Losing it well: Meet six women who lost weight through diet and exercise alone

'Any weight you lose starts in the kitchen'

Ashley Morrison, Cape Girardeau

Pounds lost: 84 and counting

Ashley Morrison has always struggled with her weight and remembers being teased for her size during school. After having three children, she managed to drop all the baby weight -- but then she gained it all back, plus about 50 more pounds. She tried the South Beach diet, yoga, even crash diets where she drank about 120 ounces of water a day. In November 2012, she asked her doctor to help her lose the weight for good -- and to keep her honest.

At first, Ashley and her doctor never talked pounds -- he simply told her she would feel a lot better if she lost about 10 percent of her body weight. She cut out sugar first (no more sweet tea!), then cut calories, then started exercising. She saw her doctor monthly and worked with a personal trainer who taught her an easy workout to do at home in 30 minutes. She also walked three or four days week.

By April, she had lost about 45 pounds and hit her first big milestone -- dipping under the 200-pound mark. In total, Ashley lost about 100 pounds but gained some back. She'd still like to lose 30 pounds and fit into a single-digit jeans size, but she also feels comfortable with her body as it is.

"I don't dread looking through my clothes anymore to find something that looks good on me," she says. "It's easier to wear high heels now. It's not easy to wear high heels when you're heavy."

Ashley says while exercise helped her get fit and toned, her eating habits made the biggest difference in her weight loss.

"Any weight you lose starts in the kitchen. I love to cook, and I'm not afraid to say I'm decently good at it," she says. "But you don't realize once you sit down to a nice, big home-cooked meal, that you're eating 3,000 or 4,000 calories in that meal. You have to make the decision to hold yourself accountable, and find someone -- a doctor, a friend -- who can help you through the process. They should be encouraging."

Ashley also realized she doesn't need to be super-strict or beat herself up when she makes a poor food choice. You don't have to tell yourself no, she says -- have a few bites of whatever you're craving and throw the rest away. Don't feel guilty about wasting the food or money.

"I never really counted what I was eating daily, but every decision I made, I thought twice before consuming," she says. "It is a fight. It is 100 percent a struggle, but it's worth it. What you lose in food, you gain in confidence."

Brigitte Neighbors

'Give it six weeks of your life'

Brigitte Neighbors, Jackson

Pounds lost: 25 to 30

Like many women, Brigitte's weight troubles started when she had children.

"I hated walking into clothing stores and not being able to put on the clothes; having to go to Lane Bryant or the bigger section at J.C. Penney," she says, adding the bigger sizes don't have cute clothes, and if they do, they're more expensive.

She dreaded looking in the mirror and felt like she didn't look good for her husband anymore. And yet, she struggled with finding a way to lose the weight -- a vegan diet and variety of beach body exercises had failed her. When Brigitte's sister-in-law and close friend Calvina Cutrell started working with a personal trainer, she shared her new knowledge with Brigitte.

"I was willing to try anything," says Brigitte. Calvina told her to give it six weeks of her life, and if it didn't work, she could try something else. So Brigitte focused on eating clean -- nothing processed and no beef -- and lost about 20 pounds in six weeks, while gradually adding in some exercise.

"You have to really want it. Have the mindset that 'OK, I'm going to do this,'" she says. "Six weeks of your life is really not that long. It seems long at first -- the first week I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I'm going to die' -- but you have to change your mindset. If you really want it, you'll put in the hard work and dedication."

And if you have a close friend -- or sister-in-law -- who can inspire and encourage you along the way, then all the better.

Calvina Cutrell

'You didn't gain the weight overnight, and you're not going to lose it overnight'

Calvina Cutrell, Cape Girardeau

Pounds lost: 35 and counting

Calvina Cutrell started gaining weight after high school, but it was "nothing major," she says. But while she was pregnant with her first son, she was placed on bed rest and gained more than 80 pounds. Now a mom of three, she hasn't found it easy to shed the weight. She even tried phentermine pills for awhile, which she says made her feel horrible, and they didn't help her lose weight, anyway.

"Trying to get the weight off and keep it off was always my goal, but it never happened," she says. "Honestly, I think I lacked the self-control. I did not want to give up the junk food or spend my entire morning doing what I needed to do, but I felt horrible when I looked in the mirror. I was tired constantly; I never felt like I had enough energy. I felt like playing with the kids was a lot of work."

When her husband started a vegan diet, Calvina thought he was crazy -- but he lost 50 pounds in five months. Calvina lost a little bit of weight on the diet, but it happened much more slowly. With help from a personal trainer, Calvina changed her eating habits and began exercising three times a week, and she lost 4 percent of her body fat in four weeks. She lost about 35 pounds within a year and is about 15 pounds from her goal weight.

"You have to love yourself. ... I didn't even have a full body mirror for the longest time because I hated the way my body looked," says Calvina. "You have to look at yourself and realize, 'This is where I am now and this is where I want to be,' and just do it. You can complain about where you are, eat like you're eating and do what you're doing for six weeks -- and when you get there, you're still going to be unhappy about your body. Or you can take those six weeks to change your eating habits. It's really not that long. Start small, and if you don't feel like going to the gym, go walk for 20 minutes."

Jenny Nelson

'My goal was not to get skinny, but to get healthy'

Jenny Nelson, Advance, Mo.

Pounds lost: 170

Jenny Nelson's weight-loss wake-up call happened on a plane to San Diego in May 2011, when she had to ask for a seat belt extender.

"It was really humiliating," she recalls. "I thought, 'I'm done with this. When I go on vacation next year, I am not going to need a seat belt extension.'"

It wasn't the first time she'd been embarrassed by her weight, but it was the heaviest she'd ever been -- about 312 pounds. And while she hadn't had any problems with high blood pressure, she knew it was only a matter of time before her weight would start affecting her health for the worse.

"Every time I would go on I diet, I'd have another child. After the third one, I gave up on losing weight. I had been heavy my whole life, and I just gave up," she says. "Then I quit smoking and gained even more weight."

Jenny joined a group in her hometown of Advance, Mo., called the Big Fat Losers. The women meet regularly to exercise, encourage each other and compete toward weight-loss milestones. Jenny got a serious case of shin splints after her first six-mile walk with the BFL, but she persisted. About a year later, she had lost nearly 100 pounds and was signing up to walk her first 5k -- and then she was running 5ks and biking in long-distance events like the Tour de Cape and the Tour de Corn. As of January, she has been maintaining her goal weight for a year and seven months, and is proud to share her story.

"My thing is to pay it forward because I lived it for so long," says Jenny. "I lived not being able to fit in a seat. Not finding pants at the store that would fit me. Wrapping a towel around myself and having it not close all the way."

Jenny continues to exercise regularly and consume plenty of water, oatmeal and chicken, and she's learned to be realistic about her new lifestyle.

"You have weak moments. You do, it's your life. If I got weak, I would go run. If I felt weak, if I thought wanted ice cream and cookies, I'd go for bike ride," she says. That's not to say she doesn't eat cookies -- but now, she'll eat one cookie, not the whole box. "If you ever fall off the wagon, suck it up and move on. It didn't ruin the whole week. Get over it. You're going have slips -- we're all human."

Jill Johnston

'I was born to run, but I never knew it'

Jill Johnston, Advance, Mo.

Pounds lost: 225

It's been said that in order to eat well, we need to eat when we're hungry and stop when we're full. Jill Johnston admits that this has never been easy for her.

It wasn't until a couple years ago that she learned to take charge of her eating habits. She also discovered that she loves to exercise, and she's lost 225 pounds by living this way.

"When you've never been on the average side of size, it's hard to see yourself (differently), even as a possibility," she says. "I never crossed my legs in my entire life. I never knew what that felt like. I didn't know that exercise felt so great. I thought all fruits and vegetables came from a can when I was growing up. We were not just encouraged, but made to clean our plates as kids."

Jill had worked as a medical transcriptionist for 20 years when she made the commitment to lose the weight -- if her job taught her anything, it was that carrying around so much weight was not healthy.

So, she decided to lose 10 pounds. She began walking and changing the way she thought about food and exercise. Mindless eating and junk food are no good -- the purpose of eating is to nourish our bodies. And exercise is not punishment.

Jill decided to lose another 10 pounds. Then another 10. Then 20 more pounds.

"I was wowed that my body had the capability to do that. It felt great. I felt like, 'I am so going to get this,' and I did," she says. Jill's dad had been a runner for 45 years, and he bought Jill her first pair of running shoes, which, surprising herself, she put to good use.

"I had never run. The first time I did, I said, 'This is it, this is me. I was born to do this, but I never knew it,'" says Jill, who's now an avid runner as well as a biker. "I love it, and I pray nothing ever happens that I have to give it up."

Some 225 pounds later, Jill wants other women to know that anyone can lose weight, and it doesn't call for weird pills or powders or shakes. It doesn't mean you have to ditch your favorite foods, either. Whatever change you make, if you can't commit to it for life, it's not going to work, she says.

"It can be done without gym, without a personal trainer or chef. It's just not necessary. You have the power. You can do it. Anybody can do it," she says. "Eat beautifully. Eat beautiful things. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables -- and they shouldn't come from a can, because there's no benefit from it."

Jill is also proud to say that once she starting making healthy choices in her own life, her daughter's health improved as well -- 17-year-old Summer has lost 85 pounds.

"It's freeing, like I just got out of jail," says Jill. "For first time ever, I can look in the mirror and like what I see, inside and out."

Chara Palmer

'I needed help -- I had never been overweight in my life'

Chara Palmer, Charleston, Mo.

Pounds lost: 20 and counting

Chara Palmer was a runner who had never been overweight in her life, but when she was diagnosed with a thyroid condition three years ago, she found herself packing on the pounds. When her doctor told her she had moved from the normal weight range to the overweight category, it was difficult to hear.

"It got to the point where I was very uncomfortable in my own skin. I didn't want to go out anymore, and I became depressed," she says.

She tried all kinds of diets and workouts, even pills and shakes, but she wasn't seeing results.

"I finally said, you know what, instead of spending money on fad diets, I'm going to put my money into a gym and a trainer. And that's the only thing that has worked for me in two years of trying to lose weight," she says.

Chara's trainer put her on a diet of five or six small, healthy meals per day, and showed her an exercise routine of both strength and cardio training. Chara had never set foot in a weight room before, but by the end of 2013, she had lost 20 pounds and was doing pullups at the gym. She's about 10 pounds from her goal weight, but says she feels better already.

"I'm down a few sizes; I had to buy all new pants, and I feel completely different," she says. "I want to go out now with my husband. I want to go out on dates instead of sitting on the couch in my fat pants. I'm more active, I want to do more things and I'm more social. I'm not constantly wearing baggy clothes to cover myself up."

Chara says she couldn't have done it without her personal trainer. He set goals and made her feel better about herself, and she didn't want to let him down.

"You can do it. Anybody can lose weight if you put mind to it," she says. "You might be giving up some stuff along the way, but the way I feel when I go down a size in jeans, the way I look and the energy I have is worth more than every minute of every cheeseburger I ever ate."

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Take note

Here are 10 more weight-loss tips from our interviewees

1. Sip water all day, every day. If you don't like to drink plain water, add a slice of lemon or lime for flavor.

2. Find a time you can commit to exercise, whether it's 4 a.m. before it gets too hot, or at night after the kids are in bed. Give it 20 or 30 minutes.

3. Start over every day. If you make a poor food choice one day, don't scold yourself -- just do better tomorrow.

4. Set small goals and work toward them one by one.

5. Be patient. As Calvina said, "You didn't gain the weight overnight, and you're not going to lose it overnight."

6. Visit with others at the gym -- they may have tips, knowledge or encouragement to share, and you might make a new friend.

7. Find the exercise you love, whether it's running, walking, spinning, dance -- weight loss will be a lot easier if you enjoy working out.

8. Don't deprive yourself of the foods you're craving -- just eat them in moderation.

9. Smartphone apps can help you keep track of calories and exercise. Jill likes My Fitness Pal.

10. Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.