Finding that ‘spark’

WASILLA — Shannon Helms didn’t lose over 220 pounds just to see it pivot right back around. She stuck to her own journey to a better way of life, one mailbox at a time.

It’s been over eight and a half years and she isn’t slowing down. If you told her back then that she would be a certified trainer at the Alaska Club, she might suggest insanity. Now, that’s the very class she teaches.

“This has to be something I do for the rest of my life,” she said.

The first step can be daunting. Shannon said that she had a reality check after seeing herself in a family video. She got up and kept moving. Starting from scratch, incorporating her home life into daily exercise routines. She got up, walked out the door and down to the mailbox. She climbed up and down her stairs. Days turned to weeks. Yards turned to miles. Walking turned into running. Jogging laps around the block worked up to 5 or 6 miles a day.

“I did yo-yo a little bit, too,” she said.

Shannon said that her weight tended to fluctuate for about 3 or 4 years. Then one day there was a “spark.”

“Finally, something clicked in my head and said — lifestyle,” she said.

For Shannon, that meant finding balance in each day, making the choice to eat clean on top of regular exercise. Diet is said to be responsible for 80 percent of all weight loss, with physical activity and genetics comprising the other 20 percent of the puzzle. She said that she had to keep an eye on what she ate — “vegetables, fruits, whole grains — ya know — all the things we should be really using to help our body out,” she said, adding, “Now was I perfect? No.”

Shannon said it’s more about stringing those successes together while still enjoying life. She uses an 80/20 rule. Things like portion control and cutting trans-fats turned into habits. People like a quick fix, she said. The Biggest Loser was a huger inspiration for her. She turned everything she could into a Biggest Loser Challenge.

“They always want things to happen overnight and really, it doesn’t happen that way,” Helms said.

Losing weight rapidly can be tough on the body. Many grow impatient with their results.

“We don’t gain weight overnight — though it may seem like it sometimes — so it’s gonna take you a while to take it off,” she said.

Shannon walked before she ran. She jammed along the way. Shannon said that music has helped her push herself in her workouts.

“Music was my biggest factor,” she said. “Whatever’s got a good beat that gets you moving.”

Two years after losing the weight, her friend took her with a guest pass to the Alaska Club. She loved it there and got herself a membership. After working out there for a while and catching the eye of the Alaska Club staff, Shannon got a job offer.

“They liked my dedication, my enthusiasm and my motivation,” she said.

The Alaska Club paid for her schooling and helped her get her certification, Helms said. She started teaching the Insanity workout class, an intense, full-body course taught around the nation. Now she teaches a range of classes and works with individuals with their own goals. She taught herself in the beginning. Now she’s sharing that “spark.”

“What an awesome feeling to be on that other side and to be able to help people, to give them the tools to be encouraged to it themselves,” she said.

Shannon said she had a lot of encouragement but in the early days, some unwanted criticism.

“Society is kinda hard on overweight people,” Helms said. “They have automatic assumptions — that you eat fast food all the time or that they’re lazy; and really, it’s that your body is not moving enough and maybe you’re not eating the right foods.”

Shannon is a mother and a wife so she can relate on how easy it can be to focus more on others, taking care of loved ones. She said change has to start within. Then look what you have to work with.

“Use everything you have in your life to move,” she said.