Teacher minus weight equals energy - weight loss success story

JOYCE ANN OTEY's students just can not get enough of her new hugs, which are not quite as full as the old ones. You see, Otey has lost 72 pounds, yet her elementary school charges seem to enjoy her hugs even more.

"They ask me all the time, 'Is that you , Miss Otey?'" says the Richmond, Va., first grade teacher. "Students I've taught in past years will come up to me and say, 'You look great!' They really like what they see; they hug me all the time."

Thanks to the abundance of encouragement she receives from the young people she works with, coupled with her own discipline, Otey is confident that she will never see 210 pounds again. Today, 28-year-old Otey is a flattering 138 pounds, after having successfully completed her self-styled weight-loss plan last July. She embarked on her mission during the spring of 1988--at a time when she wore a size 18-1/2 dress and barely had enough energy to turn the key in the door after a day's work.

"You need lots of energy working with kids," stresses Otey. "Well, I was totally drained every afternoon. I kept telling myself that I was too young to be so drained. I knew I needed to take a long look at my eating habits and lack of exercise."

A pleasant, open young woman who finds church functions a lot of fun, and who shares a house with her mother, Otey says she knew exactly what to do; she just hadn't found the motivation to do it. An avid reader, she knew enough about dieting and eating compulsions to know some of the primary reasons why people are overweight: inactivity, boredom, subconscious eating and easy accessibility to food.

She concluded that her excess pounds could be blamed on inactivity and subconscious eating, which is something many people do while watching television or talking on the telphone. "I would sit down to write out lesson plans, and there would be a bag of corn chips and a soda," she recalls. "I did it without even thinking." Otey's compulsive eating began when she was a student at Virginia Union University in Richmond. She spent hours sitting and studying, and easily put on 20 to 25 pounds in the years she was there.

The first thing Otey did to reduce was to change her eating habits. Instead of chips and soda, she munched on grapes and carrot sticks. Eventually, she says, her body began to reject the starchy junk foods, and she got accustomed to a variety of fruit instead. She also added plenty of water to her diet in order to flush out her system.

With renewed energy, Otey went searching for the right exercise routine, and decided on a ski machine. She began her routine by working out for 20 minutes every day. Within weeks, she "saw the pounds dropping off." She also incorporated plenty of walking into her routine, and three days each week of stationary cycling. "In one month's time, I could feel the difference," she says. "I felt like getting out of the house more."

By last July, Otey was down to a size 9-10 dress and was as proud as a peacock. Her advice to others who are beginning weight-loss programs is to exercise patience and persistence. "When you first start, you want everything [the pounds] to drop off real fast," she says. "It's a crucial time, those first three to four weeks, especially when you don't see the scales dropping off, but just stick with it. You can't ever give up."

The greatest reward for Otey is being able to go to the mall and try on clothes in every store. Her success has inspired her sister, Betty, 32, to take off some pounds, and so far she has lost 20. It has also given Otey the chance to demonstrate to her students one of life's greatest lessons. "I'm always telling them they can do anything if they put their minds to it," she says. "Well, now I've shown them how."