Weighing nearly 500 pounds and battling constant pain and anxiety, Janine Lane knew she needed to make a change.
Relentless comments about her body from teachers, nutritionists, family, and friends left her unable to fully express herself.
Lane said. today“The world was mean to me, so I just kept to myself. But I’m a really nice, positive, upbeat person, but my size made my voice smaller. I always felt like I was.”
Lane also felt anxious and embarrassed about her physical limitations, asking for seatbelt extenders on planes and looking at photos of restaurants to see if she could fit in a chair.
After first trying to lose weight at age 18, she put on more weight than ever after restricting her diet and pushing herself at the gym. By the time she graduated from college, she weighed 470 pounds.
Her career as a special education teacher was personally rewarding but physically demanding. “Kids are my passion, but standing up and teaching a lesson was (tough). I had back pain and knee problems. Everything was painful every day.”
The physical discomfort turns out to be enough to spur her into action. “That’s when I decided I had to take this into my own hands.”
She consulted her doctor, but the response was discouraging at best, as his professional opinion was that she had lost too much weight and would not be able to lose it naturally. .
“You know, I was close to 500 pounds,” Lane says. “I was eating fast food every day, multiple times a day. But I believed that if I made a change and did what needed to be done, I could at least make some changes.”
Wanting actionable advice rather than discouraging feedback, Lane sought out another provider to help facilitate dietary changes and incorporate exercise into her daily routine.
Her new doctor taught Lane to adjust the type and intensity of her exercise and find lower-calorie alternatives to the foods she craved. “The little advice she gave me was very positive and very nice in terms of not letting me down and saying no right away.”
To truly understand and control her calorie intake, Lane vowed to cook all of her meals at home. She was used to soda, fast food, and sugary desserts and couldn’t resist her cravings.
To manage them, she traded soda for sparkling water, ice cream for frozen yogurt bars, king-size candy bars for snack-size, and single-serve cookies for sleeves.
Eventually, her cravings subsided and she was able to prioritize foods that nourished her body. “The food I’m putting in my body now doesn’t make me feel sluggish. I have energy. I don’t wake up tired. I don’t have high blood pressure anymore.”
Lane said she felt “extremely anxious” about going to the gym, but was determined to change the way her body looked and felt.
“The first day I went to the gym, I couldn’t even run five minutes on the treadmill. My lower back hurt, but I was like, ‘You know what?’ It’s done. I arrived at the gym. ” And I said, “Even if you can do five minutes today, you might be able to do seven minutes tomorrow.”
With a focus on consistency, she was able to attend workouts every day and gradually increase her output. “Eventually, I started losing weight and eating became easier…before I knew it, I had lost 70 pounds.”
In the two years since making the choice to change, Lane has lost 210 pounds.
Raine has documented her fitness journey. TikTok and Instagram To inspire others. Among those encouraged by her transformation is Ms. Lane’s own mother, who recently lost 90 pounds to follow in her daughter’s footsteps.
As his strength improved, Lane integrated other types of exercise. In addition to the treadmill, she began weightlifting and hiking, and picked up a fun tool from childhood: a skipping rope.
Although he was unable to lift his body off the ground the first time he tried to jump rope, he vowed to keep trying with absolute determination. She steadily improved by incorporating tricks and sharing videos on her social media community.
Since then, her jumping rope post has gone viral, racking up 43 million views and counting. When her followers comment on how happy she looks, Lane says that feeling is as real as it is hard to win. ”
Laine’s progress from being paralyzed by pain to living with joy is remarkable. But when she reflects on where and who she was, it’s always through a lens of compassion: “If I could embrace who I was, I would.”
