I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front
only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had
to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
-- Henry David Thoreau
At age thirty, Kara Richardson was lost within her own body. She dreamed of climbing
mountains but the only thing that went up was her weight, to about 360 pounds.
During one same-old New Year's Eve, she changed her resolution from how many pounds
she wanted to lose to what she wanted to do. She decided to look at weight loss as a
lifelong journey and she got moving. She resolved to climb mountains.
Kara is currently writing Fat Woman on the Mountain: How I Lost Half of Myself and Gained
Happiness, a scene-driven memoir recounting her journey up and down mountains as she
went from obese to healthy, overcame past traumas and discovered self-acceptance along
the way. Her path lead her back to the terrain of her childhood, literally and metaphorically,
and she climbed to the top of Camel’s Hump (twice) and Vermont’s highest peak, Mount
Mansfield. She’s also been to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back up again. Recently
she conquered Africa’s highest peak—Mount Kilimanjaro—the tallest freestanding mountain
in the world.
Self magazine purchased Kara's 2,000-word essay about her return to and conquest of
Camel's Hump. She has been a newspaper reporter for the Ventura County Star, Ventura,
Calif.; The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J.; Lansing State Journal, Lansing, Mich.; and The Ann
Arbor News, Ann Arbor, Mich.. She now works for the Courier News, a Gannett newspaper
serving Central Jersey.
Kara lives in New Jersey with her husband and hiking partner, Chris. They recently moved
from Short Hills to Summit (really).
only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had
to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
-- Henry David Thoreau
At age thirty, Kara Richardson was lost within her own body. She dreamed of climbing
mountains but the only thing that went up was her weight, to about 360 pounds.
During one same-old New Year's Eve, she changed her resolution from how many pounds
she wanted to lose to what she wanted to do. She decided to look at weight loss as a
lifelong journey and she got moving. She resolved to climb mountains.
Kara is currently writing Fat Woman on the Mountain: How I Lost Half of Myself and Gained
Happiness, a scene-driven memoir recounting her journey up and down mountains as she
went from obese to healthy, overcame past traumas and discovered self-acceptance along
the way. Her path lead her back to the terrain of her childhood, literally and metaphorically,
and she climbed to the top of Camel’s Hump (twice) and Vermont’s highest peak, Mount
Mansfield. She’s also been to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back up again. Recently
she conquered Africa’s highest peak—Mount Kilimanjaro—the tallest freestanding mountain
in the world.
Self magazine purchased Kara's 2,000-word essay about her return to and conquest of
Camel's Hump. She has been a newspaper reporter for the Ventura County Star, Ventura,
Calif.; The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J.; Lansing State Journal, Lansing, Mich.; and The Ann
Arbor News, Ann Arbor, Mich.. She now works for the Courier News, a Gannett newspaper
serving Central Jersey.
Kara lives in New Jersey with her husband and hiking partner, Chris. They recently moved
from Short Hills to Summit (really).
My Journey:
Fat Woman on the Mountain:
The empowering story of a
woman's 120-pound weight loss
and quest to climb Kilimanjaro.
The empowering story of a
woman's 120-pound weight loss
and quest to climb Kilimanjaro.
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Copyright 2008 Fat Woman on the Mountain
| Fat Woman on the Mountain |
How I Lost Half of Myself and Gained Happiness
New Identity:
These are my passport photos,
a decade apart.
Click here to see lots of before &
after photos!
These are my passport photos,
a decade apart.
Click here to see lots of before &
after photos!