Odessa woman loses over 200 pounds and counting

ODESSA, Texas (KOSA) - Carole McCutcheon is an Odessa woman who at one point in her life weighed almost 7-hundred pounds.

She’s since reduced that weight to 266 pounds with the goal to achieve her dream body.

McCutcheon took simple exercise courses in the last year and three months that gave her the confidence to pursue her fitness goals.

“The journey has been hard. It’s more mental than physical. Once you get past the mental, the physical follows, and that’s one of the things I’ve learned really, really well” said McCutcheon.

Last January, McCutcheon was over 500 pounds, she had difficulties being able to move around, always sluggish, dragging her feet, and constantly sweating.

Now she sweats but for a good reason.

She takes classes at the Ruffhouse MMA and Fitness Center in Downtown Odessa.

McCutcheon has two nephews in the MMA class, who aren’t just her family, but also her motivation.

“Watching them push and want to do more, and do better gave me a lot of motivation. Especially wanting to keep up with them, I needed this. This place really did save my life and it built their confidence. It’s a beautiful thing” said McCutcheon.

When McCutcheon began taking these fitness classes, she told her trainer to not go easy on her.

“I finally got her to start doing my class and I tried to modify things for her, and she wouldn’t. She didn’t want to. She wanted to do everything, everybody else was doing” said Crystal Hill, McCutcheon’s trainer.

Every time McCutcheon feels tired or wants to slow down, her trainer motivates her to keep pushing.

Hill has been a trainer for almost eight years now, and in her time as a fitness enthusiast, she’s never had the pleasure to help someone with drastic weight loss.

Now when she sees McCutcheon, she smiles and sees a different person.

“Her confidence. I see a happy Carole. I didn’t see that before.” said Crystal Hill.

Carole McCutcheon still hasn’t reached her goal, but she is nearing it.

Next year, she expects to reach that goal of 170 to 190 pounds.

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