From PEOPLE Magazine
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You've all chosen a healthy lunch today. How did you eat when you were heavy?
Charles: As big as I was, I used to hide. I would go to drive-thrus and eat in my car. I'd get a Big Mac, but I wasn't content with the 600 calories in it. I wanted extra Mac sauce, two Super Size Fries and a Filet O' Fish with extra tartar sauce. I was easily knocking back 7,000 calories a day.
Janene: I would starve all day—no breakfast or lunch—and pick up pop, candy and Doritos on the way home.
Mary: Oh yeah. I used to ask myself, 'I eat only one meal a day, why am I so heavy?' But supper pretty much went from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m.
Tiana: A pound and a half of pasta at night. If I baked cookies, I ate the whole batch.
Waiter (arriving with a basket): Would you like bread for the table?
Everybody: No!
Mary: I still cook breads, cakes and candies for my family and I am never tempted to take a bite of anything. I don't even want to touch it. I wear gloves so I don't absorb the sugar.
Charles: She makes Dr. Atkins look like he loves carbs.
Laughter all around.
Do you ever get fed up by the current restrictions on your diet?
Ethelyn: I get mad when I see people put unhealthy stuff in their cart. How do they not get fat? Then I realize, they may have a faster metabolism or make choices I am not willing to make. Or I take another look and realize they are fat.
Mary: I'll feel sorry for myself because I can't eat whatever I want. But it's fleeting.
Janene: I've accepted I can never eat sugar again. Friends get married and there is wedding cake—but not for me.
What was the worst thing about being obese?
Janene: I didn't want to be the fat mom. My kids were in kindergarten when I started to lose. I did not want people to tease them because of me. That was my biggest fear.
Tiana: Whenever I got into a fight with someone, the first thing out of their mouth was 'You're fat.'
Are you treated differently today?
Ethelyn: My relationships changed. I was known for taking care of everyone else. When I started taking care of myself, certain people didn't like it. I lost those friends but I don't regret it.
Charles: A lot of people who are overweight tend to be the caregivers. But you can't help anybody if you don't take care of yourself.
Janene: They changed my picture on our school Web site and someone said, "You used to look like a Butterball turkey." That hurt. I might look like this now, but I am the same person with the same heart.
What has been the best perk of losing weight?
Charles: The biggest gift is my anonymity. I don't feel everyone staring as I walk down the street.
Ethelyn: Not having to use a beach towel after showers. Also, my acne cleared up.
Mary (tearing up): There are so many. My husband was much smaller than I was. I feel feminine to weigh less. And when I see my shadow on the sidewalk, I still say, "Is that really my shadow?" I just feel good now.
Janene: That my daughter can wrap her arms around my waist. That I don't break chairs anymore. Or finally having enough room in a plane seat.
Charles: Oh, I've got an airplane story for you. Here I was with a 74" waist, mortified I am going to be squeezing someone next to me. So I lean as far over as I can, the plane is fixing to taxi out and ... the arm falls off the plane seat. They had to bring on a mechanic. Everyone is stuck, staring at me. It doesn't get any worse than that. If a hole could have opened up in the earth and swallowed me, I would have gladly went to wherever it took me.
Janene: Did any of you ever look at the weight requirements in elevators and try to calculate? I was so paranoid the alarm would go off.
Tiana: And when you get off, the elevator moves up a foot.
Everyone laughs and nods.
What is it like to shop for clothes now?
Ethelyn: Pure bliss. A salesperson sent me to the juniors department. That was mind blowing. I said, "God bless you" and pulled out a picture of the old me. For 20 years I could only wear muumuus and black stretch pants. Who's fat and didn't wear the black stretch pants?
Janene: I can go into Victoria's Secret and not get looks like, "What is she doing in here?" I still feel like the same person, but now the salespeople are up in my face helping.
Ethelyn: It's like, "Where were you before?"
Tiana: And how much more expensive are fat clothes! I went broke trying to get clothes that make you feel good and fit well. Now, I go to Macy's and the clothes on the sale rack fit.
Charles: Yeah, the "fat tax."
Mary: My husband still pulls me out of the plus-size department. I just automatically gravitate there.
Tiana: The brain has to catch up with the body. This has been a healing process for all of us.
And your romantic lives?
Ethelyn: I am more of a flirt. Actually, I always was, but now it's reciprocated.
Mary: The other night a guy was hitting on me and I was like, "He can't be talking to me." My mind refused to accept being attractive.
Janene: My love life is better. You don't realize what a barrier weight is. I am more energetic and fulfilled.
Charles: I got up the courage to look up my high school crush. Now we are engaged! It's like a rebirth.
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