This Mom Was Too Big For A Ride At Disneyland, Let Her Body Transformation Fuel Your Workout

Christina Jordan’s body transformation story starts in the same way that many do: When she was 25 (nine years ago), she was denied access to a ride at Disneyland. After waiting for hours in line, she told People, an employee had to politely tell her that she was just not going to fit.

From People:

“I bolted off that ride. And I go to leave, and I couldn’t fit through the people counter. My hips were too wide, so they had to open the gate, and I felt like cattle being brought out to slaughter. It was the most embarrassing moment of my life. But it also opened my eyes to the fact that I had to change.”

For Jordan, who’d spent a lifetime struggling with eating issues — from overeating to over dieting — it was one of the very worst days of her life. Other people in that same situation may have gone home, felt terrible, and ultimately done nothing (hey, it really hurts). For Jordan, though, her experience was a major turning point. She weighed 271 pounds and she decided she didn’t want to “live the rest of her life on the sidelines.”


But Jordan also didn’t want to go back to crash dieting. She’d been on every diet known to man — including a medically-monitored 500 calorie a day fast — and she knew that wasn’t the answer. So what did she do instead? Research. Lots and lots of research. And then she decided to go holistic:

Jordan began eating five to six times a day, incorporating a lean protein, a complex carbohydrate and a healthy fat into every meal. In nine months, she had lost half her size, and she maintains that weight today.

“I eat five times more now than when I was obese,” she says.

And that’s not the end of her story. Jordan, who has now kept 134 pounds off for over nine years, didn’t just stop when she’d lost the weight. She got a master’s degree in nutrition, and opened up her own business, helping other people who had been in her same situation. Currently, she’s working on her doctorate, and one day soon the woman who once couldn’t fit on a ride at Disney will be a doctor of nutrition.


“I had almost given up,” Jordan told People. “I said this is just the size I’m meant to be. But I didn’t feel right. I didn’t feel alive. I realized that I would be the best mom and the best wife, by being the best me.”

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