Kami Rivera’s biggest contributors to weight gain were a poor diet and neglecting exercise. These unhealthy habits snowballed in her late 20s and led her to weigh nearly 250 pounds. In 2024, things grew worse as a heart condition required Kami to have surgery. As a result she felt sidelined from any attempts to get healthy. Looking back she admits she leaned on that event for a long time as a crutch. She’d gotten into such a rut that she began believing her problems would be solved by doing nothing at all.
But in October 2024, things began to improve as Kami started eating better. And 2024 brought a New Year’s resolution to get more active. Her activity of choice? Title Boxing.
“I tried to think of a million excuses for why I didn’t want to do it, but I live right across the street from the [Title] studio,” she said. “I was able to hang for the first class, then I started going twice a week. Eventually each class got easier and easier and I was going about five times a week and maybe six if I could squeeze in a Sunday.”
Unlike ever before Kami was working focused on getting in shape and gaining both knowledge and inspiration from her boxing classes. Though she’d had a treadmill, total gym and weight bench at her home for a long time, she realized she’d just never found the motivation to use them. With boxing it was different.
“There was something about Title, because it is so high impact and it’s just an hour,” she said. “But I feel so great when I leave and I started seeing results, which fueled my fire even more.”
In addition to challenging Kami in the realm of fitness, her boxing instructors taught her about nutrition. Knowing nothing about the importance of protein going in, Kami says her coaches were there for her. “I’ve never left a class feeling like I didn’t get what I needed from it,” she said. “I asked questions during the class. I might’ve wanted to give up but they never let me. That’s why it worked for me – it was that extra motivation.”
The studio offered energy and vitamin supplements as well as after workout replenishments, but Kami gained the most from the diet advice, which ultimately helped her shed more than 100 pounds in one year.
Small changes like practicing portion control, making better meal choices and eating broccoli as a side instead of a helping of her kids’ macaroni and cheese ultimately paid off. And for someone who used to hate breakfast, she now knows that she has to eat something in order to jumpstart her metabolism first thing in the morning.
Kami is currently at her goal weight of an amazing 132 pounds. That’s a 120 pound weight loss!
“When I made my New Year’s resolution I didn’t set out to lose 100 pounds,” she said. “Now I have a completely different goal: I want to get toned and maybe try Crossfit. A year ago I would have never thought that.”
As a result of her weight loss, Kami says her relationship with herself is a lot better. “I was myself but I was trapped in someone else’s body. You start losing self respect and it affected my marriage because I wasn’t putting my best self forward,” she said. “I used food as a crutch instead of using food as fuel for working out.”
A word of encouragement to achieve similar results in 2024? Try adapting the “power hour” mindset, as Kami and her Title Boxing coaches call it. “If you can devote one hour to watching TV then you can devote one hour to doing this.” The “this” is left up to you – just make it something that challenges you and that you enjoy.
