Weight-loss wonder

If you told Linda Kline five years ago she'd be competing in triathlons, she'd probably burst into laughter.

Not anymore.

Now, as she crosses each finish line, the only people she's laughing at are those who doubted her all those years ago, when she weighed more than 400 pounds.

After a loss of 220 pounds, Kline, of Winter Park, has not only left the judgments of others in the dust, but she's overcome numerous health and emotional hurdles on her fast track to fitness.

"When I was over 400 pounds, I saw the Iron Man triathlon on TV and I was kind of motivated by that," Kline said, "and I always wanted to do a triathlon, but I knew at over 400 pounds I couldn't even walk to the starting line, let alone do the whole entire triathlon."

Kline, who has run four triathlons to date, said her journey began five years ago after a doctor told her that she was a high risk for "sudden death" due to her exceeding number of health problems including sleep apnea, high blood pressure and type-2 diabetes.

"I got a wakeup call that I had to lose a lot of weight or I wasn't going to be around for a long time," she said.

She said she had tried every diet plan, pill and prescription to try and lose weight, but nothing had worked. That was, until she met Karen Kestner.

Kestner, a personal trainer and health consultant, was just who Kline needed to lose the pounds. Her mantra when working with Kline from the beginning was "Fitness is not a destination, it's a journey."

Initially Kline said she was only able to walk five minutes on the treadmill at a time while training at the Winter Park YMCA, so Kestner set up a goal system based on weight loss and overall fitness to motivate Kline throughout the process.

After shedding more than 200 pounds in a year and a half, Kline told her trainer about her previously seeming unattainable dream of competing in a triathlon.

"She told me she's always wanted to do a triathlon; she's watched them on TV, and I told her that her reward if she gets to a certain point with her weight and makes a certain lifestyle change, I'll do her first triathlon with her," Kestner said.

Another year and a half later, and her dream became a reality. After bonding over the deaths of their mothers, Kestner and Kline began training for their first triathlon: the annual Danskin women's triathlon held at Walt Disney World every Mother's Day weekend.

"We went to training together because she had never done a triathlon, so she needed training tips, and I definitely needed training tips. We did the Danskin triathlon together in memory of our moms," Kline said.

After that, Kline, now in her early 50s, was hooked.

"I love doing it. I love the whole idea of the training for the triathlon, the extra work that you do to put in for it, the goals you can establish for it for different size triathlons and just everything," Kline said.

Glorida Babcock, a friend of Kline's for more than 20 years and her self-proclaimed biggest fan, said she questioned her friend's sanity when she first heard about her new passion.

"I thought she was crazy, like why? Why would you put yourself through that?" Babcock said with a laugh, "And that's the thing about her, is that she's willing to challenge herself. She's not complacent … she's just inspirational!"

Kline wasn't just hooked on the training; she was hooked on that high her new lifestyle gave her. What she lost in weight, she gained in self-esteem and confidence.

"Another big thing that's changed is that I didn't really have a lot of goals when I was really big and, you know, as far as my hopes and aspirations go, they were like nil," she said. "Now I've got hopes, I'm developing plans up in my head …. In every part of my life, I'm trying to make new goals."

Both Kestner and Babcock say they've seen Kline change and transform for the better over the last five years both physically and mentally, so what's next?

Well, she said she already has at least two more triathlons lined up for this year, and her goal for next year is to compete in an Olympic triathlon. But she always has her eye on the ultimate prize.

"I eventually want to do an Iron Man," she said with smile.