Total Weight Lost: 213 lbs

Michele Whiting was never what you would call “thin.” In fact, no one in her Italian family could be described that way. Michele jokes that if you see any skinny people in her family, they were married in. For many years, she never thought she was any different than anyone else – she had a great family, a loving fiancé, and a seemingly normal life. But Michele began to strugge to walk up the three flights of stairs to her apartment -- her only form of exercise -- and as her weight ballooned, it was a challenge to even walk down the block.

When Michele’s weight reached its peak of 396 lbs, she started to fear she would be one of those people who became a prisoner in their own homes. “The final straw was that fear of not having any kind of normal life anymore: Being able to take the subway; going to Marshall’s and buy a shirt off the rack. I could only shop at one store. At that weight, you’re not really comfortable anywhere. Chairs are too small, flying is uncomfortable, and I became aware of how not ‘normal’ it was.”

By the time Michele had her wake-up call, she had already tried all the diets out there – you name it, she had done it. She’d had some modest success – 5, 10, even 20 lbs here and there – but nothing to sustain her through the 200+ pounds she wanted to lose! Michele began investigating gastric bypass surgery, and, after much research and soul searching, decided it would be the best option for her. “A lot of people who don’t understand what it’s like to be morbidly obese often say that [I shouldn’t have gotten the surgery]. If I had just stopped eating I would have been literally starving all the time. My stomach was stretched to the size of a football and it took a lot of food to fill it up. Even if I ate healthy, I had to eat A LOT to fill me up. It was next to impossible to lose it the old fashioned way.” Michele points out that her body chemistry was different at 400 pounds, and because of that, she felt the surgery was her best option. She underwent the procedure in January 2007.

Gastric bypass was no quick fix. Though she had met with a nutritionist and psychiatrist often before the surgery to prepare for the changes, Michele admits the recovery was difficult. “Within the first week I thought I made the worst decision of my life, but slowly but surely the weight started coming off.”

Michele worked hard to stick to the stringent diet laid out by her doctor and nutritionist, but she knew she had to incorporate exercise into her life as well. She had never felt comfortable going to a gym at her size, but she decided to try water aerobics at the local YMCA to get her body moving. As she got stronger and the weight continued to drop, she felt comfortable enough to join a cardio kickboxing class offered at the gym at her work. Michele was hooked. But when she was laid off, she needed a new workout option – and that’s when she discovered CKO Brooklyn.

The heavy bags and intense strength and cardio drills of CKO were tougher than Michele was used to. “When I started class, I was like, these people are whacked out!” But she realized she didn’t have to do it all at once; she told herself if she did ten sit-ups, that was ten more than she did yesterday! At the 6 week mark at CKO, she had lost another 11 pounds and was coming to class 5 times a week. She often stays afterward to lift weights, too!

Michele loves her new active lifestyle, doing everything from walking home to going rock climbing on vacation. “I have done things I never thought I would be able to do. I didn’t understand how good you could feel! I leave CKO and walk home 15 blocks – I have a friend who offers to give me a ride and I always say no because I want to walk. I feel so alive! I used to be exhausted, but now Saturday mornings I can’t wait to get out of bed to come to CKO at 930!” Michele said joining CKO has been the best decision in her life.

Her journey has changed her so much she is considering getting a masters in nutrition – or even opening her own CKO Kickboxing franchise! She wants to help others with their health as much as the CKO Brooklyn staff and others along the way have helped her. She gives advice to anyone looking to get healthier:

“Say, ‘I don’t care how much it hurts me, I am going to drag myself out of bed for this one hour’ and just DO IT. That strength inside you…you have to figure out how to tap into it. We are all capable of amazing things if you find it inside. You talk yourself out of it and use words like “I can’t. You feel like you are drowning and you feel defeated before you even start, and that’s what messes people up.

I have never been happier, so that leads me to believe I am making all the right decisions. Find your inner strength, find what works for you – make it a part of your life and you won’t remember your life without it."