Raynor: A quick turnaround from fast food
 |  Raynor helps care for her church, but admits she hasn't always done well to take care of her own health. |
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 Raynor wants to lose weight; quitting smoking may be more difficult
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Name: The Rev. Leigh Ann Raynor
Age: 49
Hometown: Thomasville, Georgia
Profession: Senior pastor of the 1,200-member Thomasville First United Methodist Church
Issues: Raynor is overweight and until recently had very high cholesterol. In January 2004, she was diagnosed with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, an excessive thickening of the heart muscle. In April 2004, she underwent a new procedure called alcohol septal ablation so that her heart could beat more effectively.
(CNN) -- The Reverend Leigh Ann Raynor is a pillar of the community in Thomasville, a town of 20,000 in southern Georgia. But she's afraid she may be growing into a roadblock.
The 49-year-old minister said she wants to lose weight, and maybe even kick her habit of smoking a pack and a half of cigarettes a day. (Journal)
For over 20 years, Raynor had a pain in her chest -- one reason she didn't exercise, which consequently contributed to her weight gain.
The pain got so bad one day that she went to a hospital emergency room, where doctors diagnosed her with a heart ailment called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
A recent procedure and medication has relieved her of the pain, allowing her to start exercising again, if slowly.
Raynor says one of her greatest fears is the prospect of getting shorter with age. If that's the case, she says she'll soon resemble a human SpongeBob SquarePants -- five feet tall, five feet wide with a little head on top, much like the perfectly proportional, goofy, aquatic cartoon character.
Raynor knows that, like many Americans, she is largely responsible for the state of her health. (E-mail Raynor)
Her breakfast, for example, consists of coffee and nothing else. She knows even a piece of fruit would push her in the right direction, but it's just too easy to ignore when on the run.
Rolling by the drive-through window, Raynor often picks up fast food -- meals full of fat and calories, but with little nutritional value.
And it doesn't help that the reverend rarely cooks.
She says she has used her stove only a couple of times in the past few years, relying instead on fast-food takeouts.
When her parishioners heard about her aversion to the kitchen, they came running with bread in hand -- and beans, casseroles and desserts. But while typically an improvement over fast-food dining, some of these meals hardly qualified as healthy.
By joining CNN's "New You Revolution," Raynor hopes to break her bad habits and adopt a healthier lifestyle.
Losing a few pounds, she hopes, will allow her to be more fit and active now, and help ensure that she enjoys a long and fruitful retirement.
