Success Story

By Kim Droze | eDiets Managing Editor

eDiets Delivered: How I Lost 68 lbs!

She's come a long way baby...

We're talking about this week's spotlight success, veteran eDieter Amber R.
The co-moderator of the eDiets New Moms support board may not be a Virginia
Slim but she has given birth to a whopper of a weight loss. In one year,
she labored to lose 68 pounds. Her partner in fighting the post-pregnancy
weight was none other than eDiets.

With the able assistance of the world's leading online weight loss center,
Amber shed her "baby fat" and made the transformation from a frumpy 208 to
a super 140 pounds.

For the 25-year-old Maryland mom, it was a matter of having the right
resources on her side. When it came to dieting, Amber had been around the
block a few times. But nothing worked like eDiets did -- before and after
her pregnancy.

Since the birth of her first daughter, Avery, nearly six years ago, Amber
had watched her weight see-saw between 140 and 160. After getting down to
142 with eDiets the first time around, she became pregnant with her second
daughter.

By the time she gave birth to baby Miranda in late 2002, Amber was carrying
more than 200 pounds on her 5'6" frame... and she was downright miserable.
She can recall wanting to get out of her maternity clothes, but not being
able to fit into anything smaller than a size 20.

"It was very depressing and it didn't have anything to do with post-partum
depression," Amber tells eDiets. "I felt fat. I didn't have the energy I
wanted to take care of a new baby and my other daughter. It was really
hard."

For Amber, eDiets proved to be the light at the end of the tunnel. When her
newborn turned 6 weeks old, Amber rejoined eDiets and made the commitment
to healthy eating, exercise and peer support. Her first stop was the New
Moms support board, where she found other women going through the same
experiences. The popular eDiets board quickly became a second home.

The support board was all the motivation Amber needed. She immediately
joined one of the many eDiets challenges, where members compete to earn
points for following the meal plan, exercising and drinking plenty of
water. Her newfound discipline helped her lose one to two pounds a week.
She admits that although she knew slow and steady wins the race, there were
times she became frustrated.

Instead of quitting, she opted to work through the tough times with her
fellow eDieters.

"I would go online whether it was on the support boards or the chat rooms
and sit there with my water and it really helped," Amber says. "That was
the biggest thing to get me through the hard times when I wanted to give up
and be fat... and there were plenty of those times."

The stay-at-home mom followed the combination plan. In the mornings, she
would prepare breakfast. For lunch, she usually ate a frozen entree with a
salad. For dinner, she tripled the ingredients for the tasty eDiets recipes
so the whole family could enjoy a well-balanced meal. Amber wasn't the only
loser in her home. Her hubby Rick also dropped 30 pounds! In the past, the
couple had made dining out/ordering in a habit. Yet she had never given
their eating habits a second thought.

"I'm more conscious of it now," Amber says. "I remember how I ate and
didn't think it was bad for me. My husband and I would hang out on our day
off together and sit down with a bag of chips. It never crossed my mind not
do that. Fast food was easy. It never occurred to me to check the calories
or realize that one meal at McDonald's had 2,000 calories... more calories
than I should have eaten in one day.

"My attitude and awareness about it is completely different than what it
was. I make the same foods I made before. I just use different ingredients.
I make lasagna with lean hamburger meat and low-fat cheese. It tastes just
as good."

Kicking the nighttime snack attacks was one of the biggest challenges.
After all, after-dinner desserts had been a tradition for much of her life.
Although she does give in to temptation every now and then, most of the
time she reaches for her water and heads for the computer.

That's the same type of determination that turned this former exercise
hater into a fitness buff. Before eDiets, Amber would much rather curl up
with a good book than get physical. Yet she knew she had to get moving if
she was going to get losing. She started with the Walk Away The Pounds
videos, working out 20 minutes three times a week.

Amber recalls feeling sore halfway through the video and wanting to call it
quits. She never imagined that she'd actually grow to love exercising.
Fitness has become part of her daily routine.

"I work out at the gym Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday," she says. "On
those four days I do weight training for about 25 minutes and then I do
cardio for 45 minutes. On the days I don't go, I make sure to get some sort
of exercise. If I haven't done any exercise for the day, I don't feel good.
I want to get it in. I need to be moving or running around the house doing
stuff. I take the girls out and we run around and play. I do about six
hours of exercise a week."

Amber credits her new look on the lifestyle changes she's made with eDiets.
She's been adamant about journaling. She continues to record what she eats,
how much she exercises, and how much water she drinks every day. By doing
so she's able to monitor her healthy habits.

Amber's next goal: to get pregnant again. But with this pregnancy she plans
to continue her healthy eating habits and regular exercise. And she can
rest easy knowing she has all the tools to shed those extra pounds when
it's all said and done.