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<< Previous   of   Next >> (click to enlarge) Katie Ciarcia after her weight loss. (click to enlarge) Katie Ciarcia before her weight loss.   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Tuesday, October 9, 2007 How Katie Ciarcia went from a size 22 to a zero By Kristi O'Harran, Herald Columnist Fat people may not want to hear about this great way to lose weight. Exercise and don't eat so much. Isn't there a pill we could take, or a magic procedure, or wishful thinking that will shed extra pounds? Could be, but we must salute Katie Ciarcia for doing a hefty job the healthy way. She lost more than 120 pounds by watching what she ate and exercising. What a concept. Ciarcia, 42, did so well that she's featured this month in Prevention magazine. "Forty two million people will read my age," Ciarcia said, laughing. "I'm just Katie from Monroe." The former high school English teacher is a mere shell of herself. In January, 2006, when she weighed 234 pounds (she is 5 feet tall), she attended her parent's 50th wedding anniversary in the Philippines. The party video was her inspiration to drop the bulk. "After the party, we watched it on video," Ciarcia said. "We joked that all the guests who had moved to America had gotten large." When her picture came into view, she was shocked. "I looked so huge," she said. "I cried." At home, she begged her doctor for gastric bypass surgery, but the doctor wasn't a fan of the operation. Her husband, nuclear physicist Chris Ciarcia, said the 1 percent failure rate for the surgery was not good enough odds for his wife. The scientist understands complications of infections when you tear up the abdominal cavity, he said. Besides, he loved her unconditionally, plus size or not. The couple met and married in Australia. He was on government business and she worked at a bank. They own a medical research and development company at their home, a beautiful castle, outside of Monroe. Yes, a castle, with a moat, draw bridge, armored knights, secret passages and turrets. A story for another day. Instead of recommending an operation, her doctor said she should get to the gym. She did. Ciarcia hit the club at 4 a.m. five mornings a week, and arrived at 7 a.m. weekends. Once you do your exercising, it's out of the way, she said. She followed the Weight Watchers program and gave up her riding lawn mower. The frequent travelers said their downfall through the years was food on cruises. Ciarcia still eats cruise cuisine, in moderation, and runs for an hour on the ship's upper deck each morning. "I don't eat butter," she said. "No saturated fats. Fried foods make us sick now." The couple love eating out and fast food restaurants. Ciarcia said she will order a side salad or wrap at McDonalds. She substitutes chicken, fish and turkey for steaks. When she weighed more than 230 pounds in 2006, her daughter, Samantha, took her picture in a swimsuit. It must have taken great courage for Ciarcia to pledge to get in shape, because she had already tried and failed at every diet in the book. She still has a weakness: soft ice cream. She will order a fast-food cone but only eat a few bites. "I don't call this a diet," Ciarcia said. "Don't deprive yourself of the food you love. But I have one quarter cup of cooked brown rice rather than three cups of white rice." For the Prevention photo shoot, Ciarcia was flown to New York and treated like a queen, she said. From limos to staying at a fancy hotel, the only problem was that she was too small for the wardrobe they selected for her to wear in her pictures. Stylists pinned the size 2 garments tighter in the back. She wears size zero jeans but hasn't tossed her size 22 pants. "I keep them close," she said. "It's a reminder of where I came from." She said she isn't afraid she will put the pounds back on. "I'm managing to keep it off," she said. "I enjoy exercising now." Columnist Kristi O'Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.

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