Miss South Texas 100 Pounds

May 29, 2014 by staff

Miss South Texas 100 Pounds, Nine years ago, Keli Kryfko could barely do push-ups. Now, the Miss South Texas pageant queen is dreaming about becoming Miss America. The 23-year-old Houston woman says her 100-pound transformation wasn’t the result of a trendy diet or expensive fitness classes. Instead, she says, she used a bully’s taunts to stay motivated to make small changes to her lifestyle.

Kryfko weighed in at about 230 pounds and wore a size 24 back in the eighth grade. She remembers feeling left out in middle school. It was hard to make close friends. At one point, she asked someone to a school dance and was rejected right away. She was also unable to do things other middle school kids dream about, like becoming a cheerleader or starring in the school musical.

“I wasn’t in the right body for that,” Kryfko told The News. “And I definitely wasn’t in the right mindset. I didn’t treat myself well.”

Keli Kryfko and Zac Grimaldo ‘It was small, incremental changes,” Kryfko said about her weight loss.
She isn’t alone. According to a 2010 study published in the journal Pediatrics, obese children are 63% more likely to be bullied than their peers who are of a healthy weight. And obese children are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety or loneliness.

Kryfko remembers taking a fitness test for gym class and failing all the requirements. She couldn’t do sit-ups or push-ups, and she couldn’t finish running a mile.

“I wasn’t able to do any of it and it was so embarrassing,” Kryfko said. “So I went back into the locker room hoping no one would notice and I overheard these girls saying, ‘Can you believe the fat girl couldn’t do any of it?’

“And I realized, oh my gosh, they’re talking about me,” she continued. “I didn’t want that to be my definition. I’m much more than those names that people are calling me.”