Chic of the Week Weight Loss Story: Adrienne Ambush

• health + fitness
• August 7, 2012
• Ashley

Meet Adrienne Ambush and you’ll soon discover how much you can really gain in loosing. After the extreme hardship of being bedridden with viral meningitis along with a brain tumor, Adrienne was able to push herself towards her own goal to be the new person she felt she had become on the inside and out. Since the start of her quest to lose weight, Adrienne has shed 60 pounds and is still set in her ways of a new, healthier life. None of her hard work and dedication came easy – after a number of failed diet attempts, Adrienne agrees that the best way to losing weight is a clean diet, active lifestyle, and positive thinking! 1) What do you do for a living? Currently I’m a full time dating director at Its Just Lunch while also going back to school for my RN. 2) Are you married? Have kids, etc? Never been married, don’t have any kids. 3) How did you put on the weight? What were some of your bad habits? My weight has always gone up and down but I hit my highest weight of 212 in February of 2011 when I was put on bed rest after discovering I had contracted viral meningitis as well as a brain tumor that was affecting my speech, vision and mobility. Luckily the tumor was not cancerous and after more than two months of lying on my back, eating whatever junk food my parents and grandparents supplied me, I was finally able to slowly but surely start to get out and get my life back again. 4) What happened that made you finally decide to lose the weight? When you are laying in a bed for hours at time not knowing if you’ll ever feel the same again you have a lot of time to think of things you would have done differently had you been given the opportunity, becoming more active was one of them for me. 5) How much weight did you lose? I’ve lost 60 pounds so far. I was 212 march of 2011; I am currently 152. 6) How did you do it? I don’t recommend this to anyone else who went through as serious of a medical condition as I did but as soon as I was able to walk I started to walk, bike ride and do a light jog for hours on end. Although my parents cautioned me against it because I still was not 100 percent better I refused to sit at home and let life pass me by. I wanted to live. 7) Why did you finally do it? I didn’t want to be the old me anymore. I wanted my outside to reflect the new me I had become. 8) What diets have you tried before? Why do you think they did/didn’t work? You name it, I’ve tried it. Grape fruit diet, acai diet, vegetable soup diet, slim fast diet, laxative diet..everything but the eat clean/work out/live positive lifestyle. 9) What do you do to maintain your weight now? Now I make sure to take care of myself. I don’t beat myself up if I have sweets every now and again but it is just every now and again. I gave up meat five years ago so I only eat seafood. I snack on granola and fruit, drink lots of water and stay away from soda and a lot of bad carbs. Whole foods store is my friend. 10). What are some of your favorite form of exercise? If I’m outside, its walking and bike riding. If its inside its the eliptical machine. 11) Do you belong to a gym? Why or Why not? I belong to Planet Fitness but I will be canceling my membership due to the fact that I prefer just to work out in the great outdoors 12) How often do you work out? I try to work out atleast 3 to 5 days a week. 13) How often do you cook? I try to cook a least a few times a week so I have enough to last me for lunch and dinner for the next two days. 14) What are some of your favorite quick and easy healthy meals? A frozen shrimp burger from whole foods, brocolli and rice. 15) What are some of your treat foods that you have to have? French vanilla granola from whole foods. 16) What are some of the foods you try to stay away from? All fast foods, soda, bad carbs. 17) What did your friends and family think? Were they supportive? They are very supportive. They love how I look now but they also loved me for me before. 18) What did your significant other think? What was his/her reaction? N/A 19) What advice would you give to anyone who is trying to lose weight? Be patient..you didn’t gain all the weight in one night, your not going to lose it all in one night either. 20) Anything else you would like to add? Stay positive]]>