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After tipping scales at 250, mom of three vows to get lean

Brookville woman loses 80 pounds through exercise, nutrition and dedication.

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By Chick Ludwig, Staff Writer Updated 11:48 PM Thursday, July 30, 2009

Growing up in the northwest Dayton suburb of Clayton, Monique (Hockenberry) Domsitz was an active, healthy, physically fit teen.

She competed as a hurdler and discus thrower on the Northmont High School track team before her graduation in 1985, and spent tons of time outdoors, running to stay in shape.

And then all the usual suspects arrived — marriage, pregnancy and the birth of three children — triggered weight gain, which is only natural. Trouble was, she kept adding, not subtracting. If suppertime were a sport, Monique would’ve been flagged 15 yards for piling on.

“As a mother, you focus on everyone else’s needs but yourself, and you don’t pay attention to what’s happening to your body,” she said. “And all of a sudden, you wake up one day and say, ‘Wow, I’m heavy.’ I was obviously eating the wrong things and not paying attention.”

Heavy as a Chevy. That was Monique. At 5 feet, 11 inches tall, she hid her weight well. But her knees hurt. Her hips ached. Her cholesterol level was “off the chart.” And she was on medication to reduce her blood pressure. Monique found out the hard way she had ballooned to 250 pounds.

Moment of truth

The moment of truth came at the 2007 Montgomery County Fair. Her youngest daughter, Lydia, was modeling a dress she had made for a 4-H youth fair competition.

“My friend and I sat down to watch the show at the fairgrounds,” Monique said. “When I heard the chair crack, that’s what did it for me. I said, ‘Enough is enough.’

“I didn’t really know what I weighed, and then I thought, ‘Today’s the day I’m going to go home and find out.’ I was shocked. That’s when it started.”

How she fought back

• She put a scale in the kitchen of her Brookville home and began weighing herself every day.

• She began writing down the calorie intake and fat content of everything she ate.

• She cut back her meal portions, added more chicken and fish to her diet, made salads and fruits a priority, and cut out dessert.

• She began an interval running regimen — a half mile, mile, then two miles and beyond.

• With encouragement from her husband, Joe — a Kettering police officer and former linebacker at Trotwood-Madison High School — she began lifting weights to tone her muscles.

“When I started running again, I wrote Joe’s cell phone number on my shoe — ‘In case of emergency, contact this number’ — just in case somebody found me in a ditch,” Monique said. “I never did make it to the ditch. I always succeeded in getting home.”

No quick fixes

As the pounds came off, Monique stuffed weights from Joe’s weight room into a duffel bag.

“By the time she put 80 pounds in that bag, she couldn’t believe she carried that same weight around on her joints everyday,” Joe said. “It was such an eye-opener because she could barely pick it up. I tell her everyday how proud I am of her and the work she’s done. A lot of people give up, but she didn’t.”

Nowadays, she’s a lean, mean, 170-pound fitness machine, running 25-30 miles a week.

Monique and Joe celebrated their 22nd wedding anniversary by competing in the Cincinnati Flying Pig Half Marathon in May. She completed the Americana Festival 5K run in Centerville in 27 minutes, 34 seconds on July 4. Her goal is to run a full marathon within the next year.

“There are people out there searching for the answer to good physical fitness,” Monique said. “There are no quick fixes or magical drugs. The answer is discipline, exercise and nutrition.

“It’s got to be a lifestyle change — something you decide for life and I want to keep it up. My message is watch what you eat and stay active.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2253 or cludwig@DaytonDailyNews.com.

Monique Domsitz’s weight-loss tips for a healthier lifestyle

When dining out,  split your entree:  “It makes sense because the portions are astronomical. There’s way  too much for one  person to eat. They’ll probably charge you for the extra plate, but go for it.”

Turn off the TV: “Just  get out there and stay  active. We don’t watch a lot of television. We’ve never let our kids watch TV on school nights. We’re just always outside doing something. They learned from us. There’s not a lot of sitting around.”

Don’t deprive yourself: “If I want a Snickers (chocolate) bar, I’m  going to have it. But  I’ll write those 280 calories down. If you  take that extra piece of pizza, then take care of it the next day and burn it off.”

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