• Former weight: 348 pounds

• Current weight: 245 pounds

Family (ENLARGE)

Before

see caption/Family (ENLARGE)

After

PHOTOS: See other before and after pictures sent by users like you! ONE | TWO | THREE | FOUR | FIVE | SIX | SEVEN | EIGHT | NINE | new TEN | Inspirations | Inspirations II | Readers photos Upload your own photos! Topic: Atlanta's weight loss resource Be an inspiration: Be an inspiration: If you've made positive changes in your diet and/or fitness routine and are happy with the results, please share your success with us. Include your email address, a daytime phone number and before and after photos (by mail or JPEG). Write: Success Stories, c/o Suzanne Van Atten, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sixth Floor, 72 Marietta St. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30303; or e-mail ajcsuccessstories@gmail.com. More success stories Jennifer Powell, 31, of Douglasville, drops 122 pounds  Sonya Moste, 41, of Fayetteville lost 60 pounds  Kristy Wegert, 36, of Roswell loses 99 pounds  Dick Jones, 53, of Alpharetta loses 72 pounds  Derrick Williams, 37, of Dunwoody sheds 75 pounds  Sherrie Cline, 44, of Cartersville loses 72 pounds  Hannah Conheady, 19, of Lawrenceville sheds 102 pounds  Sara Corcoran, 39, of Johns Creek sheds 114 pounds  Jennifer Sabatier, 34, of Atlanta loses 80 pounds  Mickey Ruffalo, 57, of Woodstock loses 65 pounds  Back to Health

• Pounds lost: 103

• Height: 5 feet 9 inches

• How long she's kept it off: one year

• Personal life: Watson has worked for Habitat for Humanity for 23 years. She's the manager of alumni engagement. She lives in Decatur.

• Turning point: "I knew if I didn't do something within a year, I was going to have limited mobility and I wasn't going to put up with that. Any kind of pain there was, I had it. It was an effort to get out of bed in the morning." At the time, Watson lived in Americus. She joined a 12-week weight loss program called Starting Point at Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus (www.sumterregional.org/getpage.php?name=starting

point). "You had to go and exercise with the exercise physiologist and had to attend a class one night a week with a dietitian," she says. "The 12-week program was exactly what I needed — someone to tell me this is what I needed per day. It's a good healthy diet, based on the diabetic diet. [I was] able to eat everything good. It's a healthy way of eating and exercising. The two have to go together — you have to do one with the other or it doesn't work. I've tried."

• Diet plan: For breakfast, she has a cup of Cheerios, a cup of skim milk and a banana. She might snack on a light yogurt in the morning. "I usually try to keep snacks at 100 calories." Lunch is a sandwich with lean ham and a slice of light cheese or a salad and fruit. She aims to get three pieces of fruit per day and three servings of milk. "The trick was knowing what a serving actually is. I knew if I wanted one cup of pasta, that was going to take up three starches. I learned to extend pasta by putting lots of vegetables with it." Dinner is usually pasta or half a chicken breast or fish with salad and vegetables.

• Exercise routine: "I usually try to do a 30- to 40-minute walk every day," she says. She wears a pedometer, aiming for 10,000 steps per day (or about 5 miles). She frequently walks a friend's black Labrador. "I can't even imagine how many miles I've walked her. Peaches [the dog] gets some of the credit."

• Biggest challenge: Finding a way to lose weight. "Before I started, I used to think about nothing other than losing weight — knowing I had to do something, knowing surgery wasn't right for me. It was on my mind, morning, noon and night," she says. "Finding the program that was affordable, tailored to me — once I got that and once I started, I was fine."

• Munchie antidote: She reaches for pretzels or low-fat popcorn. "I'm a huge potato chip fan, so I just don't buy potato chips. I will allow myself to eat them if they are served with a sandwich, but if it's a bag, I don't allow myself to eat them all."

• Secret to success: "I feel I have had incredible friends who have been a huge support to me. You have to surround yourself with good people. They didn't nag, but they were always there." She's also gotten a lot of positive feedback from her doctors. "My doctors are absolutely thrilled that anyone over 50 has been able to lose the weight," she says. "I know how desperate you can feel. I hope someone will read this and think, 'If she can do it, I can do it.'"

• How life has changed: "I feel so much more confident than I used to," she says. "I was able to do a 5K in 44 minutes. That's not a great number, but it's certainly better than I could have done two years ago. I'm definitely willing to do more things than I have done in the past.

"I think that once you begin to lose weight, you begin to feel so much better," she says. "I remember the first time I sat in an airplane seat, and I fit. I wanted to jump up and down and shout in the aisle."

— Michelle C. Brooks,

for the Journal-Constitution