Ruby Gettinger stars on The Style Network reality show Ruby, based on the Savannah, GA’s resident’s life. Ruby is 5’9 and currently weighs 328 pounds, the lowest weight she’s reached in her adult life. She’s down from a high of 715 pounds about 10 years ago and has lost over 150 pounds since she started the show last year. Ruby is the highest rated show ever on the Style Network.

The 40-something reality star is promoting a new memoir called Ruby’s Diary: Reflections on All I’ve Lost and Gained. In an appearance on The Today Show yesterday she was both excited and humble about her journey. Ruby comes across like such a genuinely kind person. You can tell that she really cares about people and hopes that by going public with her struggle she’s helping others. One very sad thing that Ruby touched on briefly in the interview is that she has no memories before the age of 10 and that she’s trying to work that out through therapy. Something truly awful must have happened to her, but she didn’t get into the details much, just saying “I had a recurring nightmare that I share in the book that I was not ready to share on television yet. There was one memory that came when my dad passed away, which was in January, and I share that. The next part of this journey – trying to find out my memories.”

On how her fans inspire her
It’s amazing, because the people that are watching me are inspiring me to keep going on. Because they write me. I have people of all sizes, all ages that are changing. I never realized there’s so many people out there that face their own addictions or their beasts. I call this the beast. Something that I’ve been fighting forever.

Everytime someone tells me that they’re changing, they’ve lost 100 pounds or 50 pounds or they’re walking, or they’re coming out their house for the first time, it keeps me going on.

On the small things she can do that weren’t possible before
Now I can walk three miles. I can get behind the steering wheel of a car. I can go kayaking. I had one of my dreams come true. I got to ride a horse!

On not putting off your dreams and goals
The one thing I have learned is that, do it today… anything you want to do I don’t care if it’s dieting, if it’s a dream, start it today because tomorrow will not come in 5 to 10 years.

On her destiny to help others
I believe that I’m a better person for being big, because I don’t judge people… on their shell I look at the inner person and I feel like this is my destiny because I want to help other people…. I want people to not live in their house or define themselves by weight… I want them to define themselves by the heart, by who they really are and live their lives.

[Transcribed from Ruby Gettinger’s appearance on The Today Show, 9/9/09, video above]

I read the segment of Ruby’s book that’s available online and she describes how she was moved to lose weight and document that to help others. She saw the movie The Miracle Worker about the life of Helen Keller, and then an episode of Oprah on severely obese women shortly afterwards. I love the matter-of-fact way that she describes the turning point in her life:

One day, I was in my bedroom in the apartment I was renting on Fifty-second Street in Savannah, and I was flipping through the channels when I saw the movie The Miracle Worker was on. As I watched it for the first time, it took my breath away! Here was a woman, Helen Keller, who could not see, hear or speak. People had written her off; they called her dumb and treated her as if she was worthless. Then along came one person, a teacher named Annie Sullivan, who saw something more in Helen. She saw a person inside that shell, and she had faith in that person. I cried as I watched that movie. I really did. And then this unbelievable faith just came over me. This movie made me realize that the impossible really is possible. It made me see that the only limits we have in this life are the ones we set upon ourselves, and that one person’s faith is enough to change the whole world. I thought, if someone with all of Helen Keller’s problems, with all of those things holding her back, could overcome her obstacles, then why can’t I? I don’t why I happened upon this movie when I did, but it lit a fire in me – a big old barn fire that’s still smokin’ now. I really think God was trying to get my attention, and He did.

Not more than two days later, I was sitting at home, and this Oprah show came on about several severely obese women and their struggles. They were afraid to leave their homes because of the way society judged them. I have heard people call them shut-ins, but I could never use that word. It just makes me want to cry. I watched in complete pain. That show really broke my heart, because no matter what size I am now or ever was, I could never allow people to stop me from living and enjoying my life. Well, that was it! I knew I had to do something. So I called up my friends Jeff and Georgia and I said, “You need to get me a video camera. We need to document all of what I’m going through.” Right then and there I had decided that I was gonna let people follow me around, step-by-step, so we could learn a thing or two together.

[From Ruby’s Diary: Reflections on All I’ve Lost and Gained]

Ruby has since appeared on Oprah, and she’s lost half of her body weight. As they say in the south, bless her. I admire Ruby and find her so inspirational and kind. I hope that all of her dreams come true and that she’ll someday be able to work through her painful past.

[Thanks to The Huffington Post for featuring this story]