Andrea Metcalf: 5 Things You Should Do Every Morning
How Exercise Can Lower Your Risk of Alzheimer's Death
Kara Combined Exercise Time and Family Time to Lose 107 Pounds
Posted on Nov 16th 2009 10:00AM by Melissa Joulwan
Be inspired by our That's Fit Success Stories. Then motivate others by submitting your own. Share how you've transformed your body through diet and exercise by sending us an e-mail at successstories [AT] thatsfit [DOT] com.
Name: Kara Masucci
Age: 33
Height: 4 feet, 11 inches
Before weight: 222
How I gained it: When I was younger, I ate all the time. Food was always around, and it was yummy. I was active, and I burned it off. But I remember my mom and grandma slapping my hand when I went for the second cupcake and saying things like, "Don't eat that, you're already too big."
As an adult, I enjoyed going out to eat, and I was apathetic because I was already overweight. I just thought, "I'm already big, I might as well have the cheese fondue!" As a Nurse Practitioner, you would think I would know better, but book smarts and street smarts are different. So I resolved myself to just be happy, and I thought I was.
Breaking point: When my daughter was one year old, I started to have some health issues. When I look back at my pictures now, I see how much weight I was carrying, but at the time, I thought I looked the same as when I was a freshman in college. I was overweight, but not "obese."
Around that time, I had several doctor visits to clear up some GI issues that would just not go away. The third doctor repeated what I'd heard from the others: "We can help you, but you also have to help yourself. You must lose weight." I sat in the car crying for thirty minutes afterward, then during my drive home, I made a decision: I would help myself.
How I lost it: I called Jenny Craig from the car after my doctor's appointment. I was nervous, but they were so lovely and wonderful. I'd tried other weight loss plans before, and I wasn't a fan of going into a place and raising my hand to talk. I liked that I could do Jenny Direct at home, and it wasn't a diet. It's a lifestyle change: Food, body, mind. It helped me to learn a different lifestyle.
I have a young daughter, and I know that young girls can have a lot of food issues, so I never wanted to use the D-word around my daughter. I tell her that we eat "healthy food" instead.
I made one little change everyday. The first was calling Jenny Craig, then after that, I continued to make small changes, including adding exercise to my life. I'm a working mom with a toddler, so I try to build some of my workout time into family time. I drive home from work, then walk to daycare to get her, and then we walk home together. After she goes to bed, I use my stationary exercise bike, and that's the time I spend with my husband. We used to sit on the couch and watch TV. Now he relaxes, and I ride the bike, usually six or seven times a week.
And every Thursday night, I talk to my consultant Bridgette. That's another reason Jenny Direct really worked for me: Life happens, but every week, Bridgette calls me to give me positive energy. She supported me through the entire weight loss process and now she's helping me adapt to maintenance.
I had two long-term goals when I started: I desperately wanted to have a normal BMI since my starting BMI was 44.8 (which technically meant I was "morbidly obese"). I also wanted to find a cute matching outfit for my daughter and me to wear. When I finally made it to goal, I had to purchase a child-sized dress for myself because I'm so petite. It makes me giggle because the "old me" was only able to shop at the "big girl" stores, and now I'm wearing a child's dress!
After weight: 114.9 lbs.
Kara has maintained her weight loss for five months.
Celebrities are successful with Jenny Craig, too -- see why Queen Latifah decided to stick with the program.
Kara, before
Photo: Kara Masucci
Age: 33
Height: 4 feet, 11 inches
Before weight: 222
How I gained it: When I was younger, I ate all the time. Food was always around, and it was yummy. I was active, and I burned it off. But I remember my mom and grandma slapping my hand when I went for the second cupcake and saying things like, "Don't eat that, you're already too big."
As an adult, I enjoyed going out to eat, and I was apathetic because I was already overweight. I just thought, "I'm already big, I might as well have the cheese fondue!" As a Nurse Practitioner, you would think I would know better, but book smarts and street smarts are different. So I resolved myself to just be happy, and I thought I was.
Breaking point: When my daughter was one year old, I started to have some health issues. When I look back at my pictures now, I see how much weight I was carrying, but at the time, I thought I looked the same as when I was a freshman in college. I was overweight, but not "obese."
Around that time, I had several doctor visits to clear up some GI issues that would just not go away. The third doctor repeated what I'd heard from the others: "We can help you, but you also have to help yourself. You must lose weight." I sat in the car crying for thirty minutes afterward, then during my drive home, I made a decision: I would help myself.
How I lost it: I called Jenny Craig from the car after my doctor's appointment. I was nervous, but they were so lovely and wonderful. I'd tried other weight loss plans before, and I wasn't a fan of going into a place and raising my hand to talk. I liked that I could do Jenny Direct at home, and it wasn't a diet. It's a lifestyle change: Food, body, mind. It helped me to learn a different lifestyle.
Kara "after" with her daughter
Photo: Kara Masucci
I made one little change everyday. The first was calling Jenny Craig, then after that, I continued to make small changes, including adding exercise to my life. I'm a working mom with a toddler, so I try to build some of my workout time into family time. I drive home from work, then walk to daycare to get her, and then we walk home together. After she goes to bed, I use my stationary exercise bike, and that's the time I spend with my husband. We used to sit on the couch and watch TV. Now he relaxes, and I ride the bike, usually six or seven times a week.
And every Thursday night, I talk to my consultant Bridgette. That's another reason Jenny Direct really worked for me: Life happens, but every week, Bridgette calls me to give me positive energy. She supported me through the entire weight loss process and now she's helping me adapt to maintenance.
I had two long-term goals when I started: I desperately wanted to have a normal BMI since my starting BMI was 44.8 (which technically meant I was "morbidly obese"). I also wanted to find a cute matching outfit for my daughter and me to wear. When I finally made it to goal, I had to purchase a child-sized dress for myself because I'm so petite. It makes me giggle because the "old me" was only able to shop at the "big girl" stores, and now I'm wearing a child's dress!
After weight: 114.9 lbs.
Kara has maintained her weight loss for five months.
Celebrities are successful with Jenny Craig, too -- see why Queen Latifah decided to stick with the program.
