Most people have a very hard time losing weight and keeping it off.

We all have experienced the ups and downs of weight gain and weight loss. But how do we lose that weight and keep it from coming back?

One woman shared how she successfully conquered that challenge.

‘It has to be a change in your mindset’ This Arizona woman shared her almost 160-pound weight loss success story.

“I was so heavy, couldn’t run, I couldn’t play with my kids, I had children I adopted, I wanted to participate …so I decided to lose weight.” Amy Sather explained.

The nonprofit organization Take Off Pounds Sensibly recently crowned Amy as their new Arizona and International Weight Loss Queen for losing the most weight of any individual in the group after dropping 159 pounds.

Amy has already been commended by various doctors and members of the medical community for her commitment to health and fitness.

“It has to be a change in your mindset, your health habits, how you look at food,” the president of her club Rick Danforth added.

Amy says her support system helped her lose weight.

“Having my friends to go work out and going to counseling to find out why I am doing so much binge-eating and setting up my mind for success,” Amy added.

It was the emotional changes that made everything possible for her to live her life in a way that she had never been able to before.

“I wasn’t active, I didn’t have an active lifestyle,” Amy said.

“I’m entering 5Ks now, and I’m getting medals and hiking 4, 5 miles, kayaking – my life is different going to the lake with kids. I have more friends because when I changed my mind and lifestyle, I gained a lot of good friends on this journey.”

more: FOX 10 Phoenix