Kristen Kessinger

Kristen Kessinger begins working out

Kristen Kessinger, 28, stands 5-foot-5 and weighs 262 pounds. She works as a public relations assistant manager for an association in Rolling Meadows.

She considered applying for the contest each of the first two years but wasn’t ready to face the embarrassment that comes from letting her friends know she was in a contest to lose weight.

“I know everyone can guess how much I weigh,’’ Kessinger said.  “I’m totally aware that people will know what I am doing. But I believe it is worth it.”

Kessinger has two motivations.  She and her husband want to start a family but her doctor advised her to lose significant weight before that happened. Also, she is in a wedding in May and chose the smaller of two possible dress sizes  “and it turned out to be much smaller than I thought it would be.  It is hanging on my closet door, and I look at it every day.”

Kessinger has her husband,  parents and two brothers paying attention to her every move. They are willing to participate in the very special diet prescribed to the competitors.

“As an adult, I have never been thin,’’ Kessinger said. “I want to know what it is like to go into some of those stores for smaller people.”