Heather Haouchine presses "play" on a tape of the Today Show. Her four-year-old triplets respond in chorus, pointing to the screen: "There’s Mommy!"
Two years ago, Haouchine sat in her new house, without energy, afraid to go out in public, and overweight. Now, after two years of hard work, with the support and confidence gained from Weight Watchers, she has become a new person -- energetic, active. She not only started to leave the house, she won a national award from Weight Watchers that lead her to New York City and a spot on the Today Show on Sept. 12, showing the nation how she lost 123 pounds, and went from then to "Wow!"
Haouchine was one of four applicants selected out of thousands of nationwide applicants in Weight Watchers’ "Then & Wow!" contest. The story of how she got there certainly deserves a "Wow."
Haouchine says she was always overweight as a child. Before getting married, she weighed 311 pounds. Weight Watchers in Massachusetts helped her lose over a hundred before her wedding -- no small feat. But a bigger challenge came when she gained 150 pounds while pregnant with triplets. Shortly after her babies were born, she moved to Middletown, where she knew no one and felt "very isolated." She stayed at home, while her husband worked a new job.
"In two years, I met no one, did nothing, and never once left the triplets," she wrote in her contest application, "I felt trapped." Suddenly, however, she decided she had to change. She decided her two-year-old triplets would soon be looking to her to learn eating habits. "I was determined to be the best role model I could be," she said. She got out of the house and found Weight Watchers in Cromwell.
With the "supportive atmosphere" of the Weight Watchers group, Haouchine lost 123 pounds, and has kept a stable, size two, weight for months after. Now she’s a role model, not only to her kids, Olivia, Isabelle and Jonathan, who attend Weight Watchers meetings with her, but for other women across the nation feeling "trapped" by their weight.
Haouchine says her new lifestyle -- eating the same things, but staying active and eating less -- has filled her with energy. "Now I’m a cheerleader for my kids, instead of them being cheerleaders for me." She says she stays fit by walking to the supermarket, playing with her triplets, and making two-story treks to the basement laundry room instead of using hampers in the house.
She says Weight Watchers has filled her with confidence, and urges other to join. "If someone’s sitting on the sofa, I want them to get up and walk through the door," she said, gushing with enthusiasm. "I want them to feel how I feel."
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