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Growing up I always struggled with my weight and appearance. I never
seemed to be happy with myself. In my teen years I suffered from an eating
disorder called bulimia nervosa, a disease where one eats and then purges
immediately afterwards. When my family found out, I was sent to seek help
for it. After I graduated high school in 2000, and had managed to get my
bulimia under control, I gained 120 pounds in six years. My eating habits,
back then, were horrible. I’d binge on a regular basis and then I’d go take a
nap or sit at home and watch TV instead of ridding myself of it. In addition to
my poor eating habits, I also lived a very sedentary life. Exercise was my
kryptonite.

When my life changed, in August 2006, I was 23 years old, a size 24, and at
5’10”, I was 300 pounds. I was not happy at all. Even shopping, which was
one of my favorite things to do, became a struggle. It was difficult to find
cute clothes in my size. I dreaded it. That August, I had just come back from
a trip to New York the week before. I remembered the difficulty that I had
with the seatbelt on the airplane ride home. It was a five hour trip home from
New York to California, and I was stuck in a tight seat with a seat belt that
barely went around me. It was probably the most uncomfortable feeling that
I’d ever had. I was too embarrassed to say anything, so I sat there on the
plane, in pain. I wished that there was something that I could do to lose
weight, I just didn’t know. I’d tried Weight Watchers, Slimfast, and even this
crazy liquid that you drink before bed that was supposed to make you “sleep”
your pounds away. I tried it all, and nothing worked. I was beginning to think
maybe I was meant to just accept how I was.

On Friday August 11, 2006, I was driving home from work when I was hit.
The other driver, a man with a suspended license from a previous DUI, had
fallen asleep behind the wheel and hit me from behind. My car was totaled,
and I was injured. I had come out of the accident with just a few cuts and
bruises, as well as some severe neck and back pains. The next day, I went to
my totaled vehicle to collect my belongings, and spoke with the tow truck
driver. He told me that I was a very lucky woman. He said that if the other
driver had hit me about one more inch, he may have hit my gas tank, and the
accident could have been a lot worse. The tow truck driver really opened my
eyes, and I did feel lucky. I felt like I was being given a second chance at life.
I wanted to do something to just make myself happy, so that day, I decided
that I’d drop the weight.

The first month, I exercised every day, for 15 minutes. It just involved
walking on the treadmill and eating no more than 30 grams of fat per day. It
was so hard, but I went cold turkey, and completely stayed away from fast
food. Prior to my accident, I’d binge and visit several fast food chains during
my lunch hour. One day I’d go to McDonald’s and order the chicken nuggets
meal (Super Sized, of course) and then go to Wendy’s and get a junior bacon
cheeseburger and some fries. Since I had set my mind to it, I had managed to
stay away from those foods for a month. Unfortunately, the cravings were
still there. At night, usually around bedtime, I’d begin thinking about a
cheeseburger or a club sandwich. I still craved junk food meats. Now don’t
get me wrong, meats are good for you. They provide you with lots of proteins
and several of the nutrients that your body needs. I had abused my body
eating such crap in the past I didn’t know what to do. I had no idea how long
I could hold myself off from those cravings. So, with a little research, from
PETA, I decided to become a vegetarian.

By my birthday in October, I had lost a total of 45 pounds in a little over two
months. I continued to exercise, but had increased it from 15 minutes per day
to 30 minutes per day. The weight was finally starting to melt off. And, by
then I was down to a size 18. I was pretty happy, but I knew that at 255
pounds, I still had ways to go.

The holidays weren’t as difficult as I thought they would be. I found that the
secret to resisting those Christmas cookies and other tempting treats was to
make some of your own low-fat alternatives. (One of my favorite was low-fat
snickerdoodles that I made myself!) That Christmas, instead of gaining
weight, which I had done several years before, I managed to lose 10
additional pounds. When we rang in 2007, I was close to 70 pounds down.

In February, one of my favorite radio stations, Star 101.3 FM was sponsoring
a contest called “April’s Biggest Losers.” April was one of the radio dj’s who
wanted to lose some weight for her New Year’s resolution. The contest was to
be six months, and whoever lost the most body weight percentage would be
the winner. The only catch? When the contest ended in August, all
participants had to wear summer clothes and participate in a photo shoot. So,
I sent in an e-mail to the radio station, explained my situation and who I
was, and why I wanted to participate in the contest. I was lucky enough to be
one of the ten women chosen to participate.

Between February and April, I was working really hard. I’d do double workouts
and wake up at 5 a.m. to go to the gym, and then go running at the beach
after work around 6 p.m. I wanted to win the prize, which was a shopping
spree. At that time I was around a size 16, and 215 pounds. I had lost 85
pounds and 8 sizes. I hadn’t bought any new clothes, either. So, at that time,
the clothes that I did wear were really baggy. Some of my friends gave me
their hand-me-down clothes, which fit me well, but even those were
becoming looser by the day.

By the time August arrived, and the day of the photo shoot came, I had lost a
total of 115 pounds. When Don Bleu and April Sommers (the two dj’s from
Star 101.3 FM) announced me as the winner, I was ecstatic. I had lost 20% of
my body weight (about 55 pounds) within that six month time frame. I had
won the prize, but more importantly, I accomplished something that I didn’t
think was possible.

After the contest, I continued to workout. I lost 10 more pounds, bringing my
total weight loss to 125 pounds. I now weigh 175 pounds at 5’10” and have a
body fat percentage of 20%. I feel like I have transformed into a whole other
person. I have done so many things that I never in my life thought that I
could do: I have taken a course to become a personal trainer, I have gone on
a 15 mile hike (yikes!), I have lost enough weight to the point where I feel
happy and healthy, AND come July 2008, I am going to Los Angeles to Turbo
Camp!