Before: 226 lbs.
After: 150 lbs.
Program used: Weight Watchers

Lenita Smith lived to give. A devout Christian, this Hazel Crest, Ill., mom dedicated herself to her family (including two young sons), her church and her job (she worked long hours at a software company). As a result, recalls Lenita, “There was never any time for me.”

In fact, by consistently putting herself last, Lenita, now 37, was jeopardizing her own health. Always on the run, she skipped breakfast and sometimes lunch, too. When she did eat, she reached for “the three C’s”: chips, cookies and candy. “I would convince myself that if I was just eating junk food and nothing else, I wouldn’t put on weight,” she says.

Before long, the scale told her otherwise. In early 2002, 5-foot-3 Lenita weighed 226 lbs. Worse still, her energy levels kept dropping, preventing her from keeping up with her boys, Brian, then 8, and Lendon, then 2. (The fact that she smoked didn’t help.) “Even pushing them on the swings at the park made me tired,” she remembers. One day, the biggest pair of jeans she owned — a size 22 — were tight. That’s when she knew that enough was enough. She immediately joined Weight Watchers and started working out. In just six months, Lenita peeled off 55 lbs.

Tough Times

But later that year, her father died unexpectedly. Consumed by grief, she abandoned her health kick. “After Dad died, I completely shut down,” she says. “I stopped working out and stopped going to Weight Watchers meetings — I wasn’t focused anymore.” Before long, she picked up her old bad habits, living on junk food and indulging in late-night dinners of fast-food ribs or burgers in front of the TV. Her weight crept back up to more than 200 lbs. “I felt like I wasn’t in control of anything in my life,” she says.

In her darkest moments, Lenita prayed. Then, one day, after months of feeling overwhelmed, everything snapped into focus. “I realized that even though I couldn’t control some of the things that happened in my life, I could take control of making my life better,” she says. “I knew that’s what Daddy would have wanted.” Lenita set two goals on the spot: finish her bachelor’s degree and lose weight.

Taking Back Control

For years, Lenita had dreamed of going back to college to get a degree in business, and in February 2003, she made it happen. After work, her husband, Brian, would stay with the kids while she attended night classes. Pursuing her degree gave Lenita the confidence to rejoin Weight Watchers. She signed on in the fall of 2004, and this time, she stuck with it.

Purging her life of junk food, she instead devoured oatmeal or two hard-boiled eggs and a piece of cheese for breakfast; a salad with tuna for lunch; and a chicken breast with string beans and potatoes for dinner. “I didn’t eliminate any food groups, but I made healthier choices,” she says.

And she learned to read labels, a skill she passed on to her sons. Just ask Lenita’s sister, Angela: “I was food shopping with my nephews, and I picked up a box of cereal,” she says. “The little one looked at it and informed me it had too much sugar!”

Despite her hectic schedule, Lenita also found time to work out again. She walked as much as she could during lunch and on the weekends, and did toning or kickboxing tapes at night. By the spring of 2005, she was down to 150 lbs. And to complete her health makeover, she quit smoking!

Better Body, Better Life

Lenita credits the power of prayer and the support of a loving family with turning her life around. “My family was always there for me,” she says, “encouraging me and telling me I looked good.” But her sister, Angela, believes Lenita’s positive mind-set played a big role: “Lenita goes after what she wants in life.”

And she gets it, too: This past November, Lenita graduated from Robert Morris College in Illinois with a bachelor’s degree in business. And why stop there? Next, she’s getting her master’s. “I feel healthier and more confident than ever,” says Lenita. “At last, I’m doing what’s good for me!”