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She knows her current size poses long-term health risks. "Those are problems I'm not impermeable to," she says. According to Michael Stone, an exercise and sport science professor at East Tennessee State University and a former head of sport physiology for the U.S. Olympic Committee, no evidence suggests that heavyweight lifters face greater health risks as long as they remain active and shed pounds when their competitive careers are over. For now, Robles is just loving lifting. "The lifts are so rhythmic, the movements so purposeful," she says. "I like the way it makes my body look and feel. I'm healthy on the inside now."