• Former weight: 164 pounds

• Current weight: 149 pounds

Family photo (ENLARGE)

BEFORE: Kara Byrd weighed 164 pounds.

Family photo (ENLARGE)

AFTER: Byrd, 35, weighed 149 pounds.

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 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  Jane Walters, 51, of McDonough sheds 38 pounds  Back to Health

• Pounds lost: 15

• Height: 5 feet 2 1/2 inches

• How long she's kept it off: She started in March and is still losing.

• Personal life: Byrd and her husband, Chris, have three children. She is a stay-at-home mom to Gabby, 7, Aubrey, 5, and Grayson, 3. She's also an active member of St. Benedict's Catholic Church in Duluth, and a Brownie leader. She and her family live in Johns Creek.

• Turning point: Byrd wanted to get back to her pre-baby weight. "I wanted to look on the outside the way I was feeling on the inside." One day she received an e-mail from the American Heart Association. It was looking for women to join its 12-week Choose to Move program for weight loss. "I had open heart surgery for congenital heart defects in 1994," Byrd says. "The Choose to Move program was important to me because I didn't want to go through anything like that again. And if I stayed on the road I was on, I might have found myself there someday."

She signed up to be a spokeswoman and was selected with six other women nationwide. "The seven of us were lucky enough to win big — or lose big, I don't know." So in January, she and the others headed to the Cooper Institute in Dallas to test their blood pressure, cholesterol, body mass index and fitness levels. She started blogging her progress online at www.choosetomove.org. Anyone can join the free 12-week program and get weekly e-mails from the AHA. Also online is the progress Byrd and the other six are making. "Because you can make it what you want, you don't have to join a gym and buy fancy exercise clothes — you just have to move more," she says.

• Diet plan: She began following a lower-fat, higher-fiber diet flexible enough to become a lifestyle change. "Breakfast is something I wasn't eating before the program," she says. And it's "important to start incorporating that — now I'm not starving by noon." She usually has low-fat granola with low-fat yogurt and some flaxseed or she'll have steel cut oatmeal with dried cranberries and blueberries. If she's in a hurry, she'll grab a high- fiber meal-replacement bar. Lunch and dinner are similar; she'll have large salads with lean meat or grilled meat with steamed vegetables. "If I have to do fast food, I always pick a grilled chicken sandwich with nothing on it and take off the bun," she says. "I wasn't counting carbs, but I was aware that I didn't need two buns."

• Exercise routine: She strives to work out at least six days a week for 30 minutes a day. She works out at the Ed Isakson YMCA utilizing a variety of machines, including the Cybex Arc Trainer, Nautilus TreadClimber and Cybex weight equipment, as well as classes such as yoga and spin. She also enjoys walking, biking and swimming. She adds in exercise when she can by walking the dog or walking around the parking lot when she drops her kids off for activities. "The program itself is whatever someone wanted to make it," she says. "If you hate running, you'd never have to run."

• Biggest challenge: "I would say keeping up the routine of making it always happen," she says. "When we get back from vacations, it is easy to let two to three days go. If I let two days go by, it's so much easier on the third day to make another excuse."

• Munchie antidote: "My biggest thing that I found that's new: edamame or soybeans. It was such a great TV snack at night," she says. "It involved my hands, I could take them out of the shell, they have so much fiber in them and so much protein." If she is hankering for a hot fudge sundae, she'll reach for a low-fat ice cream cone.

• Secret to success: "Wholeheartedly, the Choose to Move program," she says. "Having the backup support of the other women in the program along with the support of my family and friends made the difference. As we blog, women from all over the country can put comments in there," she says. "Knowing that there were other people out there doing what I was doing, too, helped."

• How life has changed: "My closet has emptied out of clothes that don't fit me anymore and I've had a lot of shopping to do. I feel more active and energetic," she says. "I had tried Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers. There were so many failures that I was always looking in the past, and this time I am looking forward. This was the first time that if I made a bad choice, I just said 'OK. I'll get back on track at the next meal.' Because this was a lifestyle change, if I really wanted something, I would have it." She also finds that the commitment to blogging her progress helps. "Continuing to blog will really keep me focused for the next few months," she says.

For more information on the Choose to Move 12-week program, log on to www.choosetomove.org or call 1-800-242-8721.