Before: 198 lbs.
After: 128 lbs.
Program used: eDiets

In June 2003, I went on a fishing trip with girlfriends,” says Debby Bradford, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “When we got home and they e-mailed me the pictures, I almost didn’t recognize myself — I had gotten so fat.” The photos forced her to face facts: With 198 lbs. packed onto her 5-foot-3 frame, Debby’s weight was escalating out of control.

So Debby, the electronic-resources coordinator in a library, sprang into action. She signed up for eDiets.com’s Weight Loss Plan (Convenience Version), which is made up of no-fuss recipes along with recommendations for the best fast- or frozen-food options. She liked that the program allowed her to check in on her own schedule (even if it was midnight!), and as a picky eater, she loved that she “could just click and there were hundreds of meal or snack options to choose from.”

“The Rule That Made Me Thin”

Debby had been living on processed foods filled with “tons of margarine, cheese and pasta,” but once she swapped those bad-news eats for whole foods, she found it was simple to lose. Debby made a rule that the house was a “snack-free zone” (if her now-ex-husband wanted to eat junk, he had to do it elsewhere). “I knew that if I had a craving, by the time I’d put my clothes and shoes on and driven to the store, it would have passed,” she says.

“I Snack Every Hour!”

Technically, Debby was allowed to have only one snack (along with three meals) a day, but she quickly realized it was better to polish off less at each meal and save some extra munchies (like an apple or some yogurt) to graze on every hour. “Co-workers would make fun of me for claiming to be on a diet and still eating all day long, but because I was having small portions of healthy things, I was actually losing weight,” she says.

“How I Bounced Back From My Lowest Point”

Less than a year after she started, in late March 2004, Debby hit her goal weight of 128 lbs. But then two life crises rocked her world: a painful divorce (finalized in February 2005) and two devastating hurricanes (in 2004 and 2005). How could she rebuild her life and home without packing the pounds back on?

Solution: Instead of turning to the fridge for comfort, Debby reached out to her friends on eDiets’ message boards. And with their support, she aced the challenge. “If Debby can get a divorce, rebuild her damaged house and maintain her weight, I know I can get through anything and stay on course, too,” says fellow eDieter Joy Tilton.

Next page: Debby's favorite diet-friendly foods