How I Learned To Lose 59 Pounds Weight Loss Success Story

From eDiets - The online diet, fitness, and healthy living resource

After failing at one fad diet after another, Ellen, 32, realized she needed a weight loss program with class... one that would school her on the ins and outs of healthy living. She figured that with the right instruction, she could make the grade -- and she was correct.

Since joining eDiets last January, Ellen has earned a gold star in weight loss. Shes gone from 190 to 131 pounds; thats 59 pounds peeled from her 54" figure over the last year. Shes also dropped 5 sizes, going from an 18 to an 8.

Ellen is ecstatic -- she hadn’t worn single-digit sizes since middle school. But that changed after she became an official eDiets member.

At her highest weight, Ellen recalls feeling tired, fat, lazy and rundown. Even though she wasn’t depressed about being overweight, it was always on her mind.

“It must have affected me enough to talk about it all the time, but I still didn’t do anything about it,” she tells eDiets from her California home. “It was like, ‘I’ll talk about it, but I’ll have that extra doughnut anyway.’”

After an eDiets banner caught her eye last January, Ellen resolved to stop talking the talk and start walking the walk. Fed up with being overweight, she examined her options. She didn’t want to fork out big bucks to attend a brick-and-mortar plan, especially since she had to balance working fulltime with being a wife and a mother to husband John and daughter Kathy, now 2.

“I checked it out and told my husband that I wanted to do this,” Ellen says. “I figured if it didn’t work, I didn’t have to continue. And it was only $35 for three months. He said OK, and I lost 10 pounds the first month.”

Ellens biggest problems: tackling her weakness for sweets and overcoming her lack of portion control. Together, these two vices had packed on the pounds. For Ellen, following the direction of the meal plan was key to her success.

Dividing her meals between frozen entrees and original eDiets recipes fit Ellen’s lifestyle to a T. When she was short on time, she could simply pop a Lean Cuisine in the microwave. If the store didn’t have the particular meal she was looking for, she could simply substitute another frozen meal in the same fat and calorie range.

To save time in the evenings, Ellen would prepare recipe-based meals the night before.

It was an ideal trade-off since less time in the kitchen meant more time for exercise. Instead of trying to juggle her role of mother with her fitness routine, Ellen would wait until her daughter was sound asleep. She'd then slip into her exercise clothes, pop a workout video in the VCR and get physical.

“The month I started, I was walking a lot," she says. "I was constantly going out and taking my daughter for a walk. It was hard at first... I was huffing and puffing. But then I started walking harder and faster.”

Although she started out slow, Ellen can now peddle her bike two miles to the park and two miles back with no problem. In addition to video workouts, she also uses the animated toning exercises provided by eDiets.

The entire weight loss process has been a learning experience for this determined dieter, who now practices portion control when dining out, avoids fried foods, skips sodas and eats breakfast every day. She's even made it through the holidays without gaining so much as a pound.

“I didn’t gain... I didn’t lose... I did really well," she says. "I’ve been good around sweets. I’ve limited myself. My husband eats all the chocolate. I’ve put it in his office, so I don’t see it. Sometimes when there is stuff out, I’ll eat one out of the whole box.

“I always make sure I look at the back. When two pieces equal 300 calories, I don’t think so. I just won’t eat those. I think this Christmas I will do well.”

Even if she does have a slip every now and then, Ellen says it’s by no means the end of her weight loss world. She simply picks herself up and starts all over again.

“There are times when I don’t eat healthy, and I feel bad about it," she admits. "But it’s just one day and you can go back to your routine the next day. It’s not going to hurt you. You aren’t going to gain 5 pounds. Yeah, you might gain a pound, but you can lose it.”

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