After

Name |  Kim Age |  42 Height |  5'5" Was |  347 lbs Lost |  206 lbs Weight |  141 lbs As of |  10/2/2003

Before

It's not every day we hear from someone who's lost over 200 pounds*. Check out Kim's "after" picture in her 18-year-old daughter's jeans! Here's how she finally stopped the deadly cycle of bad habits and misery.

By age 40, I was 350 pounds, and gaining weight every day. I'd look at myself in the mirror and think, "You look awful, but enjoy it, because next week you'll wish you looked this good." I'd tried every diet out there, from shakes to prescription pills to hypnosis, and yes, even Weight Watchers. I'd become a yo-yo pro, easily losing up to 40 pounds, then gaining it all back. I was basically eating myself to death, and at this point, I never, ever, ever thought I'd lose weight again. And that's why I have to tell my story; if you recognize yourself here, this is for you.

Waiting Until I Was Ready
Why did Weight Watchers work for me this time? All I can say is, my time had come. One day, on the brink of desperation, I looked for divine help, and within two days I had found the motivation to return to Meetings, this time for good. With faith and the support of my friend Cathy, my Meetings buddy, I was able to persevere through tough times, and turn bad habits into good ones.

Making Changes Gradually
I must admit, making the necessary changes was overwhelming at first. But having 200 pounds to lose turned out to be a blessing in disguise for two reasons. First of all, losing all that weight takes a while, and when you have a lot to lose you have more time to get used to the system and make it second nature. Secondly, because you have so many POINTS® to play with in the beginning, you don't have to cut your food intake so drastically. (As a 347-pound nursing mother, I could eat more food than Montezuma and still lose weight!) Cathy and I began eating out at Ruby Tuesday's each week following our Meetings (we still do, in fact). At first, we'd order hamburgers without the cheese or fries, but after about nine months, we'd switched to a plain baked potato and steamed broccoli. Before, this would have screamed "deprivation" to me, but because my tastes had had time to change, by this time I actually craved simple food like that. I once joked to Cathy that had I known that one day I would be ordering a baked potato for lunch at Ruby Tuesday's, I'd have quit right then and there!

From Rocky to Routine
Going slowly wasn't the only thing I counted on to change my life. Tracking my POINTS values was a great release. Every morning I'd plan out my whole day in my QuikTrak�?with pencil, then carry the POINTS over in ink when I'd actually eaten them. My daughter even took my picture every week to chart my progress; it's fun to go back and see what I looked like when I wrote what I was feeling. And I don't know who invented the POINTS System, but it's incredible! Yes, it took an investment of time in the beginning, but after a few weeks I had all the values down in my head. I started carrying my POINTSfinder® slide in my purse for grocery shopping, and I labeled the boxes of food in the cupboards with their values. After a while, it became part of me, and that's when I switched to the POINTS Bracelet, which I put on every morning with my watch. It's easy and wonderful for people who don't like to write their food down.

Ditching The Drive-Thru
And today? I can hardly count the number of ways my life has improved. There's the concrete: I can buckle my seatbelt, tie my shoes, wear jewelry, sit in a restaurant booth! I can feel my hip bones! (I'll never forget finding a lump in my side and thinking I had cancer for several weeks, until my husband told me it was my hip bone!) And the profound: By bringing my children so frequently to the drive-thru, I was basically handing them a weight problem on a silver platter. We don't do that anymore, and I don't keep junk food in the house, either. But I don't want to stop at helping my family �?my hope is that my story w