Walking and Weight Watchers Help Mom Lose 100 Lbs, Stop Binge Eating

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When Stacy D., 53, committed to losing weight, she had no idea how much her life was going to change, and how being healthier would help her face challenges.

Stacy's weight-loss journey started when she saw a family photo from Christmas 2022. She was the biggest person in the photo.

"I saw how sad my face looked. I had that forced smile. It wasn't genuine. I was thinking about everyone else and how happy they were, and I was so unhappy inside," she tells TODAY.com.

She weighed 252 pounds and she wanted to lose weight, but she didn't know how to get there. She had been overweight since childhood — when she was 9 years old, her aunt promised her a new wardrobe if she lost weight.

"My weight had always been a thing, throughout my entire life. When I was 15, I actually attempted suicide because I had gotten so heavy and unhappy with myself," she says.

Counseling helped her learn to process her thoughts and emotions, but she says she still self-medicated with food.

"My husband and I struggled with conceiving a child for four or five years, and that was very heart-wrenching and emotionally traumatic for me. Fifty-some-odd pregnancy tests all said 'negative.' So, I self-medicated with ice cream , sweets and carbs," she says. She also turned to food to cope with her husband's health struggles and her father's death.

Her weight was affecting her health. "I could feel it in my joints. I think if I had not stopped the process of self-sabotage, my knees , hips and back would have continued to deteriorate," she says.

She found motivation to start walking through others' success Stacy saw a side-by-side photo of a coworker's wife who had lost 120 pounds: "That picture motivated me. I thought I could do that."

Her family was skeptical. They had seen her weight yo-yo in the past , and they didn't have any reason to think this time would be different.

She told a friend that she wanted to start walking and losing weight . "She said she would walk with me. She probably had about 25 pounds to lose, where I had 100. I told her she couldn't walk very fast, because it was like I was carrying a bag of dog food," she says.

The two friends started walking in the mornings near Ormond Beach, Fla., where Stacy lives. They began to get competitive, each sneaking in walks on their own: "At lunchtime, we would ask each other, 'How did you get so many steps '?"

Stacy fell in love with walking: "I feel my muscles from my head to my toes when I'm walking, and that, to me, is encouraging."

When a foot injury sidelined her walking routine, she switched to biking, and fell in love with that, too: "You get a nice breeze on the bike instead of sweating your makeup off. I do four miles walking in the morning and about 10 miles every night on the bike."

Stacy also connected with support online. She joined the Start TODAY Facebook group in January, and read other peoples' posts without sharing for a while.

"I started taking videos, because I wanted to post, and I was too shy. I didn't want people judging me. I was afraid of what people might say. I know now people are not negative in our group. We are all in the same situation and we all support each other," she says.

Once she lost 20 pounds, she felt confident enough to share her videos and thoughts in the group: "I feel good about myself, and that's why I'm taking selfies. I want that person who's just starting, or that person who's struggling, to feel what I'm feeling. That's why I started posting more."

She also uses her earlier posts to encourage herself: "When I'm struggling, I go back through some of my posts and see, 'Oh yeah, that's what I did.' Or, 'That's what I prayed about.' I got through it, and I walked. That's why I keep encouraging people to post and share their journey. It's so therapeutic. It's not just for yourself, it's inspiring for others."

A walking routine inspired her to make diet changes Stacy had tried Weight Watchers in the past, and she was eating what she thought she remembered from then. But she wasn't happy with her progress, despite walking eight miles a day.

"I only lost 17 pounds in three months. I was very discouraged, and praying to keep my determination and my focus," she says.

In May 2023 she rejoined Weight Watchers and lost six pounds in the first week. "I thought, 'Wow, I can do this.' It was the group accountability, food choices, portion sizes and eating more fruits and vegetables so I could stay fuller," she says.

She also changed her relationship with food: "My self-medication now is activity. I choose to walk. That's my way of processing and clearing my head, rather than sitting on the couch and binge eating a bowl of ice cream."

Walking and weight loss pushed her toward a more active lifestyle Stacy's weight loss and improved health have helped her be a lot more active. She's been to water parks and theme parks with her family, and she could fit in the ride seats. "Before, even in my regular car I could feel my seat belt pinning me against my hips," she says.

At Typhoon Lagoon, she rode on the lazy river. "That seems like something insignificant, but I was loud and proud in my bathing suit, not wanting to wear a cover-up. I didn't mind going in the water or going down water slides. I never would have done that before — I was afraid of looking like a large fish coming down," she says.

Her newfound strength helps her cope with tragedy Stacy's world was shaken early this year when her 14-year-old son was attacked from behind at school, slamming his head on concrete twice. The attack left him with numerous injuries, including a brain injury.

"On January 31st, our lives changed. I'm so thankful I was in the process of getting healthier, because I got a little waylaid with my food choices. Stress eating started coming back, but I chose healthier stress-eating foods — I grab grapes at night and eat through my emotions. As a mom, you cry at night, and in the day, you put a smile on your face and you say, 'Let's get through this, everything's going to be great.'"

They found out in July that her son's brain injuries were permanent. "Now we're on the journey of figuring out how we move forward with the effects of the brain injury. That's a stressful thing for me. I'm trying to learn how to deal with this," she says.

She and her family wanted to do something to help her son cope with his anxiety. He chose camping, so they took a trip filled with outdoor activities. Stacy lists some of the activities she could do that she wouldn't have attempted when she was 100 pounds heavier and less healthy:

Horseback riding: In the past she would have been over the 250-pound weight limit.

River tubing: She says she saw heavier people getting stuck on the rocks while she was having a good time floating around.

The Georgia Mountain roller coaster: "That was a tiny little cart that I would have probably not wedged myself into before, because the heavier you are, the faster you go."

She's thrilled she was able to go whitewater rafting with her family. "That was the big one. I didn't want to do that, but it was the one thing my son really wanted to do. I wouldn't have done it before — activities like that are more dangerous when you're overweight. A man who was overweight couldn't get down in the raft when we went over rapids. He went overboard, and got pinned between the raft and a rock. He was OK, but that could have been me," she says.

Her son was able to use the camping trip as an opportunity to talk through his stress and anxieties, and she's proud of him. "But I'm also proud of what I can do now."