Jennifer Dearing – AfterFrom Health magazine
On the verge of gastric-bypass surgery, Jennifer Dearing gave healthy eating one more try—and dropped 166 pounds.
In 2005, life dealt then-305-pound Jennifer what she calls “two monumental eye openers.” In August, on a family vacation in the Bahamas, she fell off a boat she was on—and it took four men several hours to hoist her back up to safety. “I was 31 years old, and I thought to myself, ‘Im going to die because Im fat,” Jennifer says. Then in October of the same year, she miscarried due to health problems associated with obesity.
tk , Jennifer heeded a friends plea to try a nutrition class and a weeklong detox program with Transitions Lifestyle System, a diet plan that recommends low-glycemic-index meals as a weight-loss strategy. Jennifer (who isnt diabetic) followed the plan, eating lots of fruits, veggies, and lean protein. She ditched refined carbs and sugary drinks—and amazingly never counted calories. She also started packing a healthy lunch daily so she could eat right on the job.
Almost immediately, the weight started falling off. “I was losing between 2 and 4 pounds a week,” Jennifer says. “Thoughts of weight-loss surgery were a thing of the past.” Once she lost 40 pounds, she started walking on a treadmill 20 to 30 minutes three times a week. As her weight continued to drop, Jennifer strength-trained and worked out on an elliptical machine, too.
When she lost 100 pounds, Jennifer ran her first 5K race. Today—166 pounds lighter—Jennifer has many races under her much smaller belt. She is training for her second Olympic-distance triathlon (she hopes to crush her 2008 time). And in the next two years she plans to complete an Ironman, the ultimate triathlon that involves a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile run. “Im a new person now,” Jennifer says. “Theres no easy fix. I had to change from the inside out.”
See more get-skinny tricks from Jennifer.