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Finally, at 300 pounds, Kathrine had an aha! moment. After reading Geneen Roth's book Women, Food and God, Kathrine learned losing weight is not about punishing or depriving yourself—it's about embracing yourself. "Kindness is actually what heals," she says.

Read an excerpt of Women, Food and God.

Kathrine made the life-changing decision to love herself—no matter her weight. Since then, she's lost 100 pounds. "I was excited when I went from a 28 to a 26. I felt valuable because I know who I am. I know that I'm so much more than my weight. My value is not fluctuating with my size," she says. "These hips are what birthed my children. These hips are what take me from here to there to love people and care about people and love right where I was, love who I was."

Kathrine has stopped hiding and even returned to teaching. "I'd look out [at my class] and think, 'Why do they want to learn from me?' And then I'd say: 'Because you're smart. Because you're kind. Because you're authentic. Because you have wisdom,'" she says. "And they felt the same way about me—and I was 300 pounds at that time."

When she walked across Oprah's stage in 2002, Kathrine said, "I like me now." Looking back, Kathrine can now proclaim something her former self never could. "I couldn't say, 'I love me now.' ... The 'now' [was] the fact that it was now that I had lost the weight," she says. "Now it's just: 'I love me. I'm valuable.'"

Oprah's interview with Geneen Roth

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