Woman drops 110 pounds, 8 dress sizes

Three years ago Sharon Twitchell was miserable.

Carrying 227 pounds on her tiny 5'2" frame, the 51-year-old mother and wife could barely squeeze into her plus-size clothing.Twitchell is the first of eight CNN.com I-Reporters who shared their weight loss stories with CNN. Over the next several weeks, we'll reveal their secrets, the defining moments that motivated them to lose a combined total of 1,167 pounds and how the weight loss has changed their lives.
"I was wearing a size 22 and getting my clothes at stores where the biggest size was a 24. I asked myself, 'Where are you going to buy your clothes after you get bigger than a size 24?'" said Twitchell.
Adding to her misery, Twitchell says her ballooning weight was also wreaking havoc on her 31-year marriage.
"We were literally just co-existing together, like roommates," recalled Twitchell.
"Friends asked my husband to e-mail them a picture of us. Later, I discovered that he had sent them an old photograph taken when I was much smaller. Even though he loved me, he was embarrassed at how much weight I had gained."
Afraid she would have to purchase clothing from online stores catering to larger women, Twitchell told her husband she'd had enough and was ready to make a change.

Initially, Twitchell made an appointment with her physician in hopes that he would write her a prescription for a pill to help her lose weight. Instead, she says she saw the "w" begin to form on his lips and knew he was going to recommend she try Weight Watchers.
Uncomfortable with the thought of going to actual meetings, Twitchell lost 30 pounds on her own and eventually joined the online Weight Watchers POINTS program on October 26, 2004. She also bought an elliptical machine and a recumbent bicycle and started working out six days a week.
The pounds melted off.
Ten months and another 80 pounds later, she reached her goal weight on August 26, 2005.
Twitchell says she hasn't been this size since before her first daughter was born. She now weighs 117 pounds and wears a size 2 or 4, depending on the store.
How has this changed her life?
"I have a marriage again," says Twitchell, who recently retired and relocated with her husband from New Jersey to their new home in the mountains of western North Carolina.
"When I finally reached my goal (weight), my wedding ring was two sizes too big. I had already had it resized twice and the jeweler was hesitant that I might lose more weight. Rather than resize it, my husband bought me a new beautiful diamond ring and when he gave it to me he said this was a renewal of our wedding vows," she recalled.

Twitchell says her husband keeps telling people that he's got his wife back. This August, the couple will celebrate their 33rd wedding anniversary and they couldn't be happier.
"If I can lose 110 pounds, anyone can," says Twitchell.