Before: 177 lbs.
After: 127 lbs.
Program Used: DIY program

Janice Taylor, a 54-year-old New Yorker with a quick wit and sparkling eyes, loves to talk about her apartment. Its cheerful periwinkle walls are covered with eye-catching paintings of vegetables and bright images of sugary treats -- all of which she created. But Janice's life wasn't always ripe with creative energy. Just a few years ago, her apartment was drab -- and she was constantly stuffing herself with the foods whose pictures now line her walls. Stifled at work and home, Janice was stuck in a body that was keeping her from finding the color in her life.

"I felt captive," explains Janice, who was working as an executive assistant for a media company when she reached her highest weight -- 177 lbs. "I sat in the office and ordered in food all day long." Typical lunches consisted of steak sandwiches smothered in Caesar dressing. Janice admits to "stalking meetings" in the hopes that she"d be able to sneak snacks from leftover catering trays.

Evenings were also a trigger time for Janice, who often indulged in rich desserts. "Growing up, I heard the name Sara Lee so often, I thought she was a real woman coming to dinner," Janice jokes. Exhausted by the excess weight on her petite 5-foot-5 frame, Janice shied away from physical activities. 'strolling to the mail room was my entire exercise routine," she says. "Along the way, I'd hit the bowls of candy set out on people's desks."

A Mirror Moment

Then, one morning in 2001, Janice caught a glimpse of her naked body in the bathroom mirror -- and was stunned. "I looked like Violet from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory after she turned into a blueberry," she says. "My fat roll had grown its own fat roll!" And then it hit her: She was getting heavier and heavier, and there was no end in sight. "In that moment, I took responsibility," Janice says. "I thought, if I'd created a fat body, I could also create a new way of living," she says.

That night, Janice decided she"d plan an evening activity to ward off her eating sprees, one that would engage her mind as well as her hands. "I needed to think about something other than food," she explains. She tried crossword puzzles and playing card games like solitaire, but nothing could distract her from the cravings.

Crafting a New Life

After a week of unsuccessful attempts, Janice had a brainstorm. "I thought,'You're creative! Make this an art project." " Soon, with the help of friends and family, Janice learned to collage, sew and crochet. Her subject? Food! Instead of eating treats, she made art about them. "I sewed my cravings," she says.

"I took photos and transferred them onto silk, then stitched around the images." Janice would work on her art after dinner -- or anytime a craving hit. "I got so involved in the lines and the colors that they became abstracts -- no longer cakes or pies," she says.

Soon, Janice was running to the studio instead of the fridge to fill herself up. And when she did sit down to meals, she made healthier choices -- substituting baked potatoes for fries or apples for apple pie. She also stopped her mail room and candy treks, and traded old snacks like chips for sliced veggies.

Keeping the Faith

By 2002, Janice had exchanged 50 lbs. of weight for 50 pieces of art, forever changing her attitude about food. Health experts like Vishal Verma, M.D., from Fairfax, Va., aren't surprised by her success. "Partaking in creative processes while dieting can leave us feeling healthier, balanced and more self-fulfilled," he says. "Eating no longer becomes the outlet for depression and boredom -- the creative activity does."

Today, Janice has a new appreciation for her body. "I feel great and I'm more confident," she says. Slimming down also prompted Janice to start a new career as a weight-loss coach and author. In 2002, she created Our Lady of Weight Loss, a diet-support Web site. Her presence on the Internet led her to write Our Lady of Weight Loss, a motivational book about her diet success, published in 2006. "I love helping people reinvent themselves," says Janice. And as for her own new self? "I'm no longer the unempowered girl," she says. "I took responsibility for the outcome of my life. Now I love me -- and all my imperfections." Her new book, All Is Forgiven, Move On, is on shelves now.