Dropping LBs: Allison McLaughlin
HER STORY By the time she graduated from Sacred Heart Academy in Hempstead, Allison McLaughlin weighed almost 200 pounds. "I rocketed to 240 pounds by my junior year in college," she says, noting that she was eating large portions of the wrong things, eating late at night and wasn't exercising.
"I had been a size 16 all my teenage years. So, when I had to buy a size 18, I just really didn't want to do it. I actually started crying," she remembers. The weight was interfering with her college experience. "I wanted to play recreational sports," McLaughlin says. "I always wanted to run."
In summer 2010, she decided to do something about it. She joined the Lucille Roberts gym in Valley Stream. "The first class I took was a cardio class. Halfway through, I left," she said. The next day, she made it through the whole class. She went to the gym every day that summer, losing 30 pounds.
"Back at school, the gym was full of athletes doing their own thing," McLaughlin says. "They knew what they needed to do. I had to develop that same attitude." She did. She worked up to running on a treadmill, took spin classes and researched nutrition on the Internet. After losing the weight, she even entered -- and won -- a free makeover at Green Acres Mall. "After being overweight for so long, I didn't even know what my style was," McLaughlin says. "I was still wearing baggy sweatpants and sweatshirts."
DIET She eats almonds, avocado, whole-wheat pasta, fruits and vegetables. Breakfast often is oatmeal with apple slices and almonds. Typical lunch is a salad with cranberries, avocado, almonds, tomatoes and cucumbers. She makes a dressing of lemon juice and olive oil. She sticks to lean proteins such as tuna or turkey. Dinner is usually soup.
EXERCISE McLaughlin spends 30 minutes running 6-7 miles an hour on a treadmill, then lifts weights for 30 minutes five days a week.
ADVICE "Even on those days when you feel like you're making no progress, you are," McLaughlin says. "If you don't feel like doing a workout, just take a walk."
Allison McLaughlin
24, Bayswater, Queens
Occupation Medical student
Height 5-foot-6
240 Weight before May 2010
135 Weight after Oct. 15, 2012
Sarra Sounds Off Ep. 35: EI baseball, girls lacrosse and plays of the week On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," we look at East Islip baseball's inspirational comeback story, Jared Valluzzi has the plays of the week and Tess Ferguson breaks down the top defensive players in girls lacrosse.
Sarra Sounds Off Ep. 35: EI baseball, girls lacrosse and plays of the week On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," we look at East Islip baseball's inspirational comeback story, Jared Valluzzi has the plays of the week and Tess Ferguson breaks down the top defensive players in girls lacrosse.
