By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

Would you be willing to pay $40 to join in a walking game?

That is what Treena Lucero of Hillsboro is doing to help lose excess pounds and get in shape.

Last August, at 250 pounds, she decided it was time to do something about her weight.

“I was miserable,” she said. “I was tired of feeling yucky, and my knees hurt.”

She started on a weight-loss plan that focused on eating real food and walking for exercise. She found an app called StepBet that allows her to join a group that has as its goal a specific number of steps to take in a specific number of weeks.

It costs $40 to join, and, at the end, all the members of the group who “win” or have reached the weekly required number of steps get equal amounts of the money that was paid in. Then they can join a new group for a new game.

“I don’t like to lose money,” Lucero said, “so it keeps me motivated to stay active.”

She purchased a treadmill for use during cold or icy weather.

She said she walks 50 miles a week, including two miles every day with Rue. The dog is a cross between a Golden Retriever and a Poodle.

When it comes to food, Lucero is particular about what she eats.

“I eat real food every day,” she said, “and my family eats what I eat.”

She avoids bread, “except fresh homemade bread,” potatoes, and items with added sugars. She does not drink protein shakes or other nutritional supplements.

“I go fresh if I can,” she said. “I avoid canned fruit.”

She is on a commercial weight-loss plan that costs $25 a month and requires her to attend weekly meetings and weigh. She has lost 88 pounds so far, with seven pounds to go to get to her target weight of 155 pounds.

Lucero said she has struggled with her weight for a while, and this isn’t her first successful attempt at weight loss. In 2013, she accepted a weight-loss challenge with a friend and lost 70 pounds.

“After the challenge was over, I had nothing to keep me going,” she said, “and I gained the weight back.”

“This time I have a vision to go after,” she said.

If, after she reaches her goal, she maintains a weight two pounds below or two pounds above her goal for six weeks, she will receive a lifetime membership. Meetings will be free as long as she stays within leeway.

“Free is a big motivator for me,” she said.

Lucero has a business called On Location Photography. She started in 2001, doing photo shoots of families and high school seniors.

After becoming a paraprofessional with Marion County Special Education Cooperative four years ago, she has narrowed her subjects to school sports and recreational sports.

“Photography helped me stay home with my children,” she said.

She and her husband, Eduardo “Mayo” have two daughters: Kennedy, 21, a student at University of Kansas; and Delaney, 13.

Lucero also does knitting and crocheting, making hats, baby blankets, hand towels, and scarves. She sells her handiwork at a couple of shows a year. She said her hats are the most popular.

Lucero said her weight loss has improved her life.

“I feel awesome,” she said. “I have a lot more energy and can do things I couldn’t do before. I can walk up and down stairs with my sixth-grade school kids and keep up with them now.”