EDMOND — Perhaps Oklahoma's most well-known and loved athlete, Shannon Miller is back in her hometown of Edmond this week, visiting her parents with her son, 9-month-old John Rocco (who goes by "Rocco"), and promoting her new company, Shannon Miller Lifestyle: Health and Fitness for Women.

Publicity photo of Shannon Miller provided.

The company, which launched just weeks ago, includes books, DVDs, a radio show featuring Miller and cookbooks for women.

It may not seem far-fetched for a seven-time Olympic medalist and the only woman to be inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame twice to conceive such a company. But Miller, 33, said it was actually her greatest struggles with health and fitness that inspired her to create the new line of lifestyle products.

"After retiring from Olympic competition, I really didn't know what to do with myself," Miller said. She recalls her college days at the University of Oklahoma. Not having the physical outlet of training for the Olympics, Miller said she found herself more often than not sitting on a couch, watching TV and munching on chips or some other unhealthy snack.

"I gained a lot of weight," she said. "And ... you know, when you're in the public eye, that can be embarrassing."

She tried every fad diet of the time and finally realized that the keys to fitness and health were a combination of eating right and finding ways to stay active.

At the time, her exercise of choice was an elliptical machine because she could multitask.

"I could get on (an elliptical machine), and I could read a book or read stuff for work or study for classes. Or I could just watch TV, but at least I wasn't eating potato chips; I was working out," she said.

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