I don't know about you, but every time some joker points me out as I walk through an airport wearing extra-small Dolfin shorts, a tank top and leg warmers, I get a little upset.

I'm the clown you take out of the box and wind up when you need a good laugh. And then, when you're done with me, I go back in my box.

I am kinder to my body. I don't try to prove anything to myself or others. I keep thinking about the need to go slower, gentler and maintain a sense of humor about it all.

When I go to bed, I ask God to give me one more day tomorrow. When I get it, I'm excited and grateful.

I took desperate measures to lose weight and did terrible things to myself. I went from diet pills to thirty laxatives a day to throwing up.

If I have to die, I want to combust in the middle of one of my classes.

It's my life dream to be able to go and continue going to schools and teaching them about stretching and aerobics, cardio and strength training, because I want them to have a better life than I did. I don't want them to grow up to be me. I want them to be healthy. I want them not to go through eating disorders [like me].