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Newlyweds
Lose 153 Pounds and Inspire a Community!
I
met a gorgeous young couple while on tour recently, bright
and lively and lots of fun. Knowing nothing of their weight
histories, I commented on how beautiful they were. They
were a bit taken aback by my observation and I wasn't
sure why. I thought perhaps I was too forward. He nudged
her and she humbly said, "We've lost 150 pounds."
I was thrilled for them as you can imagine and encouraged
them to share their story. I arrived home to this wonderful
letter from Michelle. It really highlights how motivating
and influential spousal behavioral support can be. That
said, you are in control of your ride. And you alone,
can achieve positively anything you set your mind to.
Hi Kathleen,
We met you at the Get Hooked on Health Expo in Saint Louis.
You told my husband Darin and I that we were a young, beautiful
couple as you were signing my food-stained copy of your
first book. We'd been so overweight for so long
that your comment stuck with us. We can't stop
calling each other young and beautiful! It's
a new feeling for us.
During the expo, we were looking at the Dance Dance Revolution
game station. Darin's very good at it and in fact takes
his towel and his water bottle to the arcade and plays the
game for a workout. I encouraged Darin to join the kids
playing the game at the Expo. He turned to me and said,
"None of these kids wants to see a fat man dancing
around."
He's lost 93 pounds and is a very muscular 200 pounds
now. It would be very difficult for anyone to think
he's fat except for him. This is a strange new
way to live, but of course it's wonderful. It
will take some getting used to the fact that we are not
fat people anymore.
My parents, Darin's parents, and some of our grandparents
are overweight. My father, his mother, and my grandmother
and great-aunt are all diabetic. When my father had
a heart attack a couple of years ago, it really started
the wheels turning for me. I didn't want to end
up with the same health problems only to pass them on to
my kids and on and on. It took a year or two for it
to click in my head. I tried to count calories,
but it never lasted for very long. I just wasn't
ready to make the change. I did start adding more
veggies to my diet because I figured that as long as I got
my pint of ice cream I didn't mind adding in veggies.
Somewhere during this stage Cooking
Thin started airing on Food Network. We love
Food Network. I worked a strange schedule, so I could
spend entire weekdays watching cooking shows. After
watching a few of your shows and talking to someone who
had lost weight recently, Darin switched from regular soda
to diet. He also started playing Dance Dance Revolution
about 3 times a week.
Eight regular sodas a day turned into no regular sodas a
day. These two things made a huge difference and he lost
some weight, but our eating was out of control. Eventually,
he got interested in lifting weights and working out, and
I managed to get up to a faithful one workout every week,
at least. I was allergic to exercise—this was
hard for me! Things slowly progressed in the direction
of healthier changes.
In June 2004, I remembered that I was a Lifetime Member
of Weight Watchers. My mother and grandmother and
I all lost weight with Weight Watchers when I was in the
fifth grade. Since I was a Lifetime Member I didn't
have to pay the joining fee or pay for missed weeks.
I decided to see if they could find my member number.
They did, so I went to a meeting.
I was terrified because I didn't know if I could change
my eating so much, but it was time to start. I sat
and read the starting booklet about 20 times that night,
and as I did it made more and more sense. Darin said
that if I was going to do it, he would too, and he joined
their online service.
We went to the grocery store the next day and read all the
labels. The first week wasn't so hard and we
lost a lot that week! We had to go to a conference
for my job in the middle of Kansas about three weeks later.
It was eight days long and not very new-dieter-friendly.
I was about to give up because I wanted pizza. Darin
argued with me... "You don't want to do that,
do you?" I had him get online and check
the nutritional information as a reality check so that I
would change my mind. To our surprise, they had a
Fit and Delicious pizza which would fit in our diet.
We got to go to Pizza Hut, have our pizza and stay on our
new path.
This was when the snowball really started rolling down the
hill for me. I was way over my limit most days that
week, but we still wrote it all down and we still lost weight.
They gave out free t-shirts at the conference and I was
actually able to get one because I could finally fit into
a size they had. This just wasn't nearly as hard
as I thought it would be. Being overweight was a lot
harder than eating healthy.
A year and a half later I have lost 60 pounds and Darin
has lost 93. I have worked my way up to 4-5 workouts
a week and I jogged a 5K in October. After losing
the first 18 pounds I realized how much more energy I have
and how great this feels, and it has just gotten better.
I would have done it for that alone if I only had realized
that all those ailments, heartburn, sore feet, and involuntary
naps on Saturday afternoon were due to being overweight.
I have even dropped my cholesterol 15 points even though
it was normal before. I no longer have digestive issues
from overeating every night.
About 6 months into this, I looked around and realized I
hadn't taken an antacid since we started and in fact
didn't know where they were! I now know what
"full" is. I know what "hungry"
is. Before I lost the weight, I was either stuffed
or it was time to eat (whether I was hungry or not).
It was not easy to train my body to want less, but it did
happen and I just don't need that much food now.
After listening to your presentation at the Expo, I realize
that so many of my cooking tricks came from you. I
still measure all the high-calorie ingredients. I
agree with Russ from Cooking Thin episode, Mr. Mom's Boot
Camp, that you don't need oil in a nonstick pan. I
add some of the oil in a recipe and then taste it to see
if it needs the rest. I measured a teaspoon of oil
tonight and couldn't believe just how big a pool of oil
that was since I usually use so little.
I love to make your salads with interesting veggies and
wonderful dressings. I even cut back on oil in the
"World's Best Vinaigrette" recipe.
A weekly staple here is a stir fry of some kind using the
sauce from Sweet and Sour Long Beans. I now use it
to impress my friends with how healthy it is and how wonderful
it tastes.
I am usually very calm when it comes to meeting "celebrities,"
but I really got excited about meeting you and seeing your
demonstration. I really relate to many of your struggles
and solutions. I was nearly in tears a few times because
you were describing the way I feel. I don't know
many other people who will admit to downing the whole pint
of ice cream in a single sitting.
I was a little bit gushy about meeting you, and I was surprised
that the cat had my tongue. Obviously, I had a lot
to say. It was a really neat experience because you
are one of my cooking mentors. Thank you for sharing
yourself with all of us. You are a big part of this
story. Watching the show and reading your books helped
to train my mind to be able to do this. You are not
only helping me, but also my dad, step mom, and stepsister
and numerous coworkers who have seen what I can do and have
started a healthier life as well. I think they knew
just how anti-health I was, so if I can change, they can
too. Thanks for everything you do to show people the way
to this wonderful, energy-filled, food-filled life!
Michelle Keener
If you'd like to submit your weight loss success story,
click
here.
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