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TOP JOBS

OK, it’s true. I’ve lost weight. I’m 75 pounds lighter than 14 months ago.

People ask, “What happened? Have you been sick?” or “Are you on pills?” My weight saga is not a story I readily relate, but I realized recently some may be wondering what pills I’m taking and I’d better say something.

My secret weapon is Patricia Rinlee. She’s my weight coach, I guess I’d call her. Once a week for about 14 months now, I’ve checked in with Patricia, listened to what she told me and tried my best to put it into practice.

When I first met her privately, I was already annoyed with myself, probably for getting in a position where I had to talk to her in the first place. I tried to brush her off.

“I work for a newspaper and don’t have time to sit here, really,” I said, sort of peevishly. I noted she maintained her composure.

“I’ll make this quick,” Patricia said patiently.

I went away relieved I’d never have to talk to her again. The real problem was I couldn’t afford Patricia on my own. She holds a meeting and I couldn’t do this secretly. I sullenly sat in the back at first, listening and not saying a word.

What’s this got to do with religion? Humility, for one, to even go. Then listening, changing and perseverance. Week after week I saw striking similarities to the obstacles and disciplines of learning about God. As a religion editor, I took another look. Soon I was taking notes whenever she made a point of principle. I almost filled a page each time I saw her. In the first two weeks, I lost five pounds.

“Just water,” I said to her, disbelieving.

“Well, maybe,” she said. “That does happen, but maybe you really did lose five pounds.”

I like how she doesn’t hold out unrealistic hopes, but quietly makes you look at things differently. She’s more of a coach than a cheerleader and that’s what I needed; someone who could give me a thought-out strategy to get through the game without the “rah, rah.” That’s the kind of pastor I like too.

“You can do it,” she always said, but I still secretly thought I couldn’t. The obstacles facing me were like a state-championship football team coming to knock you out of the playoffs; medical, occupational, habitual, personality. Years of it. Try winning that game without a coach.

I finally realized I needed Patricia and her assistant, Muna Mitchell, to win the game. I never wanted to “weigh in,” but Muna skillfully put me at ease. I began to think Patricia would be great with athletic teams where smart eating was an issue. The principles were the same you get in the locker room. The same ones learned on any Sunday. You can fold it right in.

I privately started calling Patricia “coach” and she seemed amused by it, but I was serious. I was in the game to win. Coach Patricia never promised us a rose garden. She said we’d fail, flop and maybe beat ourselves up because we blew a “game” day.

“Get up and learn from your experience,” she said quietly. “You can do it.”

She never pushed. She taught us how to think. She was candid with her own struggles. She’s been there and done it and was wise and patient, all the while believing in us; giving us a heads up on holidays; giving us a play to beat the odds, just like a spiritual coach on Sunday.

I ate it up, so to speak. I lost pounds on the Fourth of July, Labor Day and even Thanksgiving. I held the line at Christmas at 45 pounds lost. It was a lot of falling down and getting up. There were weeks I went backwards. I learned a lot about myself and slowly began to change.

Then wife Janet and I booked an anniversary cruise in June. It made me nervous. I huddled with coach three weeks before the cruise.

“I don’t think I can dodge this one,” I said. “I’ll see free food I haven’t seen for years. I’ll go backwards.”

“Start planning your approach now,” she said and gave some suggestions.

“But I’ll throw out the game plan when I get there,” I lamented. “It’s too much temptation.”

“Remember everything you’ve learned,” she said, and I could hear one of my old pastors who had told me, “In a way, sin is just sin. Learn, get forgiveness and get over it.”

So we had a blast on the cruise. The training took over and when I “weighed in” afterward, I’d lost 10 pounds in the two weeks leading up to the cruise and the week of it. My total was 75 pounds since June of last year.

Coach almost fell over when she saw the figures Muna gave her. Some in my group had been praying for me too. Everyone was happy for me, but mostly me. I hadn’t believed, but putting coach’s words into practice I saw, um, the fruit.

Patricia is the Weight Watchers leader in the Lindale and Hideaway area on Wednesdays and in Tyler on Thursday. She’s about change and isn’t that what religion is all about? Now I believe.

And you can do it.