THEY LOST WEIGHT - AND YOU CAN TOO.

Byline: Jillian O'Connor Staff Writer

When Jeannette Darlington rushed to the emergency room last year to see not one, but both of her overweight parents, the experience turned her life around.

Her father had suffered a heart attack, and her mother a stroke. And all 50-year-old Jeannette could think was: ``That's me in 20 years.''

Forty pounds overweight, that's what it took to motivate her to return to the Weight Watchers plan she had flirted off and on with since she was 19.

For Terri Simmons, it was a tight size 24-26 T-shirt and a sudden realization that, at more than 300 pounds, the reflection of her face filled up a wall mirror.

``Now, I'd been livin' large forever,'' said Terri. ``I don't know why that day I looked and I thought, 'I can't buy one more piece of jewelry, I can't buy any more makeup, I can't get one more hairdo; I just felt like it was disgusting. And I had seen it all my life - but I didn't see it.''

That prompted the North Hollywood woman to call back a doctor who had been telling her of the success he had with patients losing large amounts of weight. Within about nine months, and after a lot of hard work, dedication and re-education on food choices, she dropped 125 pounds. Six months after that, she was a size 7 and had dropped a total of 182 pounds. And she's kept it off for a decade.

The women are among millions of Americans who struggle daily to control their weight. Nationwide, more than 60 percent of American adults are considered overweight. And last year, federal researchers announced that the health-care costs of obesity now rival those of smoking, with $92.6 billion spent in 2002 alone.

The Daily News dieters

We asked Daily News readers to tell us how they lost weight - and kept it off. Here, we profile three readers and their success stories.

Terri credits her success to learning to make smart food choices. When she first went back to the doctor, she wanted him to tell her what to eat. But he had other plans.

He said, ``I don't know what you're going to eat,'' she recalled. He told her, ``You're gonna go to the market, and you're gonna start reading labels, and you're gonna start educating yourself.''

And for Terri that began a long program of checking in weekly and dutifully recording in food charts every morsel she ate, starting out with a fairly simple plan under the doctor's supervision.

``The guideline I had was 1,200 calories, (three meals of) 450-400-350. I was to eat about 25 to 35 grams of protein a day, stay around 10 grams of fat a day, which is not difficult if you're watching.''

``It's calories in, calories out - and staying accountable,'' Terri said she learned. ``The reason why people get heavy is because they stop being accountable, they don't stick to any kind of plan, and they just stop doing what got them thin.''

To this day, 10 years after her massive weight loss, she completes daily charts, now with higher calorie allotments, and sends them over to a friend to keep herself accountable and for ongoing emotional support.

At 43, she's in excellent health. When she embarked on her plan under a doctor's care in her early 30s, she had a dangerously rapid heartbeat, borderline high blood pressure and was edging closer to diabetes. Today, at 136 pounds, she has no sign of these health problems.

Jeannette, who's now in the maintenance phase after dropping 40 pounds and moving down from a size 16 to a size 8 or 10 (depending on the clothing brand) in six months, has been keeping up with the recommendations of Weight Watchers on calories and exercise.

The West Hills resident gets the recommended exercise, too, visiting a gym for strength training and the elliptical trainer two or three times a week and taking long walks with her husband. She's even been able to drop her medication for arthritis pain since losing the extra pounds.

Like mother, like son

And adding to her built-in support system, her son has gotten on the program. Having a youngster to influence has helped keep her on track to set a good example.

``You know, 'Don't do as I do, do as I say' '' said Jeannette. ``That doesn't work,'' she said with a laugh.

Her son, Glen, has eagerly picked up the habit of keeping a journal and logging his food intake. But as the 19-year-old puts it, he owes it all to his mother's support.

``My mom has really been, to use the old cliche, the wind underneath my wings,'' he said. ``Although my mom would better put it as a tugboat pulling an oil tanker.''

Glen started the program after realizing he was close to the 300-pound mark when the family temporarily moved to a hotel, living on restaurant food, after some flooding at their house. Keeping a daily journal, he's managed to drop 61 pounds since January and is on track to lose even more through keeping his points down and attending exercise classes.

Though he said he recently hit a plateau, he's increasing his level of activity to work past it, which is much easier for him now because his 60-pound loss leaves him much less likely to get winded.

The Darlingtons are on the Weight Watchers Flex Plan, which Jeannette favors because they can eat mostly what they want while keeping track and staying accountable for whatever is eaten.

``I feel like it's a well-balanced, well-rounded, healthy program that I can stay on for a lifetime,'' said Jeannette.

How to deal with cravings

A common misconception of people trying to drop a lot of weight, said Terri, is that they'll suddenly lose their cravings one day, and she has found that simply does not happen - even after 10 years.

``My reaction to food has never changed.'' she said. ``Just the way I deal with it has changed, so I'm not obese anymore. But I still feel about food the same way I've always felt: Love it, want to eat as much of it as I can and find it very entertaining.''

Dr. Karl Kaplan, a physician and nutritionist who directs Weight Wise Medical Weight Management on the campus of Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, takes a particular interest in helping patients through the psychological aspects of obesity, which he views as akin to a food addiction.

``The two things I tell overweight patients when they come to me, that they heartily agree with, is No. 1, nobody wants to be fat; and No. 2 is this is not a disorder of the rational mind - it's an emotionally driven disorder.

``Obesity is really a side effect of the emotional need of the patient. What the patient is really hooked on is the mood change that they get from storing fat.''

Keep up the good work

Dr. Michael Hirt, who specializes in internal medicine and nutrition, points out that successful weight loss and maintenance is always going to be work, because being overweight is a chronic condition and doesn't end when pounds come off.

``You just have improved your health tremendously,'' said Hirt, the founder of The Center for Integrative Medicine in Tarzana. ``You're going to enjoy all the benefits of that, and like everything else that's good in your life, it requires hard work. Having a dog, a cat, a baby, a relationship. These things that are good are work.''

He finds, though, that when patients see they get results for their labors, most will continue to put in the effort.

One challenge in the struggle to keep off pounds is the constant presence of food in all human life and the need to dine away from home when portions for sale are gargantuan.

``You go to a restaurant, and they bring the food out in a wheelbarrow,'' said Jeannette. ``But you don't have to eat all that.''

Her solution to dining out? Get the soup.

Terri points out that because she's learned to be moderate while eating ``regular people food,'' like vegetables and lean meat without fatty sauces, she can find the right stuff wherever she goes.

But when she predicts she could feel tempted, such as on a vacation, she has a neat trick for staying thin.

``I wear incredible evening gowns,'' she said, ``things that I am poured into, things that I know that if I eat a huge meal, I'm not gonna fit in. There is nothing I own that is elastic, ever.''

With many who have lost a substantial amount of weight, maintaining the will to stay thinner is key. For Terri, 43, competing a couple of years ago in a figure-skating tournament in Burbank was the thrill of a lifetime - especially after her years of having been short of breath with swollen ankles and severe varicose veins. She came in fourth, skating to Barbra Streisand's ``How Lucky Can You Get.''

In 1997, she parlayed her intensive experience with weight loss into her own business, Monday Miracles, which helps obese men and women over the hurdles she knows they'll face on the way to getting healthier and slimmer.

Obesity is ``sad sometimes - it's a very, very painful, lonely disease,'' she said.

Terri passes on to clients the valuable lessons and support she received from the doctor who kept encouraging her as she relearned how to deal with food. ``I have control over it now. It's not controlling me anymore,'' she said.

CAPTION(S):

6 photos, 3 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Waist management

Readers share weight-loss stories

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer

(2) AFTER: At their West Hills home, Jeannette Darlington, 50, holds a dress that fit her before she lost 40 pounds, and her son Glen, 19, proudly pumps the iron that helped him drop 61 pounds. At left: mother and son before their weight loss.

(3) BEFORE (Jeannette Darlington)

(4) BEFORE (Glen Darlington)

(5) BEFORE (Terri Simmons)

(6) AFTER (Terri Simmons)

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

Box:

(1) Jeannette Darlington, 50, West Hills

(2) Glen Darlington, 19, West Hills

(3) Terri Simmons, 43, North Hollywood