THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 7, 1994 TAG: 9408050475
SECTION: HAMPTON ROADS WOMAN PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: It's been a year since VP/LS artist Debra Owen decided to shed 140
pounds. Her new healthy lifestyle has paid off - she's 64 pounds
lighter and she's even pregnant. This is part of a monthly series.
SOURCE: BY DEBRA GORDON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
MEAT. RED MEAT. Debra Owen craves it, dreams about it, and, for the first time in nearly a year, is eating it. ``My whole appetite has changed,'' said Owen, who is four months pregnant.
The pregnancy has meant putting on hold the weight-loss program she began a year ago. But it hasn't meant an end to the lifestyle change she began at the same time.
She's still working out with her personal trainer, still exercising, only now it's walking that predominates, instead of weight lifting.
And so far . . . she knocks on wood . . . it's working.
By the end of her 15th week, she'd only gained half a pound. Part of that could be attributed to the fact that many of the things she survived on during the past year - pretzels, nonfat frozen yogurt, fat-free cookies - now nauseate her.
But hamburger, steak and pork chops - they're another story.
``It's like I have no control over my cravings and desires,'' said Owen as she picked at a Caesar salad in a Norfolk restaurant. ``My appetite takes over completely. It's very scary.''
There was the time when, on her drive home from work, she wanted a hamburger. ``I would have killed for one,'' she said. So she went through a fast-food drive-through and got one.
``I'm not going to deprive myself,'' she said. That's what got her into trouble during past diets: depriving herself of things she really wanted, then binging to make up for it.
``I'm trying to stay sane; I'm making healthy choices.''
On the pregnancy side of her life, the baby is becoming more of a reality, less of an abstraction.
She had her first ultrasound two weeks ago - quite a different procedure from the ultrasound she had nine years ago with her first child.
Then, the pictures were fuzzy and she could barely tell what was the baby and what was her bladder. This time, she saw the baby clearly: arms, legs - everything but the sex, which she really wants to know.
Last time, she and her husband left with a grainy black-and-white photograph; this time, they had a videotape to play over and over again.
``This child exists; it looks like a baby and it is a baby. It's all there,'' Owen said with a sigh. MEMO: To leave a message for Debra Owen, call
INFOLINE at 640-5555 and enter category 2621. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
JIM WALKER/Staff
Debra Owen finds her Great Bridge neighborhood a great place to
exercise.
by CNB