Tiffany Yee, Ms. Fitness 2008, challenges herself, her clients and conventional wisdom on the fitness front.

What does it take to be the fittest woman in the United States? Hard work, dedication and a passion that surpasses everything else in life are just a few of the primary requirements. For Tiffany Yee, recently named Ms. Fitness USA 2008 during a competition in Las Vegas, NV, these are the same things that have driven her since childhood.

Yee's love for "athletics, dance and choreography dates back to grade school," she says, but her foray into fitness competition did not occur until much later. After entering her first competition in 2002, Yee has earned more than 15 state and national titles. Winning Ms. Fitness USA was a victory for Yee on many levels as she is the first winner of Asian descent and, at 39, is the oldest woman to hold the title. But for Yee, the win is a personal one as well. "I never imagined, when I first began my training, that I would someday earn the title of Ms. Fitness USA," she says. "I was so honored to represent Colorado in Las Vegas and win!"

Competition is not the only driving force behind Yee's dedication. "I have a passion to help improve people's lives through fitness," she says. This passion has manifested itself in Body Statement Gym, her training and nutrition center in Denver. It provides personal training and nutrition assistance to those looking for a broad approach to their fitness goals. Clients are quick to point out that the gym is about comprehensive changes, not simply starting a diet or exercise regimen. Lori Orihuela, a recent client of Yee's, attributes her success to the fact that Body Statement Gym offers a "well-rounded program" that focuses on nutrition as well as strength and cardiovascular training. "This is a lifestyle change," she says, "not just a diet or weight-loss program."

This weight-loss mentality is what Yee strives to help her clients overcome. Having been active most of her life, when she began training for competition, weight loss was not the ultimate goal. However, streamlining and toning her body was. "Since fitness competitions included a physique-judging round, I knew I had to get my body conditioned," says Yee. Knowing this would take her beyond mere exercise, she began to develop a comprehensive program of training and nutrition to help her realize her own goals. Yee takes this same personalized approach with each client, many of whom have tried plenty of other methods to lose weight, only to find themselves on a vicious yo-yo dieting cycle. Each client is evaluated based on his or her lifestyle, needs and goals rather than some predetermined set of numbers. "Our body speaks to us," says Yee. "We have to learn to listen."

For Yee, it is not enough to simply set clients on the right path; she hopes to educate them on where their paths have gone wrong in the past. For some clients, such as Luke Ching, that can be as simple as getting into a program in the first place. Ching describes himself as "not at all fitness oriented" before he met Yee. He had tried diet after diet but simply resigned himself to his current weight and physique. Skepticism dominated his judgment when he met with Yee after an initial introduction from a mutual client. "I only gave her two weeks to help me," says Ching. "She gladly accepted the challenge." From that point on, Ching's transformation was complete and remarkable. He has dropped more than a hundred pounds and has placed second in the Colorado State Body Transformation Challenge Championship. Although it has been three years since he first met with Yee, and he is confident he could maintain his program on his own, Ching still trains with her, and she continues to challenge him. "She always told me that the only person who could stop me was me," he says. "She was right."

While Body Statement Gym is an extension of Yee's philosophy, where clients can move steadily toward their goals with the help of experience and motivation, Yee continues to broaden her message. With the knowledge that lifestyle changes are easier to make at a younger age, her new focus is on children and teenagers. "It has become acceptable to eat junk foods with a total disregard for what this does to young bodies," she says. "If only they knew, many would learn to "˜un-enjoy' them." As with her personal clients, education is the most powerful tool Yee can offer.

Although her new title has brought more recognition to Yee and to Body Statement Gym, she maintains her focus on helping people live better lives through fitness and strives to keep things simple and straightforward. In fact, when asked to describe her fitness routine in a nutshell, Yee's answer is very basic. It is what she pushes herself and her clients to do and encourages anyone with a fitness goal to do: "Plan your work, and work your plan."