My Story: “I Was Headed For A Mediocre Life”

Chantell Johnson, a beautiful young lady from Illinois who once weighed in at 327 pounds and knew she wanted to take control of her health and her life, was like many of us: she knew she had to do something, but just didn’t know how to go about doing it. She initially experienced resistance from her family because they didn’t see a problem with her weight or health. Yet, Chantell knew different.

It was her unrelenting drive that landed her on ABC’s hit show, Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition in 2013.

Her hard work and dedication to not just losing weight, but building long-term healthy habits, has resulted in a beautiful transformation. Today, Chantell’s episode is still motivating people all around the world to get up, get out and get moving.

The two-hour program featured Johnson, whose dream, in addition to losing a lot of weight, was to return to college and complete her degree. The ABC team followed her year-long journey of losing weight while finishing her degree.

“All I do is fix my clothes,” Chantell said prior to the weight loss. “All of the things I have to do to basically hide the fact that I’m big.”

After the season finale and her big reveal of losing over 159 pounds, Chantell exclaimed, “One year ago, I was headed to a life of mediocre existence, and now…I plan on living my life to the fullest and taking every risk possible. I want to take the road less traveled now. I’m ready. And it doesn’t scare me, it only excites me.”

And for those who want to follow in her fearless footsteps, Chantell has this to say:

“I’ll say whether it’s weight, job, relationship, family, life in general – if you’re unhappy with something, list what you want to see and act like it already exists. Whatever that is, it WILL come with the change. I’ve been saying all year, “be the change you seek,” because they say, “don’t act like the girl you are, act like the girl you want to be.” The girl who is 168 pounds can run and will run at the drop of a dime. But that 327-pound girl wouldn’t.”

Johnson is now serving as a continuous improvement consultant for a manufacturing company in Scottsdale, Ariz.

For more on weight loss and how to lose weight at your own pace, click here.

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