This Woman Lost 336 Pounds By Committing To A Better Life
At 514 pounds, Brittany May knew she had to make a change, as even her daily activities were difficult to accomplish. So, she started her transformation.
When Brittany May had to weigh herself on an industrial scale, because a standard one couldn’t hold her weight anymore, she knew it was time to make her health a priority.
The fertilizer scale she used to weigh herself read 514 pounds.
“I couldn’t even fit behind the steering wheel of a car,” May told TODAY, recalling what life was like at her heaviest.
At the beginning, nothing worked
Growing up, Brittany was always bigger than her classmates and remembered being picked last to play on sports teams. Over the years and into adulthood, she continued to view food as a source of comfort, and the weight kept piling on.
She sporadically tried dieting and working out, but nothing stuck, so she threw in the towel and fell into old habits.
Doing things on my own, it just wouldn’t happen.
Brittany May
She constantly struggled not to eat. Rather than ever having a single meal, she remembered eating what she called “the meal before the meal.”
"We would have stopped at a fast food restaurant on the way home. When we got home, we’d have a protein that was breaded, a potato, a starchy vegetable and a starch on top of that. We didn’t see much greens. It was comfort and convenient food," said May.
Her weight started impacting her work
In 2016, May landed her dream job as a teacher but she quickly noticed her weight was getting in the way of her performance, and that she wasn’t able to give her students the learning experience they signed up for.
It wasn’t long after Brittany started her new job that a friend reached out to her, following a high school reunion and told her about a weight-loss program.
Feeling like she had nothing left to lose, she decided to give it a try for a month, but before she could start, she had to weigh herself. Brittany got a huge wake-up call when she saw the numbers come up on the scale.
She felt more ready than ever to finally lose weight, but admitted that getting started was the hardest part.
Realizing that it was going to be mostly a mind game. I knew I would have to drop my stubbornness and be willing to tackle the bad habits, the sedentary lifestyle and the relationship with food.
Brittany May
The first step in her weight loss journey was to confront it
Once she started to view food as fuel instead of a source of comfort, she began slowly incorporating new, healthy habits into her daily routine. She started walking more and eventually started going to the gym.
In just under two years, May was able to lose 336 pounds and became a coach within her weight loss program. Only while she celebrated her transformation, she was caught off guard by the challenge of carrying around loose skin.
“I thought I was just going to have loose skin, be fine with it, and be able to move on with my life,” May told Women’s Health Magazine.
Nobody ever warned her of just how heavy the extra skin would be and how much pain it would cause. To make matters more difficult, she found out that skin removal surgery came with a high price tag, which she hadn’t saved up for, but she was determined to make it happen anyway.
After spending a year searching for the right surgeon, May got the surgery, and 13 pounds of excess skin removed, in January 2019.
The transformation changed her--for the better
Brittany reveals that her transformation journey completely changed her attitude towards life. From being passive, she has now the drive to take risks and live to the fullest.
I went from watching life from the side lines to jumping in and actually living life. It started off as just a physical journey, but it turned into a mental journey, too.
Brittany May
She’s shared much of her journey to health online, in the hopes of inspiring others to achieve their weight loss goals.
“I would say to take it one day, one habit at a time. Don’t get overwhelmed with wanting to lose a large number of pounds. Take small steps and make a plan. Don’t let one moment derail you.”
More inspiring transformations:
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- This Woman Went From Weighing 410 lbs to Achieving Her Dreams
- Man Loses 60 Pounds To Donate Kidney To Twin Brother
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