TV’s ‘Ruby’ dishes on 700-pound weight battle

How does one begin — and overcome — a weight battle of 700 pounds? Ruby Gettinger, star of The Style Network’s reality show “Ruby,” reveals her amazing journey in her new memoir “Ruby’s Diary: Reflections on All I’ve Lost and Gained.” She shares the heartwarming and inspiring story of how she beat her food addiction and dealt with the psychological causes behind her eating habits. An excerpt:

Chapter 1: Getting Started

You Never Know What God’s Gonna Do
I was on the treadmill today thinking about how far I’ve come. And I don’t just mean how many miles I’ve totaled on that pedometer thingy. I mean over the last few years of my life, I have come leaps and bounds from where I was. I don’t think it’s all been my doing, although I have worked really, really hard to get here. I feel like God totally orchestrated this whole thing to happen. He triggered something in me so I would put myself out there and tell everyone who would listen all about myself. People always ask me, “How did you come to do this?” They just can’t understand how a real person could get herself to where I was before or where I am now. The truth is, I not only owe a big thank-you to God, but I owe one to Helen Keller and Oprah Winfrey, too. I mean it.

One day, I was in my bedroom in the apartment I was renting on Fifty-second Street in Savannah, and I was flipping through the channels when I saw that the movie The Miracle Worker was on. As I watched it for the first time, it took my breath away! Here was a woman, Helen Keller, who could not see, hear, or speak. People had written her off; they called her dumb and treated her as if she was worthless.

Then along came one person, a teacher named Annie Sullivan, who saw something more in Helen. She saw a person inside that shell, and she had faith in that person. I cried as I watched that movie. I really did. And then this unbelievable faith just came over me. This movie made me realize that the impossible really is possible. It made me see that the only limits we have in this life are the ones we set upon ourselves, and that one person’s faith is enough to change the whole world. I thought, if someone with all of Helen Keller’s problems, with all those things holding her back, could overcome her obstacles, then why can’t I? I don’t know why I happened upon this movie when I did, but it lit a fire in me — a big old barn fire that’s still smokin’ now. I really think God was trying to get my attention, and He did.

Not more than two days later, I was sitting at home, and this Oprah show came on about several severely obese women and their struggles. They were afraid to leave their homes because of the way society judged them. I have heard people call them shut-ins, but I could never use that word. It just makes me want to cry. I watched in complete pain. That show really broke my heart, because no matter what size I am now or ever was, I could never allow people to stop me from living and enjoying my life. Well, that was it! I knew I had to do something. So I called up my friends Jeff and Georgia and I said, “You need to get me a video camera. We need to document all of what I’m going through.” Right then and there I had decided that I was gonna let people follow me around, step-by-step, so we could learn a thing or two together. Sometimes it just takes people seeing something with their own eyes to believe it. And that means me, too.

Slideshow After rummaging trash for food, he lost 250 lbs. Find out how the newest Joy Fit Club members lost 100 pounds or more!

You know, in all my time at high school I barely cracked open a book. And when I went to college at Armstrong for two years, I was the biggest social butterfly. I never studied as much as I should have. Everything I ever learned, I learned by watching other people. You could call me a student of human nature. Somehow I thought that if we could videotape everything I did as I tried to lose weight, the world would get to see exactly what obese people struggle with every day. They could see us as human beings, not freaks or gluttons. They could see that something truly has a hold on us. And I could get to see what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong. While I was busy watching everyone else all those years, I’m not sure how closely I ever looked at myself. This was the perfect solution for everyone!

Georgia and Jeff were very excited. They knew that when I feel strong about something, there is no stopping me! And I was sure about this. In fact, I was never surer of anything in my whole life. Something had clicked inside me. I got the message loud and clear — and really that is how I got to be living this message now. It all started with some powerful TV shows and I guess it continues with my own show.

Here She Goes Again ...
I used the word helicopter around someone today who didn’t know I prefer saying that whenever I mean the place that’s hotter than spicy southern barbecue. Another word I don’t particularly like — though it’s not a cuss, so I don’t have a good substitute for it — is doubt. I think that word bugs me because I know it’s what a lot of people had when I told them I was going to try to lose the weight again. It means a lack of faith or belief. I understood that it would be hard for some of my friends and family to take this whole thing seriously or to believe in me when they’ve seen me attempt to shed the pounds a thousand times before. It was hard for me to believe in myself then, too, because I had failed so much already. But I pray this time is different. I feel like I have a mission. And to keep that mission, there is no room for doubt.

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