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I Lost Over 35 Pounds in 9 Months

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by Masako Ishii (Headquarters)

Since the third grade, I have suffered from migraines; at 22 and 23 I was plagued with lumbago, and had lots of colds and bronchitis; and, despite my youth, I was always tired-I was literally falling to pieces! So, in order to try to help overcome these problems, I began to practice T'ai-chi. About 2 months after starting, I noticed that I felt wonderful after practice. And when I happened to get on the scale, I noticed that I had lost almost 9 pounds, even though I had not been consciously dieting. As I started watching my weight carefully, I noticed that I was losing almost 4.5 pounds a month. It turned out that after 9 months, I had lost over 35 pounds! In addition, although I had suffered terribly from the migraines and lower-back pain, those symptoms disappeared amazingly. I gradually became stronger and developed more stamina, and now it seems I never get tired at all! I never thought, not even in my dreams, that T'ai-chi would help me lose weight, or help alleviate my illnesses. Things had been so bad that I had once even thought of quitting my job. But T'ai-chi changed everything, for which I will always be grateful.