When I was a teenager, I was constantly trying to lose weight. I come from a family of stockier people and we all struggle with our weight. In fact, my mom lost over 80 pounds after the birth of my youngest brother. She was struggling with severe health issues due to her weight and was not doing well at all. So, she was the first in our family to try to lose weight.

Years later as my sisters and I were well into our teenage years I was the first of us to go on a diet. My first experience with dieting entailed utilizing a Richard Simmon's diet plan (my mom's idea). It was a great plan and I lost weight...but didn't keep it off. So, bored with the diet plan, I moved onto the next diet! My mom was a member of Taking Off Pounds Sensibly which is another very popular diet program and she encouraged me to try some of the tips and hints that they gave her. She also helped me get into a healthy regimen of eating and helped me choose healthy foods. Food preparation was always challenging, but she was a great support! In tandem with doing this plan I also began to do a lot of biking, and that really boosted my weight loss. This plan was what worked best for me for a long time.

Then, I got married. My weight once again became a problem...UNTIL I became pregnant with our first baby. I lost weight instead of gaining, which was a very pleasant surprise! Now, before you get too jealous, remember that I was bigger to start out with so any weight gain was being counteracted by weight loss (I hated food). After my daughter was born, I immediately lost 30+ pounds and was finally down to a nice weight. The same thing happened after my son was born 22 months later. My current pregnancy has held no weight gain, just losses. So, laugh if you will but my best weight loss plan has and always will be...pregnancy!!! :)