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Name: Kathleen Fee
Age: 51
Height: 5'7"
Before Weight: 296 pounds
How I Gained It: I was the queen of unconscious eating and drinking. I rarely paid attention to what I put in my mouth. Sadly, for a very long time, I just didn't care.
Breaking Point: At my annual physical, my doctor told me that I had over 100 pounds to lose and if I didn't get it off by age 50, it was never coming off. I didn't believe I had that much weight to lose, because I never allowed him to tell me how much I weighed, but I trusted him because he had helped me overcome so many things already. That was in December, and by the new year, I was ready.
How I Lost It: I lost my weight through diet and exercise. My sister wanted to join Weight Watchers in January, so I thought I would go with her and try to lose 20 pounds or so. The weight came off slowly.
At about a year and a half in, and still with 70 pounds to go, I was stuck! I was at a plateau, and I was about to give up. Then I discovered Hungry Girl Lisa Lillien and her daily emails. She saved me and my weight loss journey. I was able to lose the next 70 pounds using her cookbooks and emails. I still use her recipes today to maintain my weight.
As for exercise, I started out walking the floor at work. Nobody really knew at first what I was doing. I would just lap around for 10 minutes at a time. Then, as I lost more weight, I was able to walk all three floors and the stais. Then I started walking outside. As the weight dropped off, I used the Couch to 5K app and eventually became a runner. I have completed numerous smaller races, a half-marathon and a sprint triathlon. What an unbelievable gift running has been. Each time I cross a finish line, I am not the same woman. I am healthier, stronger, more determined and fierce.
My life is so different now because I walk through it conscious, aware and happy, whereas before my only goal was to be numb. I am conscious about what I eat, what I drink, how my body looks and most importantly how it feels. I am also really conscious about other people and their relationship with their bodies. I want them to have what I have. Being able to help people love themselves again as a life coach and through my own personal experiences has been so awesome. Weight loss was really a journey about finding me, and in the process, I got healthy and happy.
After Weight: 156 pounds
The Huffington Post publishes photographs as they are submitted to us by our readers.
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