Weight reduction transforms Oshawa woman's body, mind and spirit

Yvonne Ringler turns heads as she strides via a cafe in downtown Oshawa.

She's tall with well-toned meizitang soft gel muscles that are a testament to gym dedication, strong arms showcased inside a tank top. She's carting a bottle water, one of four

to six litres she drinks every single day.

"I reached the point where I was frustrated," the 33-year-old school teacher says, in beginning her story of methods she transformed herself from an

overweight size 24 to a fitness competition winner. "I had always were built with a trouble with my weight."

She was 295 pounds at her heaviest, coupled with "tried everything", including herbal remedies and diet pills. She got approval for any gastric bypass

operation but backed out, conscious that surgery could include complications. "I resolved I was likely to be overweight forever."

However eventually she fell, hurting her knee, and also the resulting mobility issues caused her level. "I realized then what lengths I'd let myself go."

She started searching for a gym, and presented herself at Optymal Health Studios in Whitby in April of 2013. The start of her journey to lasting change was launched with a two-month trial in the facility. Within the first 3 to 4 months she shed 60 pounds, recognized her emotional attachment to food, learned to   

change her eating habits meizitang zisu and started working with a personal trainer.

"I was totally excited and motivated," she recalls of those beginning.

But because the pounds dropped away, also did the wall of self-protection she'd built around herself.

"A large amount of issues in the past I hadn't dealt with came up," she says, citing sexual abuse and two incidents of rape. The additional weight "was a

method to avoid attention."