Melissa

Melissa has struggled with her weight since early childhood. She remembers being in 4th grade and overhearing older kids talking about how they had finally cracked 100 pounds. She was already over 100 pounds.

Shortly after her 13th birthday, her mom had her thyroid tested, because even though she was restricting her food intake, she was still gaining weight. She was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and was placed on daily medication to manage her thyroid hormones. Her parents left it up to her to take her medication, but she didn't take it regularly until she was in her early 20's.

During the decades of her weight struggles, Melissa tried restricting food intake, limiting fat, and implementing various exercise programs. She enrolled with Weight Watchers several times. With all of these strategies, she would lose weight for a while, but then gain it all back.

In 2004 at her heaviest weight of around 330 pounds, she decided to have gastric bypass surgery. She did lose a large amount of weight but never managed to get below 200 pounds. At that time the aftercare for gastric bypass was not as thorough as it is now, and Melissa ended up gaining back a lot of the weight that she lost.

As Melissa got older, weight loss became more difficult. Although she has always been fairly confident with good self-esteem she feels her extra weight has aged her. She feels unable to do the things she wants to do with her husband and 6 children. She does not want to feel limited anymore.

In Nov of 2019 she started intermittent fasting and implementing strategies that Shana coached her on. 

Since then she has lost 37 pounds and is still actively losing. 

Her hormones are getting back into balance. Although there were some setbacks such as holidays and irregular schedules, she still managed to lose weight.

Shana will continue to update her story!

This is what Melissa had to say:

"This is the best lifestyle change I have ever tried.

It's so sustainable. I've gotten loads of comments on my weight loss. My body is changing and I'm down 2 pants sizes.

Shana, thank you for educating me about this lifestyle and for being so encouraging. The support and not being judged is so wonderful."

Congratulations, Melissa! We'll keep following your story!