Nutrition educator at Clinica Sierra Vista and undergraduate student at Fresno Pacific University

31, single, one daughter

Nine years

From a pant size 28 to a two

Calorie counting and reading nutrition labels. "I don't eat anything without looking at the calories." Instead of three meals, she eats six, 300-calorie snacks throughout the day. She also does 90-minute workouts, seven days a week--despite having a steel rod surgically implanted in one leg following a car accident at age 18. "I run through the pain because I know what happens if I don't." She mixes up workouts to avoid boredom. Favorite activities include the elliptical trainer, running and in-line skating.

Ice cream, which she hasn't eaten in a year and a half, and other sweets.

"Weigh-Down" Workshop, a Bible-based weight loss program at her church. During the 10-week session, she learned to avoid mindless eating and how to gauge when she's really hungry and when she's full.

Grapes, apples, low-fat granola. At parties, she brings carrots and sugar snap peas to munch on to avoid eating cookies and candy.

Putting on 65 pounds while pregnant, some of it due to water retention. She worried that the weight might not come off again. It did after she gave birth. Still, she struggles with "letting myself eat....When you've lost that much weight, you're afraid your body is going to regain it."

The desire to start life fresh after ending a five-year relationship with her boyfriend.

Knowing how to "eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full." Plus, she is proud to have served as a good role model for her daughter, who now has healthy eating habits. She loves "fruit, vegetables and whole grains. She's a naturally healthy eater."

The ability to wear size two "hand-me-downs" from her twin sister and cousins, which stretches her clothes budget. Plus, "my feet don't hurt when I try to take my daughter somewhere [or] when I'm doing fun things with her." She also serves as a weight loss "sounding board" for her mother, who has shed 80 pounds, and for co-workers who want to reach a healthier weight.

Tips from other Successful Losers that she now applies to her own life and encourages in her daughter.