Monica Di Giacomo weighed 145 kilos when her doctor told her something she never forgot: if she didn’t change, she wouldn’t live to see her next appointment.
She was 37 years old, with extremely high cholesterol, hypertension and prediabetes. She went to a gym in Miami to ask for help, and every trainer told her no — she was too great a risk. One finally agreed. She came back the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that, even though she could barely speak and it took her a year to smile.
With gastric sleeve surgery, weight training and a different relationship with food, she lost 83 kilos: today she weighs 62 and has 14% body fat. She no longer takes medication for blood pressure or diabetes. In September, she will compete in her first bodybuilding exhibition in Fort Lauderdale, and she married Marino, the trainer who one day decided not to give up on her.
