Karenga Ross, 33, of Fayetteville lost 61 pounds

By Michelle C. Brooks

For the AJC

Former weight: 221 pounds

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Family, Family Karenga Ross weighed 221 pounds when she began her weight loss journey. “I’ve always been a thick girl and thought that it was hereditary and there was nothing I could do about it,” she said. But her mom, Lenora Bryant [featured in Success Stories on Feb. 1, 2012] encouraged her to try Weight Watchers.

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Family, Family Karenga Ross weighed 160 pounds when this photo was taken in December 2011. She has lost 61 pounds. Ross is photographed with her mother, Lenora Bryant, 59, featured in Success Stories on February 1, 2012. She eats a balanced diet and exercises daily. “I have so much more energy and am so happy overall,” she said.

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Current weight: 160 pounds

Pounds lost: 61

Height: 5 feet 7 inches

Age: 33

How long she’s kept it off: Four months. She started December 2010 and met her goal in October 2011.

Personal life: “I moved from Minnesota [to Fayetteville] in October 2011 to be closer to my mom and hope to move my husband and four children to Atlanta during the summer of 2012,” she said. “I’ve been married to my husband for almost six years. He loved me in my voluptuous size and loves [the] new thinner me, too." She works as a software engineer and software quality assurance leader, and since December, she’s been a part-time Weight Watchers receptionist.

Turning point: “I’ve always been a thick girl and thought that it was hereditary and there was nothing I could do about it,” she said. “My knees began to hurt as I put on additional weight after the children were born. I was out of breath going up a small flight of stairs. ... When my mom, Lenora Bryant [featured in Success Stories on Feb. 1, 2012], came to visit us in Minnesota during the winter holidays in 2010, I saw how Weight Watchers really worked for her and she looked fabulous. She showed me how to ... live a lifestyle change.”

Diet plan: She starts the day with oatmeal, skim milk and a banana. Fruit or yogurt for snacks. Lunch is a salad with protein. And dinner is a salad with grilled chicken.

Exercise routine: She exercises seven days per week, jogging, walking, boot camp and kickboxing classes and Zumba classes.

Biggest challenge: “Making me time was difficult ... my family found that they were OK without Mom for one hour while I went to the gym,” she said.

How life has changed: “I have so much more energy and am so happy overall,” she said. “I go up and down seven flights of stairs during the week when I go to the company cafeteria ... I had to visualize what success looked like for me; so, I carried pictures of myself at age 20 in a bathing suit and one in shorts with a tank top. I would open my book ... and it would inspire me to keep going throughout the week.”

Be an inspiration: If you've made positive changes in your diet and/or fitness routine and are happy with the results, please share your success with us. Include your email address, a daytime phone number and before and after photos (by mail or JPEG). Write: Success Stories, c/o Holly Steel, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 223 Perimeter Center Parkway, Atlanta, GA, 30346-1301; or email ajcsuccessstories@gmail.com.