Everyone wants to feel comfortable in their bodies. Unfortunately, excess weight often makes things complicated. Not many people believe that extreme weight loss is possible and refuse to say no to their unhealthy habits. The astonishing weight loss story of the woman who weighed about 500 pounds will make anyone believe that everything is possible.
Lexi Reed, a woman from Terre Haute, Indiana, was known as a Fat Girl Fed Up. She weighed 485lbs in 2016 until she decided that it was time to start a new life and get into shape. Together with her husband Danny, she worked hard every day, and the couple lost almost 180kg in 18 months. Let’s take a look at the story of her incredible transformation.
The Right Time For Changes
Lexi Reed had an unhealthy lifestyle for most of her life. Eating junk food and refusing to exercise were some of the bad habits that caused her to gain weight. But one day, she realized that 486 pounds were too much to continue living that way and felt that it was time to change her lifestyle. That’s how everything started.
Reed is widely known as “FatGirlFedUp” on social media. She created Instagram and Twitter accounts with that nickname to share her story but probably couldn’t have imagined that she would end up with more than a million followers. But now, they motivate her to stay in shape and continue living healthily.
Losing Weight Together
Surprisingly, Lexi was not alone in this challenging journey. Her husband, Danny, also had excessive weight. He weighed 280 lbs initially and was living the same kind of unhealthy lifestyle. Although Lexi’s weight was much more problematic, they both needed to make some changes. As a result, the wife and husband teamed up to reach their weight-loss goal.
The couple decided to stop eating out, avoid drinking soda and alcohol, and include 30-minute exercise in their daily routine. While many may think that it’s not enough to lose weight, it was the beginning of a big challenge that led Lexi and Danny to extreme weight loss. Most importantly, they were together in this.
New Daily Routine
Needless to say that simple diets are tough to follow. You must have a lot of strength and willpower to overcome your needs and refuse to eat tasty food. Those kinds of restrictions don’t last for long because, finally, your body gets tired of limitations. But the same can’t be said about eating healthily.
Lexi and Danny didn’t follow a particular eating regime. Instead, they just stopped eating 8,000 calories a day and decided to reduce their daily intake. Reducing calorie intake helps people to lose weight slowly but effectively. Besides, the couple said no to cheat meals. As a result, soon, they started to lose weight and get in shape.
Working Out Without Professional Help
The majority of people who decide to lose weight quickly and effectively either turn to professional trainers or choose weight-loss surgeries. Unlike them, Lexi and Danny thought that together they could achieve their goal without help from anyone. Indeed, they just motivated and encouraged each other to keep on until they got what they wanted.
The fact that they didn’t have any specific meal plan and didn’t even seek help from a professional trainer fascinates many of Reed’s followers. We don’t know whether they wanted to save money or believed in themselves, but indeed, they managed to find the right path. The only plan they had was the total lifestyle change as a New Year resolution in 2016.
Strong Bond Of The Husband And Wife
One of the reasons why they managed to achieve their goal is the support from each other. None of them lost motivation during their hard weight-losing path, thanks to each other. That’s why Lexi’s Instagram followers are amazed not only by her remarkable transformation but by her and Danny’s love story as well.
The couple decided to make sure that both of them would go to the gym at least five times a week. Of course, they had times of so-called letdown phases or emotional breakdowns, but with the help of each other, they managed to adapt to a new lifestyle and ultimately accept it. This means nothing more than encouragement is vital for such tremendous changes.
Purpose Of Creating FatGirlFedUp
Generally, people are afraid of tracking their fitness progress. The reason is easily understandable - having slow progress or not progressing at all can vanish your motivation. However, Lexi knew that she and her husband needed to keep a record of their progress somehow, and finally, she decided to create an Instagram account.
Posting on social media daily and seeing how people react is a great way for gaining motivation. Reed didn’t think much about the page’s name and simply typed what she felt at that moment - “FatGirlFedUp.” As she showed her psychical progress on the pictures, she quickly gained thousands of followers worldwide.
Becoming A Fitness Influencer
Initially, Lexi didn’t plan to gain fans, and all she wanted to do is to motivate herself and her husband to lose weight. However, her progress soon became evident, and people all over the world started supporting the couple. Everyone was looking forward to her next posts, they were leaving comments and likes, and as a result, she felt more motivated than ever.
Although she has already lost plenty of pounds and there’s no need to look for support anymore, her Instagram account is active, and she’s still sharing her journey with her followers. At the moment, she has 1.2 million followers, and the number is rising very quickly. Considering this, she's probably not going to stop sharing her progress.
The Impact Of Having A Supportive Husband
Lexi didn’t get the motivation only through her Instagram page. Although encouragement from her followers was a vital part of this journey, having support from her loving husband Danny was no less critical. But he didn’t support his wife just because she needed to lose weight. Danny himself had the same goal.
He also made a considerable effort to change his lifestyle and refuse unhealthy habits like eating out or drinking sodas. But probably the most crucial thing for Lexi was that losing and gaining weight never changed Danny’s attitude towards her. And still, he remains a warm-hearted and encouraging husband who’s always there to help her.
Danny Accepted Her As She Was
One reason people refuse to change their unhealthy lifestyle is that everybody asks them to do so. The constant demand from the family members not to eat some things and start working out never feels good because our figure belongs to us. Unlike this, Lexi’s husband loved her as she was, even while she weighed 485 pounds.
Lexi and Danny married in 2015, but they lived one year together without even thinking about changing their lifestyle. A year later, they decided to make some changes, but as Lexi says on social media, it was her own choice, and her husband never demanded her to lose weight. It’s another reason why she quickly gained plenty of followers.
When The Progress Became Evident
Generally, people who try to lose weight can’t see their progress soon enough. The Reeds also had to work out for months until they noticed that things changed. However, tracking progress on Instagram helped them to see their progress very quickly. They tried hard, changed their lifestyle entirely, and made rapid progress as a result.
The couple was so happy about the quick progress that they started sharing every tiny detail on Instagram. Therefore, people knew everything about how they started and what they were through. She never missed a single detail while creating new posts, and soon other people throughout the world began following her routine.
Far From Being An Average Couple
Even though Lexi seemed very happy on social media, her daily life was a bit more complicated behind Instagram. She and her husband always seemed like a perfect couple, but their relationship was very different from average, and they suffered a lot. After the challenge, they just couldn’t keep on doing ordinary things.
They missed being at home, lying on the couch, and watching their favorite television shows. Both of them loved the old daily routine when they used to work, go back home, eat together, share their day, and sleep. But soon, they realized that being different from regular couples wasn’t that bad after all.
Having The Same Goal
Needless to say that such a significant transformation of the lifestyle would have a massive impact on Lexi’s mood. But imagine if she decided to lose weight all alone, without the help of her husband. While she was becoming more and more fed up with the old habits, Danny could have been satisfied with his weight and lifestyle.
However, fortunately, they started this journey together, and it was indeed one of the best decisions they have ever made. Taking pictures of their progress together turned out to be an enormous motivation for both the husband and the wife. Having the same goal strengthened their relationship even more.
Another Reason For Starting The Challenge
The most important reason Lexi decided to lose weight and get in shape was an urgent need to make some changes in her life and avoid keeping up with old unhealthy habits. Surprisingly for many people, she wasn’t impacted by social norms and standards about beauty, and her pure motivation was to live a healthy lifestyle.
Why so? As she revealed on Instagram, both she and Danny wanted to have kids. Both of them were in their 20s, have successful careers, and thought that children would lighten up their daily lives, but Lexi didn’t want to put them in front of health risks. Losing weight would make things much easier and increase the chances of having healthy children.
Daily Intake Of Junk Food And Soda
Now, as the people know her way of losing weight, everyone wonder’s how Lexi gained so much initially. While in most situations, gaining weight has something to do with underlying health conditions, in Lexi’s case, one of their reasons was probably eating fast food every day. She also drank Mountain Dew daily.
While most people eat fast food when they’re out, Lexi and Danny didn’t know how to cook, and as a result, they ordered it every day. Needless to say, how harmful it can be to your body and health. At that time, the couple wasn’t thinking about the destructive impact and neglected possible harms in the future.
The New Path Was Hard To Follow
At first glance, everything looked very easy. One day Lexi just started a healthy lifestyle, and everything got back to normal. But her followers are well aware that it was tough for her to achieve this goal. Therefore, it’s not surprising that she had moments of failure and couldn't always follow new orders without hesitation.
Sometimes she just thought if she needed to go on at all. A few times, she even violated the diet, but it didn’t stop her from achieving her goal. Even now, when she’s lost almost 130 pounds, she continues to avoid bad habits and maintain a healthy lifestyle. This means nothing more than a single failure is not enough to give up on your dream.
Saying No To Editing Pictures
Today most influencers on Instagram edit their photos with photoshop or use beautiful filters to provide aesthetic pictures to their followers. However, when it comes to natural beauty, people prefer seeing the real picture. Lexi knew this, and probably that’s why she refused to use any program to edit her posts.
She has always been honest with her followers and puts her pictures on Instagram as they are. That’s a great way of showing that everyone’s different, and we should accept ourselves exactly as we are. Consequently, plenty of her followers joined the challenge and switched to a healthy lifestyle.
Losing Half Weight In A Year
Nowadays, there are many stories when people effectively lose weight, but they usually either do it very quickly and gain even more or need years to achieve their desired goal. Unlike them, Reed’s story is much more fascinating as they managed to lose half of their body weight in just one year.
Their enthusiasm and motivation helped them maintain healthy habits and don’t even think about returning to their old lifestyle. That’s why they quickly saw the result and showed it to thousands of people all over the world, inspiring them to do the same. They influenced many people and deserved recognition worldwide.
Lexi’s Health Problems
Lexi wanted to start working out long before 2016. However, she avoided it because of some reasons. She had several health issues, including breathing problems, and was afraid that a heavy workout regime could be dangerous. Intense training in addition to her condition could worsen her problems.
Besides, she had prediabetes. Her blood sugar levels were higher than normal. But in 2016, she realized that her condition would worsen if she didn’t change her lifestyle. The fact that she suffered from these problems on her path of losing weight makes her achievement even more valuable. Indeed, Lexi is a strong woman, after all.
Sometimes She Felt Humiliated
Making fun of overweight people for no reason is one of the most common problems of our society. Many people don’t understand that everyone is different, and it’s not their business if someone’s body is different from average. Unfortunately, Lexi experienced such kind of treatment as well.
For example, sometimes she couldn’t fit the seats of theme park or airport. Other times, she couldn‘t ride a roller coaster because of her weight. All these things, alongside others’ attitude, make her realize that it was time to prove she could do anything she wanted. As a result, she managed to lose 238 lbs while Danny lost 72 lbs.
Inside Their Healthy Diet
As the couple finally got in shape and lost weight, people wondered what exactly they were eating to get this result. While many people refuse to eat everything they love and experience a craving for food, Lexi and Danny knew that it would reduce their motivation and slow down their progress.
As a result, they decided to continue eating their favorite food but prepare it themselves with healthy and low-calorie ingredients instead of ordering or eating out. In that way, they could eat everything, even their favorite pizza, but a healthy alternative made with high-quality ingredients. But besides, exercise also played a massive role in achieving their goal.
Keeping Up With The Progress
One of the hardest things about losing weight is to maintain progress. Many people just can’t get used to the fact that they have to maintain this lifestyle even after achieving the desired goal. But surprisingly, Lexi didn’t turn down the new habits. She continued inspiring people with her never-ending progress.
Although initially, she didn’t even consider surgery, after losing the weight, she realized that it was necessary for looking healthy. She managed to lose hundreds of pounds without any intervention from doctors, but the excess skin on the belly and legs made her think about removing it via surgery.
One More Hard Decision
Deciding to have surgery was very hard for Lexi. She wanted to prove that losing weight was possible without artificial interventions, but her skin didn’t give her a chance. She couldn’t enjoy lost pounds because of excess skin, and undergoing surgery was the only option. Finally, she overcame the fears of surgery and decided to take another step forward.
Besides the fear of the operation itself, Lexi didn’t want to disappoint her followers as she claimed that her weight loss plan was only about switching to a healthy lifestyle. However, it was evident that excess skin looked pretty unhealthy, and it was time to remove it. Eventually, she got ready for it and got in shape quickly.
Weight Loss After The Surgery
No need to say that excess skin weighed plenty of pounds, and Lexi wasn’t able to lose it by exercising or eating healthily. Everyone recommended they go through an operation, and in the end, she took this difficult step and went to the hospital. By this time, she had lost 312 pounds.
She never hesitated to show how her skin looked before the surgery. The Instagram followers suggested removing it as well. Lexi shared her experience of surgery and gave people an ability to compare her before and after results which are incredible. After the surgery, she lost another 7 lbs.
An Incredible Number Of Instagram Followers
Lexi’s fascinating body transformation inspired many people. She started to gain thousands of followers after creating the FatGirlFedUp account on Instagram. But surprisingly, the number of followers is rising more and more even today, years after she started the challenge.
Today Lexi has 1.2 million followers. She keeps on sharing her daily meal plans and exercising routines. If you follow her, you can see her encouraging stories as well. And as she says in her latest photos, she wears black in the gym, signifying a funeral for her fat. In 2021, she can breathe better and easier as her health has improved.
Promoting A Healthy And Active Lifestyle
Five years have passed since Lexi first decided to lose weight, and her fantastic transformation still fascinates millions of people around the world. Her Instagram page is still active, and it seems like she’s never going to stop inspiring her followers. Her daily posts motivate a lot of people, and she gives interesting tips as well.
She and her husband, Danny, maintain their loving relationship, and their relationship is getting stronger and stronger every day. The fact that they never considered weight as something essential for a healthy relationship indeed deserves appreciation. Their path was difficult, but they proved that with enough dedication, everything is possible.