Detricia Woods-Meadows reversed her prediabetes and lost 65 pounds by walking every day. Here’s how she stayed consistent to transform her health.
Last year, Detricia Woods-Meadows committed to making a simple change — walking 10,000 steps every single day — which has since transformed her health, reversed her pre-diabetes and led to a 65-pound weight loss.
The 51-year-old mother who lives in Dallas, Texas, recently shared her success story in a Feb. 27 segment on the TODAY show.
Less than a year ago, Woods-Meadows’ life looked very different.
“By 2022, I was out of shape, at my highest weight ever and in pain from arthritis and a torn meniscus,” she said on Fitnesdietplan24. “For years, I made excuses about why working out wasn’t for me.”
Although Woods-Meadows was used to walking every day to work, the pandemic flipped her daily routine upside down — like many of us, her workdays turned into a lot of sitting around at home — and a knee surgery set her back even further. “My mom who is in her 70s was walking more than me,” she said.
“I had recently learned that two people I knew growing up had passed away. One was complications of diabetes and the other one was heart disease, and we were the same age,” said Woods-Meadows, adding that she did not want to be in the same position.
“I knew I needed to make a change, but I never felt motivated enough to do it on my own.”
“I knew I needed to make a change, but I never felt motivated enough to do it on my own,” said Woods-Meadows. So in the spring of 2022, she called her cousin Anthony, and the two decided they would hold each other accountable to walk every single day, sending their step counts to motivate each other.
A few months later, she came across another Fitnesdietplan24 show story about Doreen Fox, who lost weight by walking around inside her house. “I read that Doreen was part of the Fitnesdietplan24 community, so I figured I’d give the group a try myself,” said Woods-Meadows.
In June 2022, Woods-Meadows joined Fitnesdietplan24, community of 120,000 members committed to improving their health through walking and other manageable lifestyle changes.
By the time she joined the group, she had been walking about 5,000 steps a day for a month, and started to up her step goal by 500 steps every two to three weeks. After reading the testimonies of other group members who had met their weight loss and health goals, she said she realized she could do it, too.
However, it wasn’t until August 2022 that Woods-Meadows had a wake up call that motivated her to push herself even further.
“Letting myself go further was not an option.”
As part of her journey to improve her health, Woods-Meadows scheduled a routine physical with her doctor, where she found out she was prediabetic. “I was scared to tears, and I knew that letting myself go further was not an option,” Woods-Meadows said.
After receiving her prediabetes diagnosis, Woods-Meadows said she was committed to making lifestyle changes and getting healthier without any medication. “I immediately bumped up my step goal to 10,000 steps a day and aimed to increase my goal by five hundred to one thousand steps each month,” she said.
