In September 2005, Debbie Jones was on her daily iced-latte run when she fell in front of the convenience store. “I was so big that I struggled to get off the sidewalk,” says Debbie, who carried 247 lbs. on her 5-foot-5-inch frame. “I went home and sobbed.”

Debbie had battled with her weight since she was a teenager, but now, at 45, she was heavier than ever — and barely squeezing into her size-24 pants. The day wasn’t a total disaster, though. A little while later, says the Charlton, Mass., homemaker, “I heard a NutriSystem commercial on TV, so I went to my computer and signed up.”

Early Results

Four days later, a month’s worth of NutriSystem’s prepackaged meals was delivered to Debbie’s door. Her first thought? “They must be joking! I was a snackaholic, eating whatever my family left on their plates or I could find in the fridge.”

But on her new diet, Debbie had to stop picking and learn to feel satisfied until her next meal. The first few days were hard. She went online to NutriSystem’s message boards and posted a question: Would she ever stop feeling famished? Another member wrote back, telling Debbie to “bulk up” her entrées with all the steamed veggies she wanted.

A week later, Debbie was 10 lbs. lighter. “Now I wanted to keep going,” she says. She even joined a gym.

New Habits, New Size

Debbie continued to drop about 3 lbs. a week and found she could push her son, Harris, 5, on the playground swing or carry laundry to and from the basement without gasping for breath. She had beaten her habit of endless snacking by sitting down for her meals and tabulating every morsel she put in her mouth.

Within a year of her humiliating spill, Debbie had lost 102 lbs.! Debbie’s number-one cheerleader, her mother, Joan, says: “Debbie has always had an upbeat personality. Now, her outside matches her inside.” At 145 lbs. and a size 8, Debbie has replaced trips to the doughnut shop with workouts at the gym. As for those fattening iced lattes, Debbie grabs zero-calorie diet iced teas instead.

Debbie's snacking by the numbers

Munching her way through the day, Debbie ate nearly double the calories
she needed.

Before	Calories	Today	Calories
“I’d finish whatever my husband, Darren, or my kids, Michael, 15, and Harris, 5, left on their plates, like eggs and bacon or parts of a PB&J sandwich.”	400	“I’ll scramble eggs with a cube of fat-free cheese, plus eat half a grapefruit and a whole wheat English muffin in the morning.”	310
“All day long, I’d pick at chunks of cheese, slices of pepperoni and corn chips.”	720	“I sit down to a lunch of a pouch of tuna with a garden salad and a couple of melba toast crackers.”	310
“For dinner, I’d pile up pasta in a cream sauce, three pork sausages and a few hunks of Italian bread.”	860	“For a snack, I add berries to fat-free yogurt.”	180
“I’d also scoop out a big bowl of ice cream.”	400	“At night, I sauté zucchini, onions and mushrooms to double the size of a fettuccine Alfredo microwaveable entrée. I also add a green salad.”	400
Total	2,380		1,200