"My favorite thing about our weight loss is that we did it together," says Tricia Hensley

Colorado Couple Loses More Than 200 Lbs. Together After Ditching Monster Burritos and Soda

Before Tricia and Nick Hensley began their weight loss journey, they would eat out three or four times during the week, and for nearly every meal on weekends.

The couple from Grand Junction, Colorado, tells PEOPLE their favorite cuisine was Mexican — and they didn’t skimp on their order.

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“We have this drive-thru restaurant that’s open 24 hours,” Tricia, 37, says. “So we’d get this really large burrito that they made with pork, beef, chicken, shrimp, potatoes, and it’s really big, and then we’d each have a cheese quesadilla, and churros. It was crazy.”

Once 278 lbs., Tricia says she and Nick, who weighed 265 lbs. at his heaviest, would also routinely order pizza.

“We’d get two large pizzas, two orders of the bread, hot wings, the dessert — two different kinds of dessert because you can’t just choose one — and then soda, of course. We would consume four cases of soda a week at home, and more while out.”

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Their lives changed in 2017 after winning a raffle to join Jenny Craig for a year.

Each week they received seven days of planned meals, including breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, and they incorporated their own fruits and vegetables throughout the day.

“All the work’s done for you, so all I had to do was follow the menu, which was great because I’m really good at having a plan and focusing on it,” Tricia says. “I did not deviate at all from the menu. I had tunnel vision. I was seeing my chart go down, and I could see it in photos.”

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Nick, 36, says during the holidays they would bring their own Jenny Craig-approved food to festivities to avoid the temptation to indulge.

To drop more weight, Nick and Tricia, who once called themselves “couch potatoes,” added walking to their routine.

After a year, Tricia lost 149 lbs. and 87 inches, while Nick has lost 87 lbs. — and they’re both able to not only hike, but run.

“I can totally touch my toes whereas before I couldn’t even see them,” Tricia says. “I can bend and tie my shoes, and shave my legs without needing Nicholas’s help. I mean, the tiniest things.”

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When the couple of 14 years look at old photos of themselves, they can’t believe their progress.

“I never really thought of myself as being overweight or big like that until seeing the pictures now,” Nick says. “Side-by-side with where I was and where I am. It is still kind of shocking.”