Read through to find how they did it
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Sharlynn: Before
"My dad had a heart attack and that scared me. I think most of all it was me being tired of being fat. I didn't want to be the fat girl. I wanted to date, be happy inside and out."
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Sharlynn: After
"One day I was walking past a mirror, I took a double-take and started to cry. I called Kelly and said, 'Guess what?' He said, 'What?' I said, 'I'm pretty,' with tears in my eyes."
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David R.: Before
"At my maximum, I was wearing pants with a 60-inch waist."
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David R.: After
"The support I get from my family and from the Weight Watchers meetings has been key. They give me support when I am having trouble, advice when I need it, and overall it makes it easier to do this with a bunch of friends cheering you on."
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Shaby: Before
"The doctor told me I was considered obese at 22, and that was the last straw!"
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Shaby: After
"Every girl keeps a pair of skinny jeans tucked away in her closet in hopes to fit [in] them again. I had these size 7 jeans that one day I decided to try on for the heck of it. THEY FIT! AND WITH ROOM TO SPARE!"
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Tim W.: Before
"After a while you start noticing the little things that you used to be able to do that you can no longer do. Little things like tying your shoes, sitting in the floor, turning your head at a stop light, etc. Then it only takes one call from a friend saying, 'I think you need help' to put the rubber stamp on it."
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Tim W.: After
"As the pounds fell off, people around me began to notice and encourage me to stick with it. I was feeling better, looking better and gaining a whole new perception of myself. I found myself looking in the mirror more and caring about the way I looked."
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Daphne M.: Before
"I started out as a 9-pound baby. At age 6, my parents sent me to Weight Watchers because I was 15 pounds overweight. Can you imagine, a kindergartener on a diet of carrots, clear broth, and cottage cheese (Weight Watchers has come a LONG way since the early '80s!)."
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Daphne M.: After
"I won the battle over obesity by losing more than 200 pounds, but keeping it off has proved to be an ongoing war that I have to face and fight every day for the rest of my life."
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Robert H.: Before
"The main motivator for me was to no longer be the 'fat friend.' One day after dinner, I just decided it was time for a change."
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Robert H.: After
"I enjoy being healthy and feeling good about myself, and that is enough to keep me from going to the drive-through."
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Stacy S.: Before
"I was at my heaviest and completely miserable. I was getting really depressed and was just sick of myself and the way I looked."
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Stacy S.: After
"I no longer eat just because I'm bored. I turn to God instead to fill me up when I'm not physically hungry, and definitely pray for His guidance."
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Rishi S.: Before
"Food for me was like a good friend. I always carried it with me, ate it and enjoyed it. As a result, I was massively overweight throughout my school days and all through college."
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Rishi S.: After
"I feel like I'm born again. The pride I get on a daily basis from people makes me work more on the cause of losing weight. The humorous part is that my own relatives do not recognize me. :)"
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Christina: Before
"When you want nothing more than to be the best mother/parent for your child, the reality is that if you are not at your best, you can't possibly be at your best for them."
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Christina: After
"A setback is only there as long as you allow it to be. I do my best to not see it as a 'setback' but more so a challenge."
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Dylan F.: Before
"Many months ago I was known as 'Puddin.' Guess the name really went with my appearance at that time. I never really showed it, but it hurt inside to think that is what people thought of me."
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Dylan F.: After
"I just know that I never want to go back to where I was."
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Vanessa: Before
"I started putting on weight slowly (about 8-10 pounds per year) in my early 20s as a result of poor eating habits, too much alcohol, and a sedentary lifestyle combined with hours of sitting and studying. I was a smoker and it hurt my lungs to engage in physical activity so I just got lazier and lazier and fatter and fatter."
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Vanessa: After
"People I have just recently met are stupefied when they find out I used to be a fat smoker. People I meet these days assume that I've always been an avid runner, and that makes me feel really great, too."
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Terry C.: Before
"When I got out of the Navy I weighed 310 pounds."
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Terry C.: After
"I stay motivated by remembering where I started, and realizing what kind of hard work it took to get to where I am now. I have decided to never be the 'Fat Guy' again."
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Tammy: Before
"I married in 1986 weighing about 105 pounds. By our third anniversary I had given birth to our second son and was very close to the 200-pound mark, if not over it."
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Tammy: After
"My wardrobe now consists of so much more than sweats, shorts and T-shirts. I have more energy, feel younger and look younger then I did in my 20s and 30s."
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Robert M.: Before
"I know people judge you by the way you look and I had to ask myself, 'What do people see when they look at me?' The answer is what got me motivated."
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Robert M.: After
"My brother was in a bad car accident in November 2007 which left him as a paraplegic (people, please wear your seat belts). To help deal with it, I would go run. I would just run and pray for him and not even realize I was running for a few hours."
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Samantha: Before
"I started putting on weight when I was a young child. I always thought I would eventually stop gaining, grow taller, and become skinny. As I entered my later teen years, my misconception looked farther and farther from coming true."
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Samantha: After
"Staying healthy and never going back to worrying about my health keeps me going. Also, being able to wear the cute clothes I have bought since losing weight."
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Caleb M.: Before
"My father always put me down because of my weight. This made me even more depressed and made me learn to hate myself, so I just didn't care anymore and ate more. "
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Caleb M.: After
"I keep setting goals for myself, where I want be in like a month or what I plan on doing with my life. For example, I planned on joining the military, so that drives me to get in better shape."
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Rita T.: Before
"I can never remember a time when I was thin."
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Rita T.: After
"I consider myself a thin eater now. So if I mess up, I just do what a thin eater would do and that is wait for the next hunger signal and eat until I am politely full!"
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Prath R.: Before
"It was in college where I realized that in today's modern world, everyone looks at imperfections first in another person. It's human nature. I decided I was not going to let people judge me for my weight, but rather for my other qualities."
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Prath R.: After
"The strength in knowing that your life will change for the absolute better is what made me kept going every step of the way."
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