Nima

Nima is still eating healthily and has an active lifestyle. After the show she did initially put a bit of weight back on, but over the past six months has been good about eating healthy and is now back wearing the same size clothes that she did at the end of the show. “I’m proud of how I’ve progressed in terms of the amount of fitness I do,” she says.

After picking up good habits from the show, Nima has gone on to work out what works for her lifestyle in terms of being fit and healthy. “I’ve learned it’s not really about my weight, it’s about eating healthy and keeping active. I try to eat all natural foods, use as little processed food as possible and try to buy local foods and organic produce,” she says.

Nima has made peace with herself, and her body. “The size that I’m at feels like a good weight for me. Is it a size two? No, but I’m okay with that now. I like cooking for people, and I like eating. I like it a lot. If you are going to be a size two you have to eat very little, and when I think back on all the times I’d been that skinny I was quite sad.”

Nima soon realized that running wasn’t her thing. “Training for a marathon trashed my knees and I had to wear two bras to stop my breasts from bobbing around and giving me a black eye, it was uncomfortable,” she says. Instead, she does interval training and weights at the gym with a trainer twice a week and goes once more either with her husband, Claude, or alone.

Finding the right trainer was important to Nima, and being on the show helped her decide what didn’t motivate her, namely Paul’s style. “If someone starts yelling at me and saying negative things I just stop paying attention and shut down. My trainer now is funny and quiet in the way he motivates me, and I like his style,” she says.

Becoming a healthier person has improved Nima’s already great marriage. The couple goes biking together as well as to the gym. “My husband is awesome, he’s the one that keeps me in-line. If I don’t work-out for a couple of days he’ll say “Come on, let’s just make a healthier choice today,” she says, “Claude has always been super healthy, he’s always worked out and he always tries to eat right, so when I started to do that it was one more thing that brought us closer together. I was actually turning into someone who was more like him - so it worked out well.”

Nima says that being on the show was a good learning experience and she enjoys hearing that the success she had on her journey motivates others. She still cooks delicious East Indian meals, but has modified the recipes to make them healthier and cooks everything from scratch. Claude helps with meal prep by chopping vegetables, and together, they are loving their healthy lifestyle.

September 2009