What was the state of your health before you started the OurSkinny program?

Barbara: Before I started the OurSkinny program, my health was very bad. I was taking three to four different kinds of blood pressure medication; I had high cholesterol; I had to sleep with a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure, a treatment for obstructive sleep apnea that uses mild air pressure to keep the airways open), and I had asthma.

What exactly motivated you to try to lose weight?

Barbara: Well, I felt like my health was important and I was ready to do something about it.

How did you learn about OurSkinny?

Barbara: Through my job. OurSkinny opened a little boutique and the nurses at our company told us about the program, so I decided to give it a try.

OurSkinny: Barbara purchased through our boutique in the hospital she works in, but you can also order at OurSkinny.com.

Did you try to lose weight before?

Barbara: I tried Weight Watchers. That didn’t work out for me.

How did you feel after you tried and it didn’t happen for you?

Barbara: It didn’t discourage me I guess because at the time I wasn’t really into saying I was going to lose weight. But when I got to OurSkinny, I knew I had a goal to work toward. A lot of people tried to discourage me, but I kept going.

How exactly did you use OurSkinny and incorporate the program into your eating habits?

Barbara: What I did is I followed it to the letter. I had my four shakes a day. I had one main meal at night. I would have my bar for my snack as I’m watching TV, and I walked six miles each day whether it would rain, sleet or snow. I did it every day.

OurSkinny: Barbara went above and beyond with her exercise, but we advise customers to exercise 3 to 5 days a week for 30 minutes if they are already active. If not, we advise them to hold off on exercising for about four weeks until their body adjusts to the diet.

When did you start the program exactly?

Barbara: It was in 2012.

How did your weight loss progress on a daily, weekly and monthly basis from there?

Barbara: Actually, with what I was doing, I was dropping about five pounds each week, and then it got to where I wasn’t losing anything. But when I went downstairs to talk with OurSkinny, they advised me to add a veggie because I was feeling hungry between the shakes.

OurSkinny: We have an expert team of dietitians, wellness coaches, personal trainers and nurse practitioners to guide customers if they find themselves struggling. This expert team will help add things to their menu plans throughout the program to satisfy them and answer any and all questions. Additionally, we have many recipes on our blog that are delicious and OurSkinny-approved to take the guesswork out of main meal planning.

Did you experience any kind of hunger pangs or anything of that nature?

Barbara: Not at all. The first week was the hardest week. But after the first week, it was like a daily routine. Even during Thanksgiving and Christmas, I still had my four shakes.

How did you space the shakes apart?

Barbara: I would do one when I got up at 6 o’clock in the morning. Then, I would do one around 10. And then lunchtime was usually around 1 o’clock, so I would do one then. And I would do the last shake right before I took my walk at 5 o’clock or 5:30.

And at what time did you have your next meal?

Barbara: I usually had my meal after I finished walking, so that would usually be around 7.

And how did you use the bars that are a part of the program in addition to the shakes you were drinking?

Barbara: I’d have a bar as my after-dinner dessert.

And were you able to eat just one without feeling hungry or anything like that?

Barbara: Exactly. Sometimes, I couldn’t eat the whole bar.

How long did you stay on the program?

Barbara: I stayed on the program not even quite a year. After six months, I had lost 122 pounds by then.

I looked at your before and after pictures and they were really dramatic.

Barbara: At work, a lot of people didn’t know who I was.

You’re saying people didn’t recognize you, but was there a moment when you wondered, is that me?

Barbara: I think it’s when I went to put on a pair of pants that were way too big. I went from a size 18 or 20 to a size 2, so that’s a dramatic drop.

It certainly is. So how would you say your life changed because of this program and this weight loss?

Barbara: Well, I’m a much more healthier person; I’m not on any medications anymore. The only thing I take now are vitamins. I get around much better; I just feel great.

What did you do to prepare yourself to get onto this program and decide that you’re going to be committed to keeping it?

Barbara: Actually, I didn’t do any preparing. One day, I just said, this is what I’m going to do and I’m going to stick to it, and I did. I felt like if I kept telling myself, well, maybe I’ll do it, maybe I’ll try it, I wouldn’t have been successful at it. So I had to just jump in and do it.

After you achieved your goal, how did you wean yourself off the OurSkinny program and then go from there with this new change in your body and your eating habits?

Barbara: Well, the program has steps that you follow after you get to your goal weight to wean yourself off of it. But after I was off of it, I still drank some of the shakes sometimes. But I still exercise and I still watch what I eat. I really say I’m still committed to OurSkinny because I still follow the things that they gave me, such as the different meal plans in several books that cover things such as how much meat I’m supposed to eat. Also, I still weigh my stuff out.

OurSkinny: We help all of our customers maintain their weight loss through easy transition and maintenance phases. During these phases, our expert team begins introducing more main meals in place of shakes. Our goal is to teach people healthy meal planning, portion control, and how to truly enjoy eating healthy. Even after our customers reach their goal weight, many of them keep OurSkinny products in their pantry as healthy snacks because they love us so much.

How did your friends and family react to your weight loss?

Barbara: My friends all tease me. They say, “Oh, you’re too skinny now!” But I didn’t let that get to me. In my family, my daughter, she’s kind jealous because now because she’s bigger than I am. But she’s glad to see that I’m healthy. My current weight is 127 because I had to put a little more weight on me. The doctor said I had gotten too small because I went down to 109. But I’m 127 now and I’ve been that for now one year and a half.

Well, congratulations! You certainly look fabulous in these pictures. Is there anything you want to add about the program that you feel is important?

Barbara: The only thing I can just add is that this is a weight management program that works. I talk about it all the time every place I go, so it really works. I don’t call it a diet; I call it a weight management program.

OurSkinny: We couldn’t agree more with Barbara. OurSkinny isn’t just a diet; it’s a lifestyle change.