Fat Woman on The Mountain

Posted by Dar | September 28, 2010 .

I would like to take a moment to give a shout out to a friend I met last year at Fitbloggin' 10. Kara Richardson Whitely has one of the most unique weight loss stories I have ever heard. We had some great conversation and she was quite the inspiration for me. She in fact turned the metaphor of "climbing a mountain" into her weight loss plan!

Kara, was so fed up with trying to conquer the metaphoric mountain of obesity that she decided to go climb a real mountain. And not just any mountain, she hiked Kilimanjaro! Mount Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania, Africa, is the highest mountain you can hike to the top of. (In other words, no ice axes, ropes or supplemental oxygen is needed -- assuming all goes well.)

Fed up with failed attempts of dieting, Kara started hiking and then started climbing mountains. She has climbed to various peaks in the United States. However, Kara not only climbed to the peaks, she hiked down into the valleys too! She has even hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back up (An adventure that is on my bucket list!). Kara says that mountain climbing and getting healthy have a lot in common: "They require tenacity, determination, and faith…The path to wellness is full of peaks and valleys". So true Kara!

Kara has a new book out that talks about her up and down journeys with her weight and her journeys up and down mountains! It's called Fat Woman on the Mountain: How I Lost Half Myself and Found Happiness. Check out the story of her 120 pound weight loss and quest to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. She even has some confessions in her book:

“As I trudged through Jockey Hollow on an early-March day, I worried that I had dragged Chris into another doomed weight loss attempt, the kind he’d suffer through for weeks, even though I had secretly stopped by the middle of the first day.”

I have been there and done that! Well not hiked through Jockey Hollow, but I know all too well about starting a weight loss program and then secretly going off of it and not telling anyone! Gosh it is so hard! Thanks Kara for the confession and letting us know that we are not alone in doing that!

And if writing a book wasn't a great enough accomplishment, she is now working on a celebrity trek back up Kilimanjaro. It is coming up in February and includes participants who have famously struggled with their weight loss. Check out the mountain climbers she has rounded up: Khaliah Ali, Muhammad Ali's daughter, Biggest Losers Heba Salama and Ed Brantley, plus-sized model Candice Belfer, Top Chef contestant Andrea Beaman and others. If I know Kara, you may just see this journey aired on a major network! So be on the look out for a new reality show!

You go Kara! I am proud of you and I hope to see you at Fitbloggin' 11! I will be there!

Kara Richardson Whitely’s book, Fat Woman on the Mountain: How I Lost Half Myself and Found Happiness, is available on her website, www.fatwomanonthemountain.com. Kara (@fatwmnonthemtn) lives in Summit, N.J., with her husband and daughter.

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3 Comments so far

Tweets that mention Fat Woman on The Mountain : Confessions of A Dieter -- Topsy.com September 28, 2010 11:09 pm

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by fatwmnonthemtn, fatwmnonthemtn. fatwmnonthemtn said: I wanted to share this wonderful write up about my book in the Confessions of a Dieter blog! http://j.mp/90epAf [...]
Casey September 29, 2010 10:50 am

Wow! Sounds like a great book with great motivation… I think I’ll add this one to my library.
Thetreadmilldiaries September 29, 2010 4:35 pm

I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with Kara briefly about her hike and was also inspired. What an amazing journey. Just placed an order for her book this week – which I hope to read next week. Looking forward to it!