RESIDENT FEATURE | Fit & Fabulous Over 50

WEST SUBURBAN LADYPRENEUR LOOKS & FEELS FABULOUS

Pamela Coslet is 66 and she looks and feels fabulous. Her and her husband of 24 years, live in St. Charles. She attributes feeling fabulous to her love for water sports, biking & skiing. She exercises at least 3 times a week in her home gym, walks, does yoga and lifts weights. She says that she loves to eat, but limits her portions and hardly ever eats between meals. She drinks lots of liquids, cuts down on fat and sugar and feels healthier than her 21 year old self had ever dreamed of someday being. “While my weight has fluctuated throughout the years and I will never weigh 110lbs again, I am at a healthy weight and wear a size 6 dress.”

As most over 50 would agree, growing up in the fifties, families fully embraced the convenience of boxed and canned foods. Pamela’s mother was no different. She was from the south and she'd masquerade canned vegetables with big dollops of bacon fat. She was especially fond of black eyed peas. Despite those impressionistic food experiences, Pamela stayed thin and ended her high school years as she started them– at 5'2" weighing 110 pounds.

Thinking she took after her “too thin” father with the world's best metabolism, Pamela continued her poor eating habits until she was pregnant with her first and only child. “I gave birth to a healthy, beautiful baby girl. However, getting on the scale after I got home was a life defining moment. Much to my (too young to be pregnant) surprise, at the age of 21, I was forty pounds heavier than I had been before I got started,” said Pamela.

After the joy of childbirth faded, she decided that a change was needed, but how? Other than being a tomboy as a kid, riding bikes, playing softball and taking the perfunctory gym classes in high school, Pamela knew nothing about fitness and healthy eating.

Luckily, her mother-in-law at the time was addicted to Weight Watchers, which she would use as an antidote to her addiction to overeating. “I knew she shouldn't have been binging then purging but she was the only person I knew that knew anything about losing weight. So, I followed the weight loss and within 6 weeks after giving birth, I was within 10 pounds of my starting weight. My exercise education would come 10 years later when I joined a gym and a marathon running program,” Pamela added. The years went by fast and after three marriages, retirement from her airline career, traveling around the world, living in two countries and more than seven states, she settled in St. Charles, where she lives today, feeling better than ever.

Pamela and her husband are the co-founders of Vineyard Chic, a unique kitchen makeover company and her daughter has just opened her own branch of the company in Madison, WI where she lives. The company name was inspired by Vineyards around the world, as Pamela’s other passion is wine. Experts tell us that a glass of wine each day, especially red, offers many health benefits. She loves to indulge in local favorites such as the chocolate and wine tasting at Graham's Chocolates during the Festival of the Vine in Geneva and the wine dinners at The Herrington Hotel and Niche Restaurant.

Pamela tells us that another inspiration for keeping a healthy weight is Dr. Lori Zimmers in St. Charles. “I found her a year ago when I scheduled my first Medicare annual physical exam. Since then she has helped me lose a few extra pounds that I picked up along the way and she has also encouraged me to get a Fitbit and use it every day.” -Lindy Kleivo / Pamela Coslet