Was 329 lbs., Size 32
Now 145 lbs., Size 12

For 30 years Charles Pruitt has practiced medicine in Magee, Miss., often suggesting diets to folks whose weight had spun out of control. Few followed his advice like Judy Wood. "Something in Judy made her want to stick with it," he says.

Wood, now 53 and a bookkeeper for husband Howard's electronics repair business, weighs 145 lbs., 184 lbs. less than she weighed in 1998. Months of caring for her ailing mother had triggered the gain. "I slipped into a routine of eating badly," says the 5'4" Wood. Her increased weight aggravated an old hip injury. If she and Howard, 62, went shopping, she says, "my body would give out before I completed my list."

Five months after her mother's death in May 1998, a bronchial infection, made worse by Wood's obesity, wreaked havoc on her immune system. On Oct. 5 she fell into a coma. "Dr. Pruitt told my husband that I would likely never come out of it," Wood says. Fortunately she awoke after two days. "I tell Judy she is a genuine miracle," says Pruitt. But Wood decided she needed another miracle -- one of her own making. "The incident scared me into changing my life," she says.

Working with Pruitt, Wood kept records of the caloric count of everything she ate and how much exercise she needed to do to metabolize what she consumed. "The first few weeks I ate about 900 calories a day," she says. She gave up pork, beef, white flour, sugar, mayonnaise and carbonated drinks. She also bought a treadmill, a stationary bike and dumbbells and taught herself simple exercises.

After three months Wood had lost 39 lbs; 97 more came off by October 1999. Hoping Wood's success will rub off on others, Pruitt refers patients to her for counseling. They don't always want to hear what she has to share. "Too many people are looking for a quick fix," she says. "That doesn't work with obesity."

Written by GALINA ESPINOZA and SOPHFRONIA SCOTT
Reported by VICKIE BANE, ALICE JACKSON BAUGHN, ANDREA BILLUPS, MICHAEL COHEN, ANNE LANG, PENELOPE ROWLANDS, DEBBIE SEAMAN, JILL SIEDER and PATRICIA B. SMITH

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