Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Take a look back at this inspirational story of a local woman faced an "insurmountable task" and triumphed, garnering national attention for her efforts.
Editor's note: This story originally ran in 2012. We're putting the spotlight on it again to illustrate the accomplishments one person can make. It was early 2008 when Jenny Hodges of Land O’ Lakes decided she wanted to live. But to do that, she had a lot to lose. The weight hadn’t come on suddenly, Hodges said. When she graduated from high school, she was about 170 pounds. By the time she was 20— 250 pounds. A crash diet before her sister’s wedding got her back down to 200 pounds, a weight she maintained until she met her husband in 1999. When they married in 2000, she was back up to 250. By 2008, at age 37, she had reached 369 pounds. A stay-at-home mom of three young children and a full-time graduate student at the University of South …
Saturday, March 16, 2013
One of the best (and yet not) things about losing 212 pounds was shopping for new clothing. Why was it both good and bad?
Monday, February 11, 2013
Jenny Hodges pens a blog about dieting and keeping fit.
Land O' Lakes Patch would like to welcome back blogger Jenny Hodges, who took a hiatus from blogging on Patch but has returned to entertain readers with her trials and tribulations on keeping fit. In her latest blog, Hodges discusses a Pilates class she's taking. When she isn't blogging about her efforts to stay healthy and her dramatic 212-pound weight loss, Hodges is a working wife and mom of three kids. She's been a Land O' Lakes resident since 2002 and enjoys exercising and reading. She's working on becoming a better cook as well. Her face may look familiar. She's appeared on the Rachel Ray Show and in a Weight Watchers national commercial. If you have an interest, opinion or expertise you'd like to share with Land O' Lakes Patch …
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Jenny Hodges of Land O' Lakes lost 212 pounds. This is part two of her story.
Reaching your goal weight after losing 212 pounds might seem like the perfect end to a hard-fought battle. But for Jenny Hodges of Land O’ Lakes, it was the start of a new adventure. Soon after she achieved lifetime status on Weight Watchers, the company put out a casting call on Facebook, Hodges said. They were looking for success stories—and she had one. Hodges sent an email and within 24 hours, she had an appointment for an interview in downtown Tampa. A week after that interview, another. From about 30,000 applicants nationwide, it was narrowed to 3,000, Hodges said. Then to 300. Then to eight. And Hodges was one of them. Hodges was flown—first-class, a first for her— to LA to film a series of commercials with Jennifer Hudson along …
Diane Jones
2:57 pm on Monday, January 23, 2012
These are the kind of stories I love to read about. Truly inspirational! thanks for sharing more ›