What makes Sheila fit and healthy

MANILA, Philippines - In the world of musical theater, Sheila Francisco used to be the proverbial Fat Lady. Her full figure — in addition to her clear, big voice — had earned her such unforgettable roles as Bloody Mary in the Royal National Theater’s production of South Pacific in London and Jadis the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Being obese, she said, was a condition that ran in the family. Since she was young, she had always been on the heavy side that she had accepted it as a fact of her life.

But Sheila had a wake-up call: At one point, she already needed a cane to be able to walk. “I weighed 260 lbs. and my height is 5’2” — the pressure was really too much for my knees. I could not even do the grocery anymore.”

Then, at a mall, she was introduced by a friend to someone who lost 40 lbs. in just three months after going through the Cohen’s Lifestyle Program, a rapid weight loss and wellness solution through nutrition based on a person’s unique blood profile.

As she had in many musical plays, Sheila found herself in a soliloquy (“I asked myself, is this how I’d want to live forever? And I realized, other people will have to take care of me, and I will be a burden to my loved ones.”), then the turning point: she signed up for the program. 

“It is really life-changing. My meals used to have a lot of rice and salty dishes, but my eating plan notes that these trigger weight gain in my body. I sleep much better since doing the Cohen’s Lifestyle Program. You learn that your body has the natural capacity to burn fat when you acquire the proper sleeping habit,” she says.

And it paid off. On her first weigh-in, or a month after going through the program, Sheila lost 19 lbs. She reveals, “I actually cried, and got hooked. The first two weeks were the hardest, but after that, the body adjusts and it’s not that difficult anymore.”

At first, many of her acquaintances were a little worried about the powerful vocals that came from her big body, for which she was known in the industry. On the contrary, she says, the weight loss has improved her voice quality and widened her range: “I can reach higher notes now with much ease.”

Even better, her 130-140 lb.-body now has opened her life to better and more roles. “Before, I had never been considered to play the leading lady. I was always the sidekick, or the nemesis,” she says.

These days, Sheila is busy playing the Queen in a new production of Cinderella at the Resorts World Manila. “I am wearing a corseted dress, and it comes with a pretty defined waist!”

Sheila definitely glows with her newfound appreciation of her body, and reveals enjoying wearing heels and wedges, and shopping for clothes sized 8 to 10, adding, “I was blown away seeing my collarbones!”

Perhaps even more importantly, she is now off her maintenance medicines for her blood pressure for the first time in over 10 years and she no longer needs her cane.