Finally, after a conversation with her husband, Randy, Derrow decided it was time to make a change. "He looked at me and said, 'You get frustrated when friends talk about the same problem over and over again and never do anything about it. I feel like that's what you're doing with your weight.' That really was a breakthrough moment for me," she recalls.
Inspired, Derrow began to clean up her eating. She dropped around 7 pounds, but then hit a plateau. Without the structure of an exercise plan, it was difficult to lose more weight. "That's when I heard about the Fit in 10 program," says Derrow. "I saw that Prevention was looking for women to try it out, and I loved the idea of getting in shape with just 10 minutes of strength training a day, plus guidelines for eating healthier. So I gave it a shot."
Within the first week, Derrow broke through her plateau and lost 3 more pounds. "My body responded quickly," she says. "This program showed me how simple it could be to focus on eating fresh, whole foods, and I found it really easy to squeeze in the 10-minute workout as a break from my computer, in the morning before my shower, or even right before bed. I could do it on my schedule, in whatever I happened to be wearing."
By the end of the 30-day program, Derrow had lost 10 more pounds and trimmed 7 inches off her belly alone. Her health improved, too. The acid reflux that had bothered her for years vanished, her nagging back pain disappeared, and at her last blood pressure check, she'd reached her lowest number ever: 100/60.
"The program has been life-changing for me," says Derrow. "It's made me feel hopeful that, even after menopause, it's still possible to lose a significant amount of weight by changing your diet and, even more surprising, without overworking your body. That's what I loved about the program—it wasn't hard and I wasn't hungry. I really feel like it gave me back control over my life."