Caren Lost 80lbs & Kept it Off 20 Years Later

Today's Eat-Clean Diet Vegetarian Cookbook guest blogger is inspiring lady Caren Magill. She has lost a whole bunch of weight Eating Clean the vegetarian way & is total proof that turning 40 doesn't have to mean it's all downhill. Thanks for joining us Caren... you're a rockstar!

Caren looking ever more fabulous through the ages. 

It’s hard not to look at someone like Tosca Reno and not feel completely inspired and motivated.  Not only does she look amazing and fit, her journey didn’t even start until she was 40.  Now almost 53, she has a body that would make anyone envious.

My own story of transformation started earlier in life, about 20 years ago, when I was 21 years old, and 210 lbs.  I was inspired to move toward a plant-based diet after learning about factory farming, but it grew into something much more than that.  The more I educated myself on proper diet and exercise, the more the new me evolved.

Being conscious of the food you eat, from where it comes from, to how it will impact your body in the short and long term, changes everything.  Once you become aware of how much additives, hormones, sugar and pesticides are in processed food, it quickly looses its appeal.  Eating mostly unprocessed, organic food becomes a priority and a fun challenge to come up with new and interesting recipes.

The key to creating this change in your own life and making Eating Clean a habit, has everything to do with knowledge and awareness, and nothing to do with deprivation.

My relationship with fitness has also evolved over the last 20 years.  I was never an athletic kid and I was always the last one to get picked for team sports.  As a teenager I took up smoking and sustained myself on a diet of white bread, processed cheese and French fries.  The pounds continued to cumulate. But in my late 20’s, after feeling disappointed in myself long enough, I started doing aerobics classes just to “try it out”.  I didn’t love it at first, but kept at it and eventually took up running in my 30’s.  This momentum inspired me to give up smoking, and at the age of 37, I bought a road bike and signed up for a half Ironman (first time on a bike since I was 10!).  Today my fitness routine has evolved into more strength training through power yoga and ballet barre classes, but I continue to explore new and fun ways to stay active and fit.

One of the greatest takeaways from Tosca’s story and even my own, is that anyone can make significant changes to improve their quality of life, regardless of where they’re starting from.  You are never too old, too overweight or too nonathletic to make a commitment to yourself to become healthy. It’s a gradual process that requires small, incremental lifestyle changes, and finding the support of a role model like Tosca can make all the difference.

To your health!