How These Women Each Lost 100 Pounds and What They’re Doing to Keep It Off

— -- After Gillian Faith’s third pregnancy she knew she had to take control of her life and make some major changes.

Faith realized that she was truly addicted to food. She hid it, hoarded it -- and even sprayed her car to mask the odors.

“I resigned myself to being a chubby mummy and thought that’s what you did when you have kids,” she said. “I needed to stop being a bystander and that was what I had been for several years. And to be a role model and I had not been that for several years....”

Today, there’s not even a hint that the now-body builder once tipped the scales at 220 pounds. Through diet and exercise, she was able to drop 110 of those pounds.

Faith’s weight loss success -- along with that of others who have each lost 100 pounds or more -- is chronicled in a special issue of People magazine.

“I just need to stress anyone can lose weight. In order to keep it off and be successful at keeping it off you must truly understand why you gained the weight in the first place,” Faith said.

Alex Perrineau knows that well. The 22-year-old acknowledges that she loved to eat -- fast food, candy, large candy bars, juice and fries.

“Everything extra-large,” Perrineau said of the serving sizes she would consume.

She eventually ate her way to weighing 310 pounds, but her life changed with she walked into a Jenny Craig weight loss center.

“I went from eating extra-large stuff to eating portioned food and much smaller. It was complicated,” she said.

Then she started walking, and then she took up running. It all helped her drop 142 pounds.

“I’m pretty sure there’s other young people who want to lose weight and you need a little motivation. I think my story can be motivation for someone who’s wanting to lose weight. Just looking for that inspiration,” she said.

MacKenzie Walker, 16, found the inspiration that helped her to lose more than 100 pounds. The high school student, from Windsor, Ontario, changed her diet and turned to Instagram to document her progress. The teen told “GMA” she drinks one gallon of water each day and relies on High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) for exercise, along with lifting weights.

MacKenzie’s favorite foods include lean meats and Greek yogurt for protein and she said she chooses healthy carbs like oatmeal, sweet potatoes and rice cakes. She eats almonds and nut butters for fat and said her one cheat food is diet soda.

Rebecca Grafton is a 25-year-old saleswoman who lost 104 pounds after ballooning up to 246 pounds in college.

The Collegeville, Pennsylvania, resident said she eats “a ton” of vegetables and now instead of pasta goes for spiralized zucchini as a side dish for dinner.

Grafton also documents her weight loss on Instagram. She turns to barre classes, Zumba and workout videos -- including those by Shaun T. and Jillian Michaels -- for exercise.