Total Transformation
by Lorine Parks
Israel and Diana Gamez had been married for four years and had three children. Through lack of exercise and constant eating of food they had brought themselves to a point of disaster in their lives. After gaining too much with her pregnancies she weighted over 250, on a petite frame. He topped the scales at over 350. This is their story...
He: “How will they ever bury me? That was my greatest fear.” She: “One morning I realized, I can’t tie my shoe laces. And a normal person can.”
The subject? Obesity. The speakers and their reactions? A male and a female, one concerned with a problem in the future and beyond his control, the other frustrated and exasperated by a right-now situation.
The result? A combined weight loss of 260, pounds, by a Downey couple who helped each other to a healthy lifestyle.
Their story is both frightening and inspirational. Threatening, first of all, because it could easily be the story of anyone who just takes the easy way over the years and keeps lifting the fork at family get-togethers. But heartening because the solution they found cost no money at all. Just will power.
Israel and Diana Gamez had been married for four years and had three children. Through lack of exercise and constant eating of food they had brought themselves to a point of disaster in their lives. After gaining too much with her pregnancies she weighted over 250, on a petite frame. He topped the scales at over 350.
It was Diana who made the first breakthrough. Since she couldn’t afford a gym membership or weight loss program, “I started running, because it’s free.” She says. As a stay-at-home mom this 33 year old had to use all the free minutes she could find. She steadily increased her stamina, losing eighty-eight pounds in the process.
Her greatest accomplishment was participating in the Los Angeles Marathon in March. Soon husband Israel joined her, beginning by walking and jogging, eventually running too. He lost 180 pounds, and now, at age 36, maintains his weight through cycling. As for his diet, he avoids bread and rice.
Diana also joined the Downey Adult School exercise class. “I needed to be yelled at,” she said. But exercise was only one way to attack the overweight problem. Diana and Israel needed to establish healthy eating habits. Now they operate a catering business for sensible eating, called YumFresh.
“I love to make a big plate of dinner for you,” Diana said, but that’s after consultation and setting up a personal coaching program. Their dinners are hand-made artisanal efforts. The menu will depend on the occasion and season, and their clients’ needs. This can include corporate parties, family celebrations and business meetings.
Changing life styles brings many roadblocks, but this handsome couple knows it has brought them closer together.
After seeing the “before” pictures, of a moon-faced man with ample double chins, and a woman hidden in her cover-up black clothes, one member of the audience commented, “I don’t believe you are those people.”
“We are two other people,” a contented Diana replied.