Stories about us: Weight loss helps Clovis woman become better mom.

It wasn't just that Laura Araiza's lacking health habits left her "feeling tired of feeling tired." 

Rather, this lethargy festered into her not being the parent she wanted to be for her four kids.  

She couldn't play with them. She was "sad all the time." And was prone to snapping.  

"They weren't getting a good side of me," said Araiza, a native of Clovis and stay-at-home mom.  

It all came to a head on a family vacation last summer. 

While at a water park in Dallas, Araiza felt crushed that she didn't have the energy to go on any rides with her kids.  

"I was like, 'Y'all go have fun. I will sit here and I will watch y'all have fun,'" she said. 

But it wasn't fun. Quite the opposite really.  

"I felt bad," she said, fighting back tears. "It was like, 'I should be able to sit with my kids. They're asking me to ride the rides. And I couldn't.'" 

Enough was enough, she thought.  

So, she dialed up Ashleigh Cooper, a local fitness trainer and nutritionist. But she wasn't confident results would come. Instead, projected it would be step one of that painfully familiar cycle:  

Motivation to change. Nothing but salads and vegetables for a month. A scale that didn't move much. Then the frustration that led to a crash and a return to old habits. And on and on it went.  

"Forget this," she'd think. "Back to eating my desserts and my beans, rice, tortillas." 

This time, however, was different.  

With the help of a nutritionist and trainer, she had guidance and a support system. 

Instead of a vegetable-only eating regimen, she was suggested a balanced array of protein, carbs and fruits. Furthermore, she was given an endless supply of accountability, wisdom, empathy and encouragement.  

As a result, working out became enjoyable – not a punishment.  

Araiza said her kids quip to her that she lives at the gym now.  

"My 4-year-old, I take her to the gym with me, and she likes to pretend she's working out with us. And so she turned around and was like, 'Mom, we worked out. We worked out because we want muscles to be strong," Araiza said. 

And 45 pounds lost later, Araiza found herself back in Dallas this summer at that once forsaken water park. Before, it was a reminder of the parent she wasn't. Now, it's become a sign of the parent she's become.  

"I actually got on a water slide and went down with them," she exclaimed. "It was fun. It wasn't just me standing there, seeing them have fun."