Lisa Buckham weighed "well over" 300 pounds when she decided to try and lose weight in 2002. "I was just so big I couldn't move. I was miserable," says the 46-year-old mother of three, who lives in Abbotsford, B.C. She has lost more than 200 pounds since making that decision, including just over 100 with Weight Watchers, the company she now works for as a territory manager. "That's why I work here now, because I want everybody to be as excited as I was and continue to be," she says.
The diet: "I just did my own thing for about 18 months and didn't eat any bread, pasta or rice. Then I decided that I was looking pretty good, so I started added everything back into my diet. I sort of relaxed everything and started gaining back the weight."
The biggest challenge: "I always struggle with the planning - sitting down and planning what is going to happen for my day as far as my food goes. If you don't make a conscious effort to think ahead, that's when you tend to slip off the rails. But now, I'm proud. I sometimes look at my before picture and think, How did I let myself slip in to that? I've got a new zest for life."
The current plan: "I'm following our new Points Plus program that Weight Watchers launched at the beginning of December. I'm also an avid swimmer. I go every morning. I have a photograph of me and my son inside a pair of my old pants. I'm in one leg and he's in the other. It's nice to look back at but also sad to think I actually wore those. "
The goal: "I'm always trying to look at eating cleaner and making better food choices. My weight has been stable for quite a while now, since January 2009, and so now it's just maintenance. I used to eat fast food and whatever was quick and easy. I also had a problem with portion control."
How it's going: "I find I just make better choices. I'm a much better eater now. After I had lost quite a bit of weight, I went to buy a pair of jeans at a store that 'regular' people would shop in, because I had only shopped for a long time in plus-size stores. She asked me what size I was and I hadn't a clue. She kept bringing pairs of jeans for me to try on, each size getting smaller and smaller. And then I was wearing these jeans that I never thought I would wear. I wanted the tag on the outside, forget about the inside."
This interview has been condensed and edited.
Dave McGinn