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" Burn fat! Suppress your appetite! If only it were as simple as the sellers of quick-weight-loss products would have us believe. These five women all hoped that dropping pounds would be easy \u2014 and all turned to diet pills. What they learned: Even if pills seemed to work, it wasn&amp;#039;t for long, and often the price was miserable side effects. In time, they each found a sound weight-loss program based on nutritionally balanced menus and, in most cases, exercise as well. And when they did, a funny thing happened: They finally lost the weight that had plagued them. Here, their inspiring stories.    --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;     Then: 210 pounds, size 16 Now: 135 pounds, size 4  Height: 5&amp;#039; 8&amp;quot; A (Too) Sweet Start: When I was growing up, fast food, sodas, and other sugary stuff was my family&amp;#039;s basic diet. In my early 20s, when I reached 190 pounds, I started taking Metabolife. In four months, I lost 30 pounds. But back then, Metabolife had ephedra in it [the FDA banned the stimulant in 2004 due to heart-related side effects], and I was jittery all day. And moody \u2014 I picked so many fights with my boyfriend then, it&amp;#039;s a miracle he still wanted to be with me.  The Scare: I started having heart palpitations. After four months, I couldn&amp;#039;t stand the way I was feeling, so I quit Metabolife. Once I did, I quickly regained all the weight \u2014 plus 20 pounds. That was discouraging.  My DIY Plan: I went online and researched different foods and how they affect our bodies. Based on what I learned, I created a list of items I could eat \u2014 fruit, veggies, lean meats, fish, and whole grains \u2014 then made up menus from that list. The first week was tough \u2014 I went from five sodas a day to none \u2014 but I dropped seven pounds. That, plus my fianc\u00E9&amp;#039;s encouragement, was just the motivation I needed. My confidence soared as I kept losing \u2014 23 pounds the first month and a steady 10 pounds a month after that. I began to exercise, too, and after I was married and had kids, I&amp;#039;d walk an hour every day with my younger child in a stroller. Now I also do more recreational things, like playing golf.  Going Green: At first, I was a wreck when I went out to dinner, agonizing about the sauce in every dish. My solution was boring, but it worked: I stuck to salads topped with a lean protein like grilled chicken. That way, I could stop trying to decode the menu and focus on my friends. More inspiring stories:   --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;     Then: 257 pounds, size 22 Now: 157 pounds, size 10 Height: 5&amp;#039; 9&amp;quot; The Yo-Yo Queen: Since my teen years, my weight has gone up and down. I have two daughters, 14 and 8, and with each pregnancy I gained and lost and then gained it all back again. I tried Dexatrim several times, but instead of losing my appetite, I found the pills made me so shaky I was even hungrier. I hit my heaviest weight \u2014 257 \u2014 in 2004, when I moved to Georgia and gave up smoking.  Missing the Party: In 2006, I made an excuse to skip my husband&amp;#039;s company Christmas party because I was afraid I&amp;#039;d be remembered as &amp;quot;Vern&amp;#039;s wife, the fat lady.&amp;quot; Then I asked him for the present I most wanted: to join LA Weight Loss, a program based on customized meal plans and one-on-one counseling sessions. What really helped was having to keep a strict food log. If I didn&amp;#039;t lose weight one week, my counselor would go through my diary and pinpoint exactly where I&amp;#039;d gone off-track. I worked more protein into my diet, and as many fruits and veggies as I could, and when I craved a sweet, I&amp;#039;d eat one of the plan&amp;#039;s healthy snack bars. It took a year of steady loss, but one morning, when I reached my goal of 145 pounds, I woke up and it hit me: &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m thin!&amp;quot;  Sister Act: I walk about a mile each morning, which takes me 15 minutes. Often, while I&amp;#039;m doing it, I call my sister, who&amp;#039;s taking her own walk in South Dakota, and we catch up with each other&amp;#039;s lives.  Best Compliment: A friend I hadn&amp;#039;t seen in a long while greeted me very coolly when we ran into each other. She&amp;#039;d had no idea who I was, she later explained to me. More inspiring stories:   --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;     Then: 195 pounds, size 18 Now: 119 pounds, size 2 Height: 5&amp;#039; 4&amp;quot; A Bad Habit: I began taking Dexatrim in eighth grade. Even though I weighed only 110 to 120, I wanted to lose five pounds. Plus, looking back, I think diet pills were like legalized &amp;quot;speed.&amp;quot; I was very busy in high school \u2014 played sports, had tons of friends \u2014 and I depended on the &amp;quot;up&amp;quot; feeling I got from the pills to keep me going. In college, I switched to Metabolife and later to Hydroxycut. I wasn&amp;#039;t quite as thin, about 10 or 15 pounds heavier, and diet pills seemed to keep my weight down.  A Healthy Bargain: I quit the pills in 2003, when I was pregnant, and my weight ballooned to 185 pounds. So I started again about a year and half later, after I&amp;#039;d weaned my daughter. But it was tougher, and I couldn&amp;#039;t lose the baby weight. With pregnancy number two, in 2007, I went up to 225 pounds. Six weeks after I had my son, when I still weighed 195, I told my husband that I wanted to join the Jenny Craig weight-loss program. He agreed, on one condition: no diet pills.  The &amp;quot;Eat! Eat! Solution&amp;quot;: Because I was nursing, I started at 2,000 calories a day. To keep my blood sugar from spiking and dipping, as it had done on the pills, I ate frequently. It was amazing how much better I felt having a steady energy level. After I weaned the baby, I dropped to 1,500 calories, then 1,200. It became easy to eat right, and I was losing at least five pounds a month. A year later, I reached my goal weight: 125.  The Best High: Last year I started running. Then I was injured, which frustrated me more than any sugar cravings had. Finally, I got the right shoe insert, trained again \u2014 and placed in a local 5K race.  More inspiring stories:   --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;     Then: 190 pounds, size 20 Now: 90 pounds, size 2 Height: 4&amp;#039; 11&amp;quot; An Extra Challenge: I was born with muscular dystrophy and have been unable to walk or stand since I was 4. I use a power chair, since I don&amp;#039;t have the arm strength to push a manual one. Needless to say, I don&amp;#039;t move much, so by the time I was 29, I weighed 190. My doctor prescribed Fen-Phen, which was very popular then. [The drug was removed from the market in 1997 after reports linked it to heart-valve damage.] I took it for a year and lost 50 pounds. But the pills made me ill, and when I stopped them, I regained it all. Soon after, I had to give up my job as a 911 operator because of health problems. I could no longer drive and became more of a burden on my husband.  A Woman&amp;#039;s Best Friend: Getting a service dog \u2014 my beautiful golden retriever, Haley \u2014 is what inspired me. I&amp;#039;d been so depressed, but I wanted to improve my health so I could take care of her in the way she deserved. When I saw an ad for NutriSystem \u2014 a weight-loss program that delivers healthy meals to your home \u2014 I was ready to try. And when I lost 15 pounds in the first six weeks, I was even more motivated.  Happy Gains:  I dropped five or so pounds a month; in 18 months I hit 97 (I&amp;#039;m now at 90). NutriSystem&amp;#039;s online community keeps me engaged and lifts my spirits. My best moment: When another disabled woman e-mailed me, &amp;quot;Knowing you did this without exercise makes me believe I can do it, too.&amp;quot; More inspiring stories:   --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;     Then: 213 pounds, size 16 Now: 152 pounds, size 6  Height: 5&amp;#039; 9&amp;quot; Teen Trials: Like most girls, I tried different diets in high school \u2014 none for very long \u2014 hoping to lose the weight I&amp;#039;d put on from the big carb-laden meals my grandmother cooked for the family. Then, when I got to college, I began taking diet pills. I&amp;#039;d go from one trendy pill to the next: Stacker 2, Trimspa, Herbalife. With each, I&amp;#039;d lose a few pounds, but none of the pills suppressed my appetite for very long, so I&amp;#039;d gain the weight back. Eventually, I hit 213 pounds.  The Question That Did It: In 2007 my mother signed up for Jenny Craig and asked if I would go with her. She just looked me in the eye and said, &amp;quot;Kim, don&amp;#039;t you think it&amp;#039;s time you did something about your health?&amp;quot; At first I was offended. But then I realized this was the chance I needed. Small Meals, Big Adjustment: I was eating 1,500 calories a day \u2014 including many of the plan&amp;#039;s premade meals. Typically, I&amp;#039;d have things like a muffin, yogurt, and fruit for breakfast; vegetable soup and fruit for lunch; and baked chicken, rice, and vegetables for dinner. Still, it was all I could do not to dive into a bag of chips. I just ate lots of low-cal fruits and veggies \u2014 and prayed it would get easier. After a week, it did. Five months later, I&amp;#039;d lost 61 pounds \u2014 and I&amp;#039;ve kept it off since. One thing that&amp;#039;s helped: My mom and I started a friendly competition, which has kept me motivated.  My Cravings Cure: I need to know that if I&amp;#039;m desperate for a treat, I can have one. If I want M&amp;amp;amp;M&amp;#039;s, I just eat them. Not every day and not the entire bag, but I will have a handful and then count that as my snack. More inspiring stories:   --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/diet-nutrition/advice/a18133/lose-weight-without-diet-pills/>