I felt so supported.”
THE HARDEST PART “Nothing about losing the weight was all
that hard once I got to Curves. It did take time—two years total—
but the process seemed more fun than difficult. The hardest part,
actually, had nothing to do with Curves: Initially, I had a tough
time keeping myself from eating the treats I had for my kids. Over
time, I figured out that if that stuff wasn’t good enough for me,
they didn’t need it, either.”
FEEDING THE SOUL “Before I started going to Curves, I was
a very shy person. If my husband and I went somewhere, I would
let him do all the talking. I’d even sort of hide behind him. Now,
I’m very outgoing, very outspoken. Curves allowed me to take
back my self-esteem.”
PASSING IT ON “By opening my own Curves, I can do for others
what Curves has done for me. I love helping the women in my club.
The day I opened, a woman came in who was about 80 pounds
overweight and very depressed. But she was ready to do something
about it, and now she’s succeeding. She always has a smile on her
face now. I can see her going where I went, succeeding as I did. I’m
thrilled to be able to be a part of it.”
18
| THE CURVES MAGAZINE