Jun. 16--Trelana Nance of Florissant grew up plump -- through childhood, to high school and college, then as a wife and mother.
Her weight had nothing to do with being a bookworm more interested in math than exercise. "I didn't do anything," she recalls.
Over the years, she steadily added pounds and dress sizes. A new daughter a year and a half ago meant more weight.
She knew she was overweight but never thought much about it, she says, until last winter when she asked to borrow clothes from her mother. Nance realized that at size 18, she was outgrowing her own wardrobe.
"That was it," she said. "I really love my mother; I really love her. But I'm not wearing her clothes."
Her soft spot for Mom included Mom's Sunday dinner.
"She'd cook fried chicken, greens, macaroni and cheese," she said. "Anything she'd cook. And cornbread. That was my weakness."
ATTENTION KMART SHOPPERS
While deciding on a direction, she saw an advertisement for entries into Kmart's "New Day Your Way" weight loss contest.
The prizes and cash weren't the motivation, Nance says. "I never wore really attractive clothes, I never put on much makeup, or any at all sometimes, and I never spent a lot of time in front of the mirror."
She wanted a change, and the 12-week contest was her chance.
"I'm a competitive person, and I knew I'd need something like this to get the weight off and keep it off," she said.
After her first weigh-in in mid-January, the Kmart website gave diet and exercise instructions. Nance followed them and some of her own.
Fruit replaced candy bars and chips. Water replaced colas. Baked and grilled turkey, fish and chicken replaced fried foods and red meat.
Then, she had to cope with eating beside her husband, Levi. He's one of those guys who has flat abs and a slender physique regardless of what he eats, she says. "I'd eat and eat to keep up with him and he'd eat and eat and get thinner," she said.
She started exercising every day at home for up to an hour.
And then there's her elliptical machine.
"I used to hang clothes from it," she said. "So I dusted it off and started using it."
In addition, "I parked across the parking lot from the stores and walked longer distances. I started using the steps at work instead of the elevator," she said.
The first few weeks of the contest frustrated her. "I wanted to see results right away; I was a little discouraged," she said.
Then the pounds started coming off, about 12-15 a month for the three-month contest ending in April.
By then, she'd lost 40 pounds. Judges awarded her first place -- behind a grand-prize winner and ahead of three other contestants who also outlasted the 24,000 people who entered.
Nance won $5,000, a gift card to Kmart, a makeover in New York and other perks.
'WHO IS THIS WOMAN'?
Her biggest prize, she says, was in the mirror.
"I'd never been cute before. I looked at that person," she said. "Who is this woman? I started wearing makeup, clothes that fit."
Before the end of the contest, her 18 dress size shrank to an 8. Now she's flirting with size 6.
"I said I need to put on some lipstick and makeup," she said. "It was such a surprise. "
She counts calories and if she goes over her ration, she spends extra time on the exercise machines.
An unexpected bonus is that her daughter enjoys the healthy lifestyle. "She likes my yogurt, she likes the long walks," she said. "I want to be a good role model for her.
"If we go on long walks, if I eat strawberries and pineapple instead of candy and chips, that's what she's going to do."
harry.jackson@post-dispatch.com -- 314-340-8234
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