Courtney Snowden’s parents were avid fitness enthusiasts when she was growing up in Washington, DC. Her dad was a professional athlete, and her mother ran five miles daily. But, she rejected fitness altogether. “I don’t know why I was so rebellious, but ultimately, starting about the fifth grade, I gained a fair amount of weight. I was this big kid and grew up as a big adult.” Snowden, a six-generation Washingtonian, explained. “I had lost weight and knew how to lose weight; that was not the problem.”
Snowden, age 45, recalls that starting in seventh grade, she began this cycle of losing weight and gaining it back and losing it and gaining more back. “Then, one day, I looked up and was about 350 pounds. I am a tall woman, 5’10”, so my weight stretches out a bit,” she says. “So, when I was getting bigger and bigger, I didn’t notice until it was fast forward, a little too late.”
It Started with a List
The former lobbyist and deputy mayor was unhappy, but she could not figure out why. Because she is a Type A personality, she first looked for answers in books, reading every self-help advice tome on happiness she could lay her hands on. But something within told her to write down why she was unhappy.
“There were four things that made me unhappy. I hated my job, and I wanted to quit. I was working for a major corporation, and it was not feeding my spirit. I wanted to change neighborhoods. I was living in the ‘hood and raising my two boys, and it was getting dangerous, and I didn’t want to raise them there. I wanted to lose weight. And I wanted to start therapy.”
How Therapy Helped
Snowden quit her job, launched her own business, Blueprint Strategy Group, and purchased and renovated a home. She began preparing for weight loss surgery for the fourth time. This time, Snowden decided to go through the gastric sleeve procedure in 2020. And the mother of two found a therapist. “The hardest thing to do was therapy,” she says.
“Yes, surgery jump-started it, then therapy helped. Because I got to process that I am an emotional eater. When I’m happy, I eat; when I’m sad, I eat; when I want to celebrate with people, I eat. The first thing I do when I hear somebody dies is buy a chicken and take it over there; that is how we love, right?” she explains. “What therapy also did was interrupt a harmful pattern and allow me to get a clear one on normal eating habits.” Before getting a handle on her problems with food, Snowden had been losing and gaining the same 25 to 40 pounds.
Snowden also wants to debunk any misconceptions that weight loss surgery is easy. “Getting the surgery is a process. It is a six-month commitment that some people might consider severe,” she explains. “But like anything else, it is a tool. I’m committed to doing what I am supposed to do: eating protein-heavy vegetables, trying to keep sugar to a minimum, and working out regularly.
Committing to A Healthier Lifestyle
In 2017, Snowden purchased a Peloton bike as a present after having her baby boy to ensure she got her body together.
“I was an athlete in high school and college and had let that part go substantially. But in my early 20s, I had taken on spinning but did not have time to do it anymore,” Snowden says. “I’ve got a grown-up job with a lot of responsibility. So, when I bought my Peloton, I was the city’s deputy mayor. I thought if this works. It will allow me to fit fitness into my life in a way I could not before.”
“That little seat hurt my first time on the bike at 340 pounds, and I had many reasons not to do it. But you know what? It got better,” she says. “Historically, I would have beaten myself up for not being successful. This is the other thing, particularly since Black women are used to succeeding at many things. And sometimes, the thing that we are the least successful at is taking care of ourselves.”
That same year, when Snowden wanted advice on preserving her freshly blown hair, she asked for advice on the official Peloton FB page, which had over 100,000 members. She got lots of advice she couldn’t use, but a few Black women sent her direct messages with the information that could help her.
Snowden saw the page as a microcosm of the world and thought Black women could benefit from a safe space. “I said, there is something here. I emailed people I knew had Pelotons who had contacted me about my hair post and said, ‘Hey if I start this thing, would you jump in?’ So, I started Black Girl Magic, The Peloton Edition, with five or six people,” she said. “By the time George Floyd died in 2020, we were at 6,300, and now we are at 35,000 Black women globally.”
“I would not have been able to get a full handle on this without the full combination of the surgery and the commitment to working out.” Snowden has shed 165 pounds and has kept it off for three years.
A big part of her success is the BGM community, which has grown beyond Facebook to discussions on Clubhouse, class takeovers at Peloton studios, and in-person events. Because there are so many members, there are strict rules of engagement, like no solicitation, and all posts need to be approved by one of the three moderators, but Snowden is in the group interacting multiple times daily. She recently hosted a book event discussion on perimenopause, menopause, and weight loss at her home. And the group support of one another goes beyond fitness.
Resetting Her Life
Reflecting on her journey over the last four years, Snowden can’t help but think about how it coincides with the COVID-19 pandemic. “Lots of terrible things happened during the pandemic for many people. But one of the best things that happened is that many of us reset our lives,” she says. “I had an opportunity to focus on health and fitness. I could not have been as successful with my fitness and wellness journey any other time in my life.”
This is story is made possible by an educational grant from Novo Nordisk.
