Newly married, Lexi and Danny Reed made a pact to transform their lives together.

A new year was fast approaching; Lexi weighed 485 pounds and Danny tipped the scale at 280, when a friend dared them to try a 30-day challenge.

That meant no eating out, no cheat meals, no soda or alcohol for an entire month.They decided to take the leap in January 2016.

“The hardest part of our journey was changing our relationship with food,” Lexi Reed told ABC News.

Before taking the plunge, the couple spent most nights on the couch, binge-watching TV and mindlessly eating fast food but, it was getting old.

“My husband and I would go out to eat for almost every single meal and if we did cook at home, it was frozen pizza or anything else unhealthy,” said Lexi.

Lexi struggled being overweight her entire life. While her husband had a more active lifestyle growing up, he was able to maintain a healthy weight until he stopped playing sports. As the Terre Haute, Indiana couple got increasingly comfortable in their relationship, Danny started gaining even more weight.

Finding a new path

But, they wasted no time after committing to overhaul their lifestyle and started cooking, prepping meals, tracking their calories and reading nutrition labels.

“We found that by meal-prepping instead of relying on fast food, we were able to stick with our goals when we were at work. And by learning to cook our own meals we were in charge of what we were eating,” said Lexi.

The idea of walking into a gym was intimidating at first but they started working out regularly and kept each other accountable.

The power of unconditional support

“Doing this as a couple has helped us in so many ways,” said Lexi.

“On days when we were unmotivated, we pushed each other to go to the gym,” she continued. “Day by day or pound by pound we grew closer throughout our journey.”

By leaning on each other and keeping an open mind, Lexi and Danny Reed lost a total of 395 pounds combined, in the span of two years.

We were willing to learn every single day of our journey and we also started using the gym as therapy instead of food,” said Lexi. By changing our minds, habits and emotional triggers, we changed our lives.”

Danny now weighs 191 pounds and Lexi is down to 182.

Going from a size 28 to a size 10, Lexi feels like she got a second chance at life.

“There are no words to explain the feeling of saving your own life,” she said. “I no longer am a prisoner in my own body and instead of just existing in my own life, I’m finally alive. Every day I wake up is a blessing.”


 

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