Slim-Down Secrets: Rene Maxwell  38, Nashville   By Melanie
Dunea Discover the tips and tricks that helped these five women
lost weight  Special Offers  Starting weight: 189  Current
weight: 130  Pounds lost: 59  How long it took: 15 months  MY
STORY I've never been what you'd call thin, despite being
athletic in high school and college. The pounds piled on anyway
because I'd come home from practice and inhale junk food. I now
realize that I often ate to fill an emptiness inside.  MOMENT OF
TRUTH My life changed in March 1999, during a game of pickup
basketball with my husband. I faked one way and moved the other
and--pop--I heard a snap. It was my ACL [one of the major
ligaments connecting the bones to the knee joint]. During the
year it took me to recover from surgery, I did almost nothing--
and gained 40 pounds. Once the doctor gave me the go-ahead to
exercise, I went nuts. During lunch, I hit the gym to lift
weights; on morning and afternoon breaks, I'd climb six flights
of stairs; at night, my husband and