I never had a problem with my weight until I went to college. My mom died of breast cancer during the third week of my freshman year. I know that it's common for people to gain weight during their first year away from home-there's even a name for it, the "Freshman 15"-butI was so stressed out, and eating so poorly, that I kept gaining. By the end of my junior year, I weighed 152, a lot for someone like me who's five-foot-five. It didn't bother me that much because everyone around me was gaining weight, too. That is, until I went on a vacation. When I got the pictures back, I was shocked by how bad I looked in a bathing suit. I wasn't just worried about my weight for cosmetic reasons. I knew that some types of breast cancer are related to estrogen levels, and I felt that carrying around all this excess weight meant that I was also carrying around a lot of extra estrogen. Since breast cancer runs in my family, I was determined to do whatever I could to reduce my risk. I was also motivated by the fact that heart disease runs on my father's side of the family, and being overweight is a risk factor for that disease. I decided it was time to take the weight off. I followed a typical low-calorie diet, and did the standard exercise regimen of low weights, high reps, and aerobics. It took a year, but I managed to lose 15 pounds and got down to a size 8. Fine! The problem was, it was a real struggle staying there. Despite the fact that I was training hard and eating carefully, I still would put on weight easily. I was also concerned that at 242 mg/dl, my blood cholesterol levels were dangerously high given my family history for heart disease. For the next three years, with great effort, I maintained my size 8 body, but I was unable to lower my cholesterol. When I moved to California in 1996, I met Billy Carpenter (the nutritionist who helped design the 6-Pack System meal plan menus). He showed me why my low calorie diet wasn't working. I cut out some of the starchy carbs that had been the mainstay of my diet, and began to eat more protein, and within a short time, I was down to a size 6. Through Billy, I met Scott, who gave me the best advice of my life, that is, that I should work out the same way as a man works out, and forget about all this high-rep, low-weight nonsense. Scott put me on his nutrition and weight training program and the results were amazing. Within a year, I dropped four dress sizes (I'm now a size 2) and my cholesterol dropped to 187. I'm trimmer and leaner. The best part is, I'm no longer struggling to maintain my weight, in fact, I eat about 1,000 calories more than I did when I was a size 8! I feel great mentally and physically, and all the things that used to scare me about my family's health history no longer scare me because I know that I've taken control. By the way, I'm not a lady of leisure who lives at the gym. I work full time as a nurse in an outpatient clinic and am also going to graduate school to get a master's degree in nursing. My spare time is taken up by reading and writing papers. I still manage to get to the gym several times a week, and if I can do it, you can do it.