Fast-Track Fitness

If you’ve been an oxygen fan for a while, chances are you’ve seen Chady Dunmore a time or two.

- Lara McGlashan

She is the ultimate success story, having lived a lifetime with kidney disease and a mild case of lupus, and having gone from 200-plus pounds to fitness model postpartum. She reinvented herself and became an icon of fitness, earning a pro card in Bikini and appearing on the cover of Oxygen four times. She was a successful coach and fitness competitor and had several lucrative sponsorships. But then she disappeared, leading people to wonder, Where is she now? Now she’s back and she’s better than ever.

What I Did for Love

While on set shooting her upcoming Oxygen course Fast-Track Fitness, Dunmore caught a glimpse of her upcoming cover and all but broke down in tears. “I literally was living out of my car a year ago and I never thought I would be here — almost 40 — on a magazine cover,” she says, trying hard not to ruin her makeup. “It’s like a dream. I never thought I would have abs again, but here they are, stretch marks and all! I am proud of my body and its marks, and I would not change a thing about it at this point in my life.”

Dunmore owns that she gave up everything for a relationship. “You live your life for love — for family, significant others — and every bump I have hit in my life has been because of love or a relationship,” she says. “I was married for 10 years to my daughter’s dad, and I lost myself and my identity. And in this last relationship, I was engaged, I resigned from my job, moved to a new city and revolved my life around a relationship that ultimately did not work out after three years. And again, I lost my identity.”