From Obese to Outstanding
April 18, 2006 — -- Deanna Raihl says she was an overweight, tuba-playing geek in high school. She dreamed of becoming a cheerleader -- and when she made the dance squad in college, she thought her dreams were finally becoming reality.
"I always wanted to be a Sea Gal," she said, referring to the Seattle Seahawks cheerleading squad. "When I was 4, I saw the Sea Gals and that was what I wanted."
Her dreams were crushed, though, by a car accident that left her in physical therapy for years. Raihl's weight ballooned to 250 pounds, and her marriage failed. Still, she wanted a better life for herself and her daughter, Makenna.
At the lowest point of her life, Raihl, now 28, suddenly realized she had to turn her life around or her daughter would follow in her unhappy footsteps.
"I was in a McDonald's with my girlfriend, and I saw this obese 3-year-old and I looked at the mom, who was obese, and something clicked and I realized I was obese," said Raihl, who works as a marine loan representative for People's Bank and is a manager for her department. "I started looking at food as fuel and not 'I'm going to eat this pizza because my husband may be cheating on me.'"
She began working out tirelessly -- doing kickboxing, yoga, and working out on elliptical machines.
"My first goal was to lose 20 pounds, and it just kept coming off. I got down to the weight I am now and thought I would have to stop," Raihl said. "I'm 5 foot, 8 inches and I weigh 127 pounds. I'm a size two or a size four, depending on the clothes. My biggest size was a 22."
After a year of hard work, she had lost 120 pounds. But it still wasn't enough. One morning she woke up to a commercial advertising cheerleader tryouts. Challenging herself to make her long-lost dream a reality, she took her first dance class. A month later, she became a cheerleader for the Seattle Seahawks.
"I was up late one night praying because I was lonesome and praying," she said. "I had my own house at 23 and I had a good job. My daughter's wonderful, but I'm still sad. … I had been having dreams about being in blue and being surrounded by white light for four months and thought that was cheesy and I was being a loser so I didn't tell anyone. I had that dream and woke up to the radio announcement of the tryouts at my 5:30 workout."
Now Raihl is about to try out for her fourth year on the squad. She still loves the job and its perks, like being in the Seattle Sea Gals calendar and cheering for millions at this year's Super Bowl.
"We absolutely love this girl. She is one of our favorites," said Ben Kerns, a photographer who shot the Seattle Sea Gals' 2006 calendar.
Raihl said she was trying to give back to society and behave as a role model. She works with a domestic abuse shelter and the Special Olympics Winter Games. She is thinking about writing a book about her metamorphosis and hopes to spread her message: Dare to begin.
"Don't let fear stop you," she said. "There's always going to be an excuse. There's always going to be 10 excuses why you can't do a good thing. Focus on that small voice inside of you that is saying you can."