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08:49
Max
The road to weight loss usually starts with a wake-up call.
For Lasheka Mack, the moment came as a thunderbolt from the pulpit. Seven years ago while sitting in church, she heard a sermon that did what no weight-loss program had done before. The message inspired her to lose the extra 80-plus pounds she had carried around most of her life.
The Orlando resident's experience confirms what studies show: Religion can be a powerful weight-loss tool.
In a 2005 study from the National Institutes of Health, black women who participated in a culturally tailored, faith-based, weight-loss program lost more pounds than those who participated in the same program without any faith component.
Specifically, the women in the faith-based group lost about 2 pounds more over 12 weeks than the control group, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Although Mack had tried several name-brand diets, her 5-foot-5-inch frame still carried more than 250 pounds and she wore a size 22.
That spring day in 2006, Mack recalls the minister saying, "When you're sick and tired of being sick and tired, you're going to do something about your sick self."
That clicked for Mack, who is single with no kids. "When I heard that message, it turned my whole mindset around about my weight," she said.
Since then, she relied on her religion and prayer to keep her faithful to her diet-and-exercise regime.
At the gym, for instance, she would pray, "Lord, give me a double portion of your strength, so I can be diligent in my weight-loss journey," she said.
She also prayed for discipline to help her cut out all fried foods and red meat. She made sure everything she ate was raw, baked, broiled or barbecued, not fried, she said.
She traded processed foods for whole grains and ate a lot of fish, chicken, turkey and vegetables. She drank nothing but water for a whole year.
Mack stepped up her exercise routine, too, and started walking 30 minutes a day seven days a week during her lunch break. Eventually, she ramped up her workout, adding time, speed and distance.
After a year, Mack hit her goal of 165 pounds.
More impressive, six years later, she's maintained that. Remembering how she used to look helps her keep off the pounds. "If you've been a big size, you don't want to go back," she said.
Her pastor, Tangerine Hope of Kingdom Hope International Ministries in Orlando, has known Mack nearly 10 years and witnessed her transformation.
"The physical change in her was unbelievable," Hope said, but the personal changes were even greater.
"She was hiding behind a person with no direction and not a good attitude. When she lost the weight, all that baggage went with it," Hope said. "She became a new person, happier and more confident, and she set higher educational goals.
Mack concurs. Today, the 30-year-old UCF business student still wears a size 10 and is "happier than I've ever been," she said.
"I feel more confident when I go shopping. I dress better. I keep my hair up and am more energetic," Mack said. "I am going more places, and dating more. I have had more guys' attention than I ever did."
She still exercises religiously, three days a week for one hour in the morning and one hour at night. Mack watches what she eats - though she allows herself a little fried chicken, and pork or beef on special occasions. She also now allows herself some beverages besides water but never soda or alcohol.
"I treat myself," she said. "I don't put my whole body under arrest."
Her advice to others struggling to lose is: Don't give up. "I had my nights of crying, but that didn't stop me," she said.
She just kept praying and is convinced that was the key to her success. "I tried everything else," she said. "When I started praying and having faith, it worked."
mjameson@tribune.com or 407-420-5158
Lasheka Mack
Age: 30
Resides: Orlando
Height: 5'5"
Starting weight: 253
Current weight: 165
Total loss: 88 pounds
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