Community Corner

Oakwood Nurse Says Stint on ABC's "Extreme Makeover" Changed Her Life

Trina Miller, a nurse at Oakwood Hospital and Medical Center in Dearborn, will be featured on ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition" this week.

This article was written by Aysha Jamali.

Next week's episode of "Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition" features the first group chosen for the show, who all trained at Northville's Hines Park CrossFit gym

Trina Miller, 47, of Grosse Ile, the star of the show, worked with the show's trainer Chris Powell and six of her fellow nurses at Oakwood Healthcare System for her makeover.

"It's like you're a prisoner to the weight," she said.

Miller transformed her body, but her final weight and look is top secret until the shows airs on July 23.

Her journey to a healthier lifestyle was about more than losing weight.

"For years I buried my emotions," she said.

She said her parents divorced when she was young and she began gaining weight when she was 12 because she turned to food for comfort.

Since the start of her training for the show last May, she said she had to embrace exercise and not junk food. She said it's about taking it one day at a time to avoid falling for those tempting traps, like Mexican food, which is her guilty pleasure. 

Miller was at Northville's HinesPark Crossfit gym last week working out with some of her colleagues under the guidance of gym owner and coach Dave Finlay.

"Yesterday, I ran eight miles at the park. Are you kidding me? I did that?" she said.

Confidence didn't always come easy for Miller. She said her mother questioned her chances of being chosen for the show. When Miller went to Gardner-White Furniture in Canton for a casting call, she said her mother saw the long lines and asked, "Why would they pick you?"

"And I said, 'Why not me?'" she said. 

Powell knew he needed to work with her when he heard that, she said. Miller was one of 35 chosen to go to California and then became one of 15 chosen for the season. 

She said this opportunity changed her life and she wants to inspire others. That was why Miller asked producers if her colleagues at Oakwood could join her for the journey. The six nurses -- from Westland, Garden City, Romulus, Ypsilanti and Southgate -- were part of the initial weigh-in, a special boot camp in Arizona with Miller, and the final reveal in April at Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn. 

Oakwood is giving everyone time to meet and work out together, she said. She and the nurses took advantage of Oakwood's employee wellness program, OakWell, for nutrition advice and counseling.

The transformation for Miller is a lifelong process. Find out more about what she's doing to stay in shape and her background story on her website, Life Changing Weighs.

Watch Miller and the nurses' transformations on "Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition" at 8 p.m. July 23 on ABC. 


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