From fat... to “Fitness Star”
Exercise and a better diet put Tarrah Speer Lee on a healthy path, and now she helps others do the same
Five years ago, distraught over the death of her father and tipping the scale at close to 220 pounds, Tarrah Speer Lee could only dream about where she would be today.
Ninety-two pounds lighter. A lot smarter about diet and exercise. And a finalist in the national competition Women’s Health magazine is promoting to find “The Next Fitness Star.”
Speer Lee, 31, and the other four finalists are smiling on the “flip” cover of the magazine hitting newstands, but it has been a long and tough journey getting there for the Missouri native who works as a personal trainer and nutrition consultant in the Denver area.
Over tea at Whole Foods recently, she talked about what it was like to weigh 130 pounds when she was in the second grade. And to be bullied. “I was the fat girl at school,” she said.
Speer Lee said she was quick to put on weight as a kid, and she ate what she now realizes was a diet heavy in fats, carbohydrates and sugar. “Fried ravioli, fried chicken, gooey butter cake, fast food” all were typical items on the menu, she said. Her dad was a former college football player who had a big appetite that was encouraged by her mother’s homestyle cooking and meals of meatloaf and mashed potatoes.
Even after Speer Lee left home and went to the University of Kansas to study journalism, she couldn’t change her habits. “I always told myself I was going to diet,” she said. But the lifestyle of a young single woman in college and after, as an event planner, made for a lot of late nights and 2
a.m. trips through the drive-through.
Meanwhile, her dad had endured three heart surgeries. And then died of a heart attack six years ago, at age 52.
Itwas thewake-up call that finally propelled SpeerLeetoaction. “Ihadto dothis formyfamily’s health,” she said.
And even then it took concerted effort. Initial stints working twice weekly with a trainer and hitting the gym with intensity didn’t pay off until she took a hard look at her diet. Since her trainer didn’t know much about nutrition, Speer Lee began studies at the National Academy of SportsMedicine, where she also got her certifications for personal training and other exercise specialties. She’s also studied at the Cooper In- stitute in Dallas.
She said a couple of books were the key to changing her diet, particularly “Body Confidence,” by Mark Macdonald. “It’s all about speeding the metabolism by eating clean, eating often and in the correct ratios of lean proteins, complex carbs and healthy fats.” Once she started eating “clean,” the pounds peeled off.
Speer Lee became a personal trainer and loves helping other people work out as well as stay on top of her own regimen. She got her mother and brother on board, as well.
“I can relate to people going through this because I know what it’s like,” she said. “I understand the emotional struggles, too.”
She also met a man who shares her interest in health and nutrition, and she and Justin Lee got married last year.
In addition to her personal training business, she hosts a radio show, a blog (denvernutritionista.blogspot.com), a Facebook page and a Twitter account, where she regularly posts photos of the ingredients listed on products like protein bars, to show howmuch sugar and fat they contain.
Itwas one of her traineeswho told Speer Lee about the contest underway atWomen’sHealth to find a woman with a good story to tell about fitness andwell-being. After submitting application forms and videos, Speer Lee’s storywas culled from thousands. She and the four other women nominated for the “Fitness Star” honors will spend the next month trying to persuade the public to support them via a vote on thenextfitnessstar.com.