STEPHENVILLE CROSSING, N.L. — A year ago, Carol Ann McKay made a promise to herself to go beyond becoming more physically fit.
Despite making fitness improvements since retiring from nursing in January 2016, she knew that making changes to her diet was the only way she would shed excess weight.
Another year later, the Stephenville Crossing woman still calls herself a work in progress but feels she’s come a long way on her journey towards a healthier lifestyle.
In an interview last January, she felt she carried too much weight and knew her solution was to eat less. She was on track at the Bay St. George YMCA, but her plan went off the rails in mid-January when her son had a medical emergency in Edmonton, Alta. and she went to be at his side.
McKay said it wasn’t long before she figured out snack foods at the hospital cafeteria and canteen weren’t doing her any good. So she started going to the grocery store in the evenings and packing her own lunches with healthier food for the next day.
Back home in mid-February after her son had recovered, she looked at what she was eating more closely.
“Being back exercising was firming me up, but nothing was changing on the weight scales,” she said.
McKay spent a couple of weeks recording everything she ate. The revelation she was eating up to 4,000 calories a day took her by surprise.
“I was eating that many calories without even being aware of it,” she said.
That’s when she turned to the Internet to find a program to help. She found Myfitnesspal, a free app that helps users track and count calorie consumption.
McKay learned she was only supposed to be consuming about 1,200 calories a day.
Not wanting to make drastic changes too quickly, she first reduced her intake to 3,800 calories a day. She began to move down the scale slowly and is currently eating about 1,400 calories a day, combined with moderate exercise.
She said instructors at the Bay St. George YMCA are very supportive and she needs regular training there to keep her body physically healthy.
“I have finally, after years of trying, moved under the 200-pound mark,” McKay said, with a smile on her face. “I’m now in the low 190s after starting out at 220 punds.”
She vows to work at being fit for the rest of her life. She said the more she wants to get healthier, the more knowledgeable she wants to be to reach that goal.
Paula Woodfine, who instructs McKay in low-impact yoga and circuit training, said McKay is consistent, energetic and basically a “light who shines up the room.”
She said McKay continues with her workouts even when she’s out of town and throughout the whole summer.
“Carol Anne is pretty determined and a motivator for other people around her,” Woodfine said.