SUCCESS STORY / Carol Carpenter, 69: From 272 pounds to 144 pounds.

Former weight: 272 pounds

Current weight: 144 pounds

Pounds lost: 128 pounds

Height: 5 feet 2 inches

Age: 69

How long she’s kept it off: Three years. She began July 2007 and met her goal in July 2009.

Personal life: “I live in Dallas, Paulding County, near my two daughters and grandson,” says Carpenter, a retired homemaker.

Turning point: “I did not want to die fat,” she says. “I didn’t want to die and be toted by some poor souls that had to pick me up.” She had tried many diets before and she’d lose weight, sometimes a significant amount, only to gain it back. On one diet, she lost 30 pounds and when she went out to celebrate her loss she gained seven at dinner. “You need to learn how to live a lifestyle — I can starve myself and lose the weight and that doesn’t work,” she says. “You need to understand you can fail many times, but that doesn’t make you a failure — I am not a failure.” This time she focused only on losing 10 percent of her weight at a time and she decided she was in it for the rest of her life. “Every day is a struggle I would like to go back to that little girl who could eat what she wanted.”

Diet plan: “Through the Weight Watchers program, I have learned how to have the foods I love while mastering portion control,” she says. “A typical day may include, breakfast, turkey and cheese wrap with spinach, red peppers and banana peppers. Lunch is a platter of colorful veggies, cup of fruit and hard-boiled egg. Dinner is fish or chicken, large salad and quinoa or other healthy grain.”

Exercise routine: “I have a complete gym in my basement – a treadmill, a recumbent bike, weights, stability ball, DVD’s, a Wii system with several fun workout games and resistance bands,” she says. “The variety of options is good for me because I am not a big fan of exercise; however, in order to maintain a weight loss, exercise is an important component.”

Biggest challenge: “My biggest challenge was to accept the reality that there was no cure for me – just control,” she says. “I am empowered to know I have managed my weight through the loss of my husband, the wedding of our daughter and five years worth of holidays and vacations.”

How life has changed: “My life has changed in so many ways – buying clothes in the normal section and being able to wear them the next year,” she says. “I no longer get winded climbing stairs or overheated by the Georgia summers. My confidence has increased exponentially. I feel and look better than I did twenty-five years ago… and my BP and cholesterol are vastly improved.”

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 Holly Steel, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 223 Perimeter Center Parkway, Atlanta, GA, 30346-1301; or e-mail Michelle C. Brooks, ajcsuccessstories@gmail.com.