Tanya Travis: A promise kept

On Jan. 3, 2011, Tanya Travis got up and weighed herself.

The scale stopped at 298.5 pounds.

"This was the heaviest I had ever been, and I knew things were going to have to change if I was ever going to be able to keep that promise to Kody," she said.

Kody was her oldest son, who died unexpectedly March 20, 2008. He was 20 years old.

"While I was standing by his bed in the hospital, I made a promise to him that I would be a better mom for his little brother Kyle, that I would get fit, and be able to do the things with Kyle that Kody and I had only talked about when he was growing up."

It would not be an easy battle to win.

Travis lost 70 pounds, gained it back and then added more. A year passed, then two. The weight remained.

Then, in December 2010, she had a dream about Kody.

"In my dream he said to me 'Mom, you aren't keeping your promise. It isn't important for me, but it is for Kyle and for you.'"

This promise would be kept.

On Dec. 30, 2011, Tanya Travis stepped on the scale.

It read 147 pounds.

The Coeur d'Alene woman had lost 151 pounds within a year. She did it with diet and exercise.

Today, the title loan officer says she is in the best shape of her life. She rises about 6:15 each day, hits the gym twice a week before work, five days a week after work. She still follows a strict diet. She loves to walk and is running now, on weekends.

And yes, she is proud.

"It was a lot of hard work and dedication, a lot of people supporting me. I am proud. I think a lot of people should be proud because they helped a lot."

How did you do it?

I did it with diet and exercise. I didn't do it with gastric bypass, I didn't do it with anything major, no surgery or anything like that. It was traditional diet and exercise. And water. Lots of water. This goes with me everywhere I do. Everywhere I go I have a water jug.

Where did you start?

It started out with a group of gals from Windermere Coeur d'Alene real estate who were doing a thing called the "Game On Diet Challenge." It was a book and I was invited to join in. It was a competition. I found out I'm really competitive. We each put in $10 and whatever team lost the most weight got to win that money. That was really a motivator for me to stick with that program. It was super easy to do. We won that first competition and that kind of motivated me to keep going.

That particular diet plan was so easy, even after all my friends dropped out and said 'I'm tired of this, I don't want to do it anymore,' I just kept following that plan.

When I first started the workouts I did "Just Dance" on the Wii. I put it on nonstop shuffle and danced and danced and danced until I couldn't dance anymore. Really simple. Walked outside. Walked my dog. Walked with my son. And that was really simple. That's how it all started.

Was it difficult to stick with it?

No, it wasn't. That particular plan that I started with was so easy, because I had an option for a cheat day, where you had a day where you could eat whatever you wanted. So I knew that if I stuck with what I was doing all during the week and there was something I really wanted, that I would just have to wait until that day and I could have it. Most of the time, I got to that day and didn't need to have it anymore.

So you never reached a point where you felt like quitting?

Never. Never cheated more than one day in a row. I didn't take that cheat day every week, but I had that option so I knew I could. Never took a day that wasn't planned. I always planned my days so I never had to feel guilty about it.

Did you always have trouble with weight?

In high school, I was very thin. I was thin, I was active, I was in sports. But as soon as I graduated and quit doing sports, I started gaining the weight and I gained it really rapidly. I hit 200 pounds by the time I was 21. My entire adult life I have been severely overweight.

What led you to decide to lose weight?

My oldest son passed away in 2008. When we were in the hospital and he was in a coma, I promised him I would lose the weight and be a better mom for his younger brother. I had lost some weight right after he died, it wasn't really doing anything right, it was stress related, so I gained all of that weight back.

In December, I had a dream about him. He told me I wasn't keeping my promise, that it was time to keep my promise. It wasn't important for him, but it was important for my youngest son and for me.

So you picked a day to begin?

Jan. 3 I got up and weighed 298 pounds. I knew I was one big meal away from weighing 300 pounds, which was a horrifying number to me. And said, 'this is it.'

Was losing 151 pounds the goal?

That was my goal in the beginning. I lost about 60 pounds on my own. In June, I went to Fitness on Fourth. I started with a personal trainer there. I wanted to get some shape. I lost a lot of weight but it wasn't toning up into anything. I emailed four gyms that day, Fitness on Fourth got right back to me. 'Come down, we would like to help you out.'

I learned how fit I can be, how much I love to dance, how much I actually love to exercise. I didn't know that about myself. I thought I hated it. So when I got to my final goal, I set a new goal. I'd like to lose another 10 pounds or so. I'm interested in doing maybe a 5K.

How do you feel today compared to how you were before?

I feel great. My health is great. I just got done having my physical. Everything checked out great. I'm excited about soccer season starting because I'm going to get to play soccer with my youngest son and practice with him. Looking for a mountain bike so we can go biking this summer. We're going to do some more hiking. I feel great, happy, energetic. It feels great.

Do you still follow a diet?

I follow a diet to this day. I follow a diet that my trainer at the gym has me on.

Through your weight loss, did you have specific foods you could eat?

I did. Luckily, I had a great boyfriend who cooked a lot of my meals for me, and cooked meals for him and my son. I did go pretty specialized. In the beginning, it was pretty simple. You just had a list of foods and you picked one from each list. As I got farther into it, the weight was harder to come off, then I started stylizing a lot more. That's where the gym really helped me out. My trainer put me on a good program.

What kinds of foods are we talking about?

I eat tons of protein, tons of fresh vegetables, pretty low carbohydrates, fruits, eat pretty much all natural. No frozen food. Nothing with a shelf life of more than a week, so it's lots of trips to the grocery and lots of fresh foods.

Did you receive a lot of feedback?

Most people were really supportive, some people not so much. They were used to me being the fat friend and I don't fit into that role anymore. So I've lost some friends along the way, gained some friends along the way, but for the most part it's been really good.

Would you offer advice to others trying to lose weight?

The recommendation I would give, and this is because I've done every diet. I've done Optifast, Jenny Craig, Weight Watcher, Nutrisystem, I have done them all. Until you find one that works for you, it's not going to work. So just keep trying, that's my best advice, not to give up. And find an exercise that you love. Not everybody has money for the gym. I don't have money for the gym. It was a sacrifice my family made, a choice we made so I could get healthy. But if you can afford it, find a great gym. They're invaluable.

How long were your workouts?

When I was really pushing hard toward the end trying to reach my goal, I was working out two to three hours a day, sometimes at the gym, sometimes at home, lots of walking. I cut back now to about an hour a day.

How did you avoid the temptations that sit out there like cookies?

The willpower is hard. This is funny and I don't recommend it to everyone. I smell everything. My son has gotten used to saying 'Here mom, smell this," when his dinner comes out. For me, it's that smell, 'OK, I remember what that tastes like' and I'm good with that. I don't know if that would ever work for anyone else, but that really helped me so much.

How did being overweight affect your life, and now that you've lost so much weight, are you able to help others?

I hid my weight for many years. I have a lot of friends from high school, I was so embarrassed I didn't get in touch with them for 20, 25 years. I finally went public on Facebook, I shared my story and before and after pictures. It's been amazing to me, how many people have reached out. I didn't know they had problems because I was too embarrassed to share mine. So I have had a lot of people reach out to me. I've been asked to pay it forward and that's what I would like to do is pay it forward. If I can help one person get up off the couch where I was sitting last year and say, 'You know what? I can do this,' that will be wonderful.

What's the best part of being where you're at today?

There are several small things, like being able to run up and down the stairs. Roll over, get up off the couch, those are the small things. The big things are being able to go biking with my son, I'm going to be able to do things I could never do with my older son. We can go to Silverwood and get in the rollercoasters. We can do all those things I was held back from by my weight, something that I did to myself. So I'm looking forward to some of those things.