I was closing in on 300 pounds and was a size 28/30. I went to the dentist and my blood pressure was sky high, so they could not even perform routine services for me. I pulled a muscle from just getting out of bed one morning. I was winded walking from the parking lot to my desk.

I knew that if I did not do something I would not be around to see my three young nephews grow up. I decided to do everything in my power to lose weight. I would try to do it one last time the sensible way, using diet and exercise. If that did not work, I would try weight loss surgery. My original goal was to get out of plus sizes and be able to shop for regular clothes sizes. I realized that to keep the weight off, this had to be a lifestyle change and not just a diet, so it would need to be something I could do forever.

The first thing I did was start a Get Healthy club with some friends at work. We each contributed $10 as incentive to keep up the program. We split the pot into two: June and December. The person with the highest percentage of weight loss for those six months would win the pot. We weighed in every other week to track how we were doing.

The club met once a week to talk about what was working for us, and any new things we had tried. We brought in healthy snacks. Every Sunday I wrote an email blog to the members about how my weight loss was going, and any struggles I was having. In the Get Healthy club we also talked about overall health, not just weight loss. We talked about reducing stress, how to reduce cholesterol, fighting depression, and unhealthy relationships.

I didn’t want to starve myself but also did not want to count calories. I started by eating healthier foods. I began buying 100-calorie snacks, eating more vegetables and fruit and reducing the carbohydrates, sweets and fried food I ate. I stopped going to fast food restaurants and started reading the back of packages at the grocery store for sugar and fat content. If there was a choice between regular and reduced-calorie or fat-free items I would always choose the latter. If I shopped smart, then I would not have to count calories or fat at home, since I had done that at the grocery store.

I am really lucky that my employer offers exercise rooms and daily exercise classes in each of our buildings. I tried fitball. I was very scared in that first class, so when I showed up, I choose the corner farthest from the front of class and tried to follow along. It was hard, but fun. The instructor would push us but never chastised anyone if they needed to take a break or could not do one of the exercises. After the first few classes I could feel the changes starting, and Thursdays became my favorite day of the week. I could feel the workout on Friday mornings but as time passed I had fewer aches. I started to see changes in my body and was getting excited that I could really lose weight the right way.

I started to use the treadmill for 15 to 30 minutes at least two other times a week. Some of the members in the Get Healthy club joined me. It was great to have partners who were also trying to get healthier.

After a couple of months, I added cardio class to my workout and began to lose even more weight. My family and co-workers started to notice, and it was great to hear all the compliments. In Spring I began walking outside. I was having so much fun buying smaller clothes and feeling good about the way I looked in them. I can’t describe the feeling of donating all my big clothes to Goodwill and realizing I would never go back to that size. I was finally a size 18 but wanted to keep going.

Next I started personal training sessions. My instructor provided tips on eating healthy and different workout routines that boosted my confidence as well as accelerated my weight loss. He encouraged me on the days I did not think I could do anymore and injected fun into the workout. I am now known as the Energizer Bunny in my exercise classes because I always want to do more.

I won both the June and January Get Healthy prizes. It is now 10 months since our competition ended and I am still going strong. I can now fit into, as I like to call them, single digit clothes. My friends and family are so proud of me and I can honestly say I could not have done it without their encouragement and love. I have now lost more than 130 pounds and am still working on getting in even better shape. I have far exceeded my original goal, and hope to be an inspiration for others who are trying to lose weight and keep it off the natural way.

Written by: Lisa D.