What it's like to lose 150 pounds

Lindy Zink, 52

Two things finally motivated me to lose weight: seeing my 13-year-old son get teased about how fat his mother was and pulling the handrail out of the wall for the fifth time. We lived in a four-storey split-level home, and I was so overweight that I had to take the steps one at a time and basically pull myself up using the handrail.

That was four years ago.

I hadn’t weighed myself since my son was born, so I was terrified when I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting and stepped on the scales.

The woman told me I weighed 278 pounds — I’m only five foot four inches — and my heart just sank. “I’ll never lose this weight,” I said to her.

That night I sat in the very back row on a wooden bench against the wall — I was afraid to sit in the plastic chairs, afraid I’d break them. I combed the room to see if there was anyone as heavy as me, so I wouldn’t feel so big.

When I put my mind to something, I’m very focused. I lost 140 pounds in 15 months, a little bit faster than is ideal. I lost a few friends along the way too. When I think back now, all of my friends had weight problems and many weighed more than I did. Some friends were very supportive, although some tried to sabotage me. You learn who your true friends are.

Before I lost the weight, I hid. I had a phone job so I didn’t have to deal with people in person. When I went shopping, clerks wouldn’t help me. When I grocery shopped, I know people were looking at what was in my cart. I’d hear young guys laughing behind me.

To be honest, I didn’t see the change in myself at first — I lost 75 pounds before I could really notice it. And even at my goal weight, I still felt like the fat girl on the inside. But I started to feel better about myself, started to be proud of myself.

Now things are different. I left that phone job and now work with the public. My marriage ended too — we’re still friends but it’s something that had been coming for a long time. Last spring, I remarried — something I know wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t lost the weight.

I still forget sometimes that I’m not fat, and then I’ll catch my reflection in a window and think, I’m not fat anymore. After hearing that negative voice in your head for so long, it takes awhile to replace it with a positive one. Now when the negative voice comes, I just feed it something positive.

Don't miss: Eight more inspiring 'what it's like' stories; six weight-loss success stories; and shedding the myths of midlife weight gain

This article originally appeared in the November 2008 issue of More