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Introduction Text I am 37 years old and I have been married for 14 years. I am a dance instructor and I also teach Pilates. In 2009, I embarked on a journey to lose 40 pounds. I wish I had known about Spark People then. I managed to lose the weight on my own in 2 years. At the end of the journey, I found SparkPeople and joined in hopes of maintaining. I was put on fertility medicine in 2013 and gained 40 pounds in 6 months. In my efforts to lose that weight, I cut way back on calories. And when the weight still wouldn't come off, I cut back on calories some more. I then found out I was way under-eating, putting my body into starvation mode and this was why the weight wasn't coming off. So I slowly increased my calories and gained another 30 pounds in 7 months. Finally the weight started coming off, and I lost 20 pounds in 3 months. But then I started having severe abdominal pain and wasn't able to eat much. I found out in 2018 I had developed food allergies to pork, peanuts, soy, lettuce, tomatoes, and cabbage. My weight has bounced around since. The adjustment to cutting out the food I'm allergic to has been especially difficult. Soy has been particularly hard because it is in so many things. So here in the year 2020, I find myself at my highest weight ever (225) and want to use this website to track my symptoms so I don't have to go through the food allergy issues again. I also want to dive back into the community and get support on this journey to better health and offer my support to others.

I would like to finally reach 140 pounds (again!) and keep it off this time. I would like to tone up. I would like to heal my digestive issues.

Nutrition: No foods I'm allergic to. Cut way back on sugar. I like to try to make little changes one at a time until they become a habit. This is so much easier than complete overhaul of my lifestyle. Exercise: My hope is to walk and do Pilates six days a week, plus give myself a dance class 4 days a week (Monday - ballet, Tuesday - jazz, Wednesday - modern / contemporary, Thursday - tap) until I feel well enough to look for a job. The job(s) will be active - teaching dance and Pilates - so this will replace giving myself class 4 days a week.

I am originally from Huntsville, AL, but I currently live in the Greenville area of South Carolina. I have a degree in Dance and I'm also a certified Pilates instructor. I'm a Christian who loves God with all of her heart. I've been married 14 years and my husband is the love of my life.

I love the color teal or just about any other blue-green color. I love white roses. Chocolate is my weakness.

Add a Link Karen Leader, Pilates Lovers SparkTeam - <link>http://teams.sparkpeople.com/LoveofPilates</link>
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