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Seven years ago, Kimberly Dupps Truesdell was overworked, overweight and miserable. This morning, the local journalist will be celebrated on national television as a health and fitness role model.
Dupps Truesdell, assistant features editor at The Journal Gazette who has lost more than 100 pounds, will discuss her diet and fitness routine with Kathie Lee Gifford, Hoda Kotb and Joy Bauer on “Today” at 10:45 a.m. on NBC.
“It seems a little funny to get this much attention,” Dupps Truesdell, 31, says. “I guess I minimize what I’ve done because I didn’t do it in this dramatic way. I didn’t lose 100 pounds, all in one chunk, all in a year.”
Before accepting a job at The Journal Gazette in 2004, Dupps Truesdell was living in Sandusky, Ohio, working 14 hours a day as both a newspaper copy editor and a waitress. Her credit card bills were high. Her relationship with her boyfriend was tanking. She weighed 245 pounds and, when she walked, she could feel every ounce of it.
“I absolutely hated my life,” she says. “Moving to Fort Wayne seemed like an opportunity to start a new chapter, so I made a New Year’s resolution that year to get healthier.”
Dupps Truesdell now weighs 116 pounds less, is training for her first full marathon and working toward certification as a Bodypump instructor. She is also the author of a health and fitness blog (healthystrides.blogspot.com) and maintains her weight by sticking to a 1,600-calorie diet and working out six days a week.
“I struggled for a while,” she says. “I gained and lost the same 20 to 30 pounds three times. I just lacked focus. When I started training for the half-marathon, everything clicked.”
Dupps Truesdell’s transformation has attracted both local and national media attention this year, including a story in the January issue of Woman’s Day magazine. The “Today” interview will feature Dupps Truesdell discussing low-calorie recipes and healthy eating tips. Although she remains somewhat uncomfortable with the publicity, she hopes her story will help inspire other people.
National television, however, means Dupps Truesdell must be on her best behavior, she says.
“My grandma was worried,” she says. “She told me, ‘I don’t want to have to tell people that my granddaughter was on television and she was bleeped.’ ”
