Weight Loss Inspirational Stories

If you're overweight, according to the American Heart Association, you're at higher risk for dangerous health conditions, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Aside from good health, your obesity may also be keeping you from doing things that you wish you could do, like spend a warm day hiking, bicycling with your children or donning the two-piece you've been admiring from afar.

These weight-loss inspirational stories exemplify the power of discipline, commitment, self-motivation and belief. They exhibit transformation through gradual and inner change. The lifestyle changes, which included incorporating healthy eating habits and physical activity, resulted in successful weight loss, improved health, and new and exciting life adventures.

From Morbidly Obese to Olympic-Distance Triathlete

• It took Jennifer Dearing four years to lose 166 pounds. In those four years, she transformed from a fast-food binge eater, who needed the help of four men to lift her on deck after falling from a boat, into a disciplined, healthy eater with an Olympic-distance triathlon under her belt and her sights set on the Ironman race.

  Her weight loss began when Jennifer took a nutrition class and joined a weeklong detox program that helped her alter her diet. She began eating a good deal of fruits, vegetables and lean protein instead of the refined carbs and sodas she had binged on.

  She packed healthy lunches to take to work and once she lost 40 pounds, losing 2 to 4 pounds per week by changing her diet, she began walking on a treadmill 20 to 30 minutes a day three times a week. She moved up to strength training and the elliptical machine and then eventually the race training.

  "There's no easy fix, I had to change from the inside out," she told "Health Magazine."

The Courage to Start Dating

• Brandon Hollas was 380 pounds as a college student at Texas A&M University. He grew up on good home cooking and six packs of Dr Pepper. He felt inhibited by his weight as a young student embarking on what should have been an exciting stage in his life. And then both his 11-year-old cousin and grandmother were diagnosed with diabetes.

  He decided he needed a change and started by cutting out soft drinks and regularly using a stationary bicycle. Within six months, he lost 50 pounds. Knowing little about good nutrition, he did his own research to establish a healthier diet. His new diet consisted of more lean meats, vegetables, whole grains, fiber and good carbs.

  Soon he had the courage to start dating. Within four years, he lost 180 pounds, attained his master's degree from Purdue University so he could establish a career in food marketing, and married his college sweetheart.

  "I have learned that there are no fast, easy ways out of being heavy. But [with] a lot of simple changes and commitments, it is a rather easy thing to do," he told CNN.

Overweight Mom Turned Fitness Instructor & National Spokeswoman

• Jennifer Marnell started her weight-loss journey when she realized that she could no longer endure the blockades and embarrassment attached to her obesity, including an inability to sit in some restaurant booths or go skating with her daughter, and then being asked to leave a ride at an amusement park because she could not latch the belt.

  She joined a gym and started a low-fat, low-calorie diet. With her new diet, fitness classes and the help of a fitness trainer, she was able to lose 180 pounds in less than three years.

  At her new weight of 120 pounds, she embarked on a career as a fitness instructor and tours the country as a spokeswoman for Gold's Gym. She was featured on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" and in "People" magazine, and appeared in the game show "Don't Forget the Lyrics."

  "Learn to accept yourself for who you are. It can be done . . . it's not going to be easy--but it can be done," she told CNN.

Finding the Greatest Happiness at 40

• At 387 pounds, activity, including riding the bike with his children, mowing the lawn and even sleeping was uncomfortable for Phil Novak. He had backaches and his physician warned that diabetes awaited. Approaching 40 and having a heart-attack scare, he decided that weight loss was necessary.

  He started walking one mile a day while eating a low-carb diet of 15 to 30 grams a day, and then moved his exercise regimen up to one hour of walking a day. He lost 100 pounds in seven months. He gradually moved on to jogging and weight training, and within two years lost 192 pounds. His newfound love of exercise allows him to run 30 to 40 miles per week, weight train 2 to 3 hours a day and do yoga.

  "I am so proud of myself . . . for the first time in my life. Besides my kids, [this is] the first time I'm proud of myself. I've never been happier in my life!" he told CNN.

In Better Health at 50 than at 25

• Bev's conversation with a nurse who warned of a future plagued with chronic health problems such as arthritis and diabetes, caused her, at 46, to, change her lifestyle after a lifetime of bad eating and inactivity.

  She began to walk briskly every day for one hour and transitioned into a diet with more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products and lean meat. She selected healthier snacks and made meals lower in saturated and trans fat, cholesterol, added sugars and salt. In four years, she was able to lose 50 pounds and drop 68 points from her cholesterol numbers. Her health is so improved that she doesn't have the problems that she did four years before.

  "I am in better health now that I was at 25! Instead of dwelling on pounds lost or calories eaten, I focused on making specific lifestyle changes," she said in a story featured on WomensHealth.gov.