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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Ali Vincent dishes out six tidbits about weight, diets and makeovers:

Ali Vincent’s calorie meter allows her to see how many calories she has burned.  (Jesse Tinsley / The Spokesman-Review)

1. Pig Out in the Park, Spokane’s annual music and food festival, had always been her favorite local celebration. Now, despite having lost 112 pounds, she doesn’t consider any foods off limits. “If I crave it, I partake of it – I just log it in my calorie budget and keep track of it in my food journal.”

2. She hates weighing herself. However, she religiously wears a BodyBugg on an armband. The mini-computer tracks her calorie consumption and expenditures. It was instrumental in helping her reach goal weight.

3. Before the show, she’d tried every diet in the book. “I lost hundreds of pounds and (re)gained hundreds of pounds but I didn’t change my lifestyle. I was living my life unconsciously.”

4. Nagged by emotional hunger, she’d “eat and eat and eat to try to fill that void inside me. And you know what? Food will never fill it.”

5. She blamed her obesity for being passed over for a job promotion as well as broken relationships with her family and boyfriend. In retrospect, she said: “I wasn’t willing to be helped.”

6. Successful makeovers start when people say: “Today is when I take that first step …You’ve got to decide that you’re worth it, admit where you are and find your resources … and begin believing in yourself,” she said.