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An Extraordinarily Powerful Woman
 I
am a power lifter and this has been one of the most important things
in my life. I have succeeded at this one thing – It has put
me in the limelight as an athlete – as a winning competitor.
I won Nationals for American Drug Free Power Lifting Association
in the early 1980s. My weight class was 165 to 198 pounds and I
knew I could beat everyone. I could squat 498 pounds, bench press
231 pounds and my best dead lift was 491 pounds. I looked good because
I had muscles and as a result I felt good mentally. One reason I
liked power lifting was I could eat almost anything and not gain
weight. My husband, for 30 years, and I would eat fast foods all
day long with our 3 kids and finish the day at 11 PM with 2 dozen
eggs and 1 pound of hamburger. Owners of "All you can eat"
restaurants would cringe when they saw me enter the door.
But physically I did not feel well; because I ate everything. I
had constant headaches and all day long I took NSAID's (like
Advil and Motrin) for aches and pains. I always had diarrhea (it
was like urine). At a low point in my health I was diagnosed with
ovarian cancer. But I still wasn't worried because I was young.
I lived the fast life between ages 31 and 46, until I stopped weight
lifting (in 1992), because of pain in my back and after one knee
surgery. Even though I stayed at my same weight of 198 pounds, all
too soon the muscle turned to fat.
In 1992, I spent 12 days at the McDougall Program at St. Helena
Hospital and afterwards I lost 25 pounds. But this didn't last
long. My excuse was my friends – they told me I wasn't
any fun any more because of all the foods I had given up. So I started
adding things back and it took me about 2 years to fall to my previous
low state of poor health.
 From
1994 til 2002 I went on all the diets. I got the heart valve problem
from Fen-Phen – I now have a heart murmur and a leaking valve.
Meridian (a similar pill) made me gain weight. Weight Watchers I
couldn't deal with because I don't do well in groups.
I didn't try high protein diets because I knew how dangerous
they were. I was beating myself up every time I failed. I just could
not succeed – I would wake up in the morning hating life and
hating me because I was a fat failure. I believed that everyone
else could lose weight and be healthy, but me.
The turning point was the weekend my sister and I, and 2 cousins
spent together. All 4 of us were fat and all we did the whole weekend
was eat. All our photos showed us eating – and afterwards it
didn't look like fun. In one picture we are all sharing this
dessert with a glass of wine – we were all smiles, but when
I look back, it was really yucky. My big grin in the photo didn't
show the constant diarrhea, the day-long headaches, heart palpations,
nausea like I was pregnant again, or the disgust I had for fat me.
The scale then slipped past 200 pounds – fat people weigh 200
pounds. I couldn't take it any more. Fortunately I had had
the McDougall experience – the only program that had ever made
any sense to me.
On July 22, 2002 I returned to the "new" McDougall Clinic
in Santa Rosa with my sister. Even though the underlying philosophy
was the same, the experience was entirely different. For me the
real important change was the personal involvement of the McDougalls
in the program this time -- they were there all the time. Every
question in our group was answered in a practical manner because
they were there. Living the program through the Quick and Easy cookbook
made life so easy. After each delicious meal I would think "I
could never make that or have the time." Then I would go to
my room and look up the recipes and see how easy these could be
made in my own kitchen. The Quick and Easy cookbook has since become
my bible.
 Every
day, our dietitian, Jill, would show us how to make something tasty
out of common stuff found in the kitchen. The variety of exercise
I was exposed to at the program – yoga, water aerobics, stretching
– made me no longer afraid to do these activities when I returned
home. I am now involved with my local athletic club. I fell in love
with the new staff; like the new "pscyh guy" (Doug Lisle,
PhD) – he is so positive – absolutely the best –
I could listen to him all day long. In fact, I may come back just
to hear his lectures. I feel like they are friends that really care
about me -- and I know they do because I contact them by e-mail
often.
Over the last 2 months I have been "Steady Eddie" –
I have not fallen off once. I don't want to, because I don't
want to feel like I used to. Coffee and dairy were my 2 biggest
problems – solved now. Each morning I wake up looking forward
to each day. I now am in control of myself. I have no diarrhea,
no headaches, no hot flashes, no palpations, and even my posture
is excellent, because I am proud to be healthy. My black circles
under my eyes are gone. I look younger. People keep saying "you
look great." I love people telling me I am looking so healthy
– especially my husband who is very supportive and is now mostly
vegetarian. I can tell my husband has more respect for me –
he shares my better life. In 2 months I have lost 36 pounds without
a moment of deprivation. I have feelings about myself I haven't
felt since I was a champion power lifter more than 10 years ago.
I am an empowered woman – and I will never lose that power
and control again.
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