My name is Kimmie, I’m a baby to F.I.T. just joined over a month ago. I met Marcela when I use to work at Motorola. She watched me struggle with my weight for many years. I have been battling with this issue since the age of 18. My heaviest weight was 297 pounds. At age 22 I started to consistently put on the weight year after year.

Working night shift at Motorola for over 8 years only seem to make matters worse. Living on Dr. Peppers and snicker bars just to get through the endless nights. I was always the yo-yo dieter, losing 60 pounds only to regain 30 back once again I failed! My eye opening moment was watching a video tape of me playing tennis and to have my big baggy pants not so baggy anymore. How could I have let myself get this big??Always labeled as the “fat friend”, and being diagnosed as severley obese, and barely having the energy to do anything I said enough is enough and on December 1st, 2007 I made the change!! I have now lost a total of 130 POUNDS!! I am smaller than I was in high school!! Throughout my weight loss journey I taught myself to run.

Something as a child I always wanted to do but was too scared and eventually too overweight to even think about…. I have now completed 9 5KS, 2 10KS, Triathlon, and a Half Marathon. I was featured in Womans World Magazine in November 2008 for my weight loss story and I was flown to New York City where I was on the Today Show Live. There I was inducted into the “Joy Fit Club” members who have lost 100 pounds or more due to diet & exercise alone. I now work for 24 Hour Fitness & Marriott Harbor Beach as a Spin/Aqua Instructor..something I never believed I would be doing!!

My next challenge will be completing a Full Marathon in October in Baltimore and the Disney Marathon in January 2010!

I am truly thankful for being a part of all this and most of all for joining F.I.T. where I have met such wonderful people and now running a marathon with them.

I have come so far on this weight loss journey and from time to time I remind myself I don’t ever have to go back. I get to be the New Kimmie for the rest of my life..the healthy & fit girl… No Looking Back!!

Today Show Clip: