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Featured on Oprah, Good Morning America, Entertainment Tonight, the Bravo Network and as a cover story in People;
Certified spinning instructor, personal trainer, running coach, motivational speaker, and marathon runner;
Married to Keith for 15 years, four children
CBN.com – At 29 years old and over 350 pounds, Chantel Hobbs recalls driving home one night after an event at her church. She felt hopeless, lifeless, and miserable.
“I believed that God had made me and put me on earth for a purpose,” says Chantel, “and I was not living the life He intended for me. I knew I had to change.”
She began to envision what that life would be if she were not fat. She thought of all those things she could do -- like being able to go down the slide at a playground with her kids, being able to board a plane without everyone staring at her and hoping she wouldn’t sit next to them, or being able to shop in the same clothing stores as everyone else. She wanted a normal life.
She cried out to God, “I can’t live like this anymore. I’m done. I give all this pain to You. I surrender this battle. I need You to take over and give me a plan.”
Almost immediately, Chantel felt a sense of inner peace. Although she had gone to church all her life and had a relationship with God, she never felt anything like the peace that she experienced that night. In her mind she clearly remembers hearing these words from God: You are not being the best you can be.
For the first time in her life, Chantel says, she understood that she could choose to be the best she could be or not. At that moment by the side of Cypress Creek Road her life turned around.
Chantel says if you want to become fit, toned, and healthy bad enough, you can make it happen. Her weight loss journey started on April 30, 2001. She says her number one goal was to not fail. For the first month she made it her goal to establish a regular exercise habit. She exercised for 30 minutes a day on the recumbent bike.
Next she confronted her eating habits by eating smaller, more frequent meals (5 meals a day of about 300 calories each) to keep her metabolism high and to prevent hunger attacks. Eating 1,500 calories a day left her feeling a little hungry, but never starving. By January 30, 2002 she had lost 101 pounds.
During the next year she took up Spinning and began strength training.
“The strength training transformed my body,” says Chantel.
She dropped another 65 pounds over the next eight months, found out she was pregnant with her fourth child, and got a call from Oprah. An Oprah Winfrey Show producer said they wanted her to appear on an “Incredible Weight Loss Stories” episode. She was four months pregnant when she appeared on the show, but no one could tell. In June 2003, her son Luke was born. Four months later she had lost all her pregnancy weight and the other 10 pounds she wanted to lose.
Chantel says if you want to establish a foundation that will support your success for the rest of your life, there are five decisions you have to make.
(1) Be truthful
(2) Be Forgiving
(3) Be Committed
(4) Be Interested
(5) Surrender
Life change will not be permanent without them.
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.
