People magazine is featuring a Federal Way woman on the cover of its Jan. 13 issue as the publication celebrates the incredible weight-loss transformations of real people who went from heavy to healthy.

At her heaviest, 24-year-old Sharee Samuels of Federal Way weighed 256 pounds.

“I never remember being below 200 pounds. My parents encouraged healthy eating, but I would sneak food before they came home from work and after they went to bed,” she tells People. “At 17, I broke down shopping because I was so frustrated they don’t make cute clothes for teens in a size 24.”

Her turning point came in 2010 after studying abroad in Scotland, where she learned what eating healthy meant.

“Without all my favorite prepared American foods, I started eating vegetables and walking everywhere. When I came back, I lost 68 pounds. I never remember feeling so light,” she says.

Now, she has been teaching Zumba for four years and follows a vegan diet.

“In August I got married to my husband [Andre, 27], who also lost 93 pounds. Both of us are the fittest we have ever been!”

Samuels and other ordinary people, who lost a combined total of 3,086 pounds, share intimate details about their emotional weight-loss journeys and how they keep the pounds off in People’s 12th annual “Half Their Size” issue in a 25-page cover story.

For more information, visit www.people.com.