I've always battled with my weight but really lost control about 20 years ago and gained about 200 lbs. I tried every diet imaginable, including Weight Watchers, Atkins, SlimFast, you name it. I would lose a few lbs, then gain it back plus some. At age 51 I had all but given up hope.

When my granddaughter was born in February of 2007, I realized I had to do something about my weight if I wanted to be the kind of Grandma that could climb on the jungle gym when I took her to the park instead of being a "bench grandma" who could only sit on the sidelines and watch her.

In March of 2007 a friend told me about a local family (the Deans) that had lost 500 lbs together and had appeared on “Good Morning, America” in January 2007. (They’ve since appeared on “The Today Show” in February of last year) They were looking for 100 Omahans to lose 2,500 in a year. I was fortunate to be able to join that group. By keeping a food diary, exercising every day for a minimum of 30 minutes, getting 25-40 grams of fiber daily, drinking a minimum of 8 glasses of water each day and, more importantly, reporting my daily numbers to a member of the Dean family every single day, I’ve lost about 125 lbs! As a group, the “F.A.S.T. 100” people lost over 4,000 lbs!

I still have about 60-70 lbs to lose, but am now able to shop in “normal” women’s size clothing departments and I DON’T CRY when I try something on! I am still reporting to the Dean family and am actually featured in their website www.thefastdiet.net. By the way F.A.S.T. stands for “Families Always Succeed Together”. If you go to the website and click on “Join the Group”, then scroll about halfway down the page, you’ll see my ‘after’ picture. If you roll your mouse over it, the ‘before’ picture appears. If you roll your mouse back and forth, the result is rather humorous as I “grow” and “shrink”!! LOL

I am a newlywed, too! My wonderful husband, Ken, and I were married in September of last year. He actually proposed to me when I still weighed 350 lbs! Yes, I found a gem of a man!

I'm proud to say I was one of 13 honored by the Wellness Council of the Midlands in November at the 2008 Light of Wellness Awards Dinner at Lauritzen Gardens. I was nominated by the Health and Wellness Director at the Sarpy YMCA where I work part time. It was pretty cool.

The two pictures were taken 2 years apart. We happened to be vacationing in the same place both times and I happened to be standing in the same spot both times as well!!

My hope is that I can encourage and be an influence on anyone who feels hopeless about losing weight. I had all but given up hope, especially because I’m over 50 and had tried every diet imaginable. It just took the “old fashioned” approach, the one that doctors and nutritionists have been preaching for years, and a family that had done it together for support to help me finally break out of the rut I had been in for years.