TAMJAMS Elite Performance Training was selected by Draper Lifestyle Magazine to train two contestants selected by the magazine for their annual transformation challenge.
We hit the jackpot with our two contestants, Lezlie and Nataya, and we added four more Tribe members who were ready to change their lives over 11 weeks. Although we could talk all day about these wonderful women, better to let them tell it in their own words. Read their stories below and check out the video.
We are so proud of all of you! Thank you for letting us be part of your journey to a Happy, Healthy & Fit life!
Lezlie, 53 – Lost 16.5 lbs / 10 in.
On my first day watching Tamara’s documentary video, I wrote: “I can love myself again.” Well, it’s been a wonderful journey and I can honestly say, “I love myself again.” This journey has been just what I needed.
Before starting the program, I would come home from work tired, plop on the couch, eat dinner, watch TV and then go to bed at 8:30 because I was so tired. I never wanted to go out or even on a date with my husband because I didn’t want anyone to see how much weight I had gained. I was embarrassed of myself, and couldn’t believe I was this out of shape. In addition, I now have to sleep with a CPAP. I’m on high blood pressure and high cholesterol medications and on antidepressants.
I was at the end of my rope when I won this incredible gift from Draper Lifestyle Magazine and TAMJAMS. I was scared! I actually had to put myself out there, and I mean, OUT THERE! I wasn’t sure I could do this. I couldn’t even walk up a flight of stairs without being out of breath, but when I met Tamara, she totally changed my mind, body and soul. I knew I could trust her, and I did.
I did my best to hit my goals, and when I was down, the Tribe and Tamara lifted me up. I started journaling positive affirmations and seeing how my way of thinking was changing. I was writing things like: “Today I will soar,” “I am beautiful,” “I will inspire someone today.” I could go on and on. Slowly, I started believing what I was writing, and I started believing in myself again. I knew I could start losing the weight, and I began to have more energy.
I wanted to do more. I put down the remote and spent more time with my family. They could see a change happening in me, too. My husband is so happy and proud of me, and I owe it all to this wonderful program. I believe the universe knew I needed this, and so it blessed me with this gift, with Tamara and with this Tribe.
I now envision myself a thinner, happy, confident and fit person. I am laughing again, and I am proud of myself! I did it! I saw it through and I came out shining! I now know I hold all the keys, and I can continue to live happy, healthy and fit. It’s up to me. Tamara has taught me the tools I need to be successful.
Thank you Brett and Tamara for coming into my life at a time that I needed you the most. All my love.
Nataya, 29 – Lost 10 lbs / 10 in.
I began this program three weeks after having an emergency C-section. I had a newborn, new emotions, a new body and lot of anxieties I didn’t know existed. I was far from feeling like myself in every way. I wanted to bond with my new child but I was struggling because I was so off and out of touch.
The morning before finding out about the program, I said to myself, “I have postpartum depression (“PPD”) and I need to accept it so I can start helping myself heal.” I was putting it out to the universe that I could use something amazing right about now. I needed a jolt, then I won 11 weeks with TAMJAMS! Boom. Universe delivered.
I remember knowing I was going to win. Especially once I met Tamara before the drawing, I knew I would win, and that she would help me. It’s that indescribable knowing I was ready and more than willing and have been so grateful – since before day 1 – for meeting her.
My mother-in-law Lezlie had been one of five winners picked through Draper Lifestyle Magazine, and she was so ready for a life change. We were both very harmonious in some feelings we had so it made sense we won together and that we would be each other’s workout buddies for the next 11 weeks.
I will say, this workout is very different from everything else I’ve done and that’s why it works. It’s ever-changing and at the same time consistent. I hate repetition, which is why I end up disliking things I have tried in the past. The routines were similar but because it’s dance-infused, you can always, and should always, alter the movement. We had different playlists every time. I LOVED IT!
After a few weeks, my body learned and memorized the routines, and now it feels weird on days I’m not TAMJAM Jamming. This movement is now infused in my fibers.
I learned so many invaluable lessons every day that passed. It was so much more than a workout. It’s both very personal and deep and very Tribe connected. Best of both worlds. Tamara is so much more than an instructor. You can tell that from one conversation with her. I was in a very freshly fragile stage. I needed someone who coached me body, mind and spirit. I wanted to stop wishing for the old me and move forward with who I am today. I am a mother. I am a woman. I am beautiful. I am strong. I am intuitive. I am finally me.
Without this experience, it would have taken a very long time to accomplish all I did in the last 11 weeks. I committed to it and got the results I knew I needed and wanted. Overall, I wanted to find self-love and after I rediscovered that, I knew everything I was holding onto – i.e. weight, fears, anxieties – would fall away.
I lost 10 lbs, and over 12 inches, but that’s not what’s important. Yes, it’s great! But to me I came here to lose and to gain. And I gained so much more than I lost. I woke up and I loved me, I loved my life, and my baby, and it felt good. It feels good. Everyone sees the change and feels the change in me. My body healed faster and my spirit healed stronger.
I can’t express enough the amazingness of Tamara. She is so dedicated. She and Brett live and love life hard. They are real and strive to live their best lives every day. It’s not perfect, but it’s rich and colorful and full of dance. Which is nice, because it’s refreshing to see and get to know and get coached by people living their full dreams.
The word “program” doesn’t feel right to describe the kind of thing Tamara does. It is a lifestyle change. This is the kind of workout that you look forward to everyday. I think that’s because it taps into your core (pun intended). If a car has 10 issues that need to be fixed, you can’t just replace or fix one of the ten and expect it to work. You have to work on the whole, every moving part. That’s what Tamara helps you do.
Don’t misunderstand me though because, though Tamara helps, it’s you that has to be willing and ready to work. And once you’ve made the decision to walk toward change, then get a mentor who can help you get there. Having Tamara as a coach is like having someone walk you home. I’m forever changed and forever grateful.
Anna, 20 – ended her battle with eating disorders
When I began this program, I was a healthy weight with healthy measurements, but I wouldn’t let anyone tell me that. After a long history of eating disorders and body dysmorphia that left me feeling forever inadequate, I had decided I would lose this weight in one final healthy push or succumb to a new eating disorder if it did not work.
I was able to catch the tail end of registration period and apply. Thankfully, Tamara let me slip in, and I began a program that seriously changed my life.
I started out reluctantly, but I was committed. I did the workouts and the meal planning, but I didn’t have the vision yet. Through the one-on-ones with Tamara, she helped direct me, and show me how to find my vision. She showed me what moved me forward and taught me to hold onto that. All she needed was for me to give her an inch, and she’d take it a mile. This really helped my vision get rolling.
Around the third week in, I got pretty sick. I couldn’t do the workouts and my nutrition slipped, but Tamara encouraged me to do what I could: work on my vision. I put all my effort into flipping my thoughts, and seeing myself as I wanted to be. By the time the weekly “check in” rolled around, I had shrunk! I couldn’t believe it. All I had done was focus on the positives and picture the future I wanted for my body. It was amazing.
As time went on and midterms came and went, I occasionally fell off track, but I made it a priority to not dwell on what I did wrong. Instead, for the first time I was always looking to the future. I thought I needed to be perfect and live perfectly all the time in order to get my dream body, when it’s just not realistic, and it’s no way to live your life. Telling myself these positive things and flipping negative thoughts soon became second nature. Before long, I started to believe everything I was saying. It began to be less about the inches and pounds and more about how I felt about myself.
Tamara helped me change a core belief I’ve held about myself since fifth grade. I didn’t think these new core beliefs could get any stronger, and then Tamara took it one step further. She helped bring me from believing to knowing. It’s wild to see how far I’ve come in such a short 11 weeks. I went from falling in and out of eating disorders, obsessing over my body dysmorphia, and trying to lead a painfully perfect life, to waking up knowing my worth – taking a look in the mirror and knowing how great I look and loving myself.
This program has changed my life for the better!
Kathy, 74 – Lost 22 lbs / 34 in.
I started dancing when I was 5, had my first studio when I was 15 and continued teaching until I was 55. So, dance has been my life. I moved to Arizona at 60 years of age to help my son with his new baby and his new bakery. While I was in Arizona, I was busy working at the bakery and helping out with my new grandson, but I stopped dancing. I also ended up needing my knee replacement. So, I stopped moving very much.
When I first moved back to Utah, I started my journey with Tamara and Brett, and I lost 60 lbs. That was incredible! However, soon after, I started having problems with my knee, had to have surgery and quit moving again. After surgery, I never quite got into moving again and the weight came back. Soon it felt like my body was refusing to move, and I was getting stiffer and stiffer.
Then, an opportunity to do the program happened and I am so happy I joined the Tribe. First of all, after changing to eating clean and fresh foods instead of eating out all the time, I have reduced the swelling in my joints. The best part…I started moving again!
My greatest joy in life has always been teaching dance. I seriously thought that that part of my life was just over. I turned 74 this February, and my greatest dreams have come true. I am now working out 6 days a week, dancing to my favorite music and my body is responding again. I have learned that you have to use it or you lose it. And more than that, I am HAPPY AGAIN.
I have lost over 22 lbs and 34 inches and have been able to get the stiffness out of my body, but most of all I am so happy to be alive! I may be getting older, but I am getting wiser. My everyday goals are to be happy, healthy and fit!
Tara, 44 – Lost 3 in. on waist and is pain free
As a mother of six children ages 7 to 21, last year, I began a journey to recovery. Two years before, I was injured at an extreme gym class. The injury never healed. Doctors couldn’t explain the pains developing all over my body. One doctor suggested that I might have fibromyalgia. There were many evenings I laid in my bed with icepacks on my body crying because the pain was so excruciating.
Through diet change, I began to have some relief. The first day I came to TAMJAMS, I was unable to lift my arms above my head and had to modify most movements. Then, learning to change my mindset made a huge impact on healing my body, handling stress, and finding joy in the journey.
The infrared sauna played a big part as well. There were days I would go into the sauna in pain and then come out feeling so much better. Tamara taught me key strategies to chart my day, improve my mindset and hold proper posture to become stronger and have a full range of motion again.
Journaling my food everyday helped me realize I needed to add more protein and calories at every meal. Today, I cannot only raise my hands over my head again, but I can do so with full range of motion. I can do pushups, lift heavy things and even carry my seven year old upstairs and put her in bed.
This program has changed my life. I am actively involved in every aspect of the day. I no longer spend time in bed crying in pain. I’m back. This is me. The proper tools and encouragement have made all the difference.
Thank you Tamara.
Bobbie, 51 – Lost 13.5 lbs / 18.5 in.
As I started the program, I was very discouraged about my weight, mindset, and diet. A tragedy had happened in my family. I felt I was unable to recover and would never be the same. I missed myself. My family missed me.
Tamara helped me learn a new mindset. I now have a horizon goal. I say, “I am healthy, happy and fit.” If I take baby steps, I will make it. If I get turned around, I flip my mindset. I vision myself happy, healthy and fit with my family.
Eating and settling a target for calories has taught my family great habits to live by. My weight is still adjusting. I am happy I can fit into a smaller pant size. I learned how to keep my Dancer’s Body engaged. This is success. Keep moving, dancing, loving yourself, and always choose happy.
Six months ago, I was sitting watching my children having fun hiking, and today, I can proudly say I just climbed to the top of the Great Wall of China. I did not stop. I ran 1,700 stairs to the top and down to the bottom with my daughter. Never did I imagine.
Thanks to this program, I am happy, healthy and fit! I am looking forward to serving others with energy and passion. I am present in my life now.