THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 22, 1994 TAG: 9407200145
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
LINDA THACKER is a loser.
And the Indian River resident will be featured in national television commercials, print ads and brochures trumpeting her losses.
But don't feel sorry for the 45-year-old computer specialist at the Naval Air Station's Naval Safety Center in Norfolk. She's happy, she's thrilled, she's slender.
In about a year's time, Thacker went from 220 pounds to her present weight of 115. She did it at the Kemp's River Nutri-System Weight Loss Center in Virginia Beach.
Thanks to that success, she's now THE Nutri-System Woman.
After the birth of each of her three children, she kept the weight she gained and gained more. She never exercised, she ate the wrong foods and lots of them. She ate whole packages of ice cream sandwiches in one sitting, she devoured whole boxes of cookies.
She wore a size 17.
``I was not motivated,'' she said. ``Food was my best friend and my comfort. I tried every diet. I tried Weight Watchers six times, Slim Fast, even acupuncture. I was getting to mid-life, and I hated the way I looked. As a last resort, I went to the Nutri-System in April.''
She went through Nutri-System's program of one-on-one counseling, ate the company's foods and exercised. In less than a year's time, she lost 100 pounds and moved into a size 3.
But her body wasn't the only thing that changed.
``I left with a whole new body, mindset and way of thinking,'' she said. ``I feel sharper mentally. I feel a whole new life opened for me. My self-confidence and self-esteem are higher than they've ever been.''
The Nutri-System people were so delighted with her progress and her attitude that they decided to use her in their upcoming national TV and magazine ads to be released in August.
``Nutri-System hired a Baltimore-based advertising agency which was looking for potential clients to use in its advertisements,'' Thacker said. ``Rather than use actors, they wanted actual people who successfully went through the system. The agency asked each center for potential candidates.''
Thacker said her center submitted before and after photos to Gray-Kirk-VanSant Advertising of Baltimore. Soon, the agency contacted her at her home in the Pinetta neighborhood to tell her they were interested.
``They told me they were looking for a new star,'' she said. ``Then they came to the center to give me a screen test to see how I would react, how well I would do in front of a camera and people.''
The following week, Thacker got a call from the agency, telling her she was a semi-finalist. After a nerve-wracking week of waiting she got one more call at her office. They wanted her and she reacted in the most logical way.
``I was screaming `YES! they want ME!, they want ME!,' '' she said.
Thacker thinks her job experience of making presentations made her a natural for the commercial.
``I think they saw my enthusiasm,'' she said. ``It's easy to talk about something you believe in.''
Thacker said a specialist took her measurements and shopped for a whole new wardrobe to use in the ads. She gets to keep all the outfits purchased. She was then flown to Baltimore for two different sessions: a magazine photo shoot and television commercial videotaping.
Both sessions were intense, she said. She loved working with what she thought were nice and considerate professionals.
The television commercial had her reciting eight different lines in several scenes, including boating, dining out, borrowing a dress from her make-believe daughter (Thacker actually has three boys, ages 26, 22 and 17) and mountain biking. One scene even has her looking at the TV audience, tapping on the television screen and saying, ``You don't have to be 18 to look good.''
``I think they also picked me for my age,'' she said. ``They said I'd naturally appeal to older women, but they also said I'd appeal to younger ones, too, with the thinking `if this lady can do it at her age, you can too.' ''
Thacker is now back home, busy working and waiting for her commercials to make it into national magazines and on television sets wherever a Nutri-System franchise is found.
``I'm healthier than I was 25 years ago,'' she said. ``I've changed my whole way of eating and living, I've lost my taste for salt, sugar and fried foods. I'm practically a vegetarian. I exercise every day.
``My husband has changed his whole lifestyle, too. My sons want to be seen with me, one even wants to fool his friends and pass me off as his girlfriend. People I haven't seen in years don't recognize me. They look at me and ask `Are you sick?' `No,' I tell them, `I'm healthy, now.' ''
Spoken like a true loser. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Linda Thacker went from 220 pounds to her present weight of 115.
by CNB