County school nutrition director sheds 60 pounds

At 220 pounds, School Nutrition Director Carolyn Childs was tired of telling students to “Do as I say, not as I do.”

The woman in charge of providing meals for Hamilton County public school students realized she was killing herself.

At 58, the 5-foot-9-inch Ms. Childs was on eight medications, including pills to regulate her diabetes and high blood pressure.

“I’d had food issues my whole life and, in the South, it’s even more prevalent,” she said. “Food is love for us. It’s hard to disassociate from what food means for us.”

So after a lifetime of yo-yo dieting, Ms. Childs turned to a 12-week jumpstart program at Erlanger hospital. For three months, Ms. Childs ate or drank five nutritional, powdered shakes or bars every day. She also could eat certain vegetables and salt-free soups.

She had access to exercise equipment at the hospital’s Lifestyle Center, and a nurse weighed her each week. She also was set up with a behavior therapist, a nutritionist and an exercise physiologist.

“I was determined that I was changing my life,” she said.

Twelve weeks later, Ms. Childs had shed 45 pounds.

“I credit this with saving my life,” she said.

Ms. Childs, 59, now takes only one medication. She’s back to eating regular meals and has dropped another 15 pounds on her own.

Given her career, the lessons Ms. Child learned through weight loss were nothing new: Expend more calories than you consume, use food as fuel and do everything in moderation.

“Professionally I knew this, but emotionally I didn’t practice it,” she said.

Having lost 60 pounds, Ms. Childs is on even more of a crusade to keep Hamilton County’s students as healthy as possible. Now she can be the role model she always knew she should be.

“Now I can stand up and say to students that what you put in your bodies is important,” she said.