Before: 211 lbs.
After: 141 lbs.
Program used: Jenny Craig

Wendy Currlin had her lightbulb moment while sitting in front of the TV. Together with her husband, Charlie, now 38, and her boys, Justin, now 13, and Christian, now 10, Wendy was visiting her parents at their home on the Colorado River in Blythe, Calif. Charlie and the boys were out water-skiing and enjoying themselves, while Wendy, now 39, sat inside watching dopey shows. Why? After having her children, Wendy had become so heavy (211 lbs. at 5-foot-7, to be exact), she could no longer pull herself up out of the water. I’m the girl in the house while everyone else is out having fun, she thought ruefully.

When a Jenny Craig commercial flickered across the TV screen, Wendy took it as an omen. She picked up the phone and decided then and there to join. So began her life-changing, nine-month weight-loss odyssey.

Getting On Track

At first, the medical researcher from Cerritos, Calif., was hungry all the time. “But after two weeks, your body adjusts” to the small, nutritionally balanced, prepackaged meals that are part of the plan, she recalls. To avoid slipping up, she even brought Jenny Craig meals along on her frequent business trips.

Wendy had been athletic in high school, playing softball and powder-puff football. But by the time she began her diet, her only regular activity was walking. So, walk she did. And the pounds began to melt away, at an average of two per week. Soon she graduated to short running spurts, which turned into longer ones. Before you could say “six-pack abs,” she'd turned the garage into an exercise annex, filling it with such equipment as free weights, jump ropes and a stability ball. To stay motivated, she devoured magazine stories about women who had fought fat and won.

Mission Accomplished!

Wendy hit her original goal weight of 160 lbs. in June 2002, but she kept going. By September, the scale settled at 141 lbs. — only 6 lbs. heavier than her before-the-boys weight of 135 lbs. By now, she had learned how to exercise efficiently to keep her newly fit form.

Wendy maintains her weight by hopping onto the scale every day. If she hits 148 lbs., she swaps her regular dinner for a protein shake and a bowl of oatmeal, and ramps up her cardio workouts until the number sinks back down. Charlie feels much closer to Wendy now that they spend their evenings working out and chatting instead of watching TV. "She's really built up her strength,” he says, adding that he loves having her participate in family outings.

These days, Wendy takes her boys on seven-mile bike rides to the beach and, yes, even cuts a mean swath through the river on water skis. It was a long, rigorous -- and occasionally hungry -- journey, but now Wendy, who once read weight-loss stories for inspiration, is an inspiring story herself.