Saturday, April 19, 2014

Cool Things My Friends Do (Week #102) - Eve Richter Losses Nearly 150 Pounds

Each week on this blog I enjoy highlighting some of the cool things my friends do in their personal and professional lives.

My friend Eve Richter has lost 148 pounds. That is cool. 

Eve's weight loss journey began as she was leaving her old job and was under a lot of stress.  She could not eat or sleep. At that time she weighed 368 pounds.

Once her appetite returned, she decided to consciously eat less food.  She basically ate about half of anything in front of her. This meant she lost more weight. 


A year later a women's boxing gym, Pink Gloves Boxing, re-opened.  Her friend Brenda Porta was leading the charge, and Eve, who had tried boxing before, was psyched they were starting up again. So she started with that, just 2 days a week. It was hard. Because of her size she had to modify a lot of things, but she enjoyed it more than any other activity she had done -which meant she would stick with it. It was such a supportive group of women, and she was happy to have them in her life.  There was no embarrassment with her body or limitations. She steadily lost more weight and got stronger.

By summer Eve joined a summer intensive boxing class, which was 4 days a week at an hour and a half instead of an hour. Next she got some TV coverage, and it was fun to show the fat girl getting in shape, keeping up with this challenging workout.

When the summer intensive ended, she knew twice a week was no longer enough of a work out. She joined Gold's Gym and started working with a trainer. At that point, nutrition became an issue. It turned out she wasn't eating enough to support her active lifestyle. The trainers helped her learn to eat right.  (It was pretty surreal to be told she needed to work out less, eat more, and eat more fat. Insane!)

These days she is trying lots of new things.  Her activities now include boxing, working with a trainer, strength training, sports cardio and core classes at the gym, and this week she just started running.  Soon she begins an aerial classes (trapeze and lyra), and is super excited about it!  Her future also included fun things like hang gliding and fun runs.

Eve has lost almost 150 pounds since January of 2013. She is now

more concerned with her health and fitness instead of what the scale says.  The proudest moment of the journey was being written up in Austin Fit Magazine   She said "Me! In Austin Fit Magazine! Wow! I love that people find my story inspirational, and use it to make positive changes in their own lives".

Most importantly, Eve wants people to know that it doesn't take crazy diets or fad activities or surgery to get in shape - even when you have hundreds of pounds to lose. She has not given up ANYTHING that she didn't want to give up (She did stop eating fast food many years ago, and mostly avoids highly processed foods and junk food). If she craves something, she eats it. She NEVER goes hungry. Conversely, if she is  not hungry, she does not have to eat (but does try and get in the right number of calories, protein and carbs daily). She does not do low-carb or cut out "fun" foods. She still drinks beer, eats chocolate, and anything else she wants.  It is about balancing her foods.

Eve says she will not continue to workout 10-12 hours a week forever. That is what she does now.  She foresees settling into a routine that will include other activities as well. But now she is having fun and enjoys it when friends come up and say "WOW - you look great!".  She says "It never gets old". 

Congrats to Eve Richter. She is an inspiration to everyone.  I am proud to have her as week #102 of "Cool Things My Friends Do".

Have A Great Day

thom singer

1 comment:

Melissa Lombard said...

What an inspiration! Love this! I run into Eve all over town at various events and have witnessed the incredible transformation. What a story! Thanks for highlighting her this week Thom!