Angela Crickmore, a Brazilian woman who now lives in London, was once an overweight woman, weighing 13 stones at size 18. She was naturally thin in her adolescence, but in her twenties let her figure go, and soon she grew bigger, larger.
It came to a point where she felt tired all the time, and could no longer walk short distances without struggling. She blames it to leading a sedentary lifestyle.
But she didn’t feel any real pressure to lose weight. She was happy.
“I felt beautiful,” she said. “My husband thought I was beautiful. But the outside pressure from friends and family made me very self-conscious.”
In December 2011, when her friend walked through the door almost one-and-a-half stone lighter, Angela felt inspired to lose weight.
“I thought, ‘If she can do it, I can do it,’”
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She began to look for diet plans online and ways to lose weight. Her food portions grew smaller and healthier—with plenty of lean meat, sweet potato, avocados and nuts.
“I wanted to jog, but because I was so fat I had to walk first. I walked every, day rain or shine, for an hour, and then jog as I became lighter.”
Eight months later, she had lost enough weight to join the gym. But this new lifestyle strained her relationship with her husband and family.
Angela weighed in at 13 stone at her heaviest. She is now just over 8 stone and has dropped from a size 18 to a size 6; Photo courtesy: Angela Crickmore/Facebook
“Being able to eat anything without gaining a pound, my husband and son Luy didn’t want to share my new eating habits, foods or even join the walks.” So she told them that they would have to prepare their own meals.
It was ‘self-protection mechanism’ to prevent her from throwing all her hard work down the drain.
“The new me felt great, active and wanting more out of life. I wanted to hike, camp, travel, meet people. I became so active that I even stopped watching TV.”
She was losing an average of 9lbs a month – eventually slimming from a size 18 to a trim size 6.
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Her new lifestyle drove a wedge between her and her husband, with the two of them having different priorities, and they decided to end their nine-year marriage.
But she doesn’t have any regrets about her lifestyle change. She’s proud of the person she has become.
Her newfound interest in body building pushed her to acquire a degree in sports nutrition. She has now graduated and hopes to become a fitness coach.
“I want to help people,” she said. “It makes me feel good.”
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