200 pounds - gone!*

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To: Serious Weight Watchers

From: Terra

Message:

before & after

200 Pounds ... Gone!*

After

Name | Kim

Age | 42

Height | 5'5 "

Was | 347 lbs

Lost | 206 lbs

Weight | 141 lbs

As Of | 7/31/2004

Before

It's not every day we hear from someone who's lost more than 200

pounds*. Check out Kim's " after " picture in her 18-year-old daughter's

jeans! Here's how she finally stopped the deadly cycle of bad habits and

misery.

By age 40, I was almost 350 pounds, and gaining weight every day. I'd

look at myself in the mirror and think, " You look awful, but enjoy it,

because next week you'll wish you looked this good. " I'd tried every

diet out there, from shakes to prescription pills to hypnosis, and yes,

even Weight Watchers. I'd become a yo-yo pro, easily losing up to 40

pounds, then gaining it all back. I was basically eating myself to

death, and at this point, I never, ever, ever thought I'd lose weight

again. And that's why I have to tell my story; if you recognize yourself

here, this is for you.

Waiting Until I Was Ready

Why did Weight Watchers work for me this time? All I can say is, my time

had come. One day, on the brink of desperation, I looked for divine

help, and within two days I had found the motivation to return to

Meetings, this time for good. With faith and the support of my friend

Cathy, my Meetings buddy, I was able to persevere through tough times,

and turn bad habits into good ones.

Making Changes Gradually

I must admit, making the necessary changes was overwhelming at first.

But having 200 pounds to lose turned out to be a blessing in disguise

for two reasons. First of all, losing all that weight takes a while, and

when you have a lot to lose you have more time to get used to the system

and make it second nature. Cathy and I began eating out at Ruby

Tuesday's each week following our Meeting. At first, we'd order

hamburgers without the cheese or fries, but after about nine months,

we'd switched to a plain baked potato and steamed broccoli. Before, this

would have screamed " deprivation " to me, but because my taste buds had

had time to change, I actually craved simple food like that. I once

joked to Cathy that had I known that one day I would be ordering a baked

potato for lunch at Ruby Tuesday's, I'd have quit right then and there!

From Rocky to Routine

Going slowly wasn't the only thing I counted on to change my life.

Tracking my POINTS® values was a great release. Every morning I'd plan

out my whole day in my QuikTrak™ with pencil, then copy over in ink when

I'd actually eaten them. My daughter even took my picture every week to

chart my progress; it's fun to go back and see what I looked like when I

wrote what I was feeling. And I don't know who invented the POINTS

System, but it's incredible! Yes, it took an investment of time in the

beginning, but after a few weeks I had all the values down in my head. I

started carrying my POINTSfinder® slide in my purse for grocery

shopping, and I labeled the boxes of food in the cupboards with their

values. After a while, it became part of me, and that's when I switched

to the POINTS Bracelet, which I put on every morning with my watch. It's

easy and wonderful for people who don't like to write their food down.

Ditching The Drive-Thru

And today? I can hardly count the number of ways my life has improved.

There's the concrete: I can buckle my seatbelt, tie my shoes, wear

jewelry, sit in a restaurant booth! I can feel my hip bones! (I'll never

forget finding a lump in my side and thinking I had cancer for several

weeks, until my husband told me it was my hip bone!) And the profound:

By bringing my children so frequently to the drive-thru, I was basically

handing them a weight problem on a silver platter. We don't do that

anymore, and I don't keep junk food in the house, either. But I don't

want to stop at helping my family — my hope is that my story will

inspire people who are suffering as much as I used to.

Two Years, 200 Pounds, To The Day*

The day I reached Lifetime turned out to be my two-year Weight Watchers

anniversary, plus t

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