Transcript for How 4 relatives lost more than a combined 400 pounds
bodies for the new year. According to a Nielsen survey roughly one-third of Americans have made losing weight their resolution for 2019 and this morning we have some inspiration. Four members of the same family who each, each one of them dropped 100 pounds or more. They are featured in “People” magazine’s half their size issue and we’ll meet them in a moment. First a look at their story. For years Sarah and David Bentley struggled to maintain a healthy balance with food and exercise. My lifestyle consisted of eating out, ordering out all the time. For my kids that’s really what kind of kills me. I feel like I was living off the couch and, you know, I was just feeding them microwave chicken nuggets. I had no energy and knew I had to make a change. Reporter: Sarah’s kick start began with a 24-day nutrition jump start. I was able to learn how to read the back of labels and how to fuel my body. Reporter: David who was tipping scales at 350 pounds finally jumped in after watching his wife successfully change her habits for three months. I knew that she — if she was doing it and having success, I knew that I probably could too. Reporter: That positive mentality then stretched to Sarah’s parents, Debbie and Steven Hoffman. I had several friends told me they were afraid I was going to die, I was 270 pounds. I could barely walk. I had high blood pressure. I was morbidly obese on my charts. Reporter: Sarah says it’s brought them all closer. It be a part of giving them back a quality of life is the reason why I continue to do what I do. Amazing. We are joined now by “People” magazine editor Zoe Ruderman. Thanks so much for having me. I love this issue so much. How do you find these people. We’ve been doing it for 17 years now so these days they reach out to us. They’ve read the issue in the past and have their own stories. Sometimes they’re inspired by the issue so this family reached out to us and it was obvious from the start we had to feature them. Yes, obviously and I spend a lit time with them backstage. Talk about energy. So inspiring. So inspiring. Y’all want to meet them? Okay. First of all, let’s take a look at their pictures before. Beautiful family. There at the wedding and now here they are. Come on out. Look at you. Sarah, you got your hands full. I know. You were the catalyst. Yeah. I was. How did you pull this off? I think in 2013 was like my breaking moment. I have two beautiful children and I knew that the lifestyle that we were living, we had to change it. You know, it was very unhealthy. I wanted better for them and I also was tired of going to the beach wearing a shirt and shorts over my, you know, bathing suit and not getting in the water with them so I think that was my defining moment. You know what’s great about this, no surgery whatsoever. Right. The fact that — You in the very beginning it was all about diet. It wasn’t even exercise in the very beginning? Exactly. We focused mainly on nutrition. Supplementation and we also focused on sleep, stress, you know, all of these play a part in our overall health so — It wasn’t extreme. You made changes that everyone could do which I think is so inspiring. Very realistic. Reading labels. Reading those labels is so key. Exactly. Next to you, you started off and he’s like, that’s nice, honey, I’m not going to — Yeah. What was the turning point for you. It wasn’t my time when we first started. Sarah is honestly she inspired me to start. You know, I was, you know, lazy, wasn’t really doing much but I saw her lose like 50 pounds and she’s what made me just like — I got to do secret. I don’t know how she did it because I was eating chicken wings and pizza. Most of the time if we’re goal orientated we’ll we’ll attack our goals and the other times we indulge. It has to be realistic. A family affair. Debbie and Steve, bless your hearts. Thank you, thank you. It’s a message. Debbie you went from almost needing a wheelchair to zip-lining and everything. Yeah. It’ll never happen again, but, yes. No, it’ll happen. No. So, yes, I was 270 pounds. I had serious health issues. I still do. I have autoimmune rheumatoid arthritis. I’m a registered nurse and could no longer work as a registered nurse. Very hopeless. I sometimes tear up a little bit because it’s very emotional. I was literally sitting in a chair all day. I didn’t want to live like that anymore. And I watched Sarah and I started at the same time as Dave and I lost 100 pounds and I’m — Can we put up on the Jumbotron the combined weight this family lost together? Can we put it up there for people? 457 pounds! Quickly, though, what is the constant theme for these stories. They made doable changes. It wasn’t from one day to the next I want to lose 100 pounds but sustainability. As they fed an 80/20 lifestyle focusing on understanding nutrition and surround yourself with people who want to support your journey. Team work makes it work. “People’s” half their size issues hits newsstands Friday. We’ll have more on “Gma” tomorrow.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.