"The compliments that people give me are amazing," Wendy says. "I see myself in the mirror every day and I feel so much more confident. I made huge changes to my body, and I'm glad I decided to change my hair and makeup, too. I think they were the final touches to help me feel more confident and have more fun."
Whether you're sliding into your skinny jeans with ease these days or they're relegated to the far reaches of your closet, you can probably agree: There are times when your weight and body image can feel like a serious struggle. Wendy Zehder is no stranger to that struggle.
"I have dealt with weight issues my whole life -- I still do to this day," she says. The 30-year-old production coordinator has a thyroid condition that slows her metabolism, making it difficult for her body to burn calories. What's more, Wendy has also struggled with depression and anxiety, which caused her to "stress-eat," she says. "I would cry after compulsively eating and ask myself, 'why did I do that?' Losing weight has definitely been a mental and physical obstacle for me.
"I've always been someone who's scared of change. I think that's why it took me so long to lose weight. I always just thought 'I'm going to be fat forever,' and it kept me from changing."
It wasn't until her junior year in college, when Wendy got on a scale and saw 160 pounds, that she realized she couldn't go on this way. "I could not believe it," she says. That's when she cut out junk food and started rollerblading to classes. And the weight began to come off.
"I lost 20 pounds and was feeling so much better about myself. Guys were noticing. Did I mention I never had a real boyfriend until my senior year in college?"
On her 30th birthday, Wendy weighed herself again, and this time the scale read 128. "I haven't been in the 120s since I was in junior high," she says. And even though Wendy is proud of her weight loss, she confesses, "I still have the fat girl syndrome. My friends always say to me, 'Are you ever going to see yourself as how you are?'"
When the editors at Total Beauty heard that, we introduced Wendy to our makeover dream team at the Warren-Tricomi Salon in West Hollywood, Calif.: hairstylist Nancilee Santos, colorist Chris Petroff, and makeup artist Liz Sender. Their mission: To play up Wendy's natural beauty and help her see herself as the gorgeous girl everyone else sees. Keep reading to see Wendy's weight loss makeover unfold �
