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.
SUCCESS STORY / Sha-Rhonda Davis, 42: From 236 pounds to 198 pounds
Former weight: 236 pounds
Current weight: 198 pounds
Pounds lost: 38 pounds
Height: 5 feet 7 inches
Age: 42 years
How long she's kept it off: She started October 2011 and maintained over a year. She plans to lose up to 30 more pounds.
Personal life: "I am a licensed clinical social worker, LCSW and PhD student at Walden University," she said. "I speak, coach and write to the emotional and total wellness needs of women who are balancing multiple roles and find it challenging to be on their own to-do list (www.empowered1woman.com)." She lives in Dallas. with her husband of nine years, Jerome Davis, and their son, Jordan, 7.
Turning point: "I had always been active … as I reached my 30s and became a wife (2006), mother (2008), Ph.D. student (2009) and business owner (2011), my health became less of a priority. My 2007 pregnancy with my son, Jordan was high-risk and I was on bed rest … and we delivered prematurely. He remained in the NICU for nearly eight weeks. To deal with the stress in my life, I would consume … any type of chocolate or bread I could get my hands on … I stuffed my feelings and I ignored my expanding body … I was in deep denial," she said. "Then in the fall of 2011, I developed a chronic cough that would not go away … when the inability to walk two feet without coughing profusely and sweating, I decided to go see a lung specialist and was immediately admitted to the hospital … A surgery in 2011 and 2012 revealed I had Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD)… I could live without a lot of things, but not my lungs."
Diet plan: Breakfast is a green smoothie or eggs and turkey sausage. Lunch is a sweet potato, broccoli and chicken. Dinner is salmon and vegetables.
Exercise routine: She exercises five times a week minimum. She runs half-marathons, does weights and cardio.
Biggest challenge: "My biggest challenge … being in denial, the fear of disappointing myself and the resulting responsibility of maintaining a healthy lifestyle … I started out with small goals and built upon them."
How life has changed: "Even though my diagnosis is still ILD, I have no internal or external symptoms of it. I attribute this miracle to changing my lifestyle from the inside out: diet, running, lifting weights, counseling, sisterhood, accountability, prayer and journaling … My skin has cleared and my lungs are functioning at 81 percent!"
