"I Got My Drive Back"

A transformation challenge gave new mom Sarah Bowes the motivation she needed to reclaim her body-and take her fitness to the next level

- By Nicole Adamo

• Like many women, Sarah Bowes didn’t realize the number on the scale was ratcheting higher, until it climbed too far to ignore. She managed to lose her pregnancy weight fairly easily after having her son, Alex, three years ago, but after she returned to work she found balancing her job as a compliance officer plus the demands of raising an infant left her with little time or energy to eat right or exercise.

“I gained back all of that pregnancy weight and then some,” says Bowes. “I’d get home and binge on cheap, processed foods like mac and cheese or get takeout.”