I was always the fat kid growing up, and I hated it. I was terribly insecure, and eating fast food made me feel better. It was a vicious circle, I hated myself for being fat, and I made myself feel better by eating the foods that made me fat.

After graduating college, my weight was at an all-time high. I was so big I could barely make it around the shopping mall with my friends. I was constantly buying new clothes because my weight kept increasing. I knew I had to do something about it, but I kept making excuses. Most of the women in my family are big, so I put it down to genetics. 

But one day, I looked in the mirror and felt such sadness for the person I saw staring back at me that I decided to take control of my life. No one was coming to rescue me from this mess I had created for myself. I had to take responsibility and lose weight. 

My weight fluctuated a lot during my teenage years because I was always fad dieting. I never kept the weight off because diets don’t work. Healthy eating is a way of life, and if I didn’t change the way I ate for good, I was going to be fat for the rest of my life. 

Losing weight was a long, slow process because I couldn’t overcome my fast food addiction. I forced myself to eat home-cooked meals, but the reality was I was too lazy to cook, and I would eat fast food eighty percent of the time. Within six months, I lost about 18 pounds, I felt a lot better about myself, but I still had a long way to go. 

I started eating a low-carb diet during the week and ate what I wanted on the weekends. Eating this way gave me the motivation I needed to keep going. I knew I couldn’t cut fast food out of my diet completely, so I did it gradually. The weight was falling off, and I was gaining more and more confidence, but I had to keep going. 

My friend told me about a bikini body guide program, it was a 28-minute workout, and it completely changed the game for me. The regime was difficult, but it was worth it. I completed the 12-week challenge and lost an extra 26 pounds, I was finally able to fit into a pair of size 12 jeans, and I was more than thrilled. 

Since losing weight, I can shop in any store and wear thigh-length shorts, and I recently ran my first half marathon. I’m so proud of what I’ve achieved. I wake up every morning full of life and vitality, excited about the future. Thinking about my life used to depress me because I couldn’t see myself happy and fat. 

I still have the odd takeaway and drink alcohol occasionally, but I eat healthy foods most of the time and exercise a lot. The past five years have been a difficult journey, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I am happy with how I look and can look in the mirror and smile. I want every woman struggling to lose weight to know it’s possible. With consistency and determination, you can do anything.

I had been trying to lose weight for fifteen years, and nothing worked. I bought every piece of equipment and went on every new diet that came out, but I kept reverting back to the same unhealthy eating habits. My health was suffering, sleeping was difficult because I couldn’t breathe, so my doctors put me on a sleep apnea machine. My health challenges were my biggest motivator to change because I worried I wouldn’t be alive long enough to see my grandchildren grow up. 

I knew weight loss was possible because I had heard so many success stories. But I couldn’t figure out the missing link as to why I kept failing. I had several friends who had hired a weight loss coach called Charles D’Angelo and lost weight. I was skeptical at first because I had endured so many years of failure, but I was desperate, so I decided to give him a try and I don’t regret it. 

I had hired personal trainers before, but their focus was always on fitness and nutrition. While this worked for some time, I would eventually return to my old habits. I knew exactly what I needed to do, but I just couldn’t seem to do it. Charles introduced me to the missing link, and that was my mindset. 

I had no idea that I was an emotional eater, I always had a difficult situation going on in my life, and I would use that as an excuse to comfort myself with food. I felt better when I ate greasy, unhealthy fast foods, and it became a vicious cycle for me. When I had my first meeting with Charles, I knew I was onto something because he didn’t ask me about my weight loss goals, but he asked me about my emotional state. He then began to explain the connection between food and my emotions, and it started making sense. 

Before I hired Charles, I read about his weight loss journey, and because he had walked in my shoes, I knew he was the one to help me. I think many fitness coaches have never been overweight, they’ve been into fitness all their lives and never struggled with food addiction, so they don’t understand where people like us are coming from. But Charles was different. He was empathetic and could see things from my perspective. He became my accountability partner and didn’t only ask about how I was eating and my exercise regime, but he asked about my thought processes. How was I thinking about food, and what was I doing to steward my emotions so I didn’t turn to food? His body and mind strategy worked, which is why I’ve lost 160lbs since I hired him. 

When I started losing weight, the most significant difference for me was my appreciation for movement. I got comfortable being overweight, I would just make things work, but my life wasn’t normal to the average person. I couldn’t walk up the stairs in my house without getting out of breath. And I couldn’t play with my grandchildren without weasing. 

My life has changed tremendously since I lost weight, and this time around, I’ve managed to keep it off because I’m more self-aware. When things get tough, I don’t seek food as my comfort, I deal with the situation head-on, and that’s what keeps me from overeating.

When I was 17, my mom died in a car accident, and that’s when my unhealthy addiction to food started. I became an emotional eater and ate to mask the mental and emotional trauma I was dealing with. I did all the normal stuff, graduated high school, and went to college, where I met my husband. We got very comfortable in our relationship and spent the evening’s binge-eating on unhealthy processed foods. 

At 200lbs, I wasn’t happy with my weight and tried to lose it. I have an extreme personality and would put myself on a really strict diet. But I was trying to do too much at once, and I quickly lost motivation and returned to my old habits. I developed a painful foot condition called plantar fasciitis, which made my job as a nurse very difficult. I worked 12.5-hour shifts, and it was hard for me to stand up. By the time I got home, I couldn’t walk properly. 

I had several other health problems, including high blood pressure and lower back pain. I was so ashamed of my weight that I’d hide my breathing problems from my friends when we were together. 

At age 29, I weighed 284 pounds, and at only 5’4”, I was carrying too much weight for my tiny frame. I was about to turn 30, I felt I had wasted my twenties in a body I didn’t like, and now it was time to make a change. I confided in a friend about how I felt, and she recommended the Noom app. I was initially skeptical, but I decided to try it. At this point, I was willing to do anything. 

I was drawn to Noom because I could still eat the foods I loved. I just had to incorporate more healthy foods and eat everything else in moderation. Within a few weeks, I started losing weight, which motivated me to continue. I lost 60 pounds in six months and decided to start exercising. I joined my local gym and hired a personal trainer for one hour a week. The weight kept falling off, and my body was getting stronger. 

One of the strategies that really helped me during my weight loss journey is meal prep. I will always struggle with my eating habits, but meal prepping reduces the temptation to order a takeaway. When I’m hungry, and a healthy option is available, I’ll always choose the good over the bad. I also surrounded myself with the right people who encouraged me and pushed me to keep going. Joining a Facebook group with a community of people going through the same struggles as me was really helpful.

Although I’ve lost weight and have never been happier, maintaining the weight loss is harder than losing it. Some days are better than others, but I keep going regardless of how I feel because I never want to return to being overweight. I tell my story not so people can pat me on the back but to give others hope. I have survived a tragedy and become better because of it. I know my mom would be proud of what I’ve achieved. My message to anyone reading this is that you can become the best version of yourself if you’re willing to put the work in and never give up.

In 2015, I weighed 289llbs and wore size 24 pants. I felt and looked awful, but I couldn’t beat my food addiction. I loved eating but hated cooking, so I used a lack of time and long-winded recipes as an excuse to eat fast food. I had several health challenges, and my doctors kept telling me to lose weight, but I didn’t know how. I was a yo-yo dieter, constantly dieting but never losing weight because I would stick at it for a couple of days, but my cravings were so strong I would give up and binge eat on sugary, high-carb foods. I had no energy, I felt sick all the time, and I had extremely low self-esteem. Despite my failure, I was desperate to change, and on January 13th, 2015, I started the ketogenic diet. 

What attracted me to the ketogenic diet was the food. I love to eat, and I kept failing on the other diets because they were too restrictive. I spent hours watching keto recipes on YouTube, and I knew this was something I could do because the food looked so delicious.  I wasn’t too fond about cutting out carbs and sugar, but what I could eat on the diet was a good trade off. Additionally, I was amazed at the results that people were getting. 

As soon as I started the diet, I knew I was on the right track because I felt amazing. The first thing I noticed was the improvement in my mental clarity. I used to suffer from terrible brain fog and could never get anything done because I couldn’t focus. And then, I started noticing the weight loss, and I knew there was no going back. Keto wasn’t a diet for me. It was a lifestyle. 

I started documenting my journey on YouTube, and to my surprise, I gained over one million views within two years. I did not expect my story to inspire so many people. I began to realize that this was bigger than me, I was changing lives, so I decided to write a book called ‘Simply Keto: A Practical Approach to Health and Weight Loss, With 100+ Lo-Carb Recipes.’ My book became a best-seller, and I’ve since written several more about the benefits of the ketogenic diet and the delicious recipes people can make. 

Many doctors and health care professionals don’t recommend the ketogenic diet as they say no long-term studies confirm the benefits. However, although I’m not a healthcare professional, I and thousands of others serve as evidence that it works. I had several health problems before losing weight, one of which was high cholesterol. My doctor worried that I wouldn’t make it past my 40th birthday if I kept gaining weight. She was skeptical when I told her I was going on the ketogenic diet and stated the reasons I’ve just mentioned. But now that my health problems have disappeared without medication and I’m at a healthy weight, she recommends her patients to go on the diet. 

I am not saying the keto diet will work for everyone, but it has definitely worked for me. Two years ago, I could never have imagined that I’d be the person I’ve become today. I’m a best-selling author with a thriving business, I’m living my dream life, and I’ve never been so happy.

At my heaviest, I was 240lbs, and I hated myself with a passion. I would avoid looking in the mirror because it was too depressing. My stomach hung down to my thighs, my arms resembled bat wings, and my face was just one big round blob! All I did was eat. If I wasn’t stuffing my face, I was thinking about my next meal. I could never have a proper relationship because I was too insecure to allow anyone into my life, and I had a lot of one-night stands so men could never see what I was really like. I figured if I was disgusted by myself, it only made sense that men were also disgusted by me. 

Things changed for me when I fell out of the shower one morning while getting ready for work. I was too fat to stop myself from hitting the ground, and all I heard was the loudest, blood-curdling crack. I broke my ankle really badly and had to have surgery. During my recovery, I decided I had to take complete control of my life and do something about my weight. I knew that my broken ankle was a wake-up call for me. I wouldn’t have injured myself so badly if I hadn’t been so fat. Now I was concerned about my health and the future I might not have if I don’t get this weight off. 

As couple of months into my recovery, I changed my eating habits. When I tried to lose weight previously, I would place these unrealistic expectations on myself and cut everything out of my diet. I could never stick to it and would give up shortly after starting. But this time, I decided to cut back on the foods I was eating instead of cutting the foods out completely. And that worked for me because I could still eat the foods I loved. I just wasn’t eating as much of it. 

I then started going to the gym and doing light exercises. I then moved onto the treadmill and started walking. Once my ankle was fully healed, I started running, and I loved it. I felt so free when I ran, so I took up outdoor running, and I was amazed at my level of endurance. I now run five to seven miles five times per week. 

My confidence levels are at an all-time high, and I’m so happy with myself. I love looking in the mirror now because I don’t feel shame anymore. I’m so proud of myself because of how far I’ve come. I’ve got a lot of excess skin around my stomach, but I see it as a badge of honor because it reminds me of how far I’ve come, the weight I don’t ever want to be again, and keeps me focused on my final weight loss goal. 

I now have a boyfriend who loves me, and I feel confident letting him see the real me. He’s seen pictures of what I used to look like and is really proud of what I’ve achieved. I inspire and motivate him to achieve his goals. 

I’m excited about the future, and I know that I’ll keep the weight off with consistency and discipline. I’m a brand new person, and love who I’ve become.

I was always a comfort eater as a child. Most of my childhood pictures were taken with food. I was the funny fat friend who made everyone laugh, but inside I was miserable. I despised myself and would go on extreme diets to lose weight. My friends and family would roll their eyes whenever I said I was going on a diet because they knew I’d return to my chubby old self in a couple of months. 

Eating was my favorite pasttime, and sometimes, I would spend the whole day eating. My days started with something sugary, then I would have something sweet for lunch, and a large unhealthy meal in the evening. I knew my eating was out of control and that I needed more than willpower to help with my food addiction, so I joined the 12-step program. Although it was very helpful, and I learned a lot from it, I needed something else to get me started on my weight loss journey. 

I signed up for a diet bet program, and I bet that I would lose 100lbs in 12 months. In January, I started going to the gym, and then the pandemic hit, and we were on lockdown. But I was determined to win the bet and lose the weight, and so I started going for walks every day. I changed my diet and began eating healthy meals. I really struggled with this because my first thought when I got hungry was to go out and buy something unhealthy. I had to learn to police my thoughts because once I started thinking about eating fast food, I would convince myself to eat it. 

I started documenting my journey on Instagram to keep myself accountable. I figured if I put it out there for the whole world to see, I’d feel like a complete fool if I didn’t win the bet. But I wasn’t expecting the outpouring of support and for so many people to tell me how I had inspired them to start their weight loss journey. The feedback I got from social media motivated me to keep going. 

I reached my goal and actually lost 110lbs within one year, and I was so proud of myself. When people ask me how they can achieve the same results, I tell them to start small. I think one of the biggest hindrances to success is trying to do too much at once. That’s what I used to do. I would go on extreme diets and fail because my brain couldn’t handle the shift. Doing one small thing every day accumulates, for example, getting off the bus one stop earlier and walking. Have a salad for lunch instead of a sandwich. These small changes will eventually help you reach your weight loss goals. 

Another strategy I used was to have a vision board in my room so that I was constantly reminded of what I wanted to achieve. I put positive quotes on the vision board, and I would read them out loud every day. The way you speak to yourself is also important. Instead of telling yourself that you can’t, tell yourself that you can. The most important conversation you’ll have throughout the day is the one you’ll have with yourself. Make sure you say things to yourself that will motivate and inspire you to achieve your goals.

In 2017, I was 40 years of age and weighed 290 lbs. My wife and I had spent the whole year planning a hiking trip, and we were really excited about it. But I didn’t think about how I would carry my weight up those mountains. Well, reality set in when I couldn’t keep up with my children, and that made me take a really hard look at myself. 

I knew I was gaining weight, but I had gotten comfortable with it. I spent my days working in our antique stores and evenings sitting in front of the TV eating unhealthy foods and drinking beer. I had always wanted to live a healthy lifestyle, I was bullied as a child, and to fight them off, I made sure I kept fit. I promised myself during my teens that I’d live this way for the rest of my life, but somewhere along my journey, I fell off track. 

I was born and raised in Missoula, Montana, and I loved the outdoors. I was very active and spent my spare time playing sports, playing war games, fishing, and building forts. Sports was my passion, so I earned a coaching degree and opened a training studio in Scottsdale, Arizona. I met my wife at the training studio, a yoga instructor, and I fell madly in love with her. 

After we married and had our first son, we decided to focus on another passion: antique stores. After opening a few and getting sucked into the business, I forgot all about fitness. We were so busy that we didn’t have the time or energy to cook, so we ate takeaway and ready-made meals most nights. I stopped going to the gym and participating in the activities I loved. I replaced my healthy habits with bad habits, and during this time, I started to pile on the pounds. 

I’ve got two sons, ten and eight years old, and it broke my heart when I couldn’t keep up with them on the hiking trip. They were laughing and joking about it, but I knew I had to make some drastic changes, or my children would be burying me before they went to college. 

Coming from a fitness background, I knew what I had to do, so the moment the penny dropped, I took action immediately. My first step was changing my eating habits, so I went on the keto diet. I felt a difference in my body within the first few weeks. Most notably, I had a lot more energy. I then gave up alcohol, and finally, I started exercising again. 

Within five months, I had lost a staggering 92lbs! I was amazed at what I managed to achieve in such a short space of time. I documented my success on social media and gained almost 80,000 followers. I get a constant stream of messages from people telling me how much I’ve inspired them and wanting weight loss advice.

When I started my weight loss journey, I was only thinking about my immediate family. I had no idea it would have such a massive impact on people worldwide. I’m grateful that my choice to become the best version of myself has inspired others to do the same.

I spent my days waking up late, scrolling through social media, and binge eating. I was lazy, unmotivated, and depressed. I had set so many goals for myself, but they lived in my head as dreams because I had no energy to take the action I needed to turn them into reality. A few of my friends had lost weight, and I would ask them how they did it, but their responses didn’t inspire me because I was looking for a quick solution. I soon realized that there was no such thing as a quick solution. If I wanted to get into shape, I would have to put the work in. 

One day, I took my clothes off and stood in front of the mirror. My stomach was protruding and wide, my arms were flabby, and my thighs rubbed together. I couldn’t believe how far I had let myself go. At that moment, I decided to start moving my body for at least 30-minutes a day. I was so ashamed of my weight that I didn’t want to go outside, and so I started walking around my house. I slowly developed enough confidence to start walking outside. After a while, I got bored of walking, so I started running, I soon got bored of running, and so I joined a gym, and that was when my life changed completely. 

I hired a personal trainer and started working out, I did a combination of cardio and weights, and I wasn’t afraid to try new things. When I first started working out, I was shy and introverted, but people were paying attention to my commitment, and as my body started changing, they would compliment me, and I started making friends, and they motivated me to keep up the good work. 

I also made drastic changes to my diet. My personal trainer advised me on the foods I should be eating, and I noticed a significant difference in how I felt. When I ate healthy foods, I felt alive and energized. When I ate unhealthy foods, I felt depleted and bloated. I had to make a choice, and it was based on how food made me feel. I knew I needed to feel alive and energized if I was going to achieve my weight loss goals, and so each time I got a craving, I would remember how sluggish and drained I felt any time I ate fast food. 

So far, I’ve lost 40 kilos, and I don’t plan on stopping any time soon. I want to maintain a healthy lifestyle and become the best version of myself. I would say to anyone out there trying to lose weight, don’t focus on motivation because motivation runs out. Focus on commitment and consistency. Once you decide you’re going to lose weight, make a commitment to yourself and be consistent. You’re not going to see results straight away, but you will eventually. Remember, you can only fail if you give up. I never thought I would be where I am today, but I persevered, and my life has been transformed, and so can yours.

Growing up, I was the chunky one, and I always wanted to lose weight. However, it wasn’t that I didn’t have any confidence, I was very confident in who I was, and I carried myself well. Even at my heaviest (260lbs), I didn’t try and hide my body. I wore what I wanted and went to the beach in a two-piece bathing suit. I didn’t care about negative comments, I knew I was fat, and I had accepted that. But I wanted to know what I would look like slim, and that’s what motivated me to change. 

I would eat fast food at least twice a day and then snack on candy bars in the evening. I loved eating, but I knew it wasn’t good for me. I tried really hard to lose weight, but I could never stick to another diet. My family didn’t take me seriously and would laugh whenever I said I was going on a diet. Although my mom was my biggest support, she always told me that losing weight was my responsibility, and I had to do the work. 

One of my good friends was also overweight, and she decided to have gastric bypass surgery. I thought that might be the solution for me too, and so I would go with her to her doctor’s appointments. But after hearing how my life would never be the same again after the surgery, I changed my mind and decided to lose weight the traditional way. 

I knew I had to change my approach to dieting because going all out wasn’t working for me. Instead, I started substituting foods. I did things like cut out the rice and have beans, and within four months, I had lost 40lbs. I was amazed at how good I looked and took my weight loss journey to the next level by going to the gym. I eventually lost 100lbs, and today I weigh 167lbs. My brothers were also big, and I inspired them to lose weight too. They are now fitness fanatics just like me. 

When people ask me how I did it, I tell them the same thing every time. There is no magic weight loss pill. You can listen to as many success stories as you want to and look at pictures of your dream body all day long, but if you don’t put the work in, you’re not going to lose weight. It’s that simple really. People fail because they want immediate results, they eat two healthy meals, go to the gym for a week, and expect the pounds to fall off, but it doesn’t work like that. It’s a slow process, and you’ve got to have the patience and determination to see it through. 

When I say things like this, I laugh at myself because that’s how my mom used to speak to me, and I would get offended. Now I sound just like her, but she was right. Weight loss is a mindset, and healthy eating is a lifestyle, not a fad. There’s no point in going on a diet so you can fit into your bikini on vacation, return to your old eating habits, and put the weight back on. Consistency is key. There’s nothing wrong with treating yourself but don’t overindulge.

I come from a Jamaican family, and food is an important part of our culture. It wasn’t what I ate, but the amount I ate and how often. It’s actually an offense to turn down food, so I could never go to a relative’s house and say no to a plate. I would eat even if I wasn’t hungry. How I ate trained my body to depend on food in a very unhealthy way. 

I was overweight my entire life, but things got really bad when I hit my twenties, and I just kept getting bigger and bigger. At my heaviest, I was 230lbs, and I was really struggling. I wasn’t physically active, and it was an absolute nightmare if I needed to run anywhere. My body would just break down, and I’d sweat and feel completely exhausted as if I’d run a marathon. 

I was a serial dieter and went on every new diet that came out. I would lose the weight and put it straight back on again because the problem wasn’t the diet, it was my eating habits. A series of embarrassing events motivated me to make permanent changes. I went to a theme park with my friends, and I was really excited to go on all the rides. But when I went to get on this ride in particular, I was told it would be dangerous for me to get on it because I was too big. I was devastated, and it put a dampener on the rest of the day.

The first time I left the country, I went to Japan, again I was really excited about the trip, but when I sat in my seat, I could barely fit, and I was so uncomfortable a flight attendant noticed and asked me if I wanted to buy the seat next to me. Some people might say that the theme park attendant and the flight attendant were rude and insensitive, but I say their comments were exactly what I needed to get my life in order. 

I completely changed my diet by eating whole foods and plenty of fruits and vegetables, and I started exercising. I don’t deprive myself and still eat the foods I love, but I eat them in moderation. Deprivation is the problem with dieting, people literally starve themselves of anything considered unhealthy, and that’s why they fail. I started my fitness journey 15 years ago and lost 90lbs in nine months. I kept the weight off, and I haven’t looked back since. I work out four times a week, and the majority of my exercise routine consists of strength training because I love the feeling of empowerment it gives me.

After I lost weight, my friends and family started asking me how I did it, and I gave out a lot of advice. I knew what I was talking about because I had applied the principles for a healthy lifestyle, and they had worked for me. When I realized that people were taking my advice and it was working for them, I got certified and became a fitness coach. Today, I help thousands of women worldwide reach their weight loss goals, and it’s the most fulfilling aspect of my journey. 

I didn’t date much when I was overweight. When you don’t love yourself, you attract the wrong people. But I’ve now met the man of my dreams, I met my German boyfriend while I was vacationing in Brazil, and we’ve been inseparable ever since. I moved to Germany, and we’re building a life together. 

I’m so proud of what I’ve achieved for myself and how I’ve leveraged my success to help other women. I travel the world, and I’ve been to over forty countries. I’m just so grateful that no one will ever be able to tell me I’m too fat for a seat again.