by Joy Cressler

Created on: August 04, 2008

There were no weight loss clubs or "Biggest Loser" incentives for her.
Kelly Lynch of Lewisville, Texas made up her made to change her lifestyle and lost 100 pounds the good old-fashioned way: diet and exercise.
Lynch, a 27-year-old distance learning student of Liberty University, found her agility threatened as she exceeded 200 pounds and continued to gain weight.

"A couple of years ago, I began taking a look at where I was health-wise," she said. "I was awkward in my movements and I wasn't able to do the things I used to. I decided to take the weight off."
Lynch said that emotional issues contributed to her overeating.
"I put on most of the weight several years ago after the death of my father," Lynch said. "I really ballooned up as I comforted myself with food."
She said she sought out a counselor through a church to help her deal with the emotional issues.
"The Christ-centered workshop, called the Barnabas Project, is really intensive," she said. "It helps you deal with all the emotional junk of addictions, pain and childhood traumas."
She also enrolled at a gym and began working out.
"It was a pretty big shock to my system to get up and get active," she said. "When I first started, 10 minutes on the treadmill or one minute on the elliptical machine and I was toast. Now, I can do one hour on either machine and have no problem."
Along with counseling and exercise, Lynch said she began paying attention to what she put on her plate.
"Combining the efforts of physical plus nutritional - calories in versus calories out - the weight started coming off," she said. "It's a proven method. Diet and exercise will make it happen."

Tips for Healthy Eating from Martha Rew, a registered and licensed dietician at Texas Woman's University.

1. Start your day with breakfast it jump starts your metabolism for the day!
-anything counts such as a sandwich, whole grained cereal with berries,
egg white omelet with fruit or a multi-grained bagel with cream cheese.

2. Add color to each meal
-commit to try a new fruit or vegetable each week
-try to have 2-3 colors on your plate for lunch and dinner
-it's trendy now to shop organic and to go the local farmer's markets
-buy produce in season they contain more nutrients when in season and have more flavor

3. Watch out for "Portion Distortion"
-restaurant meals are often twice the fat and calories than most adults
need in one day and that is only one meal!
-try to eat 1/3 to 1/2 less when dining out and save the remainder for another meal
-share a meal and add

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