Near the end of my freshman year of college, I was driving three other girls back to school. Just as we started across a bridge, the back of the car spun around. The car seemed to float on air, and then it bounced off the side of the bridge.

I began praying, "God, I’ve lost control, and if You want me to get out of this alive, You are going to have to help me!" I took my hands off the wheel and my feet off the pedals. Within seconds it was over. The car had spun the entire length of the ice-covered bridge and stopped. Neither my friends nor I was hurt. In fact, I felt that I had been given a second chance in life, but at that time I did not know what to do with it.

As far back as I can remember, I’ve had a weight problem. My family moved around a lot, because my dad was in the military. I was always the new kid on the block. When I was in kindergarten, I was overweight and my cholesterol was outrageously high. Everyone thought I would outgrow my "baby fat," and I continued to eat potato chips, candy, and other high-calorie, high-fat foods. My parents didn’t eat junk food or encourage me to eat it, but I always found a way to get it and eat a lot of it.

In college, I started taking acting classes. When I graduated, I moved to New York and my career in acting started to take off. Neither my agent nor anyone else encouraged me to lose weight. I was able to get work in television commercials because I resembled a popular talk-show host who also had a weight issue. Not realizing that by being overweight I was putting my health in jeopardy, I decided that I needed to stay heavy in order to work.

I received a rude awakening when I tried out for the big time in Los Angeles. When agents there commented on how heavy I was, I went back to New York. Around that time, I noticed that a few stray hairs were growing on my face, but the hair on my head seemed to be thinning. I was depressed, had gained even more weight (weighing around 240 pounds), and began to have backaches.

When I went back again to give Los Angeles another try, my health problems became even more evident. I was concerned enough to go to a doctor and was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). I did a lot of soul-searching. I knew I hadn’t caused myself to have PCOS, but I had clearly been doing things that were not promoting my health.

Now I was ready to do something with that second chance in life that God had given me years before. Although I could not afford to do it, I took a year off from work and concentrated on getting my health back. I remembered a passage about faith from the Bible: "We look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal" (2 Cor. 4:18). I knew that I needed to focus on my own spirituality and to look to God for help.

I prayed, "God, please help me lose weight!" All of a sudden I felt an answer to my prayer. It was as if God were saying to me: "Okay, here is the deal: If you eat right and exercise on a regular basis, I guarantee you that the weight will come off."

I knew I could not have any better guarantee than one from God. I understood contracts from my work in acting, so I decided that I would hold up my end of the contract, and I had faith that God would hold up the other end. I ate fresh vegetables and lean cuts of meat, and I drank glass after glass of water every day. I worked out in the gym at 5:30 each morning and again at 5:30 each evening. I eliminated sugar and refined carbohydrates from my diet.

Surfing the Internet, I found so much helpful information about the importance of vitamins and plant-based nutrients. I read the labels on everything I ate—before I ate! In fourteen months, I had lost ninety pounds.

The agents, advertisers, and casting agents in New York were not happy about my weight loss. They would no longer hire me for television commercials. I thought: God, You have not brought me this far to hang me out to dry. Maybe I am supposed to go back to Los Angeles.

I packed my suitcase and told my roommate that I would probably be back in a month. In Los Angeles, I immediately started getting calls from people who had heard that I had lost weight. I auditioned for the host of a fitness show, and although I did not get the position of host, I was hired as a correspondent for the show. Next I was offered twenty-six episodes on the television show Vacation Living.

One month after I got that offer, I received a call from a producer of Richard Simmons’ Dream Maker, a television show hosted by Richard. Because of his dedication to helping people lose weight, he was one of my heroes.

I was not as excited about getting the job as I was about having a chance to meet Richard Simmons. I heard Richard’s voice from the next room, a voice that had inspired so many people. As soon as I entered his office, I ran to him and gave him a big hug. We chatted for a while, and then he said, "You’re hired."

My job was to deliver dreams to people: I accompanied one woman to the Grand Canyon—she was going blind, and it was her dream to see it before she lost her vision. I delivered a special protective suit that had been donated to a little girl who was allergic to light, so that she could go outside in the daylight for the first time.

I have a brand-new life since I lost weight, and my health has also improved. Women with PCOS have seven times the risk of heart disease, endometriosis, and diabetes. Although the doctors say there is no cure for PCOS, I no longer have to be on medication. My symptoms start to creep back when I let myself get stressed out by eating junk food. But because I remember my contract with God, I get back on track: I eat right and I exercise.

I have shortened my name from Kathryn to Kat, because cats have nine lives. I don’t know that I will have nine lives, but I do know that God has given me a second chance at life, and I am doing all I can do to show my appreciation to God.

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Kat Carney was hired as a correspondent on cable’s Fit: Resort and Spa. Kat later worked on the nationally syndicated television show Richard Simmons’ Dream Maker and as host of the prime-time series The Body Invaders. Kat maintains a Web site with inspirational stories of weight loss at www.TheWeighWeWere.com and the Web site www.SoulCysters.com, the largest online community for women diagnosed with PCOS. She currently works as a health news anchor for CNN Headline News.


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