Weight Loss Story of the Day: Sherri lost 70 pounds. This mom of two gained more than 100 pounds during the span of her pregnancies. After being hospitalized and having surgery for Congestive Heart Failure, she took action to change her life. Here is what she shared with us about losing the weight.
This journey has not been an easy one and I still have a long way to go. My name is Sherri. I am 34 years old and I’m married with two sons. I have always been a big girl, but after my first son was born I gained almost 100 lbs. When I became pregnant with my second son, I was 340 lbs. I gained about forty more pounds during my 2nd pregnancy in 2007. During my second pregnancy, I started have tightness in my chest, shortness of breath and was diagnosed with asthma.
Soon after my son’s birth, my symptoms worsened. I started to have swelling in my legs, thighs, hands and so on. I could not stand to walk from one end of a table to the next without feeling like I was about to die. At night I could not lay flat, I had to sit straight up. In Feb 2008, for my six week check I expressed all this to my OB doctor and he sent me straight to the Emergency Room. When I arrived at the ER, they performed a MRI. I had fluid around my heart and my heart was enlarged. I was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure and sent straight to ICU. The next day I had a pericardial window procedure. In the Operating Room, 1 liter of fluid was drained from around my heart. I remained on ICU for 2 days with a tube in my chest for draining. I was in the hospital for 2 weeks.
When I was discharged from the hospital, I was almost 40 lbs lighter. My cardiologist put me on a 1200 calorie and low sodium diet. I lost over 100 lbs in 5 months (225 lbs in 2008). I slowly lost my motivation and over the next 5 years and gained over half of the weight back back (weighing 316 lbs in 2014.) As of now, I am trying make a healthy change and have lost 70lbs (height: 5’7″). Like I said, this journey has not been easy one but I’m determined to get to a weight that is healthy for me.
1200 Calorie Diet: I counted the calories in everything I ate. For breakfast I would have a 100 cal. Yogurt and some type of fruit. Sometimes I would skip lunch so I could have a pretty good dinner. Or, I may have eaten some peanut butter crackers or 100 cal popcorn and a fruit. For dinner, I would have some type of baked or grilled meat, salad with low cal low fat Italian dressing, a baked potatoes with pepper and substitute salt with a little butter and sometimes another vegetable.. I could not have a lot of sodium, so I rarely ate any lean cuisines or healthy choice frozen dinners. For exercise, I mainly walked around my yard and rode my exercise bike.
My advice to others, is to never give up. Yes, it is a struggle but it will be worth it in the end.
My instagram: @lavenderkisses81
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