This morning on Take it Off Today, shedding half their body weight. It’s truly an amazing feat, especially to people who've struggled their entire lives to lose weight. And in a moment we are gonna meet three people who did just that. Their stories are featured on People magazine’s annual Half Their Size issue. Galina Espinoza is the magazine’s senior editor.
-Galina, good morning to you.
-Good morning.
-Last week we met three people on the show who have lost half of their body weight. Today we are gonna meet three more. What is it about these folks that make their stories so unique?
-I think the fact that they are able to do it on their own, you know, we get used to seeing reality television versions of how to lose weight where people go and spend time in a special camp and they have trainers and nutritionists.
-Well, don’t knock that too much on NBC. There is something good about that, but...
-No, absolutely. But for most people, it’s not realistic. These are people who’re in their everyday life spent years working it in, figuring it out how to eat again, how to exercise, reprogramming themselves.
-Exactly!
-And if they can do it, really anyone can.
-As you pointed out, they’ve done it through diet and exercise, the old fashion way.
-And it’s a lot of hard work and a lifetime commitment, and I think that’s the inspiration.
-So let’s get started, we have a before picture of Brandy Blackburn who is 25 years old from Virginia, she lost 177 pounds from her starting weight of 340 pounds. There she is before, Brandy, we can not wait, come on out.
-She looks, you look fantastic.
-Thank you.
-How do you feel? I know you used to be self-conscious about your body.
-Oh, it’s amazing now. I am totally a different person since I’ve got the weight off.
-You know, in fifth grade, I must say, you already weighted 200 pounds. By the time you graduated high school, your heaviest weight was 340 pounds. Why do you think, now looking back, that your weight spiraled out of control like that?
-I had awful eating habits. I never learned like good nutrition and good eating value and I never worked out. I’m from the South, so eating is a way of life, we all enjoy it.
-We all like it fried down there too.
-Oh, absolutely, double fry anything down there. And I just never learned those really good core values of how to eat well and work out.
-And once you started working out, exercising and dieting, it took you two years to reach your goal weight. Were there moments along that pathway where you thought, 'You know what? I am not gonna be able to do this.' Because everybody has plateaus and...
-Oh, right. But I found a really great support system at SparkPeople.com. They helped me really get through those tough plateaus and keep going.
-And I know that a lot of people don’t recognize you. Best moment you’ve had so far since you lost the weight?
-Easy, we were at a company dinner and one of my husband’s co-workers walked in and thought my husband had re-married because I looked so different.
-Really? Wow, you were the girlfriend that no one knew about you.
-Yeah, secret from someone.
-Well, you look fantastic, Brandy.
-All right.
-And how long have you been able to keep it off at this point?
-I’ve been about this weight for almost a year now.
-That is great.
-Yes.
-Congratulations to you.
-Thanks so much.
-We’re gonna check out a before photo of our second Half Their Size individual. This is Diana Cantu who’s 51 years old from Texas. Diana lost 191 pounds from her starting weight of, get this (=hear this), 333 pounds. Diana, come on out.
-You are so tiny.
-Thank you.
-Wow, my gosh. There was a point,I mean, I am sure this is still fresh in your mind, when you were so large that you couldn’t fit into your conference chair at work at all.
-No, no. It was very disconcerting and depressing.
-Yeah, so how do you feel now?
-Oh, I feel fantastic, I can do so many things that I’ve always wanted to do. I’m a golfer, so I can golf and I can walk. Like you saw the picture on People magazine I was climbing, rock climbing with my boys. They were astounded: ‘Mom, are you really going to try this?’ ‘Yeah, Why not? I can do it now.’
-You know, you had thought about gaster bypass but it was your dental hygienist who said no. She turned you on to Jenny Craig.
-That’s correct.
-Now why did Jenny Craig program work for you, Diana?
-Well, I am not a cook,
-Ur-huh, you don’t cook at all, OK.
-I don’t cook. I got, I gained weight eating junk food and eating out at restaurants. I ate 5,000 calories a day. That’s the equivalent of what two grown men eat probably in a day.
-Well, not exercising at all, to boot?
-No, no, totally sedentary. So Jenny Craig worked for me because the food is so good and easy to prepare, and the personal consultation. I needed the support system. The hardest thing for me was humbling myself and asking for help. But that’s what I needed then. So the food and consultation worked for me. I’ve been on it for two and half years.
-Wow, and I know you didn’t join a gym at all, you decided, well, I don’t need the gym, I’ll just do the exercise at home.
-No, I just walk. Austin is so beautiful, the hills and, I just walk.
-And she have got two boys who keep her active.
-And speaking of her two boys, we wanna introduce our last folk, person here, 16-year-old Michael Cantu who is Diana’s son. He did not lose half his body weight but he did lose over 100 pounds from a starting weight of 270 pounds, Michael, come on out.
-Oh my gosh. Wow, unbelievable.
-Hard to believe he was ever over weight.
-Yeah! But you would remember?
-No, not really, I was just a boy.
-Well, you are, really. What happened was, you were in New York with your mom, right? And she said let’s get on the scale, you did. Were you shocked when you saw your weight was 270 pounds?
-Yes, I was very shocked because I didn’t even wanna look at the scale before that, I didn’t really want to know what I weighed. I knew I was heavy but I don’t want measure it.
-And you did it with Lean Cuisine meals and you add supplement with food and veges, was that hard for you?
-Yes, it was hard first for the first few weeks when before my stomach shrink because I was feeling very hungry. But once I got past that, it was very easy to stay on because I felt full.
-And let’s bring in your mom and Brandy back again in the last few seconds we have, what advice would you give to folks who are looking at you going, 'wow, it’s unbelievable; I wouldn’t even know how to get it started.'
-This is a lifestyle change, it’s not a quick fix, it’s not a quick diet, you really just have to be committed to overhauling your entire life and get committed and stay committed to it.
-And anyone can do this. As a woman of a certain age, anyone can do this.
-I know the age, honey. Thank you so much Brandy, Diana and Michael. Congratulations to all of you. Galina, thanks for bringing their stories to us.
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