The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
BRI HEALTHY
150 pounds down, blogger offers easy, fun pathway to successful weight loss
Westbrook native Brianna Blank never thought her weight loss — even as substantial as it is — would land her on a national stage.
Nearly four and a half years ago, Blank, 25, successfully completed a remarkable feat. The 5-foot, 2-inch Brooklyn, N.Y., resident shed 150 pounds in 21 months while a student at the University of Rhode Island. And she did it all on her own. “I was always overweight my whole life. I grew up eating whatever I wanted all the time — takeout was the norm,” said Blank, who now blogs about her journey on her popular pictorial website, Bri Healthy.
“My parents didn’t like to cook and (my whole family) likes to eat. I got that from them,” said Blank, who said she was always a “big girl,” weighing more than 200 pounds in high school. “Once I hit college, the endless dining hall options took a toll on (my efforts), and really put me over the edge.”
In her sophomore year, Blank was curious about her weight.
“I used to always avoid scales, so I consider it almost divine intervention
that I stepped on one out of nowhere,” she said. It registered 306 pounds. “At that moment, I said, ‘OK, I really need to do something for my health,’ ” Blank said. “I can’t keep doing this anymore if I want to live a healthy life.’ That was the turning point for me.”
Last week, the “Today Show” called, asking if she’d be willing to appear on the Joy Fit Club segment with health and nutrition expert Joy Bauer to tell her story. The producers had read about her in People magazine, which chronicled her accomplishment its January issue.
“I was an entirely different person. I went from a size 24 to a 10,” said Blank, who was also featured in Cosmopolitan magazine.
Blank showed up at Rockefeller Plaza, the headquarters and New York studios of NBC, and learned the particulars of her appearance. She had one reservation.
“They told me I was going to do a walk-out from the stairs in the audience. At first, when they said that, I was a little nervous, I said, ‘Oh, my God, what if I fall?’ But it went super smoothly.”
She walked onto the stage, where “Today Show” hosts Jenna Hager Bush and Kathy Lee also greeted her. Food from her former life — pancakes, a bowl of Lucky Charms, a burger and fries — sat on one table, while another displayed what she eats now: wheat toast, blueberries, lean steak, veggies.
Blank was still elated Wednesday about her experience on set.
She began her blog in 2014, and has just started to monetize the website. Her Instagram account, bri.healthy, boasts 13,000 subscribers.
Blank works part time as a script production assistant on “The Chew” talk show, which airs on ABC. Her dream is to make her living entirely off Bri Healthy advertising.
Starting in January 2012, Blank lost 50 pounds over four months just by converting her diet to a healthy one, she said. Then she decided to begin incorporating exercise into her regimen.
Blank also began researching healthy alternatives she could choose from in her college cafeteria.
“I ate a whole lot of turkey sandwiches: lettuce, tomato, onion, brown mustard with fruit or soup,” and managed to remain consistent, she said. “I just had my eyes on the prize.”
She now weighs 156 pounds.
“I was so motivated, almost nothing could get in my way,” Blank said, although she did hit a couple plateaus. “I was very, very hard on myself when I ate badly. I felt like I was doing something so counterproductive to my goals.”
For a short while, her self-criticism took an emotional toll, but she soon got back on track. “Thankfully now I’m past that.”
Four or five days a week, she takes Zumba classes, works out on the elliptical and does strength training. Now, as a certified personal trainer, Blank said she’s obsessed with group classes.
“I feel like they push me harder than I push myself on my own,” she said. “I just love the energy that’s in the room when everyone is doing the same thing.”
She mixes things up with a combination of kickboxing, barre, dancing and spin classes.
Her blog offers an array of motivational stories, cooking videos and lowcalorie, sensible recipes. Blank will come up with a idea and “crowdsource” it, consulting as many as five other recipes to create her own version.
She tries to post once a day.
Complete with photos, her recipes include spaghetti with creamy mascarpone tomato sauce, made with pasta sauce without added sugar — 335 calories per serving. Each bowl of autumn pumpkin soup, which uses pureed pumpkin, almond milk and maple syrup, is a mere 95 calories.
Others include mini pumpkin pies with wonton pie crust topped with coconut whipped cream made from maple syrup and unsweetened coconut cream.
Many are great-tasting versions of comfort food, such as lightened-up fouringredient mozzarella sticks with honey mustard dipping sauce, which calls for wheat bread crumbs, wheat flour and egg whites. Each stick clocks in at 55 calories.
Blank’s dream now is to “share my story with the world and help as many people as I can.” Her eventual goal is having her own talk show.
“Now I think it’s my time, and I really want to show that I can be amazing on TV,” she said.
One of the most important things to adhere to during a weight loss journey is to not beat yourself up if you have a slip-up, Blank said.
“Slip-ups will happen. They can — and should — and it’s OK,” she said. “Just get right back on track the next day. One bad meal will not ruin all the other good meals. As long as you’re good most of the time, then you deserve to treat yourself, because if we deprive ourselves, then we’ll never truly be happy.”
For more information, visit brihealthy.com. Check out her Instagram account at bri.healthy.