Dee McCaffrey is a organic chemist, visionary, author, philanthropist, and nutrtion missionary.

She explains her story this way:

My mother tells me that when I was a little girl, people used to ask her if she was feeding me enough because I was so thin, but I don't remember a time when I wasn't overeating and overweight. I started gaining weight at the age of nine, and I was overweight until the age of 31. That was the year my parents divorced, and I began eating to avoid feeling conflict, comforting my fears, and suppressing anger over a situation with which I had no control. My trip to the corner store after school to buy candy was the highlight of my day. I remember sneaking slices of bread or chunks of salami and hiding in my room to eat them. Eating made me forget about the emptiness I felt when my father left, and unconsciously food became my principal source of happiness.

As early as fifth grade, I refused to wear dresses to school because I didn't want the boys to make fun of my fat legs. In high school, despite playing on the tennis team (which I was good at and really wanted to do), I continued to gain weight. Those were especially painful years, as I became more aware of what I was missing out on because of my weight. I never had a boyfriend and didn't attend my proms. I was quiet and shy and ashamed of my weight, so I related to food and books instead of my classmates. After graduation, I moved out on my own, and it was then that my eating and weight began to soar. By the time I was eighteen, I weighed 180 pounds.

As a young adult, it was baffling to me why I ate like there was no tomorrow. I had done it all my life and didn't know any other way. And sugary foods - donuts, pastries, cookies, candy bars, mint chocolate chip ice cream and anything else chocolate - these were the foods I loved the most. Also, I couldn't resist crunchy salty snacks like corn chips, potato chips, and popcorn. My meals were high in starch, sugar and fat. Bread, pizza, salami sandwiches, spaghetti, macaroni & cheese, and Dr. Pepper were staples throughout my 20's. Nary a vegetable or a piece of fruit passed my lips. Peanut m&m's were my favorite. I could inhale a whole one-pound bag in an evening.

My first attempt to lose weight began at the age of nineteen the beginning of a series of failed attempts. My story is typical.  I never lost enough to reach a healthy goal weight, and I always gained back more than I lost. By my late 20's I finally gave up trying to diet and my weight hovered steadily over 200 pounds. I'm 4'10" with a petite body frame, so that's twice the weight of what someone my size should weigh!

One day in February of 1992, overstuffed from a super-sized lunch, I ransacked the cupboards looking for something more to eat. I found some old, stale candy from the previous Halloween that I didn't even like. As I sat on my couch eating this disgusting candy, it occurred to me that something was seriously wrong with me. In that moment, I had a vision of myself as an old woman nearing the end of my days wishing for a life that could have been. I saw that I had been an observer standing on the sidelines watching my life go by and not participating in it.

For as long as I could remember, I had let my weight hold me back from being my true self and pursuing the things in life that I knew would make me happy. I was so afraid of people, yet inside I longed for intimacy and friendship. I was shy, quiet, and ashamed of my weight. I did not actively seek out people as friends because I felt that no one would like me because I was fat. My obesity stripped me of my self-esteem, talked me out of taking risks, imprisoned me in isolation, and robbed me of my identity. The fat kept me from believing in myself and diminished my spirit. I felt trapped by my weight and I was in a state of hopeless despair.

Nothing about my life changed that day, but a month later I had what can only be described as a profound inner change. I reached an epiphany and the day came when the desire to remain the same was more painful than the risk to grow. I was on a field trip in college that involved hiking up a very steep hill. For some reason I thought it would be easy, never mind the fact that I smoked a pack of cigarettes every day, and by this time I was at my top weight, which had climbed to somewhere over 210 pounds. It was more than a struggle to pull my fat body up that hill. My legs were hurting, my heart was pounding, and I could hardly breathe. I was filled with shame and humiliation when I realized how out of shape my body was and that I could not keep up with the other people. I felt as though they were all looking at me, waiting for the fat girl to get to the top. Then I was afraid I was going to die, if not on the side of that hill, then soon.

Miraculously, I made it to the top. I walked over to join the rest of the class and when I got there, my foot slipped out from under me and I fell flat on my rear. I was filled with humiliation and embarrassment, and I turned my head and looked away from the crowd. At the top of the hill, looking out over the beautiful San Francisco Bay, I felt like the lowest thing on earth. Suddenly, a wave of realization overcame me. It stripped denial from me; life stood starkly in front of me, demanding my attention. I looked at it for what seemed like a long time and I wanted to cry. The physical condition of my body was symbolic of how I had let everything in my life get out of control. I had let this happen. I was horrified.

When I returned home from the hiking trip, I deadened my pain by once again eating myself into oblivion. Each time I relived the hiking trip in my mind, I heard a voice coming from somewhere deep inside me. The message was loud and clear: CHANGE YOUR LIFE OR DIE. Those words frightened me and I turned to the only method I had ever known to cope with fear - I ate. And I continued to eat until the pain of overeating was worse than the thought of having to change my life.

Then on April 3rd, 1992, something shifted inside me. I cannot describe how I got there, but I finally gave up the struggle. Instead of dieting, I started learning and living. I began to believe in myself and became committed to making my dream of losing my excess weight come true. For the first time in my life, I took responsibility and became accountable to myself by measuring my food at every meal and keeping a record of everything I ate and how I was feeling.

I began to educate myself on nutrition. I read, with enthusiasm and vigor, book after book on nutrition, body chemistry, food combining, metabolism and more. From all of this reading and with the help of my organic chemistry background, I developed my own healthy eating plan and followed it like my life depended on it. I stopped eating all of the foods that had historically been problems for me. These included anything made with sugar and refined carbohydrates, fatty foods, processed foods, fried foods, alcohol, and caffeine. I started eating things I never liked before, such as fresh vegetables and fruits, unrefined whole grains, lean poultry and fish. I never felt so much freedom around food before in my life. It seemed ironic, but once I introduced discipline into my food choices, I was free to enjoy eating rather than being a slave to it. Because there was structure and discipline around my eating, I was able to put food in its proper perspective.

Although I enjoy my meals, now I eat them to nurture my body and spirit, not in response to my emotional fluctuations of the day. Planning my meals ahead of time allowed me to learn how to separate food from feelings. The eating plan became my anchor - the one steady constant in my quickly changing life.

Walking became my mode of transportation on the road to healthy living. I started with slow and short walks, and rapidly worked my way up to brisk, aerobic 60 minute walks. I took my walks alone because I used the time not only for exercise, but also for contemplative thinking. Walking helped to build and strengthen my body as well as to build and strengthen my relationship with myself. It gave me the spiritual nourishment and energy to change and reshape my life. As the days, weeks, and months passed, I watched my shadow get smaller and smaller, and my spirit grow larger and larger.

Another discipline instrumental to my weight loss was the practice of writing and journaling. This enabled me to identify the emotions that were associated with my eating. I learned that the discomfort I felt when dieting, that sense of deprivation, was not about food and never had been. I had to write to find out what in my life was so painfully absent and what certain foods represented in my emotional life. For instance, one time after I binged on a big bag of popcorn, a good friend suggested that I write down everything I could remember about eating popcorn. It was through this exercise that I was able to identify my emotional attachment to popcorn.

When I was a little girl my mother used to make enough popcorn to fill a grocery bag when our family sat together to watch television. Mom was always happy, and when mom was happy, the mood in the room was loving and safe. At a young age, I associated that big bag of popcorn with mom being happy and the family being close. Several years later after my mom and dad had divorced, there was tremendous pain in the family.

During my troubled teen years, I only knew that eating popcorn gave me a good feeling, and I had subconsciously disassociated from the original emotional ties that had initiated those good feelings. The taste and smell of popcorn went straight to my heart, so whenever I was around it, I immediately wanted to eat it. When I dieted and didn't allow myself to eat popcorn, I felt so deprived. Eventually, and without fail, I would then binge on huge amounts of popcorn. In reality, I was looking to recapture the love and closeness from those days of old. That was what was truly missing in my life, not popcorn. From then on, whenever I craved a particular food, I did this particular writing exercise to help break the emotional attachment. Over time, although slowly, I was able to free myself from these attachments. One by one, I worked hard to identify my weaknesses and erase the conditioning that trapped me for so long.

It took me a little more than a year to lose the 100 pounds of excess weight. I went from a size 22 to a size 4! I realized two of my lifelong dreams simultaneously. First I finally reached my goal weight, 108 pounds. Second, I graduated from college, the first female on my mother's side of the family, and the first ever on my father's side. Both of these dreams were such milestones, because I never believed that either one of them would come true. I did not begin college until the age of twenty-six, and it wasn't until my last two semesters, while I was in the process of losing the weight and changing my life, that I was able to focus and excel in my course work.

The unwavering belief in myself, the commitment to a daily eating and exercise regimen, the release of those awful emotional attachments, and a deep sense of wholeness gave me confidence, self-esteem, and a freedom from shame and humiliation. Even over a decade later, it is still a conscious choice to eat healthy food and exercise every day. I still write out my feelings, and I continue to work on my personal growth. My life before losing weight was all about unfulfilled desires. I wanted to perform and dance and sing; I wanted to have a wealth of friends and acquaintances; I wanted a fulfilling profession; and most of all, I wanted to be comfortable just being in my skin.

Over the years, I have achieved all of those things and so much more. I have come into my own, reclaiming and enhancing my true self that was buried so deeply for so many years. There have been many ups and downs in my life, and I have not succumbed to finding comfort, celebration, or relief in excess food. I endured the pain and devastation of divorce from my first husband, financial scarcity, three major moves, a serious illness that left me hospitalized, two miscarriages, and four family deaths. I also relished in the excitement of dating in my new body, falling head over heals in love, and marrying the man of my dreams. I have witnessed the wonderment and awe as my creative talents and abilities completely came to life. From writing poetry to singing and performing in community theater, from leading and facilitating workshops to writing and directing plays, I am now living the life I had only dreamed of. And I have come to know the deep connection of true friendship and intimacy and now feel worthy of it. I have learned that there is wisdom, friendship, and profit in just being real; that who I am is good enough and the whole world is invited to see and connect with me.

Now, I feel a deep sense of responsibility to bring hope to others who suffer as I once did. Early in my weight loss process, I discovered that I have a passion for helping others with their own weight and food issues. This passion eventually led me to broaden my education in holistic nutrition, and drove me to expand my professional work as an organic chemist to include being a nutrition and weight loss counselor. I now teach nutrition and weight loss classes and provide one-on-one diet counseling. My intention is to create a space for change, to educate and enlighten others on the value of holistic nutrition, and to support them in their transition to healthy living.

What started in my early years as a hollow desire to be thin has become so much more than I would have ever prayed for on that fateful day overlooking the San Francisco Bay. Although I would never wish it on anyone else, I'm grateful for my experience as an overweight person. It has given me compassion for others, it's kept me mindful of where I could be again, and it's allowed me to more fully appreciate my life and my relationships with others.

Outside the walking and the mental tools that I developed, eating processed-free and following the tenets of Plan-D helped change my life.

So, don't give up. If I can lose half my weight and keep it off to this day for over a decade, you can too. Read on, stay committed, and enjoy the beautiful life you have and the even more beautiful life that is yet to come.