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Turning Her Life Around

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 15, 2008

Lucy Roby, 65, Zephyrhills

Height: 5-foot-8

Starting weight: 280

Current weight: 186

Why I did it: I'm a wife and mother of two, with three grandchildren. I've always loved to eat, so I've had a weight problem at all times of my life. In 1997, I developed a thyroid problem. It was so overactive it affected my heart. It took the doctors more than a year to get my medications right. That's when I gained all my weight.

I worked full time at General Motors Detroit and cared for my mother who had Alzheimer's. Things just kept getting worse for me. I took an early retirement in 2001; Mom passed away in January 2002. My body was falling apart from all the stress and extra weight. I had high blood pressure and cholesterol. I was having a hard time walking. I decided to do something to turn my life around.

How I did it: I started a diet on my own in August 2005. Low-fat, low-calorie foods are what I ate. I just started off walking a lot. In general, I tried to move more. I lost 341/2 pounds by December 2005. I knew I needed help with my weight loss. I found Taking Off Pounds Sensibly chapter 722. There I found friends, fun, inspiration and lots of challenges. By April 2007, I had lost more than 90 pounds overall, and 561/2 pounds at TOPS. I would never have stuck with it that long if it weren't for my friends at TOPS.

As with anything, you want to do more the more you lose. I joined an exercise club. I was just trying to firm up. The first couple of days were rough, but then I started to say I want to do more. They showed me how to do it.

I don't have problems walking now and all my tests are great. I have been able to cut my medications in half. I went from size 241/2 to size 14 and feel 100 percent better.

Hurdles: Everybody runs into those. I started to diet on my own and I didn't go to TOPS. When you come here, it's a lot of people doing things together, you have to keep at it. You have to kick it up a notch. You have to do something different, exercise a little more and eat a little less.

Sometimes it gets old, you've been doing it for a long time. Sometimes I take a few days off and then start again with exuberance. I say I'm taking a breather.

Going the distance: Maintaining it is just like losing it. You have to be on a per say diet. It's the way you're supposed to eat. You have to watch food just like you did when you were losing it. I have to constantly do it. When you get older, you can't tolerate all that weight. Your body starts to break down.…You don't want that heart attack everybody in your family has had. You have to exercise. You have to do it.

Best advice: If you've got a lot to lose, know I did it and you can do it. Just keep coming and it will come off. If you take it off, you can keep it off.

Have a weight loss plan that works for you? Tell us about it. E-mail mshedden@tampatrib.com; go to TBO.com, keyword: Lost It; or send your story to Mary Shedden, The Tampa Tribune, 200 S. Parker St., Tampa FL 33606.

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