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 Patty Murphy, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 223 Perimeter Center Parkway, Atlanta, GA, 30346-1301; or e-mail Michelle C. Brooks, ajcsuccessstories@gmail.com.
Former weight: 338 pounds
Current weight: 178 pounds
Pounds lost: 160 pounds
Height: 5 feet 6 inches
Age: 40 years
How long she's kept it off: "I started this journey in June 2011 - that's when I stepped into my first Zumba class," says Lowe. "I'm currently still working to obtain my goal."
Personal life: "I am a mother of two amazing boys, ages nineteen and seventeen. I'm currently single," she says. "I [have] worked at the University of West Georgia as an accounting assistant for nine years and I'm currently obtaining my bachelor of administration in management." She lives in Carrollton.
Turning point: "At 338 pounds, I always bragged about the fact that there wasn't anything wrong with me," she says. "When people told me I had to lose weight, I told them my blood pressure was great and I felt better than they did. Then, I noticed sometimes sitting at my desk, I used to get dizzy, but didn't pay any attention to the signs of high blood pressure. Went to the doctor and was diagnosed with high blood pressure. I didn't want to be [dependent on] taking pills every day for the rest of my life. Also, I wanted to be an example for my children and to break the chain of obesity in my family."
Diet plan: "I don't follow a certain plan," she says. Breakfast is usually a protein shake with berries or she will have cereal with almond milk and berries. Lunch is lean meat and veggies or a turkey wrap. If she goes out for lunch she orders something healthy. Dinner is often grilled fish or chicken with veggies or she has something else that's healthy. "I will eat about two snacks a day," she says. "There are foods that I have never [eaten], or I would never thought I would eat, but [that] I absolutely love now."
Exercise routine: "I do Zumba fitness six days a week and run seven days a week," she says. "If you [would] have told me two years ago [that] I would love running, I would have laughed at you."
Biggest challenge: "I love chocolate - if it has the chocolate in or on it, then I would eat it," she says. "That was something hard to cut down on. However, I will have a little something every now and then."
How life has changed: "I'm more active than I have ever been in my life. I feel better at forty than I did at twenty," she says. "People tell me how much I have inspired them to [lose] weight and I'm very truly humbled by all the kind words. I keep pictures in my room and office to remind myself where I started, and to remind myself not to go back to that weight. Find an activity you love to do. If you love it, you will stick to it. Take this journey minute by minute, don't worry about the next day or hour."
About the Author
