How I came to be at I.EM.Phit

A lot of people have asked me to explain more of the history behind my project and my relationship with the clinic and the trainers.  It's a long story but I will try to give you a condensed version.

Four years ago I weighed 400 pounds.  I had explored weight loss surgery twice and had actually scheduled the surgery both times.  I had young children and I was very concerned about the risks and complications involved.  I was also told I'd have to learn to eat right and maintain a regular exercise program to keep the weight off, even with the surgery.  My thought was, "Well, doh.  If I could figure out how to do all of that, why the heck would I have the surgery?"

As a last ditch effort, I gave up drinking pop and started walking on the treadmill for about 5-10 minutes per day, every day.  A month later I had lost 23 pounds.  Over that first year I gradually changed my eating habits and walked more and more.  I lost about 100 pounds that first year.

To mark the one year anniversary of my little project, a few of my co-workers and I decided to make it a little more interesting by creating a project to help me get the next 100 pounds off.  We erected a website and got 100 people to sign up for one pound of me and offer a motivation to get me to that specific pound.  You can still find the site here: http://www.vegetablestastelikedirt.com/.  If you click on "100" at the bottom of the page you can see the people and motivations involved.  Suffice it to say, my friends, family and co-workers really stepped up.  I still love every one of them for what they did for me.  I lost about 160 pounds with their help.

The project garnered some media attention.  There was a KARE11 Extra, appearances on The Rachael Ray Show, local news articles and an article in Woman's World magazine.  It was the KARE11 piece that brought Chris Coffey and Steve Daugherty into my life.

After seeing the piece, Chris contacted me through the site and pestered me for 5 months until I met with him and visited The Exercise Medicine Center at Children's Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota.  I knew the minute I met him that he would be a significant and influential person in my life going forward.

About a year after I met Chris and Steve, the center at Children's closed after it had been operating for six years.  It was a huge disappointment to the many patients of the clinic who had come to rely on the treatment they received.

I continued to stay in regular touch after the center and Children's closed.

On a personal note, over the past two years I have had some serious health issues and financial issues and the resulting stress caused me to stall out for a year and ultimately set me back about 40 pounds. There, I said it. I don't want to look at it anymore. It's been a rough two years.

In August, with the help of Pat and Renee Daulton and Julie Zabel of The Daulton Foundation, Doctors Cindy and Michael Garr and numerous others, whom I am depending Chris and Steve to mention in a comment post because I can't even list them all, The Institute for Exercise Medicine and Prevention (re)opened.  You can visit the website here (and please do) www.iemphit.org.

When Chris informed me of the clinic's opening in St. Paul this summer, I begged him to find a way for me to be a part of it in an administrative capacity.  He arranged for an interview.  I met with Dani Lang, the clinic's Office Manager, and that's how I ended up working with and working out with the trainers on a daily basis.

I can not emphasise enough what a great place I.EM.Phit is and the work being done there.  Please visit the site and sponsor a child or contact the clinic for a tour or appointment.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and check out the clinic.  This is a subject very near and dear to my heart.