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" Life changes are never easy. For Tabitha Antoniak, 34, it took two harsh blows \u2014 a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis in 2006 and, two years later, an end to her marriage \u2014 to make her gather her strength and confront the things that were really troubling her. Her weight then, 295 pounds, topped that list. Growing up in Omaha, Tabitha was an avid athlete. When she graduated from high school in 1998, she was 5&amp;#039; 5&amp;quot; and a trim 145 pounds despite having a huge appetite. &amp;quot;I could eat a pizza by myself,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;But I was young and active, and I burned it off.&amp;quot; That didn&amp;#039;t last. When she started college at University of Nebraska Omaha, her parents divorced, and Tabitha turned to food to cope. Busy with a full course load, a part-time job, and sorority obligations, she stopped exercising. By the time she quit school two years later, she&amp;#039;d compulsively eaten her way to weighing over 200 pounds. She got married in 2002, in Omaha, where she was working as a receptionist for a staffing company. Her husband had a physically demanding job and just wanted to relax in the evenings. So they&amp;#039;d sit in bed each night, eating food from Burger King or Taco Bell and watching TV until they both fell asleep. Diagnosis...and divorce In 2004, Tabitha&amp;#039;s eyesight started fading intermittently. &amp;quot;Suddenly, everything would get fuzzy \u2014 it was scary,&amp;quot; she says. Her mom had multiple sclerosis (MS), and Tabitha knew that this eye condition, called optic neuritis, was often a precursor to the disease. In MS, the immune system attacks the protective fatty sheath around nerves, which can lead to a loss of feeling or even function. But the tests for it were inconclusive, so Tabitha simply pushed those concerns away. About two years later, however, she developed an ache in one arm and some numbness in her hands and feet. When an MRI revealed MS&amp;#039;s telltale brain and spinal cord lesions, she says, &amp;quot;I was devastated and terrified. I&amp;#039;d seen my mom lose feeling on her entire left side for months at a time. I knew that any day I could wake up and be using a wheelchair for the rest of my life.&amp;quot; RELATED: 6 Women Lost 277 Pounds and Cut Their Risk for Heart Disease \u00BB Managing her disease \u2014 looking up treatments, getting second opinions, battling over the costs of medications \u2014 exhausted her. She was often numb from the MS and aching from the drugs \u2014 medications that were designed to slow the disease and its effects, as well as steroids, which put her appetite into overdrive. Tabitha&amp;#039;s weight shot up to 295 pounds. Then she discovered that her husband was having an affair. Though devastated, she still tried over the following few weeks to persuade him to stay. &amp;quot;He said, &amp;#039;Look, I&amp;#039;m not the guy who&amp;#039;s going to be pushing you around in a wheelchair,&amp;#039;&amp;quot; she says. Hearing everything her husband thought was unlovable about her \u2014 &amp;quot;It was a &amp;#039;Who&amp;#039;d want you?&amp;#039; conversation,&amp;quot; she says \u2014 was deeply humiliating. But there was something else that hurt even more. &amp;quot;I realized that I agreed with him,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;I didn&amp;#039;t like myself, either.&amp;quot; Back on track Living alone in their four-bedroom ranch-style home for the first time was frightening. Tabitha knew that if she woke up unable to move due to MS symptoms, no one would be there to help. But facing that fear began to give her strength. &amp;quot;I realized I had no one else. I had to take care of myself,&amp;quot; she says. With just her own needs to meet, she was able to make healthier choices regarding food (scaling back on junk) and free time (giving up TV in the bedroom). She moved into the apartment complex where her best friend lived, and the two became walking buddies, taking laps around a nearby lake and a local mall. And since depression can be a side effect of MS drugs, she decided \u2014 against her doctors&amp;#039; orders, but still under their watch \u2014 to go off all of them. Rather than worsening, her symptoms improved; whether this was due to having healthier habits or the sheer unpredictability of MS was impossible to know. But as Tabitha became more active and, over three years, lost 70 pounds, she felt healthier than she had at any time since high school. Most important, she hasn&amp;#039;t had new lesions since 2009. She believes that MS drugs can work, but that stopping was the right choice for her: &amp;quot;I knew anything could happen at any time, but I felt good, and I stopped being so fearful.&amp;quot;  Love, fitness, and business Early in 2011, when Tabitha&amp;#039;s life had begun to feel more manageable, she reconnected through Facebook with Bill Shimkus, a high school friend whose marriage had also ended. Over the next few months, they fell in love. Bill wanted to add muscle to his beanpole frame, so dates became side-by-side weight-lifting workouts and lakeside walks. They moved in together that summer, right when Tabitha&amp;#039;s office paid for everyone on staff to sign up with the Tony Dean F.A.S.T. Diet, a program based in Omaha. She weighed 214 pounds at the time. The diet&amp;#039;s rules were simple: 30 minutes of aerobic exercise, 64 ounces of water, and, for Tabitha, at least 22 grams of fiber every day, plus staying within a daily 1,000- to 1,400-calorie range. She began by walking before work, graduated to running, and interval training, then added in weight training a few days a week. She kept a detailed food journal, measured portions at work and at home, and e-mailed her numbers to Tony Dean every night as part of the plan. However, the key to her success was Bill, who agreed to be her coach. He got up at 5 A.M. for workouts, helped plan meals, and &amp;quot;held me accountable,&amp;quot; says Tabitha. &amp;quot;If I told him the number on the scale hadn&amp;#039;t gone down, he&amp;#039;d say, &amp;#039;OK, what do we&amp;#039; \u2014 always &amp;#039;we&amp;#039; \u2014 &amp;#039;need to change?&amp;#039;&amp;quot; By February 2013, she had shed another 84 pounds and had reached her goal weight of 130. Buoyed by her success and their shared passion for fitness, she and Bill took a leap: When the gym they frequented went up for sale, they bought it. Now Bill works there full-time, while Tabitha still has her job at the staffing agency, where today she&amp;#039;s director of business development. As for her MS, Tabitha has occasional aches and tingles. She&amp;#039;s convinced her weight loss and active lifestyle have helped slow the disease, but she knows there&amp;#039;s no guarantee she&amp;#039;ll remain healthy. Still, after losing 165 pounds and regaining her confidence, she feels that she can handle whatever comes. &amp;quot;The real me disappeared for a while inside that overweight, depressed body,&amp;quot; she reflects. &amp;quot;I reemerged as a positive, energetic person \u2014 and that&amp;#039;s who I really am.&amp;quot; Tabitha&amp;#039;s Top Tips:  Get competitive: A friend suggested I try a boot camp and said I could do it at a slower pace. Once I started, I became determined not to fall behind! Fuel your body: My post-run breakfast is a protein shake, a banana, and coffee. Control portions: Frozen diet meals make lunch easy. When I go out, if I can&amp;#039;t find anything low-cal, I ask for four ounces of chicken with no oil and a cup of vegetables. Get slow (cooked): I make Buffalo chicken in a slow cooker so dinner is waiting after work. We put it on low-carb tortillas or buns with low-fat cheese. Be flexible: If I eat a Snickers, I just trim calories elsewhere. Eat what you like: You don&amp;#039;t have to live on salad! Try new things until you find healthy foods you love. Buddy up: My boyfriend, Bill, and I anchor each other. If one of us gets off course with workouts, the other will say, &amp;quot;How can I help you find more time?&amp;quot;  Photo credits: Ashley Crawford Photography; courtesy of Tabitha Antoniak NEXT: &amp;quot;How I Finally Lost 150 Pounds&amp;quot; \u00BB "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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