NOTE: Yvette Ousley this week is filling in for Ellen Foley, who will return next week.
YVETTE, Editor of the Girlfriends' Guide: As one who turned to walking to lose weight after the delivery of my third child, I can tell you that walking works like a charm.

When I started, I was about 40 lbs. overweight. But, in a matter of months, I lost the excess weight by walking three to five times a week.

The results were considerable and people noticed. What’s more, walking calmed me, gave me energy, made me feel good and helped release stress and tension. Ironically, for the first 33 years of my life, weight gain hadn’t been a problem. My normal weight was always 125 lbs. to 130 lbs., my size a 6 or 7, and I always ate all the cookies, cakes and candy I wanted without it showing. I bounced back after my first child at 22 and my second at 32 .

But at 34, reality set in. I was married, coming off my third pregnancy, trying to juggle the demands of both and dragging big time. I needed regular exercise, but lacked the will or energy to do it.

I weighed 180 lbs. by the end of my third pregnancy. After delivery, my weight dropped a mere 13 lbs. to 167. Never one for aerobics or any other form of exercise, I returned to my job as a reporter here at the Daily News, and to my old cake and candy habits, and waited for the pounds to drop. They didn't.

I thought I could be content with my new size until the teasing from a colleague began.

"You’re eating again?" he'd ask each evening as he passed my desk. "Every time I come over here you’re eating. How much weight have you gained since you moved over here?"

I became very self-conscious about my weight. One day, I decided to do something about it. There was a treadmill in my basement that I’d never used. I purchased a Total Gym, and I was off.

Daily, I strapped my little boy into the baby swing with his bottle, placed my daughter in the playpen, and prayed that they’d each remain content until I finished my workout. First I’d stretch. Then, I’d do a two-minute warm-up, and I was off. In the beginning, I’d walk 20 minutes. Then, I began to vary my routine, walking and running for up to half an hour. Afterward, it was an eight-minute workout on the Total Gym. Simultaneously, I consumed eight glasses or more of water a day. I also counted calories and I cut candy, cookies, cakes, the four teaspoons of sugar for tea, the pound of butter on toast and the cream cheese on bagels from my diet. I replaced them with fruit, fruit drinks, dry toast, unsweetened tea and lots of great recipes from a book I purchased through Prevention Magazine. By spring, I had shed the pounds and was looking and feeling great.

You can be successful with walking too. Just remember that the key is consistency. Good Luck!

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