When people ask me how long it has taken me to lose over 170 pounds, I tell them "all my life.". I weighed 322 at my heaviest. Now I weigh about 150 pounds. I had tried many times to lose weight. I remember going to Weight Watchers when I was in junior high. i tried Nutri-System in college but I didn't like the food. I went back to Weight Watchers and lost, but gained it back. I moved to Florida and tried a hospital-supervised liquid diet and lost. I then moved to Atlanta where I began traveling and eating out. The pounds crept back on, plus more.

In 1999, I was going through a difficult period in my life and was being very judgmental of others' lifestyles. It occurred to me that I needed to look in the mirror. I weighed 322 pounds, smoked and never exercised. At that point, I joined Weight Watchers and made my final commitment. Soon after that, I met my current husband and my life instantly changed. I was truly happy for the first time in my life. With the support of my husband, I quit smoking and started exercising.

In what I like to call "my previous life", I would watch the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon on television and be in awe. Why would someone push themselves to exhaustion and crawl across the finish line just to say they finished? I just couldn't understand. Now, I do. In 2005, I entered my first triathlon. There was a sign at the bike transition area that said "Athletes Only". I had to stop for just a second before I realized that I was an athlete. It is quite an amazing thing to think about. I never thought that I would consider myself an athlete.

The rush I now feel when I cross that finish line is like nothing else I have ever experienced. My goal is to get to Kona by the time I'm 45. Hopefully, I will qualify but I'm not too proud to beg for a lottery pick!

I currently teach fitness classes at two of our local YMCAs. I teach everything from cycle to step to Yoga. My classes include students as young as 13 and as old as 85. I'm currently teaching about 25-30 classes per month. I love being able to give my students a real example of how a good diet and regular exercise actually work. I show them my "before" picture so that they really will get a sense of the fact that I know what it is like to struggle with weight issues. However, I am also showing them what it is like to embrace a new, healthy and wonderful lifestyle.

My advice to those struggling with weight issues:

Find something that you can live with for the rest of your life. Please don't think of yourselves as being "on a diet". This only implies that you can, at some point, be "off the diet". I have tried to find something that I can live with and be happy. I love food too much to be miserable about it. Find something that works for you.

That goes for exercise as well. You will stick with something you like easier than with something you don't. When I first started to exercise I did it at my company's gym in the late afternoon when there wasn't anyone else there. I also did Yoga and Pilates videos at home. I finally got up enough nerve to join the YMCA because I really wanted to try a cycle class. It was difficult to go into a group exercise class at first and be surrounded by what I perceived as "skinny people who didn't need to be exercising in the first place". What I have learned in the last few years is that those "skinny" people are "skinny" for a reason - they work at it. DO NOT let others intimidate you. You are all there for the same reason - to get and stay healthy!