Lucky me!! Claudia's take on life: Before And After

Any of us that have lived or are currently living in the diet world have "before" and "after" pictures. I know I do. They are still right there on Richardsimmons.com for the world to see along with a quick synopsis of my weight loss journey.

I started putting weight on when I was 9. My dad had opened an insurance agency and needed a full time secretary. He didn't have the money to pay someone to do it so my mom had to work full time for my dad.

Before Mom went to work I would come home from school and hang out with her. We would talk, have a snack, laugh, and go places together. I had been a happy kid. Once she started working I found myself alone after school. Looking back on it now I realize it was at this time in my life that I started to use food as company something that I continue to do on occasion to this day. I would eat from the time that I came home from school until Mom and Dad would get home for dinner. Once they got home and settled, we would all eat dinner. Needless to say I started gaining weight and a lot of it.

I continued my terrible eating habits well into adulthood until one day I woke up and there I was at 225 pounds taking Kerry to her first day at daycare. It's almost as if I didn't really see it until that day. That was the day I knew I was in trouble. I felt as if I was never going to lose weight. I felt like that was the way I was supposed to be. Fat!

Shortly after that day of self realization I saw a friend who had always been overweight come home from a year long stint at Duke University on the "Rice Diet". He had lost over 100 pounds. I was SO jealous I could hardly speak when I saw him. THAT was one of the two defining moments in my weight loss. I knew I had to do something and it had to be right then or I was doomed to be fat and jealous for the rest of my life.

That night I was watching TV and I saw Richard Simmons on an infomercial for Deal a Meal. I had been watching Richard on General Hospital and loved his tell it like it is kind of style. I decided to order his life plan that night. THAT was the second defining moment in my weight loss journey.

I jumped on the exercise and positive motivation parts of Richard's plan as soon as I received it. I just couldn't get a grip on the food. I found that just adding an hour of exercise every day made a big difference. I actually lost 21 pounds. Just by exercising. I was thrilled. So thrilled in fact that I wrote a letter to Richard just to say thanks (this was in the days of snail mail). Low and behold I received a reply from Richard himself. It was the beginning of a friendship that still means the world to me today.

After receiving a few letters from Richard I finally got my love of food somewhat under control. It took me over a year but with Richard's help, I lost my weight. I lost 95 pounds and I have kept it off for about 15 years with one brief relapse. It was hard but I did it and I did it the right way. Portion control and daily exercise. If you are reading this for motivation please know that you can do it too. If I can do it, anyone can do it. Oh by the way, in case you are wondering, my friend who had lost over 100 pounds on the rice diet gained all of his weight back and to this day is still very overweight.

I am happy to say that I have a really good after picture with or without Richard.