I Lost 45 Pounds by Sticking to the Plan

At 29, Jessica Lory discovered she had hypertension. Her doctor informed her that unless she did something about this, she might have to remain on drugs for the remainder of her lifetime.

Jessica knew what that “something” was wrong. After all she weighed 17st 21b. “I had no choice but to lose fat. Having hypertension really scared me”, she says.

It isn't that she hadn't tried before. Dieting and exercise regimes were no strangers to Jessica. But she could never stay with them by herself. This time around, she decided, she'd enlist help.

Luckily for Jessica, her employer, a school, provides a 6-week healthy-weight-management class with the school's medical centre. When the class has ended, students can attend weekly support-group meetings for approximately 4 months. Jessica signed on.

For the first 10 weeks, she diligently followed the directions of the class instructor, cutting back on fet, eating less in one sitting and exercising moderately. But she didn't lose just one pound. Was she frustrated? Without a doubt. However the support group kept Jessica going.

“Just having the ability to tell the group, Tm doing it; I'm staying with if helped me feel better,” says Jessica. “It allowed me to stay into the healthier habits which i was learning “ She enjoyed the group a lot that after her weight-management course ended, she joined an e-mail diet-support network she found with the university.

Inside a year, Jessica lost 45 pounds and her blood pressure level returned to some healthy level. Like a bonus, she had more energy than in the past, which encouraged her to remain active in her own everyday life. “When I continued a sight-seeing trip around Europe in 1999,I could climb all 340 steps up of Notte Dame Cathedral,” she says. “I wouldn't happen to be in a position to do this before!”