The Ebony/JET Weight-Loss Challenge: Lekicia Young
5 families take charge of their lives
2008-06-30
Name:
Lekicia Young
Age:
30
City:
Winter Haven, Fla.
Occupation:
Insurance claims service assistant
Weight:
196 pounds
Height:
5 feet 6 inches
Reason for Weight Gain:
“Eating whatever I could, whenever I could.”
Target Weight Loss:
31 pounds
In The Refrigerator:
“Take-out food from restaurants (pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers); anything I could fix quickly, like those meals in a bag.”
Motivation to Lose Weight:
“Stretch marks! I don’t want more stretch marks on my arms [and other places] that appeared because of overeating and bad food management, not the pregnancy.”
The Inside Story:
Lekicia Young weighed 198 pounds on the day she gave birth to her son, Baré, and before the pregnancy, she had weighed 150 pounds since the 11th grade. “I can’t put the weight gain on my pregnancy because three months after my son was born, I weighed 155.” After she gave birth, she realized she had to make better choices, beginning with taking steps to live a healthier life. “Being a single mother, my whole life is the culmination of choices that I’ve made, and I have no choice but to deal with them. I’ve already made several questionable decisions. So now I’ve made the decision to be healthier, something that’s going to positively affect my life and my son’s life. Weight gain is such a huge part of how a woman looks at herself; it affects her attitude, her personality, everything. So I’ve made the choice to turn things around and head in the right direction.”
The Assessment:
With a body mass index over 31, Lekicia is considered morbidly obese. Her kitchen is stocked with little food and what is there is not very healthy. She doesn’t exercise, but could lose a significant amount of weight if she just makes small changes.
The Plan:
“Phase I Detox of The Fat Smash Diet. After detox, we will work to fill her kitchen and meals with color––oranges and greens and yellows––as it relates to fruits and vegetables. She will eat more lean meats without the skin, and do more baking and grilling, rather than frying.”
Young's Blog
It's funny that this is my first update. I've been doing great -- until today. Today I woke up with a cold, so I wasn't feeling very good and didn't feel any better by the time I got to work. There was a party for one of my co-workers, so today, I fed my cold. I fed it biscuits and fried chicken and cake...
Read Full Entry
| ....................................................................................................................................... |
| Family Profiles |
 |  |  |  |  |
| ....................................................................................................................................... |
