Losing weight the old-fashioned way: a number of people are still shedding the pounds without surgery and medication

AT an incredible 753 pounds, John Quarles of Clemson, S. C., was knocking at death's door five years ago. At 22, he collapsed from congestive heart failure, his body so heavy that an intensive care unit medical team could not lift him onto a stretcher. He had to endure a humiliating ride to the hospital on the ambulance floor.

Fortunately, doctors were able to drain 100 pounds of fluid from around John's heart and lungs. "I had an extreme wake-up call," he says. "I said, 'God, if You get me through this, I will do whatever it is You want me to do."

That wake-up call prompted Quarles to make the commitment to lose 500 pounds, and he has done so in the past five years, regaining better control of his health, which he says is a testimony to God's power to turn lives around. "I made up my mind and trusted God, and asked Him for the strength to get through it," says Quarles. "He put people in

It was a faith-journey that began with the idea losing weight the old-fashioned way--primarily with proper diet and regular exercise. He went from consuming thousands of calories of junk food daily to a 1,200-calorie diet of mostly fruits, vegetables, lean meats and lots of water. He works out two to three times a day with personal trainer Kenya Crooks, whose motivation resulted in Quarles losing 180 pounds in one year.

Today at 28, Quarles is down to 244 pounds. He plans to reach his target weight of 180 pounds this year. "I'm celebrating the fact that God spared me. I enjoy the little things the most--like looking forward to being able to get down on the floor and play with my kid rather than having to watch him, or going to a movie and being able to sit in the seat without turning to the side."

Quarles is a powerful example of weight-loss winners who shed pounds without surgery. Overall, 2 out of 3 adult Americans are overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control. And among African-Americans, obesity is reaching epidemic proportions.

Obesity is especially a problem among African-American teenage girls, even those with affluent and well-educated parents. The extra weight contributes to increased incidences of heart disease, stroke, hypertension and type 2 diabetes at earlier ages, according to medical experts.

"The fact that African-Americans are developing more weight-related diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and cancers suggests that we are not connecting the two issues--overweight and chronic disease," writes medical anthropologist Eric J. Bailey, author of Food Choice and Obesity in Black America: Creating A New Cultural Diet. "So we are not developing long-term solutions for these issues of overweight and obesity in our communities."

In Chicago, sisters Michelle Hassan and Angela Anderson shed close to 180 pounds collectively by motivating each other to drop the weight through portion control and regular exercise. "I was a size 22 and weighed 296 pounds," Anderson says. "Now I'm a size 14 and feel so much better. I was so huge I wouldn't look at myself in the mirror or take a picture. I didn't feel that I deserved to do what was best for me."

Her turnaround began one day when she noticed that her daughter seemed to be embarrassed by her size. "I felt that if I didn't start to take control, I was going to be stuck like this forever. I could see how I was affecting my daughter's self-esteem."

Anderson, a Chicago public school teacher, was almost 300 pounds when she began to execute her plan to lose weight. She began by purchasing a stationary bike and riding it religiously, drinking more water, taking a multivitamin and sticking to an 1,800-calorie diet. Anderson's weight-loss success inspired her sister Michelle to lose 30 pounds and trim down from a size 16 to a svelte size 10. "I didn't want to buy clothes anymore that were a size 16," Hassan says. "A few years went by and my clothes were wearing out, and I was still the same size. I changed my eating habits and stopped eating after 6 p.m. I switched from eating Italian beefs, drinking high-calorie mocha lattes and big sodas to drinking lots of water, eating salmon and having oatmeal for breakfast."

Hassan also hired a personal trainer to begin a regular exercise program, and she walked rather than drove her car as much as possible. When she had extra time, she worked out twice a day. After her trainer became unavailable, Hassan vowed to continue her weight-loss regimen, with a strategy that worked for her. She ate five small meals a day to avoid hunger, kept healthy foods with her to avoid cheating, and prepared meals on Sunday for the entire week.

Carrie Jones of Decatur, Ga., finally took the step to curb her weight after her husband, concerned about her size, gently told her the truth: "Peaches," he said, "a size 16 isn't cute on you."

After the birth of her third child, Jones weighed 223 pounds. "I was binging on soft drinks, fried chicken and cookies," she confesses. "I was eating burgers, wasn't active, and I was out of control. Deep down I knew I was uncomfortable at this weight, and when my husband, in a supportive and honest moment, told me my weight was unattractive, I finally decided I had had enough."