The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Success story
Tiffany Everett, 38, of Roswell lost 66 pounds
Former weight: 265 pounds
Current weight: 199 pounds
Pounds lost: 66 pounds Height: 5 feet 3 inches Age: 38 years
How long she’s kept it off: She started in February 2017 and reached her current weight in October.
Personal life: “I live in Roswell,” Everett said. “I’m married with three kids and I’m a teacher.”
Turning point: “I was polishing my feet and I couldn’t get myself up off the floor. When I needed assistance getting up, that was the point at which I decided I needed to do something,” Everett said. “I just started walking in my neighborhood. I had gotten an advertisement for Burn Bootcamp in Roswell (www.burnbootcamp.com/ roswell-ga) for people in the area to come out and check it out. … I went to a camp for 30 days when everybody was free. I thought, ‘If I can lose 5 pounds in these first 30 days, then I will get the membership.’ It was a little high. I lost a total of 6 pounds.”
Diet plan: “Literally, all I was eating was popcorn and coffee,” she said. She spoke with one of the trainers who explained she needed to increase her calories so her body wouldn’t think it was starving. “Once I started eating 2,000 calories daily I was losing 8 or 9 pounds a month.” She has now dropped that down to 1,500 to 1,800 calories daily. Breakfast is eggs with veggies and cheese. Lunch and dinner are salads, veggies and butcher-cut meats.
Exercise routine: “I started out not being able to do any push-ups; anything I can do today, I couldn’t do a year ago,” she said. “… I go five to six days a week when I am being really good — the bare minimum I do is four days a week.”
Biggest challenge: “I’m a teacher, I teach kindergarten … sometimes I’m at the schoolhouse till seven at night,” Everett said. “My biggest challenge is not assuming that I don’t have enough time. The work I do is never going to end.”
How life has changed: “I am happier now; I am not self-conscious about everything I wear. … The emotional part of it is that I (am) able to teach my kids something I wasn’t taught growing up. Impressing on them the importance of moving. I have always had high academic standards, but I never had a physical requirement for them,” Everett said. “To see my husband eat vegetables like zucchini spaghetti
— he ate it and (said), ‘We’re going to need more zucchinis’ — that means everything to me.” From weight loss to her son’s diagnosis of autism, she has learned: “Struggles come for many of us in many different ways and forms. I wanted him to know he had someone in his corner. … I want to be an active part of my kids’ life. … When you can’t pick your own self up off the ground, you can’t pick anyone else up.”
Share Your Success: Have you lost weight successfully with a healthy lifestyle change? If you would like to share your story with our readers, please include your email address, a daytime phone number, and before and after photos (by mail or JPEG), and contact us at: Success Stories, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 223 Perimeter Center Parkway, Atlanta, GA, 30346-1301; or email Michelle C. Brooks, ajcsuccessstories@gmail.com.