Fitness coach Tina Klinesmith doesn't get mad when she examines a student's food journal and sees 'I broke down and went out for pizza."

She doesn't make the poor dieter drop down and do 20.

She doesn't point to the track and say, 'Run a lap.'

"I've been there," Klinesmith says. "I know how they are feeling. I've messed up too. Most people have a defeatist attitude. But I say, 'You have to get back up and try again. You can do this.'

Klinesmith speaks from recent experience.

Only three years ago, the mother of three small children started on her own journey to lose weight. Determined to live a better life, she shed nearly 110 pounds, and in the progress, became a popular local motivator.

Her "Fitness Boot Camp" and "The Biggest Loser" classes were taken up by Merced College last fall, and this spring, attendance has more than doubled in both classes.

Klinesmith says she has "always been a big girl' and that has helped potentional dieters warm up to her.

"After I got married and started having kids, I just started getting bigger," she said. "I only had mirrors that showed the neck up, so I pretended it wasn't happening."

After she had her third child, Klinesmith said she went to the doctor, and he mentioned that she might have diabetes.

"I got on the scale, and I was 237 pounds — that's what I weighed when I gave birth to my 10-pound baby daughter."

She said she got scared. She didn't want to leave her children without a mom. She didn't want to teach them the same bad eating habits she had learned.

She had to do something.

At first, she started a program called "Slim in Six." She lost 12 pounds in a week and her excitement grew. Six weeks rolled by and she was 23 pounds down. That led her quickly from program to program until she discovered kick boxing.

Yes ... kick boxing.

Life for the wife and mother changed drastically.

Soon she was calling her friends to join a group.

The group soon turned to a larger class at Yosemite Church in Merced.

"I was 32 when I started," she said. "When I became certified to teach Turbo Kick, I still weighed 200 pounds. I didn't think anyone would come because of that. But they did, and they liked the fact that I wasn't this skinny little person. I was someone who knew how they felt."

When she got the call from Merced College, she was already preparing "The Biggest Loser," a weight loss competition based on the popular TV show. Participants focus on developing healthy lifestyle changes, menus and exercise plans. The winner, or "loser," wins a cash prize at the end of the program.

"I have everybody write down what they eat," Klinesmith said. "I can look at it and see how many carb servings they are getting every day ... if they are getting all bread ... or is it vegetables. Then I give them notes on how to improve their diet."

She also had to recruit her husband Brian on the first day of the program's Spring edition.
Some 60 people showed up for the class, up from 23 in the fall.

Klinesmith says there are several reasons people are coming out to lose weight.

"Part of it is the economy (participants pay $70 for a 2-month class at Merced College), part of it is word of mouth, part of it is the popularity of the show, and part of it is just people who don't know what to do, and they want somebody to show them. That's what I want to do here. Just clear up the confusion and say, "This is what works."

There is still time to join Klinesmith's "Fitness Boot Camp" (Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6 a.m. to 7 a.m., through April 9) and "Parent and Me Exercise" (Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., through April 9.) The latter is for recent parents who want to train along with their newborn or child. Call Chris Vitelli at Merced College, 384-6224 or 386-6737. Email: christopher.vitelli@mccd.edu. Contact Tina Klinesmith at 200-5729 or at fitcoachtina@sbcglobal.net.