Family drops weight, gets photo shoot

Cliff, Melanie and Kevin Lankheit are learning what it is like to be local celebrities. After losing more than 100 pounds each with Weight Watchers, the family has been featured in the local media and now a national magazine.

They are recognized on the street and in the grocery store.

People come up to them as if they were celebrities, Melanie Lankheit said.

"I don't even know what it's going to be like after it hits the magazine," she said.

After working for about the last six months with freelance writer Carolyn Campbell, the family's story of losing weight together was bought by Women's World to be a two-page feature spread complete with photos.

When the Lankheits became a success story, Kristi Widmar with Weight Watchers public relations entered the family's names into a database of success stories, which is how Campbell found them.

"Melanie's by far more excited by this whole thing than anybody else," Cliff Lankheit said.

The Lankheits all agreed the point of the media attention is to try and let people know that through hard work and dedication the weight can come off.

"If we can do it, anybody can do it," Cliff Lankheit said.

Louie DeCourley, a photographer with Photo Images Studios, said he enjoyed working with the family. He said the shoot was a nice break from usual studio work.

Cliff Lankheit said he was nervous about the photo shoot and doesn't like having his picture taken -- and with all the media attention, his picture has been taken quite a bit lately.

But the shoot "wasn't as bad as I thought, it was a lot more relaxing than I thought it would be," Cliff Lankheit said.

The magazine is scheduled to hit stores in late November or early December.

ameyer@semissourian.com

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