Tanique Odom, preparing to juice some vegetables in her kitchen. (Photo: Michaela Duckett for Qcitymetro.com.)

Last fall, Tanique Odom promised herself that she would not ring in 2012 tipping the scales at more than 200 pounds.

Her breaking point came after she returned from a trip with her girls to Martha’s Vineyard for Memorial Day weekend. A friend posted a photograph from the trip on Facebook, and Odom was mortified by the way her 230-pound frame appeared in the pictures.

“I saw myself, and that wasn’t me,” Odom said. “That wasn’t the person that I ever imagined myself to be or who I wanted to live my life to be. I knew something had to change.”

Instead of asking her friend to take down the picture, Odom decided to use it as motivation. She made it the wallpaper on her cell phone and printed out a copy to post in her apartment — to serve as a reminder of the work she had to do.

The trip to Martha’s Vineyard was also significant in another way: That weekend would have been her father’s 62nd birthday, but he had passed away in May. He was one of many relatives that Odom believes may have lived longer had they made healthier lifestyle choices. Both of her maternal grandparents died before the age of 55. Her paternal grandfather was just in his 30s when he died.

“Some things could have been prevented,” she says. “And some things couldn’t be prevented.” All in all, she knew that if she didn’t make a change, her life could be cut short as well.

“The betting person that I am ... I wouldn’t bet on myself then,” she says. “I wouldn’t have bet that I would make it to 40. I knew I definitely wouldn’t make it to 60.”

From pork ribs to vegetables

Odom had battled with weight issues most of her life and tried everything from weight-loss pills to hot dog diets.

“It’s been a hard journey,” she says. “I’ve gone up and down for years. It’s been a struggle and a fight.”

In addition to her health, she was also concerned about the professional image she was projecting and the impact her weight was having on her sales career.

In 2008, she opted to have a lap-band surgery. At the time, she weighed nearly 300 pounds. Within a year of the procedure, she lost about 50 pounds. Although she hasn’t gained any weight since then, she plateaued and stopped losing. She decided not to have her doctor readjust the band in an effort to shed more pounds because she didn’t want another “quick fix.” She wanted real change.

“I knew I could do it myself,” she says. “I needed to make a lifestyle change. I had to get it into my mentality that I need to be eating healthy and exercising properly.”

Odom, whose favorite food was once pork ribs, has adopted a vegetarian lifestyle and is considering the switch to being totally vegan. She says changing her eating habits yielded immediate results.

“I feel more alert,” she says. “Not that I’ve ever been a slow thinker, but I don’t feel sluggish. I sleep better. I have more energy. I’m more up and ready to go.”

Kicking it into high gear

For so long, Odom had been so focused on her career that things like focusing on eating healthy and exercising regularly had fallen to the wayside.

Now, she applies the same drive and determination that propels her at work to executing her weight-loss goals. Just as she sets sales goals, she sets weight loss goals. Just as she shows up for work on time, she shows up for her fitness classes on time. She schedules her workouts on her calendar, just as she would appointments with her clients.

And just like work, becoming physically fit has become a full-time job. She works out seven days a week and usually at least two times per day.

“I have been quite aggressive with my exercising right now,” she said. “I have immediate goals that I’m trying to reach. I do get a little fanatical sometimes when I’m trying to reach a goal.”

Now that she has reached her initial goal of dropping down to 199 pounds before Jan. 1, she plans to ease up a bit.

“I know I need days of rest. Seven days a week is extreme. I will probably go down to a minimum of five or six,” she said, adding that even when she tries to slow down she can’t sit still.

For example, on Christmas Day she got a little bored at home and decided to take a two-hour jog around her neighborhood. She says her body just craves the exercise.

“I fell in love with the classes that I’ve been taking,” she says. “I fell in love with Zumba. I fell in love with Funky Fit. I fell in love with just getting on the elliptical for 30 minutes. I feel comfortable with it.”

She still has 49 pounds to go before reaching her target weight of 150; however, she stresses that she is not losing weight simply for the sake of vanity.

“It doesn’t matter if I’m a size 22 or a size 10,” she says. “That’s not my goal. My goal is to be healthy and strong ... I don’t want to struggle opening doors or walking up the stairs. I don’t want to not be able to walk up two flights of stairs without breathing hard. I’m 32. What kind of life is that? That’s just not where I want to be.”

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Are you a work in progress? Are you trying to lose weight, break an unhealthy habit or make other positive healthy changes to your lifestyle or diet? Share your journey. Email us at editor@qcitymetro.com.

For more health/fitness-related tales, tips, testimonials and more, visit Qcitymetro's Health page: www.qcitymetro.com/health.

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