MADISON (WKOW)-- A Sun Prairie woman is serving as an inspiration for women around the country. Jennifer Engel made major lifestyle changes to ultimately save her life. It makes Jennifer Engel 'Someone You Should Know.'
Jennifer Engel is in training at Melt in downtown Madison. She's training to run a 5K this year. Just a few years ago, Jennifer couldn't imagine training to run in a race.
"I was 30 years old, over 300 pounds, a heavy smoker," said Jennifer. "I just decided that it was time to make a life changing decision and that was to live."
Since then, Jennifer has lost 120 pounds and quit smoking.
"Every day that you stop smoking is a day your heart can recover a little bit more," said Jennifer.
Jennifer's story is serving inspiration to millions of women.
"I found that I just don't give myself time for an excuse," said Jennifer.
The American Heart Association chose Jennifer and 8 other women out of 1,000 women from across the country to be this year's national Go Red For Women spokeswomen.
"One in three women will die of heart disease," said Jennifer.
"Very few people understand that more women die every year from heart disease than every form of cancer combined," said Jennifer.
Jennifer knows not everyone has 120 pounds to lose and will have good days and bad days.
"It's not how you fail, it's how quickly you get back on track," said Jennifer.
But chances are every woman does need to pay a little more attention to their heart.
"One woman in particular in our program is a size 2 and didn't know she had a family history of heart disease, and had a triple bypass at 34 years old," said Jennifer. "As a size 2. It can happen to anyone and awareness is the key."
About 90 percent of all U.S. women have one or more risk factors for developing heart disease.
Those include exposure to tobacco smoke, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, obesity or just being overweight and diabetes.
Click here for more information on Go Red for Women and how to prevent heart disease.
