Hudson woman loses over 200 pounds the 'old fashioned' way

HUDSON -- We are in an era where many people who need to lose more than one hundred pounds opt for surgical procedures or simply give up on trying losing weight.  

But one Hudson woman was determined to change her life the old fashioned way: through diet, exercise and most of all, determination.  

"Growing up, I was always the chubby girl," says Nancy Schuessler. 

Being heavy was just a part of Nancy's life.

"I increasingly got bigger as time went on.  In elementary school, I was put on my first diet by 4th grade by my mother."

After her teenage years, Nancy says her eating got out of control, especially when she met her husband.

"We love to go out to eat!!!  We would go out to eat all the time.  Chinese, fast food, pizza."

On her wedding day, Nancy weighed more than 350 pounds.

"When I think of my wedding day, it makes me sad because every woman has a dream dress that they hope to wear and every woman has a dream picture of what they're going to look like on their wedding day.  And I went to the store to get a wedding dress and none of them fit me."

It wasn't until her sister's major milestone that Nancy hit a turning point.

"She had her first son, and I held him in my arms and I felt love that I never felt for anything before.  And I knew I wanted that for myself... I knew I couldn't even get on the floor to change his diaper, and it scared me."

Nancy knew she had to make a change.

"Little bitty changes, that's what I did.  And at first it was just no fast food...at first I couldn't even walk, but then I started walking.  And then I started walking even longer and then I incorporated free weights and then I stared the elliptical and then I started running."

Nancy stocks her fridge with fruits, vegetables and whole grains. She cut out anything with trans fats, saturated fats, refined sugars and flour, and no high fructose corn syrup.

Nancy works out at least 5 days a week, doing cardio and lifting weights It took her 2 years, but she lost more than 220 pounds.

In the middle of her weight loss, she even had a son.

And now nothing can hold her back.

"Now, I think about all the things I can pack into a day and then I go to bed thinking about all the things I can pack into another day."