( CNN ) -- In March 2010 I found out my twin sister , Bobbette , needed a kidney transplant . With a body mass index of well over 50 , I was ruled out as a donor . At that moment , I decided I would get healthy once she got healthy . I decided that my weight would never again keep me from doing something I wanted . Bobbette got a new kidney in June and was finally getting back on her feet in September . Then it was my turn . I weighed 385 pounds -- and no , it was n't because I like to eat . I grew up as a fat kid , and food was my coping mechanism . In September 2011 , I started walking . By the end of the year , I started making better food choices . In January 2012 , I joined my local Y , where I started taking water classes such as HÂ²O cardio and hydrorider . In June 2012 I was down to 330 pounds . One of my best friends , Anje , volunteered to help me lose even more weight . She figured out quickly that I loved sports ; more than anything I wanted to be an athlete . She came up with a plan for us to approach my weight loss in phases . At the end of each phase , I would do some athletic feat . At the end of phase one , I would run a 5K without stopping . Phase two was a half marathon . She suggested a triathlon for phase three ; I laughed in her face and told her she was crazy . Fate had another plan . One morning I heard Jeff Dauler on `` The Bert Show '' recount the biggest lesson he had learned from being part of the CNN Fit Nation 2012 team . That lesson was `` In times of transition , keep moving forward . It does n't matter how you do it , as long as you keep going forward . '' That year was a time of transition for me and to `` keep moving forward , '' I knew I had to be part of the 2013 CNN Fit Nation team . On Christmas Day 2012 , I got the best present ever : a Facebook message from a producer saying CNN had to talk to me . I knew this was going to be big . `` Surprise , welcome and congratulations . ... '' I heard those words from Dr. Sanjay Gupta and immediately screamed and started to cry . I finally had a team , and I was going to be a triathlete in nine months . The biggest obstacle for me was cycling . I had never clipped into a bike , and I was terrified by the thought of it . By the time we got to our midway training trip in Clermont , Florida , I was doing better but still hated it . With two words , my trainer April Burkey made me a cyclist on that trip -- and started to heal some emotional scars . We were coming off a huge hill , and she said , `` Let go . ... '' At that point she was talking about the brakes , but we had been talking all day about my self-perception . Like braking on a bike , I was holding on too tightly to people , words and situations that had hurt me and to worries about things over which I have absolutely no control . 5 lessons we learned while training for our first triathlon . When it came time for the Nautica Malibu Triathlon , I had no fear . I knew without a doubt I would finish . I was so excited and thankful for this opportunity to live out a childhood dream of being on a team . I had lost nearly 200 pounds and was healthier and happier than ever . As I was out on the course , I would see my teammates , and every time we would yell words of encouragement to each other . It did n't matter who finished first as long as we finished . I had a sense of finally belonging . I never felt more free and confident in my life as I did when I threw my hands in the air as I crossed the finish line . I left all the words and actions that hurt and haunted me since childhood along with the unhealthy , unhappy woman I used to be at the finish line in Malibu on September 8 , 2013 . I had finally `` let go . '' Now the only thing left to do is keep moving forward . Follow Miller 's journey on Twitter @ TriHardAnnette .
Annette Miller was selected to be a part of 2013 One Nation Triathlon Challenge program . Miller lost 100 pounds before joining the program and close to another 100 during it . Miller and her teammates won the Nautica Malibu race .