By Liana Jacob
MEET the incredible woman who after experiencing pre-diabetic symptoms turned her life around and lost over nine-stone.
Software support engineer, Frances Carpenter (28), from Riverside, California was raised by her doting single-mother, leading her to be spoilt with food by her mum to ‘fill the void’ left by the absence of her father.
Indulging on fast food, crisps and sweets led Frances to put on 23st 9Ibs and UK dress size of 26. She never felt satisfied and was always haunted with self-esteem issues, until one day she began experiencing pre-diabetic symptoms such as fatigue, blurred vision and frequent urination that shocked her into changing her lifestyle.
After a complete U-turn in her diet and exercise routine; eating balanced meals, healthy carbohydrates, salad, vegetables and portion control, she now the slender size of 14st 8Ibs and UK dress size 14 to 16.
She went from consuming over 2,000 calories a day, to 1,600 a day.
“I have seen members of my family lose their life because of their weight and weight-related health issues, I just didn’t want that to be me,” said Frances.
“I have been overweight throughout my entire life from adolescence to my teen years; always turning to food as comfort for anything that didn’t go my way.
“I was an emotional eater to put it lightly. I went through high school overweight and by my last year of high school, I was around seventeen-stone and twelve pounds.
“The way I grew up, my childhood was not the easiest; being raised by a single parent. Never having a father-figure around I think contributed to most of my weight gain.
“When I was younger, my mother never told me ‘no’, I think mostly out of guilt, she felt bad for our upbringing and food made me happy.
“It wasn’t right but at that point she was just doing anything to try and keep me smiling. I was really trying to fill a void in my life with food.
“Even at a young age, I recognised something was missing and I wanted to fix it, I just didn’t know how.”
As much as she tried to shake the lonely feeling she had by over-eating, nothing was working, a voice in her head kept telling her there was no point in trying to lose weight.
Living in that dark place overwhelmed Frances with dark thoughts and she ended up covering up her insecurities with light makeovers.
One day she encountered pre-diabetic symptoms such as; increased thirst, frequent urination, fatigue and blurred vision.
This experience alarmed her and she decided to make a final change to better her life and health.
She then joined CrossFit, a fitness regimen developed for over several years, a programme dedicated to help people improve their workout routines.
“I couldn’t sit and wait for some miracle any longer, I just had hit rock bottom and knew I needed to fix it and fast or it was only going to get worse.
“I joined a Crossfit gym that completely changed my workout routine.
“Crossfit incorporates every type of workout including cardio, weightlifting, gymnastics, and strength training all at different intensity levels.”
After growing up to eat nothing but fast food, crisps and sweets, the weight loss process proved to be difficult for Frances, but she felt better than ever.
“The hardest thing for me was the food; living my life one way, always eating whatever I wanted and never thinking what’s good or bad for me then all of a sudden – a drastic change,” she said.
“I was eating different foods, but my mind was still wanting to eat the way I used to. Changing my mindset was extremely hard, I am still working on it, but it’s a lot better than it was.
“I have had people not recognise me. People are usually shocked at my results. A lot of people congratulate me on the hard work I have put in.
“Everyone wants to know how I did it, I get that a lot. Just a lot of hard work and dedication.
“I feel healthy, I have tons of energy that I never had before. I’m confident, proud and extremely happy. Words cannot describe the feeling.
“I have enough confidence to share my story with thousands of people in hopes they also can see how capable they are.”
For more information visit: https://www.instagram.com/isfrannyfityet/
