Debra Atkinson

I want to take a minute and introduce myself, and the question you are probably are, or should be, asking: “Who is Debra Atkinson?” I’m a fitness professional who spent decades hearing client’s talk about getting older and their metabolism slowing. Not yet 50+, and not anywhere near menopause at the time, I gave them the best science available.

I perfectly fit the fitness instructor/trainer stereotype of “exercising all day.” Then in my early 40s I cut my physical activity teaching load by 6 hours a week! Talk about bad timing. I began doing more lecturing and fewer activity labs.

Even though I wasn’t exercising nearly as much any more, my job as a personal training director still had me actively moving around much of the day.

Call me crazy, but at 49 I stopped doing that too and began sitting behind a desk for 10-14 hours a day. You know, the dream of your own business and that relaxed pace… Let’s just say, call me before you do it.