Detricia Woods-Meadows is living her best life.
She dropped almost 70 pounds and reversed her pre-diabetes as she walked her way into a new lifestyle.
The 51-year-old Pleasant Grove woman has walked 10,000 steps or more a day for almost a year with an online community rooting for her every step of the way.
"I just cannot say enough for this group," Woods said. "They are so doggone good. I love them. The encouragement is not phony from these people. It's, it's genuine, it's sincere and they really make you feel like you can conquer anything."
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
In May 2022, the death of two childhood friends prompted Woods-Meadows to evaluate her health. She was overweight and knew she needed to make changes.
She saw an article about Start Today, a Facebook group whose members encourage each other on their journey to better health. Woods-Meadows then a cousin to be accountability partners as they started a new walking routine.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
"I started all of this just walking inside my house, you know," she said. "I just made a path through my house that I would walk every day until I met my goal."
At the time, Woods-Meadows was 274 pounds. She started slowly and gradually got to 5,000 steps. After a couple of months, she went to see her doctor for her yearly physical.
"The doctor scared me half to death and told me I was prediabetic," she said. "I cried like a baby and I'm just like, look, we've lost family members to diabetes. I don't want that to be me, you know, like, what can I do? I wanna get this weight off. Once she told me that, I kicked it up in gear, I started like, I'm doing 10,000 steps a day."
That's also when Woods-Meadows started turning to the Start Today community more frequently. The online support from 140,000 members proved to be the motivation she needed to change. She added another 500 steps to her routine every few weeks to gradually build up to 10,000.
"I get on my treadmill every single day," she said. "On weekends, I do go to a park in Mesquite that I'll walk around. And my other little secret is me and Target are best friends. And I'll go in Target and I'll walk the entire perimeter of Target several times and then I'll go do my shopping. It's routine if I don't walk. I feel bad and it's like, it's second nature to me it's, it's like eating, you know, walking has to happen for me every single day."
She's now up to more than 15,000 steps a day and this month, she finished her first 5K in years, doing so in under an hour.
"I feel healthier," she said. "I feel more alive. I feel comfortable in my own skin. It fueled me to love me more, to love me a little bit more. I speak more positive things to myself."
Woods-Meadows has lost 69 pounds, and while walking gets much of the credit, she also changed the way she eats.
She doesn't like word "diet" because she doesn't want to be told what she can't have. Instead, she practices portion control regularly and immediately gets to-go boxes when eating out.
Her new approach is: "I can have it. I can't have it all. I can eat it. I can't eat it all."
Her biggest tip, however, may be one of the most challenging: putting yourself first.
"Love yourself enough to want to do this for yourself," she said. "It may seem daunting, too much effort..."
But Woods-Meadows is proof the change is worth it.
"It fueled me to love me more, to love me a little bit more love on myself more," she said. "I speak more positive things to myself. And just being able to shop for new things. To fit this new body in. It makes me love myself even more. It's not always a vanity thing, but it's an internal love that I'm having more for myself now ."
Woods-Meadows recently shared her story on the Today show. She has more goals to reach with the Start Today online community cheering her toward the finish line.
"You can't tear me away from the group," she said. "They're so motivating, so encouraging. They are like the biggest cheerleaders you could ever imagine."
Sign up for the free Start TODAY newsletter to join the challenge with Al Roker and receive daily inspiration sent to your inbox. Then, the Start TODAY Facebook group for tips and motivation, to connect with others following the plan — and to get real-time advice from trainer Stephanie Mansour!
