For the ladies in Picture us Thin, the focus is holistic. They are attempting complete lifestyle changes, not just modifications.
All three women, Patty Knavel, Crystal Hall and Gayle Thompson, admit they have weight problems. All have been thinner in the past.
“That’s where the name comes from,” said Thompson. Both Thompson and Knavel recall years past when they wore smaller sizes. That, and Hall’s being a photographer, sparked the idea of them picturing themselves as they would like to be.
Unlike some, for whom “thin” is equated with “anorexic,” these women know it’s about health, and what suits your particular body frame.
Knavel “was a size 16 when I graduated high school.”
“I got down to a size 13 after having my son Chad 17 years ago,” Thompson said. “When I got down to that weight, my hip bones were sticking out.”
Thompson doesn’t think that’s necessarily healthy. “I think my ideal weight is 190 pounds,” she said. “I’ve gotten down to 205 before and felt I just needed to lose a little more.”
Knavel concurred. “All the women in my family are heavy. The rest of us are obese.”
Both wish to be thinner than they are right now. “I would just kill to be a size 16 again,” Knavel rued.
Joining the Allen County Meltdown was preluded by health concerns for both Knavel and Thompson.
“I initially began due to high blood pressure,” Thompson said.
Two years ago, she was heavier still. “I lost 70 pounds two years ago, but have gained 20 pounds back,” Thompson said. At that time, “My doctor told me if I (lost weight) I’d be able to get off the medicine, and I did, but after gaining weight back, my blood pressure is back up. That’s why I joined this,” she said of the Meltdown. Plus, she said, “When most people in my family hit 40, they get diabetes.” So far, she has avoided that pitfall.
For Knavel, the wake up call was even more drastic.
“I had uncontrolled diabetes for a long time,” she said. “I had a scare about a month ago.”
Knavel landed in the hospital, near death.
“My blood sugar was at 400 when I was in the hospital,” she said. Normal levels should be below 120. “The doctors only gave me a 20 percent chance for survival.”
Knavel said her friends gave her the incentive to live — and change her lifestyle.
“I was sick for a long time,” she said. “It was everybody’s prayers that got me through.”
Now Knavel is “taking the medicine. I take four shots a day. I’ve lost 40 pounds in the past month with (a controlled) diet — I didn’t know what it felt like to feel good. Now I do.”
Knavel gives much of the credit to her turnaround to her best friend, Thompson.
“We’ve been friends for 20 years,” Thompson said.
“We met when we began to work together” in the kitchen at the Allen County Hospital, Knavel said. Both women work as cooks.
“She used to drown everything in cheese,” Thompson said of Knavle’s cooking.
“Oh, I was hardening the arteries,” Knavel acknowledged.
“We call it the near-death diet,” the women laugh.
“She tried for years to get through to me,” Knavel said, “but I wouldn’t listen.”
After her “near death experience,” though, she has.
“I went back to Curves,” a local women’s health center, Knavel said. “I’ve been going to the free weight management classes there.”
The classes are offered for participants in the Meltdown.
“I’m learning nutrition; how to eat a high protein, low glycemic diet,” Knavel said.
Class members purchase a book on nutrition, she said. It has information on foods’ calories and glycemic index levels.
“I take my book when I go grocery shopping,” she said. “I use it as my list. It makes you think about everything you put in your mouth.”
The change in her has been profound, Knavel said.
“I have energy like I never had before. I sleep better.”
She said, as with a drug, “it takes about two weeks to get the sugar out of your system. It takes that time to detox.”
“I think a lot of women struggle with emotional eating and binge eating,” Knavel said.
The other thing the class has taught the women is portion control.
“Your meat serving is only supposed to be the size of a deck of cards,” Thompson said. “A cup of vegetables is about the size of a baseball.” The visualizations help the women control how much they eat. As a result, Knavel said, she is eating less.
“Now when I eat, I get full.”
THOMPSON “met Crystal when I took my grandbaby to get her picture taken.” The women chatted about health and motivation while Hall took photographs. Recognizing a common interest, Hall joined their Meltdown team.
“Crystal said you have to make time for yourself,” Thompson said. “You have to make time to exercise. She has six kids and she believes that.”
Hall inspired Thompson. She has begun walking daily, and is up to 3 miles a day.
“When I first started walking,” Thompson said, “it took me 45 minutes to go two miles. Now I’ve got it down to 50 minutes for three miles,” she smiled. “I’ve lost 7 pounds so far.”
In addition to walking, “I’ve started doing the free aerobics over at the North Community Building,” Thompson said. The classes, offered as part of the Meltdown, are held every Tuesday and Thursday evening from 5:15 to 6:15.
“I want to do Zumba, but I work every other Saturday,” Thompson said of the Humboldt-based dance class. For her, the new class at 6:30 p.m. Thursday nights at Iola’s North Community Building is the ticket.
“You’ve got to have the exercise in conjunction with the diet to make it work,” Thompson said.
But, she has recently changed her diet, too.
“I used to drink a 32 ounce pop every day after work,” she said. She has given that up completely.
And she is opting for fruit and nuts over prepared snacks.
“I think that’s why America is fat — for convenience reasons. It’s just easier to grab a Pop Tart.”
Even so-called diet convience foods can be a problem, Thompson said. “Those 100-calorie packs,” Thompson said, “if you eat four or five of them, it doesn’t help.”
“To eat healthier is more expensive,” Thompson said. With two teenaged boys in the house, the food goes fast.
Thompson is eating leaner foods at work, too, instead of heavier comfort foods.
“We have the best salad bar in town,” she said of the ACH cafeteria. She uses Salad Spritzers and I can’t Beleive It’s Not Butter spray, “But don’t put it on toast,” she warns. “It makes it soggy.”
“It doesn’t work on popcorn, either,” Knavel adds.
Knavel’s diabetes has gotten her to change her buying habits, too.
“Oh, I love barbecue sauce,” Knavel said, but she has cut back dramatically on her favorite condiment.
She has switched to sugar free drink mixes, as well, and “I’ve thought about sugar free barbecue sauce and sugar free ketchup for diabetics,” Knavel said.
But so far, she doesn’t know of any on the market, so she has to use reserves of will instead.
The women said they have learned to read lables, “and I’ve learned to measure things out,” Knavel said. When she returns to work next week, she intends to take her measuring cups with her.
Knavel said, “I know I’m doing the right thing for myself.”
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