Weighing in on a healthy lifestyle
Reporter: Anne State, KMOV-TV

Dee Hakala (kmov-tv)

St. Louis (KMOV) [ air date 11-13-00 ] -- Some people just know how to command attention. Dee Hakala is one of those people.

"People would look at me, at over 220 pounds, and say, how can you be healthy?" says Hakala.

Dee is determined to show that you don't have to be thin to be healthy.

"I can bench press 105 pounds. I can bike ride 10 to 20 miles in a shot. I teach 6 to 12 classes a week, and my own fitness workouts. I believe that's fitness and health, too. I believe the medical profession would second that," she says.

But there was a time when Dee was too embarrassed to go to the gym. Dee Hakala, now outgoing and upbeat, once went to her junior prom alone. No one asked her to dance.

"I spent 20 years in a box, hating myself, hating my body, not even trying to live my life," she says.

Then Dee started working out. She started teaching classes and she's started changing attitudes. But it is not easy.

"I've actually, in the past, had people come in and say, you can't possibly provide me with a good workout. And they leave," Hakala says.

But Dee can and does.

She teaches classes at the YWCA, sometimes as many as 4 a day.

She has even come up with her own training program. It's called, the new face of fitness and it's geared toward people who are overweight or out of shape.

"They take off their clothes, they put on their size 18 bathing suit. They go swimming, and they go canoeing and that's living your life!" she says.

"I know how they feel and I have been there and every day I get up and I try."

Trying to live healthy, not look healthy, Dee says, is the best anybody can do. Dee says don't get the wrong idea. She's not saying it's good to be overweight, rather it's good to be active no matter what your size.

If you're interested, Dee's program is called "the new face of fitness." You can find it at the YWCA on South Kingshighway in St. Louis.

# #