A New Attitude Let Her Climb to Success

It was getting hot in the high altitude, and the skin on my hands was beginning to blister through the holes in my leather gloves as I pulled myself deliberately up the cables. My hiking boots tended to slip on the smooth granite, the incline being almost vertical. I had started hiking at dawn and, six hours later, I was nearing the top, nearing 8,500 feet. Tears were forming in my eyes because I knew I was just minutes from the summit, minutes from ending a six-month journey of personal transformation.

When I was younger, I did not have to fight my weight. But as I got older, I began collecting excuses for my ever-increasing size. One reliable one was that I never lost all the weight gained with pregnancy. Also on the list were the pressures that come with raising a family, a stressful job and my 40th birthday. The truth is that I had, over the years, become 20 pounds overweight and terribly out of shape.

I decided to make an appointment at a weight-loss center near my office. We discussed where I was and how I got there. My lifestyle had become my justification for eating and lounging. I was also eating when I was angry and feeling out of control. My road to a new attitude and to a new life began right there. Realizing the “why” made the “how” easier than I expected.

The center gave me a plan that I strictly adhered to: aerobic exercise five days a week plus a limited-calorie, low-fat menu. The next morning I was up at 5:30 for my first walk around the block. That first attempt was tiring, but my body soon became accustomed to rising early. My one-mile walk became a two-mile and then a three-mile walk.

It took eight weeks to lose the first 15 pounds. Unexpectedly, the first change I noticed was not in my physical self. It was in my attitude. Instead of turning to food when feeling out of control, I became better at confronting issues. Instead of feeling too fatigued to do anything, I felt energized and anxious to participate.

This change was about knowing that I was in charge of my life. I decided to set for myself a goal much more formidable than simply losing weight: climbing Half Dome in the Yosemite Valley.

I began climbing the stairs at the high school football stadium. The first time just about did me in. But I eventually managed to climb them more than a dozen times a day. By then, I had lost an additional 20 pounds. I was down to a size 6 dress. I had earned a promotion at work.

And on July 6, 1997, I reached my personal goal. There are no words to describe the exhilaration I felt as I pulled myself up over the cable at the top of Half Dome. The peaks of the Sierra Nevada were all around me. I could look across to Glacier Point. Tourists were small specks in the valley below. I had reached the top of my own world.

Six months earlier, I could not have imagined what feats were at my fingertips simply for the taking. I had used the cables to reach the top of Half Dome. I had used my own determination to reach the cables.

Want to Share Your Success Story?

Losing weight is as individual as gaining weight. Do you have a story on how you got in shape and stayed there? If so, we’d like to hear from you with a 500-word essay listing what worked in terms of diet, exercise, encouragement / support, as well as your emotional and physical changes.

We’d also like you to send us full-body color photos of you, before and after.

Send essay and photos to “How I Did It,” Health, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053, and include daytime and evening phone numbers. No phone calls, please. Submissions cannot be returned.

In addition to publication, winners will receive a Los Angeles Times gym bag and a gift certificate for a free pair of athletic shoes of your choice, redeemable at any Big 5 Sporting Goods store.

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Vital Statistics

Name: Suzanne McCowan

Age: 40

Occupation: Database analyst

Old weight: 171

New weight: 135

Time to get there: 6 months