A New Year’s Eve party to welcome 1994 served as the wake-up call that Meredith Willson needed to get serious about slimming down.
“At the time, I weighed more than 300 pounds,” recalls the 43-”§ | year-old Athens, Tennessee, resident. “Someone that I hadn’t seen
in years came up to me and said, ‘What happened to the Meredith I used to know?’ It was a shock—and shock therapy is a good way to get inspired.”
The next day, Meredith set her sights on a rather lofty resolution: to lose 120 pounds in 12 months. It was ambitious, but Meredith was convinced that eliminating red meat and processed food from her diet would do the trick. “Cheese and butter were the toughest,” she says. “Instead of giving them up completely, I switched to fat-free cheese and butter substitutes.” She also began eating more fresh foods—fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
Meredith read cookbooks that taught her how to make the most of fresh ingredients in her cooking. She also planted a garden chock full of organic produce, including tomatoes, squash, broccoli, asparagus, and eggplant. “The closer you get to the ground, the better off you’ll be, nutrient-wise,” she says. Then, using her homegrown produce plus healthful staples from the supermarket, she spent time each weekend preparing food from scratch. She even made her own pasta, tomato sauce, and baked sweet-potato chips.
Even Meredith couldn’t believe how well her switch from processed foods to fresh worked. “I lost 12 pounds every month— ka-bam, ka-bam, ka-bam,” she says. “I never even hit a plateau.”
In just over a year, Meredith managed to take off 150 pounds. And she has maintained that weight loss ever since.
WINNING ACTIONS
Take a fresh approach to eating. Fresh foods are naturally high in fiber and low in fat—the perfect weight-loss com-
bination. Plus, they have more intense flavors, so you won’t feel compelled to overeat. Among the best fresh foods for weight loss are potatoes, oranges, apples, and grapes. Researchers have identified these as high-satisfaction foods, which means that they keep you full longer.
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