BY STACI WILSON

A Montrose woman’s 203-pound weight-loss has garnered attention – not just from family, friends and co-workers, but also from a nationally syndicated television show.

Just over two years ago, Michele Krupinski began her journey. Without subscribing to any trendy diet fads or surgery, which is what attracted the Dr. Oz show to her story.

Krupinski saw an announcement from the show, seeking out people who had lost half their body weight. She contacted them with her story and was asked to submit before and after pictures, as well as a short video.

“I’ve always wanted to tell my story,” she said, “and maybe help one person.”

On January 24, 2013, while employed at Endless Mountains Health System, she joined a worksite weight-loss group led by staff dietician, Mary Webb.
“I told her ‘I’m going to waste your time,’” Krupinski recalls telling Webb at the start of the six-week program.

But after seeing weight come off, she stuck with the program after the six weeks ended and continued through an entire year – reaching her goal weight in March 2014. For the past two years, she has been maintaining that weight.

“I didn’t have an ‘a-ha’ moment. I didn’t have anyone said ‘You have high blood pressure, or you have diabetes,” Krupinski said.

What she did have was the accountability of getting on the scale each week with Webb, and goal-setting. “I think I needed that,” she said. “I know what its like to think 20 pounds isn’t going to make a difference. I didn’t know where to start.”

“If you chunk it down, it’s so much easier to grasp,” she said. “So you hit that goal, then set another.”

After several failed attempts to lose weight in the past, Krupinski began with a different outlook. “I went into it not thinking of it as a diet,” she said. “Diets you can cheat on; diets you can fail.”

Instead, she opted to not cut out any foods. “To me, that wasn’t real life. To say ‘I can’t have bread for the next six weeks…I’m not going to go through life not eating bread.”

But she did learn to eat food in the correct portions. “You can eat cake, but you have to arrange your day around that portion size,” she said.

She also found that eating vegetables and fruits kept her fuller longer than potato chips. Grapes are her “go-to” food item.

“I always end lunch with something sweet,” she said. “It used to be a cupcake, now it’s grapes.”

Krupinski doesn’t believe there’s anything special about her journey. “I lost 203 lbs. by learning portion control in a sensible way.”

In addition to watching what she ate, she also turned to exercise – specifically walking.

“Living in a small town with no gym, I realized my two feet were what were going to get me to my goal,” she said.

Without tracking her mileage, Krupinski set out to walk an hour every day.

She has added in zumba classes, and a “boot camp” program which she travels to the Clarks Summit area to attend. “I learned to love exercise. It’s not a chore for me. Now I feel like crap if I don’t do it,” she said.

With the weight-loss has come confidence. “You feel like you can do anything,” she said. This past fall, she went zip-lining for the first time. I never imagined I could do it when I was heavy,” she said. “Now I want to experience every adventure I never thought possible.”

Krupinski’s video story is scheduled to air during a segment on the Thursday, Feb. 4, episode of the Dr. Oz show, which airs on WBRE Channel 28 at 3 p.m.