Florida Mom Loses 60 Lbs. After Starting Sweet Side Gig as the 'No Sugar Baker' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Jayne Jones before and after her 60-lb. weight loss.Photo:Courtesy Jayne Jones

Courtesy Jayne Jones

Jayne Jones was always waiting for the weekend. A lawyer for nonprofits, she “worked like a fanatic” during the week and spent Saturdays and Sundays in her kitchen crafting sugary cookies, pies, and cakes. “I baked all the time,” Jones, 50, tells PEOPLE.

In the summer of 2019, Jones suddenly couldn’t keep food down. She thought she had a stomach flu and ended up in the emergency room two weeks later.

There, on her 46th birthday, she was told she had dangerously high blood pressure and blood sugar levels. “The doctor told me I wasseverely diabetic,that I hadtype 2 diabetes,” Jones recalls. “She told me I was inches away from a stroke.”

Jayne Jones before eliminating sugar from her diet.Courtesy Jayne Jones

At the time, Jones was 235 lbs. Weight had long been a struggle for her.

Jones completely changed her diet, focusing on low-sugar vegetables, lean proteins such as turkey, chicken and fish, and salads. She started walking at least 40 minutes a day in her pool or through her Sarasota, Fla., neighborhood. “If I don’t exercise,” Jones says, “my blood sugar goes up.”

Within three months, she lost about 30 lbs. Her blood sugar levels improved. “When I went to my doctor he said to me, ‘You don’t even look like the same person,'” she recalls.

One of her biggest champions was her husband Chris Beehler, 50.  “He’s been totally supportive,” Jones says. “He is pretty much sugar-free, certainly around me.”

Together their lifestyle became healthier than ever. “We are a team,” she says.

Jayne Jones.Courtesy Jayne Jones

One day she was at the grocery store and bought a couple of bags of a sweetener made from grape skins.

“I went home and made chocolate chip cookies and brought them over to my parents’ house. When they tried them they started to cry. I’m like, ‘Oh, dear God, are they that bad?’ They’re like, ‘They are so good — we’ve been waiting for this day since the day you got sick! Your energy is finally back and that smile is finally back.'”

Jones started experimenting with sugar substitutes — she’s a fan of Swerve — and began creating new recipes. Her total weight loss reached 60 lbs. within six months of her ER visit.

“I was feeling wonderful,” she says. “People said, ‘Your skin looks better, your hair looks better. And I was able to get a whole new wardrobe! I went from a size 22 to a 10.”

When COVID hit, her daughter came home from college with an idea: “She said, ‘You’re sort of like the no sugar baker. You should start that on social media.’ And just to make her happy, I created a blog calledNo Sugar Baker.”

Jayne Jones, ‘No Sugar Baker’.Courtesy Jayne Jones

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Since then, Jones has developed over 250 sugar-free recipes, which are all availableon her blog. In January 2023, she was invited on QVC to sell her frozen cookie dough, which sold out three times. It’s also available in more than 185 grocery stores in Texas and Louisiana, and she’s working to expand to other retail stores nationwide. Jones hopes to expand her business so her treats can be available in hospitals, nursing homes and schools. “In the hospital, they had no sugar-free food for me to eat,” she says. “It makes no sense!”

These days Jones maintains her weight loss through nutrition and daily exercise — and she loves to spread her sugar-free knowledge.

“Starting that blog, it had to be very authentic, I wanted to share what I learned,” she continues.

Jayne Jones filming for her blog, No Sugar Baker.Courtesy Jayne Jones

And along with her healthy cookie ideas, she also has a recipe for success: “You can’t give up. If I can go cold turkey, become sugar-free, and be healthy, anyone can.”

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source: people.com