She's 85 lbs slimmer at age 80!

Sandra Cox turned a TGI Fridays app into soup that blasts 616% more fat and helps melt up to 25 lbs a week

- Allison Nemetz

"Your tests are clear, but I think you had a light stroke," said Sandra Cox's doctor. "We'll start you on low-dose aspirin. And let's try an antidepressant and something for pain. That should help you feel better." The Oklahoma grandmother furrowed her brow. Weeks had passed since she'd suddenly lost feeling on her right side. She'd been rushed to the hospital; there'd been scans, blood work, prescriptions. She was hoping for answers, not more bottles to cram in her overflowing medicine cabinet. "I really need more pills?" she asked. The doctor nodded and started to explain, but Sandra couldn't focus. There has to be a better way, she thought.

Driving home, Sandra’s mind drifted back over the decades. She’d been trying to eat better ever since her weight and blood pressure began creeping up in 1993. She’d done fads, shakes, South Beach. Once, she’d used a minister’s plan, fasting for 40 days. I lost 40 pounds that time, she recalled.

Yet somehow Sandra always found her way back to two-sandwich lunches and triple-starch dinners. Her size-24 clothes had grown snug, her blood pressure high even on meds. She had GI trouble, fibromyalgia, severe arthritis, constant strep infections. And I could have another stroke, she realized. Am I too far gone to change?

A cautious beginning 

A sense of hopelessness was settling over Sandra, when her son Charles and his family came for a visit. Charles proceeded not to touch the potatoes and pie she served. “They’re your favorites. What’s going on?” Sandra asked. Charles gave a sheepish grin. “Well, my pants got too tight, so I went on this diet,” he confessed. He said he was eating mostly meat, veggies and healthy fat—and he felt fantastic. “Good for you!” she said.