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Debra as a young adult when her weight went over 300 pounds
 
“I like to keep my ‘before’ pictures close at hand to remind me that I never want to go back there. My mission is to share my story to help women win the battle with food and self esteem.”
- Debra Mazda
At the age of 21 Debra Mazda weighed over 300 pounds. Depressed and battling high blood pressure, Deb made the decision to reinvent her life. She joined a health club. “I was the only seriously fat person in the place. I couldn’t even buy athletic clothes in my size. I huffed and puffed and sweated my way through aerobics classes and didn’t worry about whether anyone was laughing at me. At the same time I scaled back my eating. First, I reduced the quantity of my food. Instead of a rack of ribs and a milkshake for breakfast – it was maybe, half a rack of ribs. Then I improved the quality of what I was eating. Next thing you know the pounds are coming off.” Deb lost over 140 pounds and has kept it off for more than 25 years through her “Mazda Method” approach to self -motivation.
With her new, buff body and a passion for sharing what she’d learned with others, Deb went to work for fitness guru Richard Simmons as the Training Supervisor at Simmons’ Anatomy Asylum health clubs in Denver, Colorado. Starting college in her 30’s, she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Movement and a Masters of Education in Sports Psychology from Temple University. Deb has become a much-in-demand accredited fitness trainer who has the unique understanding of what it’s like to overcome obesity.
Deb’s boundless energy and ability to inspire others has not gone unnoticed by the media. ABC’s Diane Sawyer profiled Deb’s success at long-term weight loss on the network news magazine Prime Time. For more than 10 years Deb has been the Fitness Editor for the award-winning The Women’s File, on B-101-FM Philadelphia. She hosted her own live call-in show Fit & Fabulous with Deb Mazda on WNWR–AM Philadelphia / Washington and was featured on WWDB-FM’s talk programming. She wrote a column about weight loss, body image and diet for Philly Health & Fitness magazine and her articles have appeared in the South Philadelphia Review. Once an elementary classroom teacher in the School District of Philadelphia, Deb particularly enjoys working with overweight children. She served as Coordinator of the “Just for Kids” weight management program at Albert Einstein Medical Center. As a motivational speaker Deb conducts workshops and seminars for many corporations and organizations.
Today Debra Mazda is bringing her message of fitness-in-many-sizes to populations who have been largely ignored by the fitness industry. “When I can talk to a woman who needs to lose 150 pounds and help her believe that there is hope, then that’s a good day.” Deb is the creator of The ShapelyGirl Workout™, a specially designed fun, high-energy exercise and motivation program for plus-sized women. “I’m challenging ShapelyGirls everywhere to get off the couch and start moving. My ShapelyGirl Workout proves you can be fit, sexy and confident even if you’re not a size 2”. Debra Mazda lives in South Philly with her therapy dog, Hannah, and her cats, Cody and Sarah.
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