Cindy Reese helps people toward healthier lives as a hypnotherapist.
It marks the happy ending of a long journey for Cindy.
For most of her adult life, she struggled with her weight.
In pictures, she'd often hide the excess pounds or just refused to be photographed.
"I was always the one who said 'I'll take the picture, give me the camera,'" Cindy said.
Cindy says she didn't eat to live, she lived to eat.
"I'm nervous, let me eat; I'm bored, let me eat, you know, the traps that most people fall into," Cindy said.
After years of yo-yo weight loss, she discovered hypnotherapist Dr. Steve Rosenberg; he's known for holding group sessions for the Great American Smokeout.
And something clicked.
"The hypnotism helps you raise your awareness and change those things that were problems in the first place," Cindy said.
Healthier foods gradually started replacing bad ones and Cindy started moving more.
As the good habits took hold and Cindy dropped 50 pounds, going from a size 14 to a 4, she started thinking, "I would love to pay this forward."
She retired from teaching and became a certified hypnotherapist herself, specializing in weight loss, and helping clients stop smoking.
For clients like Jason Klein of North Whales, who had to lose weight after having a heart attack, Cindy's personal experience is a major asset.
"She has a very calming voice and the things that she says to me during our sessions are very heartfelt and they stick with me," Klein said.
"I've been where these people are, and I want them to know, it's not hopeless," Cindy said.
As for Merrill, Cindy says he's seen her transformation and is excited about her new career.
And one final bit of advice: Cindy says when she's tempted by food, she tells herself that nothing tastes so good it can replace feeling healthy.
