This is the time of year where everyone is talking about weight loss. A local community paper posted the following article about my mega weight loss in hopes that it might inspire people to make a fresh start in 2010. This is what was published in the January issue of The Beacon:

Anyone that meets Michelle Kempton today would never guess that this energetic and athletic woman used to weigh 285lbs. Like so many of us, Michelle has always struggled with her weight, after having children her weight maxed out to the highest it had ever been. Over the years, she's tried countless fad diets, had different gym memberships and failed to stick with it long enough to see any significant results. But this time was different and it didn’t involve any fine print, miracle food or gimmicks... it was just about wanting change bad enough to not give up.

Michelle's transformation started two years ago when she started working out with a personal trainer (Devin Sherrington from 360 Wellness & Fitness). Initially, these workouts were very difficult both physically and mentally, but she quickly started to notice herself getting stronger, feeling healthier and as a result was happier. Michelle knew she had let herself go beyond a point that she felt she could even rebound. Devin stayed positive and pushed her to points where she had to go, but wouldn't try by herself. The weight started to come off. She attended fitness bootcamps twice a week in addition to her weight training sessions. Then Michelle got injured at the gym, unfortunately this brought her excise routine to a screaming halt. Life got busier as her family started to build their home in Cow Bay and Michelle fell back into unhealthy eating habits and not making time to exercise. She gained some (but not all) of the weight she lost in a matter of months. Finally, she realized if she didn't get things back on track, she'd be back where she started or maybe weighing even more! Michelle knew it wasn't too late to get back at it again and this time she was not going to stop. She admits it was discouraging to think about all the weight she had to lose again to get back to where she was, but she decided to put that behind her and start over.

In addition to weight training and bootcamp, she started to run intervals. The first day that Michelle started to run she weighed 250lbs. It definitely wasn't a pretty sight to see her run the boardwalk, and it wasn't easy to move faster than a walk, but she did it anyway. The weight started to melt off when she started running. Of course this entire time, she’s managing her food and was eating a low carb, high fiber diet (using common sense as her guide) with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables with every meal. Two years later, Michelle has now lost 120lbs and is the healthiest she’s been her entire life. A number of people stop her during her runs that have seen her amazing transformation and can't believe she's the same person from a year ago. She now does public speaking about weight loss and teaches running clinics. She encourages other people who think "they'd never be a runner" and help them realize that they can be if they talk to their doctor, take it slow and train smart they'll be surprised at the results!

What's her secret to such mega weight loss? It's hard to say exactly, because it's not just one thing. A number of factors transformed her life, but the most important component was her perseverance. You can read about Michelle's weight loss process (the good times and the bad) over the last two years on her blog: www.uncoveringme.com