A Former Richard Simmons Employee, Nutrition Enthusiast, and self-proclaimed “Professional Dieter”
Rita’s Introduction to Nutrition
Before becoming a Certified Cat Behavior Trainer and opening Cat Behavior Alliance with her BFF, Linda Hall (some of you know her as Richard’s original success story, Linda Woodson), she was what she calls a “Professional Dieter.”
“My very first diet was an exchange system diet, much like the Deal-A-Meal and FoodMover Plans I would use later that Richard Simmons created,” says Rita. “My interest in nutrition and it’s affects on the human body led me to take a correspondence course to become Certified in Fitness and Nutrition.” Rita’s dream back then was to become a Psychologist and help people who struggled with weight and eating disorders, but life took a different turn for awhile, and the pounds came back on…
Fate Stepped In Rita Met Richard Simmons
But in 2003, after getting laid off from her job and meeting Richard at an event in the Poconos in 2002 (her Mom urged her to slip a note under Richard’s hotel room door, and SHE DID), Rita and Richard began exchanging emails and phone calls. In February 2003, Rita packed up her apartment and her 6 cats, hitched a trailer to her tiny blue Mustang, and headed toward her future.
“By then I had again met Richard and some of my fellow Deal-A-Meal friends on a Cruise to Lose in October of 2002. I had also been unofficially helping to test the new Richard Simmons website (I worked in IT and self-taught myself website development), so when I got laid off from my job at the end of 2002, I decided to change my life. I was encouraged by my friends and by Richard to move to LA and see what awaited me there.”
And Her Life Changed…
After relocating to LA in 2003, and having already begun losing weight on her own, she began working out at Slimmons 3 days a week and attending his Project Me classes. The weigh came off and she was asked to be in Richard’s Party Off the Pounds video, which was shot in 2005. Rita even became AFAA Certified to teach Group Aerobics!
Having lost 55 pounds and getting to “star” in a Richard Simmons video was heady enough. Then to be asked to Associate Produce his new live call-in radio show in Sirius was like a dream come true. Rita also was Associate Producer for the video, Love Yourself and Win, in which she also appears.
“Being able to encourage other people while sitting beside my friend and mentor, Richard Simmons, was far beyond my wildest dreams. It was an honor to be able to help other people with their health, which was exactly what I wanted to do so long ago when I took that Nutrition Certification Course.”
There is so much more to the story, and a lot of it will be told as Rita once again shares her journey with everyone very publicly on her website, just like she did in the late 1990’s. Some of you might remember TheDietScribe.com from way back when. Rita hopes you will follow along with her journey once again, 20 years later.
More About Rita
Rita is a Certified Cat Behavior Trainer and co-founder of the Cat Behavior Alliance and the Carolina Cat Sanctuary with her best friend and fellow cat behavior expert, Linda Hall. They also currently co-host a radio show together on Pet Life Radio, 19 Cats and Counting. Together, Linda and Rita also host their YouTube series, Let’s Talk Cats, as well as co-author a cat behavior blog for Litter Genie’s Kitty Korner.
Rita met Linda on a Richard Simmons Cruise to Lose when they were both working for him.
Rita also wrote a Cat Behavior Help and Advice column called “A New Cattitude,” which was featured in every issue of Catster Magazine until it ceased publication at the end of 2023. Linda and Rita co-wrote the column for the 2023 publications. Rita also wrote specialty articles for Catster, featuring such notables as Mayim Bialik, Margaret Cho, and Chef Bobby Flay. You can still read many of the articles on Catster Magazine’s Website.
