TV personality and author Dian Thomas shared details of her incredible weight journey with Deseret News readers recently. She will detail more of her experiences in a regular column, Life in Balance, every other Tuesday and will also have a weekly blog found at deseretnews.com on Mondays.
Growing up, I was an adventurous and very active child.
My father, Julian Thomas, was the district forest ranger over the Manti La Sal National Forest in southeastern Utah. My mother, Norene, gave birth to me just after they moved to Monticello.
Life at the ranger station, where my four brothers and I had 240 acres to run, play, and build on, was never dull. I road my bike to school, which was a 2- to 4-mile round trip, depending on if I went home for lunch. Non-structured exercise was just part of our daily life.
My father received a transfer when I was 12, and we moved to Salt Lake City. There, I went to Brighton LDS Girls camp, took swimming lessons and continued to ride my bike.
After graduating from high school, I went off to Brigham Young University, where I remained active. After receiving my diploma, I taught family and consumer science at Orem Junior High. I was still very involved in sports and outdoor activities.
After three years of teaching, I returned to BYU for my master's degree in education. My thesis centered on how to teach outdoor cooking and camping in the public school system. Upon finishing my master's degree, I went on to be a professional speaker. It was not long before BYU Press asked me to turn my thesis into a book.
"Roughing It Easy" came off the press in the spring of 1974. I was amazed to see my book go through the printing process. School had always been very challenging for me, and I never dreamed I would be an author watching my book come off the press.
Within a year, I had 16 minutes at the top of NBC's "Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson, and the book soon hit the top of the New York Times best-seller list. In a short 16 minutes on the "Tonight Show," my life changed forever.
I moved into the fast lane, beginning almost continuous travel. In five short years, I was asked to be a regular on the NBC "Today" show, where I worked as a contributor for eight years. In that time, I was writing my fourth book. Stress began to climb, and so did the scales.
There was so much work to do, shows to be planned, books to be written and presentations to be made. It was a career I never imagined for myself. I used food as a reward for my hard work. I would say to myself, "If you will just read this chapter and correct it, you can go to McDonald's for a Big Mac."
For several years, I traveled 300 days a year. Fast food, little exercise and lots of stress were my life. Despite these challenges, however, I met the most incredible people. Rushing into the makeup room at the "Today" show to get my hair styled, for example, I turned, and there was Bob Hope getting makeup in the chair next to me.
Once, in Wyoming, while coming off the Snake River during a TV reporting assignment, there were Secret Service agents everywhere. We were told that President Ronald Reagan was on the river and would soon disembark where we just had.
My producer was all over that opportunity and came to me, handed me the mike, and said, "You are going to interview President Reagan as he docks." I said to him, "What do you want me to ask him?" He turned to me and replied, "You will figure it out."
As the years passed, the pounds kept accumulating, until one day I was horrified to weigh in at 3261/2 pounds. I was having major knee problems, my blood pressure was up, and I had acid reflux. I knew I must take action or I would have major medical problems.
One day, after a presentation on "Marketing Your Business with Publicity" in Santa Monica, Calif., a lady came up and said, "I can help you lose weight."
Jackie Keller, founder of NutriFit, had come to my rescue when I was at rock bottom. The journey has taken me six years, but step by step, she shared with me small steps that I was able to put in place and bring my life back into balance. So I've lost more than 130 pounds.
Dian Thomas shares her journey of weight loss and exercise at www.DianThomas.com. She also takes tour groups to China. For information, contact www.dianthomas.com/travel.htm.
e-mail: features@desnews.com