Sheri Nilsson, a confident, fun-loving mother of two, with an adoring husband and a successful family business, kept busy from dawn till dusk. Living in a close-knit, friendly neighborhood in Louisville, Ky., Sheri looked forward to barbecues, Friday's "Margarita Nights" and dining out regularly with friends. "I like to party," says Sheri. "I could always find a reason to eat pizza and drink beer." Better still, she says, "I was raised in a meat-and-potato household with a mother just like June Cleaver.

We always had beautiful, color-coordinated meals, with a Bundt cake for dessert. And we always cleaned our plates."

But that lifestyle took its toll. Sheri's weight crept up every year, and by age 38, she was carrying 261 lbs. on her 5-foot-8 frame.

A Rude Awakening

As those pounds piled on, Sheri's confidence wavered. "I started to feel more and more vulnerable about being seen in public," she confesses. "I'd even avoid doing simple things, like walking down the block to mail a letter, because I felt like I was on display." One particularly mortifying memory involved her daughter's swim party. "I could hide from myself and others in street clothes," she says, "but there was no chance of that in a swimsuit. I had to send my husband to the party so I could avoid being questioned about why I wasn't going swimming with the kids."

Though losing weight was on Sheri's "To Do" list for a long time, fear of failure kept sinking it to the bottom. Even as she eyed a local Jenny Craig center, she says, she came up with an extremely convenient "why bother" theory: "This is the way I'm supposed to be: smart, creative, a great mom and wife — and fat."

The Private Journey

Eventually, however, even Sheri couldn't buy it. After finally visiting the center to gather information, she returned the next day to sign up, literally sobbing with relief. She was delighted with all of Jenny Craig's portion-controlled entrées, but her favorites were comfort foods like French toast and pizza, and desserts like brownies and apple crisp. For six months, Sheri kept her weight-loss efforts secret, even going so far as to avoid those barbecues and Mexican restaurants. "I didn't want people checking on my progress," she says. "This was my private journey."

A New Outlook

After losing some weight and adapting to smaller portion sizes, Sheri began going out with friends again. "But I'd go online first and check out the menu, so I knew exactly what I'd be ordering."

As healthy eating energized her, Sheri became more physically active, too. She began walking every day, and eventually joined a gym, doing 45 minutes of aerobics, as well as strength training, five days a week.

Eighteen months after starting the plan, says 40-year-old Sheri, she's down to 160 lbs., and the compliments are rolling in. "My husband tells people he has a brand-new wife, and one of the neighbors called me 'flippin' hot!'?" she says. But how she feels inside makes the biggest difference of all. After first losing weight, Sheri noticed that people seemed friendlier and more willing to make eye contact. "Then," she says, "I realized it wasn't them; it was me. When I was fat, my voice and attitude said, 'Please don't look at me.' Today, my body language says, 'Look this way!' And they do."