Walking for weight loss
Tamela Sanchez, of Happy Valley, as she looks today, after she lost 70 pounds by walking and reducing portion size.
Ellen Spitaleri / Clackamas Review
‘Tis the season of change: We have a president-elect who campaigned for change, and January is traditionally a month when we think about incorporating change into our lifestyles.
Many people make New Year’s resolutions, but Happy Valley resident Tamela Sanchez has actually re-invented herself, and she wants to share her secrets with people in Clackamas County.
Sanchez lost 70 pounds and 24-and-a-half inches in the course of a year. Her method was simple – she laced up her tennis shoes and started walking.
At first she walked by herself, with just her dog Fritz for company, but eventually she joined Wonders of Walking, a walking club that met at REI in Portland.
Now Sanchez has become the driving force to start a WOW club at the Clackamas REI; the club kicks off on Feb. 7, but three workshops at REI, starting on Jan. 17, will introduce people to the concept of walking.
“There are so many benefits to walking with a group – you become unbelievably motivated. The good thing about the REI group is that you meet people with the same goals, and different groups walk at different paces. People will find their pace and improve their pace,” Sanchez said.
A walking club is “desperately needed” in the Clackamas area, she said. “Judy Heller, the president of Wonders of Walking, asked me why I wanted to start a club in Clackamas County, and I said I just want to see people start walking.”
To get the group going, Sanchez has mapped out six different routes in the county, because she knows it so well.
People don’t realize that there are more than 100 miles of trail in Happy Valley, she said, and they don’t realize how close things are to each other.
“It is only three miles on the bike path from REI to the Gladstone exit, and only three-and-a-quarter miles from REI to Peets [in Happy Valley] and back,” she said.
Other scenic places to walk in the county include a park at 119th and Sunnyside Road and Mt. Talbert, she noted.
Sanchez recommends that people attend the three workshops at REI, because instructors will explain about clothes to wear when walking, nutrition and injury prevention. [See Fast Facts]
Shoes are incredibly important, because there is a huge difference when you “put mileage” on them. It is also important to wear comfortable clothing and garments that will wick off water in the rain, she said.
A journey to change
Sanchez’s personal journey began in 1995, when she attended a family gathering and her brother asked her if she was pregnant.
“I said, ‘No, I’m just fat,’” she said.
Later, her husband, “in a loving manner,” told her she was fat. It was at that point, when she was a size 18, that she decided to change her lifestyle and lose weight.
She bought a treadmill, a Total Gym and a book by Susan Powter, and started exercising.
She changed the way she cooked and “cut portions down to palm size.”
She also made the decision not to weigh herself, because the fluctuations discouraged her. So she measured herself instead, and the “inches came off.”
When she lost her “adventurous self” on the treadmill and realized she was bored, she decided to walk outdoors.
There was a bike path up the street from where she lived at the time, so she put the leash on her dog and started out walking a mile a day.
Soon she was walking 10, 15 and 20 miles per day, and before she knew it she was training for the Portland Marathon.
The first year she walked in the marathon, she did it in five hours and 53 minutes; the next time, it was five hours and 30 minutes.
In addition to the Portland Marathon, Sanchez has walked in the 18-mile Willamette Relay, participated in the Hood to Coast three times and walked in a marathon in Maui.
She also plays soccer, lifts eight-to-10-pound hand weights and runs with a group of friends.
“I do speed walking and race walking and my friends say I can walk faster than they can run. I’m strong and my bones are strong – I’ll never be heavy again,” she said.
Advice to potential walkers
There are many advantages to walking, and walking with the WOW club, Sanchez said, noting that she has made “life-long friends” in the group.
“Mentally it makes you feel better and you feel your hips get smaller. People tell me I walk like a teenager,” she said.
Walking outdoors allows you to “enjoy the scenery” and “your metabolism is running all day long. Walking brings you to [the point] of eating healthier and it opens doors. When you walk six to seven miles per day, you know you can do other things.”
Sanchez added, “You need to find what works for you. This has been a personal journey and I have evolved from there. It is an amazing change in life when you lose the baggage.”