Local author Lorna Shelton lost 100 pounds in a year and wrote a book called "From Beautiful to Beautiful" about it. She is hosting an author signing at the Centralia Library on Monday, June 5 at 3 p.m.
Local author Lorna Shelton lost 100 pounds in a year and wrote a book called "From Beautiful to Beautiful" about it. She is hosting an author signing at the Centralia Library on Monday, June 5 at 3 p.m.
On her 57th birthday, Centralia resident and self-published author Lorna Shelton weighed 245 pounds. She made a commitment to drop 100 pounds in a year. On her 58th birthday, she weighed 145 pounds.
She wanted to document the last 10 pounds in a video blog, but the format was unfamiliar to her, so she decided to write it down. Those writings turned into a book. “From Beautiful to Beautiful” details her year of weight loss and how she did it. She has also written books in several different genres, and was commissioned by the Leith Rules Golf Society in Edinburgh, Scotland, to write about golf.
“The main point about the book is, I lost the weight not to be beautiful but for my health,” she said.
Her book is available for purchase online at lulu.com for $12. She will have a launch day book signing on Monday at the Centralia Timberland Library at 3 p.m.
Standing at about 5 feet, 5 inches tall, Shelton radiates a warm and healthy aura. On her book cover, she stands smiling wearing striped pants like those found under a Kansas house in Oz, but she took the look back from the Wicked Witch of the East, and a black and white striped shirt with a sleeveless purple cardigan. Her outfit is loud, creative and comfortable, which reflects her personality.
During the weeks leading up to her birthday and weight loss deadline, Shelton wrote a chapter a day. Although the book is focused on the last 10 pounds, it includes recipes she found and enjoyed, exercise techniques and other dieting advice.
“I lost the first 40 pounds with no effort by watching the salt content (in my food),” Shelton said.
In her book, she outlines the three legs of her weight loss, her diet, her fat burning exercise formula and what she calls a “breakthrough study.”
She declined to talk about the study, saying if it was printed in The Chronicle, then fewer people would buy her book.
Her exercise routine started as seven minutes focused on light knee workouts as part of her physical therapy. From there, she gradually started increasing the length of her workouts to 30 minutes. As the length of her workout increased, the number on the scale decreased. She learned, from her physical therapist, the way to burn fat was with longer workouts not harder ones, Shelton said. Since losing the weight she has increased her workouts to 40 minutes.
“I apply things in the optional efficiency because I am a busy person and it worked,” she said.
Losing 100 pounds in the matter of 365 days is a lot of weight in a short amount of time, but Shelton said her skin and body have adjusted well to the quick change. Sometimes people her age who lose a lot of weight look older and tired, what she described as gaunt.
Her year-long transformation is written, she said, but added the challenge is to keep the weight off. She will write about that this coming year and publish it as a sequel to her current book.
This is the first time since her senior year of high school she has reached her target weight and she plans on keeping it off.
“Everything about me changed,” Shelton said.
