The Gallup Independent from Gallup, New Mexico • Page 25

I got stuck in a church pew before I lost 70 pounds. By Joyce Caldwell--as told to Ruth L. McCarthy belong to the New Hope Baptist Church in Pelzer, South Carolina and when our pastor told everyone in the congregation to bow down on their knees and pray, I'll tell you I needed new hope to pull myself up. I sing with the choir, so I was right up front where everybody could see me. And at 212 pounds, it took every bit of angling I could do to get myself on my feet.

I'd like to have died. That wasn't the only embarrassing incident that happened in church, either. Another time, when I was singing, my panty hose slipped with every breath I took. Why, I was afraid to let out a high note for fear they'd drop right down. You'd have thought with all that I'd have done something about my weight long ago.

especially since I'm a Licensed Practical Nurse. Working in the hospital, I knew from the doctors that I ought to get those pounds off. But somehow my own homemade chocolate pound No matter whether I was Since I weighed 212 poun I belong to the New Hope Baptist Church in cake and pies were my Pelzer. South Carolina and when our pas- weakness and my temptation. It wasn't that I ate so much at meals.

It was that I ate so often. There were never any scraps sround our house. Why, I had the "poorest" dog in town. Once I tried some reducing pills, but I got so nervous, a could barely live with me. So I finally gave them up, even though I knew deep down he wanted me to lose.

He never said so, but when we'd go to some social at the news office where he works, I'd accuse him of not introducing me to his friends. Guess it was my own conscience, making me feel inferior. Actually, it took a trip to Washington, D.C. and i a I needed slacks with a 36 waist to open my eyes. Not only that--when I returned home and looked in the i I suddenly saw myself in years to come--a big, big woman.

I knew then that it was time to do something. I talked to one of my neighbors about my problem and it was a good day that I did. You see, she knew a those reducing-plan candies, which incidentally contain vitamins and minerals, but no drugs. The A plan worked just fine for her, so she gave me a handful of the a i to try. Soon a I a a fudge kind at the drugstore and started on the plan myself.

I a breakfast like the direc- never could harr u-crn this bulky strcalrr and jacket I hadn't loft TO pounds, tions say with a hot But buying clothes lot ideation tiint- La ph-asurs. non-chat I'm down to i me, photographed up close or at a distance. I still looked ds, it's no wonder my son called tnc "Big Mama." Then I'd have an egg and toast. At I'd have soup or a hamburger and, of course, Ayds the same way. And in the evening I'd have pretty much the same meal as I'd cook for my family--meat and a vegetable or a salad, sometimes banana pudding or a little piece of cheese cake.

But thanks to taking Ayds, I'd eat much smaller portions than I used to, because the Ayds plan really helped me cut back. Well, I started losing one or two pounds a week. Doing it that way kept my skin firm, too. And, believe me, I had the kind of fat that's difficult to lose. Not fluSy like, but real hard.

Why, you could hardly pinch me. One thing I'd like to say. Occasionally, when I was losing, I'd get a hunger spell. It was psychological, I know. Like a terrible urge to eat.

So I'd let myself breakover and have what I wanted. To my way of thinking, you just have to get that feeling out of your system. Then I'd go back on the Ayds plan. And you can see from my pictures, it worked. I took 08 70 pounds, enough to make people where I'm now employed say: "Didn't you have a sister working here some time ago?" I'll tell you this.

When you hear something like that, you know that there's always new hope. I found mine, quite simply, in a box of Ayds. BEFORE AND AFTER MEASUREMENTS Before After Height 5'4- Weight 212 Ibs 142 Ibs. Bust 44- 38- Waist 36" Hips 37V4- Dress IS 1 12-14 hem no record of hrr hip but think." it uxif airOuC 44.