REAL LIFE

NO LONGER CHAINED

By: Maria Kang

Radora Goold’s life always revolved around her weight, resulting in bad relationships and a negative self image. She found help at Max Muscle Sports Nutrition and with professional guidance turned her life around for good. Photo by Mike Byerly

ACCORDING TO SERIAL DIETER Radora Goold, 38, of Stockton, Calif., “I used to get fat from just eating lettuce!” She has tried the grapefruit diet, the cabbage diet, and the “no-eating-for-a-week” diet, all to no avail. Since she was a teenager, her weight has periodically fluctuated between 145 to 180 pounds on her 5-foot-5 frame.

“It’s sad how many decisions in your life are based around your weight,” admits Radora. “Everything I’ve done has reflected back to my weight.” From bad relationships to a poor self image, she settled and struggled with her relationships with people because she felt she didn’t deserve better. Radora grew up in Pine City, Minn. inside a large missionary family of 10 kids. Since her parents limited TV watching, she played outside often but was never involved in organized sports due to a low self-esteem. She moved to California in her early 20s and during that time she lost her first love who was killed in a car accident while in Hawaii. After that, she felt completely devastated. She had no direction in life and worked odd jobs.

About two years after her loss, Radora became pregnant. After the pregnancy she weighed 183 pounds and decided to trim down using the same extreme diet mentality she used growing up. She only consumed protein and just performed cardio. While she lost 60 pounds, she soon yo-yo’d back and became discouraged with her weight again. After her second child in 2003, Radora approached Jed Green about her weight loss frustrations at the Max Muscle Sports Nutrition store in Lodi, Calif. He asked her to write down her diet for two to three days so he could get a better idea of her consumption. After reviewing her diet, he recommended she do something that went against all her years of poor diet knowledge. He told her to eat more!

“He told me to eat more and eat more often,” recalls Radora. Throughout her life, eating had always been her biggest issue. However, at the age of 33, she had come to a point where she needed guidance from someone who not only provided support but also believed in her. Jed reinforced her confidence in his advice stating, “TRUST ME, the weight WILL come off.” So with her trust firmly placed in Jed, Radora began eating.

Radora started eating every three hours, five meals a day, beginning with her first meal at 7 a.m. and her last meal ending at 7 p.m. Her diet consisted of a variety of healthy foods including oatmeal, chicken breast, tilapia, orange roughy, brown rice, oatmeal, fruits and vegetables. She followed a “clean eating” diet and only drank water, coffee, tea and a recovery drink. She stayed away from soda, alcohol and carbonated beverages. While she used to enjoy eating sugar, she limited her cravings to a “cheat” day where she indulged in vanilla ice cream, cake or cookies.

In addition to eating more, she was also encouraged to start training with weights, a fear she had after being a cardio-only woman for years. She started working out with weights three times a week using an upper and lower body split. Today, she works out five to six days a week, with her off days including recreational activities with her kids. In a single exercise session, she performs 45 minutes of weights and plyometrics, 15 minutes of ab exercises and 40 to 60 minutes of cardio, sometimes including HIIT (High intensity internal training) cardio to save time.

For five years now, Radora has maintained her lean 130-pound phys-ique by providing her body with a consistent supplement schedule. She uses Max Muscle’s High 5 protein, takes Max CLA to aid her in fat burning and for her workout recovery, she uses Max Glutamine and Max XTR. She also uses the Max Muscle Nutrition line of CQ10 for her antioxidants.

After her third child, Radora moved to Stockton, Calif. and established a rapport with the Max Muscle store franchisee, Matt Lonz. He continued to provide her with the nutritional guidance and moral support she consistently needed. “What I really appreciate about Jed and Matt is that they always sat and listened to my plea. They always had the patience to listen to me and take their time, even if I called them five minutes after leaving their store,” remembers Radora. “And, they always gave me an educated answer and helped me learn more about the product and my body.”

Today, Radora is at a place where she feels a sense of nutritional balance and personal success in her life. She has been married for eight years to her husband, Dean. She works as a surgical technician and enjoys spending time with her three kids, Aris, Peja and Payton. She also began her own Accountability Coaching bus-iness where she guides and coaches other women who experience the same frustration, disappointment and discouragement she felt when she was overweight. Like her mentors, Jed and Matt, she hopes to provide similar help to lonely housewives, working mothers and overweight teenagers.

Her short-term goal is to compete in three to four figure and bikini shows in 2009 including the Contra Costa Figure competition held this past May. Radora admits, “I’m gonna come out and say it!! I want two magazine covers. Yikes! Did that just come out of my mouth? Verbalizing your goals is essential, but I still struggle with the fear of failure.”

If Radora ever feels discouraged, all she needs to do is look at the quote on her Blackberry screen that says, “The only thing holding you back is YOU!!” MS&F