"Just two years ago, April carried nearly 200 pounds on her 4-foot-11 frame. She worried about her health and also about the effect her weight problem was having on her two kids. "I wouldn't take them to the playground because I didn't want to be the 'fat mom.' I wouldn't get on the floor and play with them; I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get up again. What kind of life is that for a child?"
April knew her kids deserved better. That was what motivated her to take charge of her lifestyle, her eating habits and eventually, her weight. She started seeing a dietician, Dr. Jennifer Warren, M.D...
A former professional dancer with a list of theater and TV credits to her name, April was eager to use her skills to reach her weight-loss goals. "Teaching dance forced me to exercise," she says. She had to get moving. It was her job.
The job became a phenomenon in her hometown of Salisbury, Massachusetts. April's classes drew everyone from "teenagers to middle-aged people who had never danced before." They all loved learning from her. Here was an instructor who wasn't an intimidating and impossible ideal of physical perfection but someone they could relate to. A real-life inspiration.
"My students come up to me crying, saying I've changed their lives. They don't realize I was changing my own life."