Featured Listener: MECHELLE WINGLE Before 175 lbs After 132 lbs
Her Story: When Mechelle Wingle married her college sweetheart in 1994, she weighed 140 pounds. But over the next 11 years, she had four children, and as a stay-at-home mom in Layton, Utah, she was never able to lose the baby weight. In 2006, after the birth of her last child, Mechelle peaked at 175 pounds.
The Lifestyle Change:
In January 2008, a blood test revealed Mechelle was prediabetic. Determined to dodge the disease. To cure her out-of-control emotional eating, Mechelle tracked what she ate in a food diary. She also bought an elliptical machine and started using it for 20 minutes a day, six days a week. As the weeks went by, she upped the resistance and added 15-minute strength-training sessions four times a week. By the end of August 2008, she weighed 149 pounds and decided to keep going. “I actually enjoyed working out,” she says. By Christmas, she was down to 132 pounds. “I felt pure joy,” she says. “I never thought I could be skinny.”
Mechelle’s Tips: Vegetate. “I roast parsnips, sweet potatoes, and turnips with olive oil, salt, and pepper to make them taste good, then eat them as a side instead of chips or fries.” Step up your effort. “I started at zero resistance on the elliptical—now I’m up to nine. That’s a higher setting than my husband uses!” Scale back. “I weigh myself every Monday. If I do it more often, my progress seems slower.”
(This was taken from Women’s Health Magazine to use as an example.)