Elizabeth Madison is slim, muscular and athletic, but she wasn’t always that way. In fact, she has battled her weight for most of her life.
Since losing over 100 pounds, she says she feels great. And now, as a certified nutritionist and wellness coach, she wants to help others get fit, so she’s giving out free diet information and tips at a supermarket in Jamaica.
“I have a new lease on life,” she said. “It’s a daily commitment to a healthy lifestyle.”
Madison, 43, of Laurelton, has been stationed at the Key Food at 171-11 Linden Blvd. on weekends since mid-June and will remain there until the end of the year, thanks to a forward thinking store manager and some successful first appearances.
Madison said she sees this as an opportunity to not only promote herself and the private practice she plans to start soon, but to also give back to the community in a positive way, especially since Southeast Queens is rife with an abundance of fast-food restaurants, making poor food choices ever easier.
On weekends from 1 to 3 p.m. Madison is at the market giving out free samples and giving talks about various nutrition-related subjects. For example, on July 21, the theme is “Fascinating facts about fiber,” and on July 22, the discussion will be about smart snacking.
At her heaviest, Madison weighed 284 pounds. She suffered with asthma, hypertension, and chronic pain in her back and knees. She used to get winded walking up a flight of stairs and her weight problem caused low self-esteem.
“My clothes got tighter and tighter,” she said. “I hated to look in the mirror. I felt totally out of control.”
She said a turning point was when she could no longer shop at Ashley Stewart, a women’s clothing store that at the time went up to size 26. So Madison created a diet and exercise regiment and stuck to it. That was back in 2002 and she has kept the weight off ever since.
“I made a commitment to strengthen my spiritual walk with God which helped me get a handle on my emotional eating,” she said. “I also developed my own nutritionally sound, healthy eating plan that I could live with.”
Now, Madison is a slender 155 pounds, enjoys physical activity and runs more than 30 miles a week. She talks about her personal weightloss journey on her website, weightlosstransformation.com.
“I didn’t want to be that way,” she said of her old self. “I wanted to be healthy, and I have dedicated myself to helping others do the same. I want to give people a realistic approach to weight loss.”
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