I Lost Weight: Corinne Crabtree Learned To Use Food As Fuel And Lost Over 100 Pounds

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Name: Corinne Crabtree
Age: 38
Height: 5'6"
Before Weight: 250 pounds

How I Gained It: At the age of nine, I started gaining weight. By the time I was in eighth grade I weighed 210 pounds. We grew up eating drive-thru and convenience food and going to buffets. It was just easy and, unfortunately, I never learned how to eat healthily.

When I graduated from high school I worked for restaurants where it was easy to eat burgers and fries. Throughout my 20s I suffered with shame over how I looked, which led me to eating out with friends, drinking too much and not exercising at all. Moving hurt -- and I was young! It was nothing for me to eat donuts for breakfast, a buffet for lunch and then hit Mexican and drinks after work. I ate my way to 250 pounds.

My biggest problem was that I liked to eat a lot of volume and didn't know how bad the food I ate truly was. I knew I was fat, but I thought it was because I was lazy, didn't exercise and was unwilling to go hungry. I thought to be thin you had to be hungry and suffer through exercise.

When I married at 27, I had dieted to 180 pounds -- but not in a smart way. I exercised, but didn't lift weights, I skipped meals and just stayed hungry most of the time. After we were married, I soon became pregnant. This was like a green light to go back to the volume of food I was missing out on and to the old foods that brought me comfort. The bigger I got, the more I ate because I was pregnant. By the time I had my son, I weighed 250 pounds again.

Breaking Point: When my son was born my weight did not fall off. I breastfed like a Jersey cow, yet I wasn't losing weight. I wasn't active, and I barely made an attempt to eat better. When Logan turned a year old I was lying on the couch crying, thinking, "I can't keep up with my one year old." I was tired, depressed and just fed up with my life. My husband came home, and I cried while looking at him saying, "I don't know what I'm going to do, but I have to change. I'm joining a gym, and I will figure it out."

He totally supported me. He said I could do anything I set my mind to, so I joined the gym. My son wouldn't go to the nursery so I decided I would go at night after dinner, letting my husband put him to bed.

How I Lost It: I started by walking three miles per hour for 15 minutes. It was all I could handle. For months, I would head to the gym and just go straight to my treadmill and walk as much as I could. At the same time, I started changing how I ate. I used to eat ice cream out of the carton, so I started using a bowl. I read books, I learned how to cook, and I tried lots of new foods. My biggest win was for once I didn't expect to hit a goal, to lose a lot of weight fast or even be perfect. I just kept trying new ways to be healthy until I found things that worked for me. Some things worked and some things didn't.

As I kept losing weight I got braver about trying classes at the gym, I hired a trainer to teach me about weights and took Spin classes. My brother-in-law was training for an Ironman and it sparked my interest to do a triathlon. My best friend wanted to walk a half-marathon. Suddenly, because I changed, all kinds of new exercise opportunities opened up for me. And when I started training for these events, I naturally started reading more and more about how to eat like an athlete.

When I got down to 170 pounds I stalled, so rather than giving up I joined Weight Watchers online and lost the last 25 pounds.

My life is full now. I have done over 25 half-marathons, three triathlons, two Tough Mudders, one full marathon, six figure competitions, and I started my own fitness website, Phit-N-Phat, where I blog about my journey and coach other women to learn about a healthy lifestyle. I've helped hundreds of women learn to run and cross the half-marathon finish line and lose weight after a lifetime of obesity. I also helped form a fitness group of over 100 women at my church. I lead their bootcamps, half-marathon training and work to improve the lives of their kids with a kids' fitness and health school initiative. This is at the same school I was bullied for my weight many, many years ago. I never dreamed I would one day be known as the "fit mom".

In my family, we eat healthily. I cook our food on Sunday for the whole week, my husband and I run races together, and I'm teaching my son how to have a healthy life unlike the one his mother led for so many years.

After Weight: 145 pounds

The Huffington Post publishes photographs as they are submitted to us by our readers.

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Comments

[darkinhereo]

01:47 PM on 09/24/2012

I am just blown away by this woman's transformation. That was a huge change and she looks great ! She truly is 'HOT' !

[melissa6869]

04:59 PM on 09/06/2012

Stunning!

[June Beachbody]

10:18 PM on 09/05/2012

Way to go! I checked out your blog and noticed that you use Beachbody products. I knew it! :)
Their products are amazing! I use Turbo Fire, Insanity and Chalean Extreme and I'm in the best shape of my life. It's like our little known secret :)

[mskitty71]

06:52 PM on 09/05/2012

damn! She looks great!

[LeftRightCenter]

05:21 PM on 09/05/2012

you look marvelous!

[fd909]

01:51 AM on 09/05/2012

Good...no, Great for you, Lady! I'll tell ya what I'd look like after ONE marathon...a corpse, that's what! Seriously, you have done a great deal of hard work, it shows, and you look beautiful.
Cheers from Texas.

[sweetpatriot]

12:26 AM on 09/05/2012

You are so hot

[edeword]

10:24 PM on 09/04/2012

What a journey. There is no easy way to get healthy and lose weight. Changing out habits is tough, but doable if you desire results. Good for you...you look great, and more important you are healthy and raising your child to be healthy as well. Sounds like you inspire many!

[edeword]

10:22 PM on 09/04/2012

Wow.

[Amber Ashley Butler]

01:44 AM on 09/05/2012

Everyone deserves someone to love them.

[asochildish1]

08:23 PM on 09/04/2012

Damn you look good

[writericky]

07:00 PM on 09/04/2012

School lunch program?

[sweetpatriot]

12:25 AM on 09/05/2012

Are you trying to be funny?

[bmitche]

06:26 PM on 09/04/2012

BEAUTIFUL !

[rcott1019]

05:55 PM on 09/04/2012

Wow, there was a good looking woman hiding in there. Fantastic.

[FOXYROSE]

04:45 PM on 09/04/2012

Good for you - you look so gorgeous and healthy.

[lnscreen]

04:27 PM on 09/04/2012

What an inspiring story! Would love to find out what you cook on Sundays for the whole week..