I’ve been heavy my whole life, though I did have a brief period of “normal” weight during high school. My mom sent me to a fat farm where I lost a bunch of weight, and then I kept it off by purging after my binges. Hardly “normal.” Then during my senior year I kicked the purging habit, but the binging continued. Fifty pounds worth.

After high school and throughout my twenties I always turned to food for comfort. I was depressed and lonely, and food seemed soothing. What a vicious cycle! By the time I moved to San Francisco in 1994 I weighed almost 185—that’s at five foot three inches tall!

While I was in the process of moving I was carjacked, and literally everything I owned was taken except the clothes on my back. I had to start over from scratch—I was in a new city where I knew no one, and the loneliness was nearly intolerable. Again I turned to food for solace. That first year in San Francisco I gained over 100 pounds. Yup, that’s five foot three inches and 295 pounds.

Very slowly I began to get my bearings. I bought clothes and furniture, and started to rebuild my life.

In 1996 I was on a business trip in Arizona. One day, I got back to my hotel room and The Oprah Winfrey Show was on the television. I have always—and that’s always with a capital “A”—been a huge Oprah fan, and I tape her show every day. But that day, I decided to stay put and watch the show, which was about the launch of the book, Make the Connection, she wrote with Bob.

I sat in that hotel room and couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Oprah gets up at 5 a.m. to exercise? I’m thinking, huh, I don’t exercise because I’m the busiest person I know. As I sat there a light bulb went off. Oprah might be busier than I am and she exercises? Let me think about that for a while…

I went to a bookstore, bought the book and stayed up all night in my hotel room reading it. I loved that book because it wasn’t a diet. It was a way of life. It was working from the inside out, and I always knew that was going to be the way I would lose weight. That book really spoke to me. But I was in Arizona on an expense account and that was no time to begin a diet!

I couldn’t stop thinking about the book and Oprah getting up at 5 a.m. to work out. When I got back to San Francisco I bought a treadmill, put it in my tiny apartment right in front of the TV and started walking every evening after work while I watched the tape I’d made of Oprah’s show that day.

That was in September and by December I’d lost 20 pounds. I was totally gung-ho as I began putting Bob’s program to work—one step at a time. I had broken the program into bite-size pieces I could manage, and I was incorporating them all in to my life.

Then on December 4, I got up early to do my walking exercise outside for the very first time (I’d never stopped thinking about Oprah getting up at 5 and wondering how I was going to become a morning person). I was hit by a car and spent the next six months in a wheelchair in rehab.

This time, unlike the carjacking incident, I decided to come out better, not bitter. I was feeling good about the 20 pounds I’d lost and didn’t want another 100-pound gain. Plus I’d founded a support group for people struggling with their weight—it’s called The Connectors after the book—and I was the leader: I needed to set a good example. I didn’t want to let the group down.

Turns out, they helped me as much as I helped them. Through the power of the group, and my conviction that I wouldn’t be a victim this time around—no more pity parties for me! —I didn’t gain an ounce during the six months after the accident. As soon as I got out of the wheelchair I picked up with my walking right where I had left off. Three months later I did my first 5K.

By 1998 I’d lost more than 100 pounds. I weighed 175 and was proud of it! I had done it slowly and consistently. I had cleaned up my diet. I had gone through years of therapy to combat my depression. I had tried anti-depressants. But exercise turned out to be the best drug for me--and there were no side effects!

In January 2003 I signed a Contract with Myself. My goal was to lose enough weight so I could run the Chicago Marathon in October in under five hours. I did it because today I weigh 140 pounds.



Don’t Be a Victim! Plan Ahead!
Tawni’s Tips on How to Win Your Weight-Loss Battle

• Set two alarms clocks to make sure you get up and work out in the a.m.

• Pay attention to what the “actual” serving size is, instead of what you “think” is “normal.”

• Cut restaurant portions in half; take the other half home for lunch the next day.

• Take baby steps. If you currently order a large pizza, go down to a medium when you first start the program.

• If you know you’re an emotional eater, don’t keep problem foods in the house. My motto is, if you don’t buy it, you won’t eat it.

• The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. If you know you tend to overeat when stressed, plan ahead when you’re heading into a stressful situation--bring baby carrots or celery to munch on so you won’t make a beeline to the vending machines.

• Keep in mind that in the beginning it’s going to take a lot of willpower, but then it becomes habit.

For more information on Tawni visit her website, click here.

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