I have tried just about everything to loose weight. From liquid diets starting in the 7th grade to Scarsdale, Nutri System, the Pyramid diet, Diet Principal, Beverly Hills diet, all carbs no protein, all protein no carbs, E diets, books, exercise tapes, running six miles a day six days a week?and the list goes on. If I wasn't on a diet I was fasting or eating everything in sight. If I was able to loose weight on a diet, I was never able to maintain the lifestyle of eating like a bird and exercising constantly.

I felt that I was a healthy, skinny person trapped in a fat body. I thought I knew all there was to know about diet and exercise and that I just had a slower than normal metabolism. I thought that the only way I could loose weight was to exercise constantly and eat three small meals a day and feel hungry all of the time. Boy, was I ever wrong!

When I first heard about the 6-week body makeover I was very skeptical and almost passed it by. I had so much weight to loose and I was in so much joint pain, I just could not believe that 6 weeks could do anything for me. For some reason I remembered what the web site was, logged on and started reading the many success stories. I did the body type test and was surprised that it described me so accurately. Still skeptical, I ordered the program because it had a six-week money back guarantee. I told myself to forget everything I had been told in the past and just follow the program for one week. I was amazed and thrilled when I lost 10 pounds the first week. Needless to say, I have been hooked ever since. This program is so easy and makes so much sense. I am never hungry and depend on the clock to tell me when it is time to eat. I feel that this is a lifestyle that I can and want to maintain. No more killing myself with exercise and rabbit food! The exercise is very gentle and I eat all of the time. In fact, I did not exercise the first week at all and only did the body-sculpting portion of the program for the first 16 weeks of the program. It only took me 24 weeks to loose 85 pounds and 81.5 inches total. I went from a size 18/20 down to a petite 4. I am now pain free and leaner and healthier than I have ever been.

Have there been tough times? Absolutely! Christmas was especially difficult for me, but I was able to get through it with the help and support of the Provida counselors and the web site chat rooms. I read the topics daily, and when I started having cravings with all of the sweets around, I asked for help and received immediate attention. I was able to stay on track because of the wonderful advice and support that I received.

I must add that my husband (who has the metabolism of a humming bird and is a physical therapist) has always supported me and shown his love through thick and thin. He is thrilled with the changes and relieved that I have found a healthy lifestyle that I can maintain. The exercise regime is similar to what he had been recommending that I do for years. Sometimes it?s easier to do what strangers tell you than loved ones. He did ask me when I was going to start running again and I answered that I have tried being cruel to my body and that did not work. Now I?m being kind to myself and it works so much better.

My family, friends and acquaintances have all asked what I have been doing and when I answer that I have started eating, they look at me with disbelief. I even laughed when one of my friends assumed that I had started running again and that I was ready to do a marathon. Ha! Once I tell them about the web site and they read for themselves what the program is and take the body type test, they become believers. This program will work for everyone who works the program (if you can call this work).

Be good to yourself,
Kirsten