Weight-Loss Success Stories

Catherine Tenenholtz (Bella28) from Harwood Heights, Illinois, took second place in last year’s Challenge. Nine months later, Cathy enthusiastically shares the ways in which shrinking her body expanded her life. She writes:

Fat to Fit winner Catherine Tenenholz. — Andrew Spear

I have been extremely busy in the last two months because I'm out doing things I want to do and can now do: taking computer and photography classes, spending time at the gym, meeting new people and socializing. I’m doing things I had not been able to do for a long time because of my limitations.

Losing 62 pounds and getting a new hip has opened up a whole new life for me, and I'm very happy about that. I have not gained any weight; however, I have not lost any more weight either. I still keep to my eating plan and recently started exercising again. (I had to wait for approval from my physical therapist.) My goal is to lose about 30 pounds by the end of this year.

People ask me all the time how I lost the weight, but when I tell them what I did and am doing, the response is usually, "I could never do that."

The best fitness tips I can give to others:

1. Do not eat any refined carbohydrates. They are empty calories that add pounds and drain energy.
2. Get moving. You must move because movement or exercise is essential to living and burns calories.
3. Track what you eat by keeping a food journal. (Most of us eat a lot more than we think we are eating.)
4. If you are depressed, get the appropriate help for the depression. (The answer is not in the refrigerator.)
   

Finally, each of us must get proactive in our life process NOW.  A magical solution is probably not going to happen. You are in charge. Do what has to be done for you.