Wartburg woman loses more than 100 pounds

Sandra Kennedy, right, before she started the weight-loss program. With her is her friend Monica Wagner.—Photo submitted

After years of trying several diet programs, including diet pills, Sandra Kennedy says she finally found something that worked for her—cutting fat intake and old-fashioned exercise. In this age of instant gratification, that’s not what most of us want to hear.

Kennedy, who lives in Wartburg, has lost 108 pounds since Labor Day 1996. She doesn’t remember her exact weight when she started because she avoids scales when she can. But she started going to a local exercise facility, Ladies First, and the staff charted her weight loss.

“Even now, I only weigh once a month,” Kennedy said. “A woman’s weight can fluctuate so much that it can be discouraging if it looks like you’ve gained a few pounds and you thought you were losing. So I just don’t weigh myself very often.”

She tried several programs around, some that are nationally advertised.

"I tried one supervised program that included food supplements but I was told not to exercise because my body wouldn’t be taking in enough calories. I lost 75 pounds on the program but afterwards I gained it all back in less than a year.”

Kennedy said she was a little chubby as a kid but activity in sports kept the weight down. Raised in Deer Lodge, she attended schools in Florida and lettered in three sports in high school there.

“I also have four brothers, and that kept me active, too.” she added.

But the reason she decided to go to an exercise program was not just because of the disappointment of the other diets.

“My best friend told me I had to go,” Kennedy said, laughing. “She said, ‘You have to do this,’ and I said, ‘OK.’ “ Her friend had been going to the gym and said she had lost weight.

“When I went in, I told the woman I wanted to sign up for the program. She asked me didn’t I want to look around first, and I told her ‘No, I know I have to do this because my best friend said I needed it.’ “

Kennedy works part-time at the gastrointestinal laboratory at Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge and attends Roane State Community College. In May, she’ll enter Walters State in Morristown and study for a degree in nursing.

At first, she went to the exercise facility about three days each week for an hour each time.

“It wasn’t easy getting started, because of work and going to school. But after a couple of weeks, I started to see results and that motivated me to go more. I never knew exercising could be so much fun. I go at least four days each week, sometimes five.”

But she’s usually there for at least two hours.

“Well, I like to talk, too, so I’m not sweating that whole two hours,” she said, laughing. “Plus, you get a lot of support from the other women.”

She does cardiovascular exercises each time, and now alternates some other exercises with weight training. Kennedy said when she’s not at the gym, she walks or rides her bike.

A lower intake of food was an added benefit of the exercises.

“It’s funny, but now I just seem to want vegetables and fruit. I don’t each much meat anymore but not because I’m trying to be a vegetarian. I just don’t seem to want it as much.” She added that she tries to eat her main meal at lunchtime, and she doesn’t eat meals after 6 p.m.

She said her family and friends have been her best supporters and that she doesn’t believe she could have done it without them.

“I have so much more energy, a better attitude and I even sleep much better. Exercise was the element I was missing in the other programs,” Kennedy said.

Copyright 1998 The Oak Ridger

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