From the moment she hit puberty, Katie Bierman had an issue with her weight.
But it wasn’t just her weight. At 220 pounds in the year of her high school graduation, Katie joined a gym and started working on portion control. But the way she chose was an extreme—just not eating. If she didn’t go to the gym, she’d attempt to purge what she might have eaten that day. And if she did go to the gym, she’d stay there for several hours at a time.
That excessive workout schedule, 6-7 days a week, several times a day, combined with lack of proper nutrition made what happened next unavoidable. Katie fell and broke her back and hip.
The pain medications she took kept her appetite suppressed, so she took them well beyond her need. “Thankfully,” she says, “my mom noticed this and took them away.” But Katie replaced her pills with caffeine: caffeine drinks, caffeine pills, caffeine mints—anything that would give her energy and keep her from eating.
That desperation to lose weight at all costs almost cost her the very thing she was trying to save. Her resting heart rate was close to 180 bpm. But she was thin!
She met the man who would be her husband in 2009. “This was at my skinniest,” she says. “I started to enjoy life finally and not worry about spending all day at the gym. I also started eating again.” In the next three happy years, she’d gained all her weight back.
At 210 pounds, Katie saw a picture of herself and started crying. “I couldn’t believe I’ had let this happen again.” On December 21st—before Christmas, before the magic New Year’s Day start date shared by the rest of America—Katie made the decision to get a Health Coach and start the 5 & 1 Plan. She needed something that made her eat on a plan, and this one was easy to follow. “You have no idea how it feels when you’re 24 and feel like you’re 80.”
Within the first week, Katie felt different—like she was going about this the right way for a change. Her energy was high, and her mood was good. And while she’s still working toward her goal, she’s already lost 40 pounds* and couldn’t wait to talk about it. “I just want to share my story with others who struggle the same way that I did. You can lose weight in a healthy way and actually eat. It definitely is a mindset change. Food doesn’t control me anymore!”
*Results vary. Typical weight loss is 2-5 lbs per week for the first two weeks, 1-2 lbs per week thereafter.
