Before: 342 lbs.
After: 115 lbs.
Program used: provida.com / Clay Aiken

Jamie Ritchey knew she was in trouble. At 42, the Tulsa, Okla., health sciences teacher could barely squeeze behind her desk at the high school where she taught. She had always been heavy, but after she broke a hand and injured her legs in a car accident, her weight ballooned higher than usual, to 342 lbs. She struggled to carry it on her five-foot frame.

Professionally, Jamie was a success, so beloved by her students that they called her “Mama” and gave her Mother’s Day gifts. Privately, however, she despaired, wondering: How can I lecture kids about health when I can’t even get my own act together?

Getting Saved

Jamie knew she had to do something. “People were concerned for my health,” she says. In November 2003, Jamie signed up for the Six Week Body Makeover, a customized diet-and-fitness program that had helped her friend Dianna, another teacher at the school, lose 80 lbs. After ordering the program kit (at provida.com ) and identifying her body’s metabolic type, she read up on what foods she needed to eat to speed up her weight loss.

Soon she was consuming five small meals a day, focusing on protein and carbs (rice, oatmeal, fruit). She lost 12 lbs. the first week and up to six per week thereafter.

She started walking, strapping on her headphones and cranking up Clay Aiken. She set out to cross Tulsa’s half-mile-long Jenks Bridge. “I could barely make it halfway across before I had to come back.” But determination drove her on: I want to be normal, she remembers thinking. Eventually, her work paid off: Within three months, she was walking back and forth across the bridge several times a day.

The Burden Lifts

After two years, Jamie had shed 227 lbs. — and emerged with a new purpose in life. The onetime wallflower started a Winning Over Weight group at her church, and spoke to TV and news-papers about her weight loss. She even ran in her school’s annual mile-long Race for Victory.

Former students now frequently fail to recognize their teacher, and the “kids” have even given her a new nickname: “Hot Mama.” “Jamie has so much enthusiasm for life now,” says Karen Saunders, her school principal. “She emits joy."

And she has worked hard for it. “Losing this weight was the most challenging thing I have ever done,” Jamie says. “I struggled with it every day. Sometimes I didn’t want to get out of bed.” She pauses, looking at her “before” and “after” pictures. “I am a different person,” she muses. “Lighter, in every way.”