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Show Ithought Iwas over-the-hill, | until i lost’72 pounds. By Dee McManus-—as told to Ruth L. McCarthy Look at that arm! Only good thing about it is the way it covers some of the other fat. And I hadn't even reached my top weight of 214 ponds. here’s nothing quite like reaching 30 and weighing 214 pounds. When I got off the scale, I locked in the mirror and said to myself: “You’re over the hill, kid’’ But deep inside me, I really didn’t believe it. I knew I had to try once more to look my age—bylosing weight. You see, I’m one of those people who’s tried about every kind of diet and reducing aid you could name. Yet I wasn’t born fat. My mother says I was skinny until I was eight ornine. Fact is, food just didn’t agree with me as an infant. So my mother developed the habit of forcing me to eat. And it took me half a lifetime to change the pattern. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in time for the high school prom. I had a gown, high hopes, but the invitation never came. After graduation, I went inte training in Pittsburgh to become a Licensed Practical Nurse. But it didn’t train me to eat less. I consumed pounds of spaghetti, noodles, mashed potatoes, gravy, fried egg sandwiches and pizza pies. How I ever caught a husband, I will never know. Yet at the age of 20 I married a man who was as thin as I was fat. Having children didn’t help either. After each child was born,instead of losing, I started gaining — until I became the biggest parent at Parent Teacher meetings. Why, my hands evergotso fat, nobody wanted me to dry their water glasses for fear I'd break them. But the day I heard a friend say, “You don’t wantto look like Dee, do you?”, I knew I had to do something about my weight. For a long time I'd been reading about those vitamin and mineralreducing-plan candies called Ayds®, so I decided to give them a try. I knew I couldn’t take reducing drugs, and since Ayds contains none, I bought a box at the drugstore. I took one or two Ayds, like the directions say with hot coffee (it can be any hot drink) fifteen minutes before meals, Those little candies really helped curb my appetite. For instance, for break- be, butat my age, I figure Bows: this for a change? I’ fast, I was satisfied with grapefruit and cereal. I never was a big morning eater. At noon, I'd have myAyds and coffee again and a sandwich, or some- times cottage cheese and citrus fruit. And for dinner, meator fish, salad, and a vegetable. Td carry Ayds wherever I went, too, for snacks. Chocolate mint, always, though there are fou Ayds flavors to choose from. My kids don’t like mint, so I knew they'd leave them alone. Well, I guess you can see from the pictures that the Ayds Plan really worked for me. That weight came off and off. 72 pounds! Maybe I ought to ment'-n one other thing. When I used to read those stories about other people, I'd wonder where cll the extra flesh went. Well, my skin began to tighten up with exercise. No gymnastics. I'd just wiggle or rock and roll to music wit: mychildren.It was great fun. Thave time. As for my husband’s reaction to my weight loss, he was little jealousofall thecompliments I was getting. There were many things that we didn’t see eye to eye on, and since our marriage had been shaky long before I reduced, we finally agreed to get a divorce. It was a hard time for me, but now I feel there is a whole new life ahead of telephone justneverstops ringing. Mysons say that Iam more like a sister to them now. And they love it. Why,I've evenstarted dating. Oh, yes. One last thing. Thanks to the Ayds Plan, I’venow got a figure good enough for hot pants. And I’m going to wear them. BetI'll be the first one in my hometown,too, which is Butler, Pennsylvania. BEFORE AND AFTER After 56" .142Ibs. 36" 27" .37”" “2444 -Store Size. .12 |