By Joe Hadsall
jhadsall@joplinglobe.com
Amy Juhala is OK with the few pounds she has gained over the last few months. Weight gain is expected with pregnancy, after all.
But Juhala, at one point, was too heavy to get pregnant, according to her doctor.
“I’ve always been heavy,” the Joplin woman said. “It took the motivation of wanting to have my first child. This is the first time where my weight had stopped something I wanted to do.”
Her effort to lose weight and have a baby earned her an award from the Weight Watchers organization — her story was chosen as one of the organization’s Inspiring Stories of Change.
Juhala, 28, lost about 40 pounds in about four months at the beginning of 2009, she said. She is a naturalist with the Missouri Department of Conservation and works from the Joplin office at the Wildcat Glades Audubon and Conservation Center.
She and her husband, Ari, have wanted to start a family. But she had no idea it would be so difficult.
“My husband and I had been trying to have a baby for two years,” Juhala said. “My doctor said I could start fertility treatments or lose weight.”
Not wanting to be like the Octomom, Juhala decided to tackle the option over which she had the most control. She signed up for the Weight Watchers program in January, 2009.
The biggest thing that helped her lose weight was keeping track of what she ate. She found that, by keeping track, she could control portions of her favorite foods without eliminating them.
“Writing it down helped so much for me,” Juhala said. “If I made myself write it down, then I wouldn’t eat all those cookies.”
The program also motivated her to take exercise a lot more seriously.
She found it easy to get in a quick daily walk, and the combination helped drop the weight.
Participation in the group also kept her driven. She refused to weigh herself every day throughout that four months — the only time she stepped on the scale was during meetings.
“I’d never been successful at losing weight before,” Juhala said. “I’d always done it on my own, and always given up.”
Kristi Widmar, public relations manager for the western region of Weight Watchers, said that 1,600 people sent in submissions for the Inspiring Stories of Change contest.
Juhala’s story was selected as one of 34 finalists.
“What was inspiring about her story was that it went far beyond the usual reasons,” Widmar said. “A lot of us want to fit in our jeans again. She wanted to start a family.”
Juhala won a $300 gift certificate to Macy’s as part of the contest. Because Macy’s didn’t have any maternity clothes, Juhala used hers to get new kitchenware, in order to cook healthier meals.
Her success also inspired her family, she said.
She and Ari are expecting their new baby on Jan. 3. They can’t wait to find out if it’s a boy or girl.
Once the baby is born, Juhala said she’ll get back on the weight-loss track. Because she had never been successful at losing weight before, she plans to stick with the program.
Her motivation started out as starting a family, but that has changed now, she said. Once the baby is born, her motivation is to be part of an active new family.
“I felt so much better being 40 pounds lighter,” Juhala said. “My husband and I went to Sam’s, and he picked up a 40-pound bag of dog food and said, ‘Can you believe you carried this around?’”
