Workplace 'Biggest Loser' inspires Deer Park mom of 2 to lose 56 pounds

Susan Quinn
Occupation: Cashier at May Moore Elementary School
Before 235 lbs.; After 179 lbs.

A workplace version of TV’s "Biggest Loser" is the start Susan Quinn, 50, of Deer Park, needed to lose weight, though she didn’t know it at the time. A co-worker had been pestering her to join the program with him. “I just told him, take my $20. If I lose just 5 pounds, I’ll be happy,’” Quinn says.  

“After having my kids (now ages 13 and 16), I just kept getting heavier and heavier. There was no real family history there. The weight just crept up over the years,” says Quinn, who added that she dreaded, among other things, buying clothes and having her picture taken. “I would always hide behind people in pictures,” says Quinn.

The competition weigh-ins were weekly and if anyone gained weight, they had to pay $1. Quinn says she lost some weight on her own but after the first month, she joined two co-workers who had signed up for Weight Watchers’ points-based Freestyle program. The program has a daily point allowance and a list of 200 zero-point foods. Quinn says she lost 7 pounds the first week and got super motivated. She lost an additional 34 pounds and went on to win the competition in June, pocketing $324, which she used to buy herself a Pandora charm bracelet. She also bought the 50 charm that represented both her weight loss and her age.

Quinn says she’s now comfortable in airline seats on flights to watch her son’s baseball tournaments. “And with those photos, now I’m like, ‘Get me up front!’ ”

For breakfast, Quinn has two eggs and two slices of low-calorie bread with zero-point spray butter. Lunch can be a green salad with grilled chicken and raspberry walnut vinaigrette. Dinner options include a 6-ounce steak, broccoli or string beans and a baked potato. She snacks on sugar-free Jell-O chocolate pudding or individual snack bags of baked pretzels or baked multigrain chips. Quinn says she loves snack foods and couldn’t give them up. So she scans the UPC code to get the point value and incorporates the points into her daily allowance.

Quinn doesn’t exercise formally, but tries to walk 10,000 steps a day.

“You can do it without heavy exercising. My saying was, ‘Turn 50, lose 50.’ It's a lifestyle change, not a diet. Do it for you and your health. It's the best journey you'll ever take. You'll have hard days, but the good news is you can get back on track the next day.”