50 Times People Surprised Everyone By Losing So Much Weight They Looked Like A Different Person (New Pics)

It took 2 years - but they flew by! I went from 336 to 158 lbs. I was fortunate that my only health concern at that time was high cholesterol, which has completely resolved with weight loss. I went from a size 24/26 down to a 10!

One thing that hasn’t changed between now and when I started my weight loss journey is that face I make trying to squeeze in those last few reps haha. Another thing though is my work ethic and persistence. Through all the success and failure I encounter throughout my journey I always try my best to move forward and keep grinding.

Lost more weight or progressed faster than you were expecting one week? Great! Let’s keep working. Gained weight or fell off track on your diet and/or exercise? That’s alright. It happens. Get back up and keep working. There’s nothing wrong with rewarding yourself when you’re doing good or better than expected, but don’t let rewarding yourself turn into making bad decisions that may set you back since you are ahead or feel you deserve it.

Same goes for when you aren’t doing so great. Don’t let that turn into more poor choices but rather let it give you more purpose to get back on track and stay focused. Easier said than done but those are 2 things that you will definitely want to follow to stay on the right path in the long run.

I never had a weight problem until I reached adulthood. I struggled with losing weight for nearly a decade. After continuing to have limited results with popular diets and fads, I started doing research into bariatric surgery in 2013.

I started out with watching a lot of videos online from people who had the surgery. Many of them stated that the “mind games” are the hardest to overcome after surgery. I decided to start seeing a counselor who specialized in food addiction in hopes that he’d be able to give me tools and tips on how to overcome head hunger. I continued to see my counselor for the next four years while also continuing to research everything I could about the surgery. During that time I made a lot of progress and was starting to learn how to love myself again. He and I both felt that I was as ready as I could ever be to finally have bariatric surgery.

I went to my local hospital and attended a few seminars about the surgery. After meeting with a surgeon, he also believed that I would benefit from the surgery so he submitted a request to our insurance to see if they’d cover it. And of course they didn’t. I was shattered. I was 5’1″, 230 pounds, pre-diabetic, and my blood pressure was steadily rising as my weight increased. My local hospital submitted the request 2 more additional times to try and push it through, but they had no luck. I thought that this was the end of the road for me because I’d never be able to pay over $25,000 for the cash price in town. I, then, decided to try and research the cash price for the surgery in every other state that I could. Time after time, the price was too high and I couldn’t afford it. So, I gave up.

A few months went by and I had a friend tell me that she heard of a surgical procedure that they do in Mexico. She said they insert some sort of device into your arm and added me to a group on Facebook. Intrigued, I started to do some research. Turns out that she had added me to a different bariatric center support page. And it wasn’t a device that was inserted, it was actually “the sleeve” surgery that she didn’t quite understand. I followed the page for a few months and saw some positive reviews and some negative ones. But something didn’t feel right about that center so I stopped following the page.

In October 2016, I suddenly lost my father in law to a massive heart attack. His death wasn’t expected at all and hurt us terribly. He was young. Even though losing him was very painful, I do believe that his passing is what got me the most serious about my surgery. What would it be like for me in 20 years if I didn’t take care of myself now? Would I leave my kids behind without a mother? Then I thought to myself, “Maybe there IS a good surgeon in Mexico?”And that’s when I spent the next 6 months researching as many surgeons in Tijuana as I could. I kept hearing some really amazing things about one doctor in particular. And of course, his name was Dr. Ariel Ortiz. I focused my research on him and couldn’t find anything negative about him. That’s when I went to my primary care physician and told her that I was considering going to Mexico for my surgery. Obviously, she was reluctant but she promised me that she’d research Dr. Ortiz for me and let me know if there was anything I should be concerned about. A few days later she called me and said, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but he’s the real deal. From what I can tell, he’s a great surgeon. I’ll support you if you choose him.” And that’s what sealed the deal for me.

I had to figure out a way to pay for my surgery. I’m not a wealthy woman, but I was determined to find a way to make this happen. My husband is extremely supportive of my health, so we decided to sell our home and use the equity to pay for my surgery. We were committed to making this life change and turn our lives into a more positive direction. Finally, after researching this surgery for the past four years, I was able to walk into the Obesity Control Center and have the vertical sleeve gastrectomy performed by Dr. Ariel Ortiz and Dr. Arturo Martinez on June 26, 2017. This is the day that I started my life as a new woman. I followed my discharge instructions to the letter. I worked hard and focused on making healthy choices for myself and my family. I work hard every single day to be the best that I can be and to support my body in a nurturing way. In a little over 7 months, I lost almost 100 pounds. I am currently 121 pounds (almost 3 years post-op) and feel absolutely incredible. I went from a size 3x to a size small or extra small. I am now able to walk up a flight of stairs without struggling to breathe. I can play with my kids at activity centers. I can touch my toes and wear leggings with boots that are not wide-calf. I can go into a dressing room at any store and pick anything off of a shelf and know that it’ll fit and look good. This is just the beginning of the list of benefits that this tool has given me.

First of all i want to say thank you to all of you. I did not expect this to get this kind of attention and all of you were so nice and genuinely supportive. To the people who wanted to know my "method" i make this post, or to whomever want to know i suppose.

Before i started i was eating VERY unhealthy and that is not something that is easily broken, at least not for me. I was chugging down 1-2 liters of cola and crisps, candy food, every single day. i knew i needed to start counting calories because all the fad diets had not worked before. They do work if you stick to them but it is my belief that the diet that is right is the one that you stick too, however crazy. Now with that said.

In the beginning i ate burgers, for two weeks straight. two slices of toast, 90g hamburger, lettuce, egg and dressing. They were about 600-700 calories each depending on what dressing i used. I eat one of those two times each day at 15.00 and 20.00. At the time i also ate a small breakfast to sate me. I no longer do. I was used to greasy food therefor i ate greasy food just WAY less.

I have a lot of recipes that i have made since then that keep within 600 calories in one meal.

Its very important that you eat the same time every day. When the body is used to get food certain times it releases a hunger hormone. This is what makes you get hungry and if you ignore this and be hungry for a while that hunger goes away in about two hours or so. Its hard those tho hours but after you go back to normal kinda. So what i wanted to teach my body is to be hungry only those two hours a day. 15.00 and 20.00.

It was very challenging but i managed to succeed in this and that made it so much easier.

I also made way more filling recipes than the burgers such as wraps, salads and more. I am careful about nutrients in my food, since i eat so few calories i need to make the calories count so my body works properly and does not go into weird cravings mode.

Training:

I do not train like crazy. First of all its very hard when you are this heavy and i cant find the motivation all the time. I have a rule tho. Always 30 minutes at least of being active. Most times this is a walk and it usually is more but if i have just sat on my ass an entire day i need to go for a walk before i go to sleep.

Regular sleep is also important.

Some rules that i follow:

Never eat over 1200 calories each day unless you "saved up" calories from the day before.

NEVER drink calories, only drink water. Calories in drinks will not sate you but you will get fat.

Always be active every day for at least 30 minutes.

Get at least 7 hours of sleep each night at the bare minimum.

You don't have to go as low in calories as i do but be prepared that it might go slower.

Find things you like to eat that you can eat in relatively big amounts without going over your calories. Its crucial that you look forward to your meals.

And if you want some weeks to go faster just train more but don't reduce the calorie intake too much because that increases the chances of you falling into bad habits again and binge eating.

And i have already said it but STICKING to it is the most important thing and if you would eat bad one day you need to go back into eating healthy the next day so you don't give up.

Hopefully you found this to not be a total waste of time. Thank you for your support again and go get em you beautiful beast you!

Purple shirt: an outfit I wore 3 years ago. Black shirt: what I am wearing today. From a 4X to an XS shirt, a size 30 jean to a 4. ~180 pounds gone since January 2016.