SUCCESS STORY / Joy Carroll, 32: From 175 pounds to 155 pounds
Former weight: 175 pounds
Current weight: 155 pounds
Pounds lost: 20
Height: 5 feet 10 inches
Age: 32
How long she's kept it off: Carroll started her journey in March 2010 and reached her goal this January.
Personal life: Carroll is an inside sales representative for an electrical parts distributor. Since June, she's worked as a boot camp instructor with Operation Boot Camp. She lives with her fiance and a brindle boxer, Cloey, in Braselton.
Turning point: "As an adult, I tried diet after diet, but wasn't able to incorporate exercise because of the negative voices in my head about going to the gym and the other people around -- what were they going to think of me, or what if anything would they say," says Carroll.
In February 2010, she went to Mexico, and when she came back, she was shocked to see her vacation photos. “The person that was in the picture didn’t look like me ... I couldn’t believe that I had let myself go for so long.” In March, she started a 30-day program with the North Georgia franchise of Operation Boot Camp (www.operationbootcamp.com).
Diet plan: She follows the Bill Phillips Body-for-LIFE program. At every meal, she eats a protein and complex carbohydrate such as a fruit or vegetable. She eats four to six meals per day, which eliminates between-meal hunger for her.
Exercise routine: She exercises five to six days per week for 45 minutes. She works out a different muscle group each day to create muscle confusion.
Biggest challenge: "The biggest challenge was not buying too many clothes in the body transition," she says. "I have embraced the Goodwill store and the clearance racks."
How life has changed: "Now I wake up every morning with positive energy and willingness to start a new day," she says. "I have lost so many inches ... my insomnia is gone. It feels so great to love myself and love life again."
After four months of boot camp, in June 2010 she was pleased with how boot camp changed her life, so she became a boot camp instructor. “With the journey of fitness, I have regained my self-worth and self-confidence.”
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 e-mail 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 e-mail ajcsuccessstories@gmail.com.
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