Grand Prize Winner Caroline Walker's Amazing Fred Experience

Caroline Walker was the 2^nd Grand Prize Winner in the X-Weighted National Challenge. She won a full Fred Connors makeover experience, just like participants on the show get at the end of their journey.

Caroline was flown to Toronto, where she stayed at the luxurious Fairmont Royal York hotel, went shopping with Fred, was given a hair and make-up transformation and then was treated to a decadent meal at 360 (the restaurant at the top of the CN Tower). We caught up with Caroline and asked her to share about her big day with Fred….

It was just so much fun. It was fabulous and amazing. It was the most special day that I've ever had. Fred is a sweetheart, he is always going to have a special place in my heart and I just love him. He makes you just feel so safe and comfortable.

The Shopping Extravaganza

We were walking to the Eaton center and he was gesturing at my body and telling me, “Well the girls have to be up here then the waist needs to be slimmer here,” and I would usually be so embarrassed but with him I was so comfortable. Going shopping with Fred was such a good workout; Oh my goodness, just trying to keep up with that man! I was sweating!

Fred asked me what kind of things I had in my wardrobe but quite honestly I hardly had anything in there because of losing so much weight. I thought I was looking pretty good, but boy I sure felt frumpy once he started putting stuff on me.

Before I got there I made sure I was totally open to everything he might suggest, haircut, make up, outfit anything. I was like a sponge, and absorbed every piece of advice he gave me. I came away and I felt so put together.

The bra was the first thing we shopped for, and I tell you, what a difference a good bra makes. I felt like a whole different person, because when you have a proper bra it makes your clothes fit properly. I never wore underwire bras before, because they always seem to poke me and I could never get good fit, but the ones he chose for me are so comfortable.

When we were choosing the clothes, I was saying to him 'I hope I know how to put all this together' - I was worried that I wouldn't remember how to do it, but by the end of the day it all started to fit and I started to see the bigger picture. The scary part is to go out there and do it all on my own, but now I know how to look at things differently and judge how things fit. I've come back home and looked at things in my wardrobe and said I can't wear this; my old clothes are too frumpy.

Taking Years Off 

When he was putting on my makeup he was talking me through all his tips and there was so many things I didn't realize. I learnt a lot. I like the new look. I showed him my old makeup and we just junked it all. From now on I'm going to be going onto Fred's website and ordering his makeup, because I can't go back to that (Fred gave Caroline a whole set of make-up from his product line FRED.beauty). I didn't realize I was wearing the wrong colors and stuff. What a difference!

Fred wished he’d had more hair to work with on me. About my current short style he said, “We think we can express ourselves through short spiky hair and hope that everyone ignores the fatty body, instead of realizing that there is so much more that we can do with it.” He was so right, I am now trying to get my hair to shoulder length. 

The makeup and hair and the clothing took years off of me, it's a fresh look, and it’s more modern. That's so what I needed. I feel like Fred matched my outside to how I feel on the inside. I feel like a whole person put together and is so wonderful. It is like there was a click, and I'm actually connected to myself now.

Good Times and Home Truths

Going to dinner with Fred was also so much fun. As we were walking there he was interviewing me with his camera walking backwards and he made me feel like a princess. He told me, “This isn't the same person as the one I met this morning”. And he was right, it wasn't. It was actually ME now.

Fred really made me realize why I had put the weight on. He made me think about why I had made the choice to check out of living and not look after myself. I have to be accountable to me.

I know now that I can't slack off and let other excuses enter my life and allow me to put weight back on. Having a one-on-one time with Fred was wonderful. I feel like I've known him for years because of watching X-Weighted, but to actually get to spend time with him, it was so special.

I found my life again, and it is so much fun living it. Why sit on the couch when life is out there to live? You might need to start off with baby steps, because it is very intimidating and a huge, huge journey, but you have to just take it one step at a time, start finding things you love to do and all of a sudden life becomes alive. Once you get here, you don't understand how you could ever go back.

It was time to bring the new person out, and that's what this prize did. This is who Caroline really is inside. People at work said, “These aren't the kind of clothes you normally wear,” to which I replied, “Well I do now, you’re going to be seeing a lot of them.”

Caroline Walker (username CPWalker) has lost 95 pounds to date, and everyone at X-Weighted and XWeighted.com is so proud of everything that she accomplished as part of the National Challenge. You can find out more about Caroline's journey here. 

Thanks to our prize sponsors:

A Toronto makeover weekend by stylist Fred Connors.

FRED.beauty: Consulting Service of Fred Connors.

Tourism Toronto: Airfare for 1 from anywhere in Canada valued at $1000.

The Fairmont Royal York,Toronto's landmark hotel: 2 nights accommodation in the Fairmont Deluxe Guestroom valued at $700.

CN Tower: Gift Certificate for dinner at 360 for 2, plus access to our Sky Pod observation level (after dinner) and a tour of 360's award winning wine cellar, the highest in the world, valued at $200.