One woman’s weight loss journey started with a wake-up call, and hasn’t ended yet.
Need a bit of inspiration on your journey to a healthier life? 64-year-old Gloria Kershner from Lima started working toward her weight loss back in 2011. With ups and downs in between, she reached her goal weight last year and continues to keep up with her healthy lifestyle.
Kershner once weighed nearly 350 pounds and found herself not being able to carry out regular daily activities. Now, she’s happy to do even some of the more strenuous tasks.
“Even things like, I find joy in shoveling snow because before I would have to take rest breaks just doing my sidewalk and the driveway,” says Kershner.
She didn’t get here overnight. When she started making changes to her diet and exercising regularly, she lost 80 pounds in the first year. She was introduced to a non-profit called TOPS that stands for "take off pounds sensibly", and found community within the group.
The following years, Kershner admits she began to take her health for granted and gained back the majority of weight she had lost.
It wasn’t until 2018 when she decided to make permanent lifestyle changes after beating breast cancer.
“The next year I retired and it was just time to recommit to getting healthy and losing weight," says Kershner. "I went back to the (TOPS) Bluffton chapter and it took a year and a half to get the weight off, the last 140 pounds since I had gained back 60 of the 80.”
Her friends at TOPS, along with people she works out alongside at the Senior Citizens Services gym kept her motivated to reach that goal. She continues to practice what some might consider a strict diet, and works out regularly.
She even has a binder filled with years worth of past fitness plans that she continues to add to.
Ali Rayman, the wellness coordinator at Senior Citizens Services says, “As we are advancing her program, it’s hard! She’s getting to that point where her program is getting very difficult which is great. She’s excited about it, she’s very dedicated.”
Kershner admits that not every day is easy, and some days it’s hard getting motivated to come to the gym. But she pulls through and feels rewarded by the end.
