Yeah, Baby! I Lost 49 Pounds Weight Loss Success Story

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

Yes, Sue is a new mom, having given birth to a bouncing baby boy less that a year ago. And no, she wasn't one of those lucky few who gain no extra weight while pregnant.

First Sue delivered her baby, then eDiets delivered her a healthy 49-pound weight loss. That's 49 pounds lighter than her pre-pregnancy weight! For the record, our featured 5'8" dieter has watched her weight slide from 220 to 161 pounds in about 11 months -- not too shabby for the first-time eDieter!

Our 27-year-old stay-at-home-mom had little need for losing weight... prior to 1999. Sue was the athletic sort, having ridden horses most of her life. For as long as she could remember, she ate what she wanted without gaining any extra weight. But all that changed three years ago when she got off her horse and found herself saddled with extra weight.

"I was forced to sell my horse," the Californian recalls. "I stopped riding and my exercise level decreased by 99 percent. I continued eating like I always had and before I knew it I was wearing a size 16/18 and weighing 220 pounds!

"I freaked out. I couldn’t believe I was fat. I had never been fat in my life."

But even at her heaviest, Sue (who you may know by her GETNERVOUS1 eDiets name) was in denial. If she became short of breath climbing stairs, she brushed it off as being out of shape. The moment of truth came in December 1999 when Sue became engaged... a special occasion captured forever on film.

The cat was finally out of the bag. The telling photos (specifically the picture of Sue in the Tigger shirt) triggered Sue's desire to diet wisely and effectively.

"It was the first time I had my picture taken in a while. I looked at it and went, 'oh my gosh, I’m HUGE!' I didn’t even own a scale at that time. I couldn’t believe how big I had gotten."

Sue didn't want to fight the fat fight alone. She desperately needed structure -- and she needed a program that would work hand in hand with her vegetarian lifestyle. Things clicked the day she stumbled upon an ad for eDiets.com.

The determined dieter was happy she could choose what she wanted in her diet (dairy and milk) and what she didn’t want (red meat, poultry, fish and eggs). Sue was essentially able to create her own personalized program, but the portion sizes and meals were composed by eDiets. It was a match made in weight loss heaven.

Sue got on her eDiets horse and rode straight into lasting weight loss success. She religiously followed the meal plan, first choosing the foods that most appealed to her, then printing out the weekly menus and shopping list. To keep herself from becoming hungry throughout the day, she divided her food into six mini-meals and grazed happily all day long.

Sue says it wasn’t fast food, sweets or snacks that packed on her extra pounds. No, the culprit was lousy portion control.

"I didn’t binge. I didn’t go to McDonald’s. My problem was portion control. I like to eat and I’m not aware of how much I eat. I really had to become aware of what one serving of pasta is or one serving of tofu is. I tend to finish what’s on my plate so I have to be careful what I put on there."

Her discipline quickly paid dividends as Sue quickly dropped 10 pounds. But then the unexpected happened. Sue got pregnant and quit eDiets. One year later (December 2001), the new mom was 210 pounds and ready to get back on the losing track.

She reverted back to her old eDiets eating and added an effective fitness regimen. Sue initially walked a mile a day. She eventually worked up to 20 miles a week until she hit a plateau at 185 pounds. To jumpstart her efforts, she started toning exercises three days a week using exercise videos. She also continued walking five or six days a week. Much to her surprise, Sue eventually made the natural progression to jogging.

"I used to exercise all day when I was riding -- I never thought twice about it. Now I feel like it’s this huge thing and I have to schedule it from this time to this time. I practically put it in my Palm Pilot!"

Since shedding the pounds that had been weighing her down, the motivated mom has plenty of energy for son Joey, who turns one in September. From the moment she rises at 6:30 a.m., Sue's ready to go. When she was overweight, she says it would take her up three hours to finally wake up. She even has enough energy to stay up an hour later now.

The trimmed and happy new mom calls her eDiets experience a labor of love. The online support has been a blessing, she says. Sue admits she virtually lives on the many bulletin boards, posting support, revelations, questions and just plain old chit-chat with fellow eDieters throughout the day.

When she’s not on the Motivation Station, you can often find her participating in the BodyTrends Beat The Heat Challenge. Sue believes the constant support has been an integral part of the process.

"Having somebody to check in with every day has made me very accountable," she says. "Being able to report what my day was like gave me the motivation to stay on track, whether I was posting that I had a great day or a lousy day. The other part was having a group of people who were struggling with me.

"We recently moved so I didn’t know anybody -- fat or thin. So having people online who were going through the same battles was important."

Between the structure, the support and the nutritional guidance, Sue’s come a long way baby. She's just one pound shy of her goal weight of 160. But she may not stop there. There’s always the possibility of shedding another five pounds, she says.

"My goal right now is to become less obsessive about the numbers of what I’m eating," she quickly adds. "I count every single calorie and fat gram. Now, I want to get more in tune with what my body says not what the computer tells me I need to eat. I need to be more self-aware.

"Anytime I think about saying, 'this is too hard... forget it,' all I have to do is take a look at the pictures and think how I never want to be like that again."

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