Aurora – A birth can be a life-changing event, as Duane Taylor discovered two years ago. When his daughter Iman came into the world, he weighed 375 pounds and had a 54-inch waist.
“I realized that if I didn’t do something about my weight, I would not be around to enjoy my lovely wife and my 11-year-old daughter, nor see my baby grow up and graduate from college,” he says.
Taylor began exercising daily, spending 75 minutes on the treadmill at a steep incline and doing hundreds of crunches daily at home. He lifted weights three days a week at the gym. The routine continues today.
Seeing Duane’s progress, wife Zena soon joined him. She didn’t have the weight issues her husband did, but she was trying to shed extra pounds put on during her pregnancy and, like Duane, wanted to eat better. She began cooking healthy meals for the family, and they cut back on portion sizes, carbohydrates, snacks and sugar. They stopped eating at buffet-style and Chinese restaurants.
They adjusted their schedules so that Zena could take aerobics and dance classes. “I’ll get up at 4:45 a.m. to go the gym, or go on Thursday nights,” she says. During the day, she’s a licensed day-care provider, so she has to get her exercise in before or after the children come to the house.
By the beginning of this year, Duane, now 44, had lost 127 pounds and 15 inches from his waist. Zena is getting close to her goal of being able to again fit in a size 6. Both are quick to admit that not only has the buddy system worked for them, but also say their third “buddy” is their belief in God. “Our faith has been instrumental,” Duane says. “It has kept us motivated. We are three-way partners in this.”
Duane, a corporate recruiter and event planner, also says that the biggest battle in staying with a plan is psychological. “The hardest part is getting in the car to go to the gym,” he says. “We’ve had to become huge planners, but you make time for what’s important.”
Their children have noticed their efforts too. Iman walks on the treadmill. Kiera, 11, is a gymnast who says she’s particularly proud of her dad for making such a big change and sticking to his plan. “He’s a great role model,” Kiera says.
Duane says he eats slowly and consciously these days. “Food does taste good,” he says, but “nothing tastes as good as healthy feels.”
– Suzanne S. Brown
