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:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGRK-rfmkoM