If I Can Do It...

Local Woman Loses Half of Her Body Weight Without Surgery

By Kay Quinn

Weight loss may sometimes seem like an unattainable goal. But a local woman has lost half her body weight!

Here's how she shed the pounds...

When Karen Ebbesmeyer turned 40, she decided to get a check-up that she'd been putting off for years. During that physical, Karen's doctor told her if she didn't lose weight, she wouldn't live to see her youngest daughter graduate from high school.

"The doctor told me that I was basically a walking time bomb," says Ebbesmeyer. "I just went home and cried and cried because I had been on diets, I tried many diets."

She'd tried low-carb and diet meals. Two years ago, Karen weighed 275 pounds. "I've even tried diet pills and knowing the affect that they could have to your heart and nothing worked."

Then, this working mother of four started walking on a treadmill, she immediately felt better and now walks at least three miles a day. She also realized that if she was going to be successful her next step was to start eating healthier.

Her biggest challenge? Giving up soda.

"Yes, it was diet, but I was drinking two to three two liters a day by myself trying to compensate for not eating," says Ebbesmeyer.

Now she drinks only water and eats a lot more vegetables.

"If we opened one can of vegetables a week we were doing good."

In February, she reached her goal weight of 148 pounds. Karen went from a size 24 to a size 6.

"I look at my old clothing, and at old pictures of myself and I think oh my goodness, how did I let myself get to that point. But, it happens it happens to a lot of people."

She also never wants to go back...

But she believes with portion control, losing half your body weight is not an impossible dream. And, she hasn't given up all of her favorite foods. Ebbesmeyer still enjoys pizza and Mexican food. And she still cheats from time to time.

"Nobody's perfect!" says Ebbesmeyer. "We're all going to cheat."

But she sticks to the plan, and to her portion control.

"Now I don't even want to call it a diet," says Ebbesmeyer. "It's just a new lifestyle."

And she hopes to inspire others.

"If I can do it anybody can do it!"

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