Regaining control

Autumn 2001 and all its details are seared in Whitney Owenby’s mind. Life had nearly broken her, and she realized it when the campus nurse threatened to call the police if she didn’t take herself to the emergency room.

“At that point, they were worried that I might not make it,” Owenby said.

As a college student, she weighed probably what a second or third grader would. She’d been fighting anorexia since early high school in Mountain Brook and it had taken its toll.

“My mom later said the doctor called from the hospital to say she was ‘going to do everything she could’ to save me,” Owenby said.

“In those moments, you just trust what the doctor is saying. Rationale and reason literally go out the door because you’re so scared,” she continued.

How Owenby, who now manages Grand Jete Fitness on Cahaba Road, got to that point is still a little bit of a mystery to her.

“Weight was never a conversation in our house, and food was never a struggle,” she said. “We all loved food. I didn’t have body image issues.”

But one thing that creeped up on Owenby and she never saw coming was a need for control. 

It was a need birthed out of tragedy.

“When I was 8, my father was killed in a plane crash in Ensley,” she said. From there, some other issues in her life snowballed, and it was “just loss, loss, loss.”

So without realizing why, she began to try some things to get control.

“Growing up, I used to give myself little challenges, like trying to get through high school without ever wearing jeans to school,” she said.

And one day she found a new challenge : to make it through the school year without going through the lunch line. 

“I remember one day thinking, ‘Wow, I haven’t done it yet, I wonder if I can do it for the whole year?’”

She did.

Then, she decided to give up sweets for Lent, and after that she decided to see if she could become vegetarian. She succeeded.

“Somewhere during that time, the spark ignited the fire,” Owenby said.

She lost 30 pounds in four months.

“I knew something had happened, something that wasn’t good. There was a part of me that enjoyed it, enjoyed that control. But there was another part of me that was really scared and knew something wasn’t right, but I didn’t know what it was, and I was afraid of asking for help,” she said.

That began to take its toll. Soon Owenby had to give up dancing. At one point, her doctor took away her driving privileges. The fall of her senior year, she was hospitalized for the first, then the second time.

She gained a few pounds, but the cycle started again at college in Texas. Soon she was giving up things she never meant to — like her ability to function and maintain a social life.

“I was wearing kids’ clothes and having to safety pin them,” Owenby said. “It was really bad. And when I went into the hospital that last time, they gave me a feeding tube.”

It was a month before she could leave the hospital. With her feeding tube still in place, she went straight from the hospital to a treatment center.

“Slowly but surely, I gained weight,” Owenby said.

It’s still a struggle for Owenby. Since being discharged from treatment in 2007, she’s gotten married, recovered from osteoporosis and slowly rebuilt her life.

Part of that is teaching classes at Grand Jete Fitness in Mountain Brook, which she calls her “safe place.”

“It’s connected me with the most inspiring, encouraging, genuine group of women,” Owenby said. “You rarely hear a woman say, ‘OK, this is who God created me to be, and I’m going to love my body for what it is.’ Being at Grand Jete is being with women who are fighting for that joy with me.”

And she encourages others to join her.

On Feb. 23, in the middle of Eating Disorder Awareness Month, Owenby and others will be speaking to women at Grand Jete about body image issues. It’s open to the public and meant for those who think they or someone they love might have an eating disorder.

 “Eating disorders are the number one most lethal mental illness,” said Suzanne Pirkle, a certified eating disorder registered dietitian and owner of Nutrifocus. “It’s very life threatening and ... it can affect a whole culture in a city. And it can totally change who you are.”

Pirkle was one of the people who helped Owenby recover. She will speak at Grand Jete on Feb. 23 at 12:30 p.m. Caroline Sasser, a clinical social worker, will speak on Feb. 24 at 12:30 p.m.

Owenby said she finds purpose in helping others walking through the same struggle.

“It’s part of my duty and purpose to share this with others and bring light to eating disorders, to make others aware,” she said. “I ache for what I put my family and friends through, but I feel like my experience has made me the woman I am today and put me where I am today.”

For more information, visit grandjetefitness.com.