Arroyo Grande woman loses 160 pounds through diet and exercise

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At her heaviest, 324 pounds, Arroyo Grande Resident Jenni Andersen thought she was destined to be fat, so she never tried to lose weight.

"I was the laziest person in the world. I never got outside. I just ate a lot, you know, I liked food plain and simple," said Jenni.

But that all changed on her wedding day.

"When I saw my wedding photos I was humiliated and decided to make the change right then and there."

That was November 2009. Since then she has shed 160 pounds.

"It feels amazing. I walk with a whole new confidence," she said.

Make that runs with confidence. When she first started on her weight loss journey, she could not run 30 seconds without getting tired and stopping. Now she runs six days a week, six miles a day. She also put herself on the fast track to eating right.

"It's really all about what you put in your mouth. I was eating probably between 4,000-6,000 calories a day not even realizing it," said Jenni, who is now on a 1,200 calorie a day diet using a free app, My Fitness Pal, on her smart phone that helps her keep track of what she is eating and how many calories she is consuming.

She was also able to do it on a limited income. "I couldn't afford a gym membership so I used what was available to me." Jenni bought a decent pair of running shoes and started running in her neighborhood.

She will be the first one to tell you that getting to this point was not easy. There were times she wanted to quit and that is when her family kept her going. She even had baby Max along the way who is now seven-months-old.

"It gets hard, you want to quit. You hit a plateau...but I didn't start by saying I have to lose 180 pounds. That's a lot of weight. I set small goals. I started with losing 40 pounds," she said.

Her new goal is to lose another 20 pounds by Halloween, bringing her total weight loss to 180 pounds.

You can follow Jenni on her Facebook page, Journey with Jenni, where she lists all kinds of advice and low calorie recipes.