After 18 years of marriage and weight struggles, it wasn’t until returning from a vacation last year that the Motons took their health seriously. “We looked at our pictures and we did not like what we saw,” said Jackie Trapps-Moton, 46.

Joe Moton, at his heaviest weighed 420 pounds. and Jackie weighed in at 276 pounds.  Here's their story.

Q: What was the most difficult change you made when deciding to lose weight?
Jackie: The biggest thing we learned was how to cook things differently.  Traditionally, everything we ate was fried.  But now we bake, grill, broil - we don’t fry anything. 

Q: Joe, as a man were you hesitant about dieting?
A: I’m the most non-dieting person you’d ever meet.  I saw it as something women do. But, I had to get real about food.  There was a problem.

Q: What are some cultural issues African Americans deal with when losing weight?
Joe: We think it’s too expensive to eat healthy, when that’s far from true. 
Jackie:  We tend to think the food is not going to taste good.  But I was surprised that everything I made from alli (the diet plan) tasted great and it looked healthy.

During our hour long conversation, the Motons touched on everything from having to pull one another back from the fridge to learning how to be content from eating rather than over eating.  Both have committed to an exercise regimen and it shows.  Jackie lost 54 pounds and Joe has gone from a 52 inch to a 42 inch waist.  And, the couple says they’re not going back. 

“What it really came down to is we wanted to change the outcome of our lives, we want to live for our grandchildren,” Joe said.

In the interest of full disclosure (you knew we'd say this)... The Moton's weight loss results and experiences may not be typical of all users.