Weight Loss Success Stories: “I Lost 85 Pounds”

“I Lost 85 Pounds”

Growing up in a large Mexican family, Natalia Prieto ate her fill of tacos and enchiladas. Still, she stayed slim by dancing in a folk ensemble that performed at festivals. “It was a real workout; I would get off-stage sweaty and exhausted,” recalls the 27-year-old mom from Rockford, Illinois. But at age 19, she stopped dancing and started eating fast food. Because of her hectic schedule, she also never lost the pregnancy weight after having three children, which pushed her weight to 220 pounds. In May 2005, she made a doctor’s appointment to discuss her escalating weight. “The doctor figured out that my BMI [body mass index, or measure of body fat based on height and weight] was 31 and he told me I was clinically obese. I went home and cried,” she says. Read on to know Natalia’s weight loss success story…