Diane Loffredo was able to lose 65 pounds?

By the end of 2005, Diane Loffredo heard about a new Health program called Healthyroads, which was there to help the employees in getting fit and fine. Diane Loffredo said "for a long time, I'd been thinking about this," Loffredo said. "I was really out of shape, and I wanted to get fit. And I was worried about my health in general" (from miamiherald.com).

She was going to celebrate her birthday on 28 Dec and she was going to enter in 50th tear. She wanted to be absolutely fit and look in great shape. She then finally decided to join the Healthyroads, which is a California based company.

She arranged a weekly half-hour session with her fitness coach and get big file of tips with a cookbook and a pedometer. Her coach, Kimberly Asbury did not force her to make sudden changes in her lifestyle. She asked her coach in the beginning, "Right now, I just want to get fit".

She weighed about 230 pounds and in February, she made it public that she was going to lose 50 pounds for her birthday. She said, "After a couple of weeks, we talked about my diet. `What kind of breads do you eat?' And that led to more whole grains -- whole grain bread, whole grain pasta, and she explained about higher fiber content to make blood sugar steadier, which means you're not as hungry. I kind of knew that, but I hadn't applied myself."

She started using more fruits and veggies with lesser fat and lower intake of red meat. In the beginning, it was difficult for her to drink high amount of water. She was addicted to diet Coke. But when she leaves it, she was able to get some taste out of water. With this she was able to cut off her intake of sugar and sweets to some extent.

With these healthy choices, came the exercise. In the beginning, she was too much slow with her walking. But she kept improving and was able to walk 4 miles an hour. When she went to her Doctor in November, 2006 after losing 50 pounds, He said "`Diane, you have put 10 years on your life."

In March, She achievement won the grand prize of $25000 for Healthyroads' Get Healthy! National Awards program. Presently she is able to maintain a healthy life style and keep on losing small bit of weight.

Now she says, "We have to acknowledge that we're responsible for our fitness and our health. I'm really proud for the people of Mercy for having this program. I know I wouldn't have done it without it."