Obese Woman Loses 235 Pounds — After Decades Of Using Food As Emotional Crutch

Melissa King, 34, of Vacaville, California, had eaten for most of her life for the wrong reasons. And she hit 435 pounds. As many people do, she ate when she was upset or unhappy, not just when she was hungry — emotional eating. Then she had a light-bulb moment on April 1, 2012, when she was sick and tired of being sick and tired, according to the Daily Mail.

King noted that she began overeating when young. Raised by a single mother, she ate when bad things occurred or even on the other end of the spectrum, such as when it was time to celebrate an event. She was an overweight child and, unfortunately, was bullied and called names by heartless people. A year after she married, the stepfather who raised her from the age of 10 died of a massive heart attack. She realized that she was extremely depressed and used food as a crutch, according to the Huffington Post.

During her break-through on April 1 three years ago, she realized that she was tired of always being tired and not being able to walk distances. She was fed up with missing out on activities she dreamed of participating in, such as snorkeling, hiking, ziplining, and skydiving. She was tired of not fitting in airline and restaurant seats and of the mean looks, comments, and bullying. She stated the following, according to the Daily Mail.

“I didn’t see it at the time, but I was extremely depressed and food was my crutch. It was the only thing I felt I could turn to when everything around me seemed to be falling apart.”

It seemed that her life had spiraled out of control. Doctors warned that she would probably have a shortened life span, and she already had high blood pressure and was pre-diabetic. And she was in an unhappy marriage. She didn’t want surgery to lose weight and, instead, made a commitment to herself and didn’t look back.

Several coworkers opted for Weight Watchers meetings, but she chose to use its on-line program. She changed her eating habits and switched to whole grain foods and lean meats and cut out fast food, opting instead for healthy fruits and vegetables. King didn’t deprive herself of her favorite foods, but only ate them in moderation. She gave up sodas and fast food, drinking tea and water instead.

King weighed herself weekly and measured out and weighed her foods. After losing 40 pounds in three months, she joined a gym, adding a minute per workout until she had the endurance for an hour on the elliptical. She also varied her workouts and added Zumba and U-Jam classes — with hip-hop music that motivated her.

King decided this was the life she always wanted and her whole life has changed. Now with a boyfriend who accepts her for who she is, she is happy. And she’s participated in activities she could only dream of before, such as hiking, working out and lifting weights, snowboarding, and running her first 5K.

She’s lost 235 pounds — and kept it off for a year — and hopes to lose another 20. King is also trying to raise the approximately $24,000 to remove the excess skin that accompanies going from a size 30 to a size 10, and she has set up a GoFundMe account. High blood pressure and potential diabetes are no longer issues.

Another woman also lost a substantial amount of weight on her own. It’s quite an admirable accomplishment. Stephanie Denny currently weighs 175 pounds. Amazingly, she now weighs almost half of what she weighed in 2011, when she weighed 320 pounds. She’s 33-years-old, six-feet-tall, and sharing her weight-loss journey. She didn’t want to die young like her mother did and felt like a bad mother because she got winded from just looking at her children, according to an article in the Inquisitr.

[Photo Courtesy GoFundMe]