Initial Weight, Sept 08: 216 lbs

Current Weight: 164 lbs

Weight lost: 52 lbs!

UPDATE:

Carmen is now a CKO Instructor! Check her out at our WNY and Hoboken Grand Street locations!

Many people have busy schedules, juggle work and family, and end up taking care of others before they take care of themselves. But few have had such a hectic and stressful year as Carmen Alicia Merced, member at CKO Bayonne.

Not only does Carmen have a demanding job and family responsibilities, she also was the primary caretaker for her sick mother for much of last year, driving hours a day to bathe and feed her. When her mother passed away in February 2008, Carmen thought things couldn’t get worse – until she lost her grandmother in June, cousin’s wife in August, brother-in-law in September, and cousin just this past November. In the midst of it all, her husband, Marcos, severed his thumb in a work accident, and – no surprise – Carmen was the one to nurse him to health.

Carmen had done tae kwon do for years until her mother got sick, but when the grief of caring for -- and losing -- so many people caught up to her physically and emotionally, she had to quit and packed on the pounds. This, plus her emotional eating, caused her to reach her heaviest ever: 220 pounds. Even more troubling, she was having 2-3 terrible panic attacks a week. “I used to be afraid of taking public transportation. I wouldn’t go over bridges or in the Holland tunnel for fear I would have an attack.”

Her doctors wanted to put her on medication, but she had reactions to all the ones she tried. They wanted her to lose weight, but she had never been a treadmill type of person. She needed something intense and challenging like tae kwon do, but there were no schools in the area that she liked. That’s when Carmen walked past 555 Broadway and saw the first heavy bags being hung at CKO Bayonne.

“As soon as I took my first class, I knew this is what I wanted to do,” Carmen says. Not only has she dropped dress sizes, she also has found a new stress reliever, and her panic attacks have almost disappeared. The workouts have even changed her outlook on food – she no longer craves the KFC, Dunkin Donuts, Chinese food and McDonald’s she used to.

Carmen had given away most of her “skinny” clothes for fear she’d never fit in them again, but she couldn’t bear to part with a few items, like her favorite skirt. She recently found that skirt in the back of the closet, and lo and behold, it fit! Not to mention her husband is overjoyed that she now fits into lingerie that she had “grown out of.”

Plus, Carmen’s boss recently complimented her ability to maintain her focus under stress, and coworkers are beginning to compliment her on her new glow and smaller waistline. She has been telling everyone she knows to come check out CKO with her, including her sister and 22-year old daughter. “My sister keeps saying she will come when she is ready. But when you say that, you will never be ready. You just gotta DO!”

At age 40, Carmen is the youngest grandmother in town. She wants to set the example for her three grandchildren that you must take care of yourself, and that you can go through terrible things and still bounce back. “God willing, if I live to be old and gray, I want to be strong and kick someone’s ass! Thank goodness I found this place or else I don’t know what I would have done.”