Mother's Motivation To Lose Weight Earns Her $10K

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Did you have too much stuffing this Thanksgiving?  Or maybe it was the pumpkin pie? Yes, Thanksgiving is over, but are you feeling the way you'd like to this holiday season?

Meet one 37-year-old who will most certainly inspire you. Heather Wefring serves as motivation for us all. She has eight children and still made working out a priority. Her oldest child is 14 years old, her youngest are a set of twins. Even though she still has four little ones not even in elementary school, she used 2014 to make her health a priority.

It all started with a small step on the scale at a doctor's visit. Heather had given birth to twins and instead of losing weight, she realized she had put on 20 pounds.

"That was the heaviest I'd been in quite some time," said Wefring.

She knew a lifestyle change was a must when small tasks were becoming difficult.

"I couldn't walk up the stairs and even shaving my legs was becoming a challenge," said Wefring.

Her first step to weight loss: Two-a-day workouts. Slowly her walks on the treadmill turned to runs. Now she runs between six to nine miles a day.

She always made a point to cook healthy meals for her children, but not for herself. Heather said she makes organic meals for the kids, but never was preparing healthy meals for herself at home.  Not only did she change her workouts, but she completely revamped her diet.

"I completely cut out complex carbohydrates, dairy products, everything bad for me cold turkey," said the mother.

After shedding 25 pounds, she joined the LifeTime Fitness 90-Day Challenge. That's when she started working with trainer Kari Wolfe, who told us weights are just as important as a cardiovascular workout.

"When you weight train your metabolism slowly rises," said Wolfe, a LifeTime Fitness trainer. "Plus as you age you need to find ways to keep your metabolism up."

Heather's typical diet consisted of much healthier and leaner foods: Chicken, fruits and vegetables, and she started cooking with coconut oil.  Wolfe said a big key component to Wefring's success was commitment and motivation to want to make a change.

"I think if moms see her transformation they will think if she can do it, I can do it," said Wolfe.

"I feel stronger and healthier and shave more energy and more mental clarity," said Wefring after she reflected on winning $10,000 in prize money for the LifeTime Fitness 90-Day Challenge.

Heather said her newest goal is to run Grandma's Marathon in Duluth. In total she has lost nearly 25 percent of her body weight.  She started out at her heaviest of 273 pounds.