{"id":17397,"date":"2025-09-15T09:24:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T09:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/17397\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T09:24:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T09:24:16","slug":"at-320-pounds-doctors-feared-she-wouldnt-make-it-another-year-today-at-137-shes-a-bodybuilder-rewriting-her-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/17397\/","title":{"rendered":"At 320 pounds doctors feared she wouldn\u2019t make it another year\u2014today at 137 she\u2019s a bodybuilder rewriting her story"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"At When Monica Di Giacomo stepped on the scale at 320 pounds, she was at her lowest point\u2014physically and mentally. Her blood pressure was dangerously high, her cholesterol levels had soared into the 400s, and her doctor warned her that without immediate changes, she was on track for a heart attack.That blunt conversation became the wake-up call. \u201cMy doctor told me she was afraid I was going to have a heart attack,\u201d Di Giacomo recalls to USAToday. \u201cShe told me that if I didn\u2019t do something, this was it.\u201dToday, a decade later, Di Giacomo weighs 137 pounds, has 14% body fat, and is preparing to walk across the stage in her first bodybuilding competition. But her journey has been about far more than a number on the scale.<\/p>\n

Warning and a new beginning<\/p>\n

\"2\"On her 37th birthday in 2015, Di Giacomo\u2019s longtime physician sat her down with brutal honesty. The statistics\u2014prediabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension\u2014weren\u2019t new. But hearing that she might not survive another year if she didn\u2019t act finally hit her.Together, they mapped out a plan: gastric sleeve surgery, nutritional counseling, and lifestyle changes. By spring, she underwent the procedure. \u201cPeople think oh it\u2019s just have the surgery and you\u2019re good,\u201d she says. \u201cBut that\u2019s not the way it goes. It\u2019s not some magic surgery you have and then everything is fine. You need to change your life.\u201dDetermined to exercise, Di Giacomo went to a Miami gym looking for help. But one by one, trainers turned her down. \u201cEach one said no,\u201d she says. \u201cThey were afraid to work with me. I was this morbidly obese woman with high blood pressure, all the bad conditions.\u201dStill, she showed up. At first, it was two days a week on a stationary bike and treadmill. \u201cMy goal wasn\u2019t to look good,\u201d she says. \u201cI just wanted to be alive.\u201dEventually, she found a coach willing to take her on: trainer Marino Di Giacomo. He created a structured plan built on nutrition and strength training, an approach that went against everything she thought she knew about dieting.<\/p>\n

Learning that food wasn\u2019t the enemy<\/p>\n

For years, Di Giacomo believed eating less was the only way to lose weight. But under her coach\u2019s guidance, she began eating real meals, protein-rich foods, complex carbs, and healthy fats.\"3\"\u201cEverything I knew about food and dieting was a lie,\u201d she says. \u201cI had this perception that \u2018oh you lift weights; you\u2019re going to look like a man.\u2019 I thought you needed to eat like a little bird.\u201dInstead of starving herself, she now eats around 2,500 calories a day, with 147 grams of protein and 321 grams of carbs. The shift fueled her workouts and supported muscle growth.<\/p>\n

Strength training and mental resilience<\/p>\n

Weightlifting became central to her transformation. Weeks focused on building muscle, other weeks on building confidence. There were tears along the way. \u201cShe barely said a word,\u201d her coach remembers of those early sessions. \u201cShe didn\u2019t smile for maybe the first year, until she lost 100 pounds. But she kept showing up.\u201dEven on days when self-doubt crept in, she pushed through. \u201cIt was just her and the barbell, which doesn\u2019t care if you are grumpy or got yelled at during work,\u201d her coach says. That consistency allowed her to shed more than 120 pounds, tighten her body through surgery, and eventually leave behind her medications.<\/p>\n

From client to partner<\/p>\n

\"4\"The transformation wasn\u2019t just physical. Over time, Di Giacomo and her coach fell in love. In 2022, she married Marino. \u201cShe was my heaviest client and now she is my fittest,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd now she has my heart.\u201dToday, she not only trains but also supports other women in midlife to prioritize their health.<\/p>\n

Competing for herself, and others<\/p>\n

As she prepares for her bodybuilding debut in Fort Lauderdale, Di Giacomo reflects on her journey. She no longer hides behind baggy sweatshirts. She dances on the treadmill in a cropped tank top, proud of the body she\u2019s built.\u201cI\u2019m so happy now. I don\u2019t just love myself. I really love myself,\u201d she says. \u201cEven my stretchmarks are cute!\u201dFor Di Giacomo, the before photo is still her favorite. \u201cShe\u2019s the reason I\u2019m alive,\u201d she says. \u201cShe did the work. She\u2019s why I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Monica Di Giacomo stepped on the scale at 320 pounds, she was at her lowest point\u2014physically and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[17034,11141,589,17035,163,17033,85,46,17032,17036,17031],"class_list":{"0":"post-17397","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-body-positivity","9":"tag-bodybuilding","10":"tag-fitness","11":"tag-gastric-sleeve-surgery","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-health-and-fitness-journey","14":"tag-il","15":"tag-israel","16":"tag-monica-di-giacomo","17":"tag-personal-trainer-success-stories","18":"tag-weight-loss-transformation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}