How One Woman Dropped Nearly 100 Pounds and Became an Instagram Sensation

Before: 312
After: 216

The Lifestyle
If you’ve ever been to the South, you know that everything revolves around food here. My parents are both overweight, so I picked up some bad habits from them like having cake for breakfast, eating a lot of fried food, and rarely consuming veggies. I also had very little self-control; I could eat a whole bag of chips without a problem and usually ate until I felt sick. As crazy as it seems, I haven’t weighed less than 200 pounds since I was 13. And since I went to a very small high school—my graduating class was 50 people—I was the biggest one in my class and was picked on pretty badly. Fitness-wise, I didn’t play any sports or work out on my own. I was a very lazy child, and that carried over into adulthood.

Being overweight really affected my life in random ways, like not wearing tennis shoes because it was so hard to bend over to tie them. Occasionally, little kids would point and say hurtful things, even if they didn't mean to be rude. By the time I got married in 2013, I weighed 312 pounds. 

The Change
One night, I was eating at a restaurant with my husband and my 1-year-old daughter, and she kept dropping her toy on the floor. We were seated in chairs instead of a booth that night, and so every time I bent down to grab her toy, the chair would come off the ground. It was embarrassing because I knew if I fell everyone would stare at me. I had to do something.

That week, my husband and I joined a gym and started going four days a week. We’d work out for an hour to an hour and a half per day. That may seem intense for someone just starting out on their weight-loss journey, but I was terrified of dying. I knew that if I didn’t make a change I was going to get diabetes or another obesity-related illness. That fear helped push me to work out.

Since you can’t run without the risk of damaging your knees when you’re 300 pounds, my workouts usually entailed walking, biking, or using the elliptical. Eventually, I started lifting weights—and I loved seeing that I was getting stronger and could do everyday tasks like picking up my daughter more easily.

 

A photo posted by Roxie's Fitness IG (@roxi_fitness) on Dec 20, 2014 at 9:38pm PST

I tried dieting before, and it totally backfired on me because I was only eating salads and not enough protein to keep me full and satisfied. So this time, I decided to be less strict about the food I was eating and keep a better eye on my portions by measuring out or weighing everything I ate. I began baking chicken instead of frying it, totally cutting out sweet tea—which I would drink by the gallon every week—using whole wheat pasta, bread, and brown rice instead of the white versions. Plus, I recorded all of my meals on the My Fitness Pal app, which has helped a lot. Another trick I used to re-train my brain to feel full after a normal-sized meal was drinking a big glass of water afterward. Losing weight can seriously be a mental game.

 

Snack fruit I cut last night 124 Cals

A photo posted by Roxie's Fitness IG (@roxi_fitness) on Feb 20, 2015 at 4:01pm PST

As I started losing weight, I used my Instagram account to post photos of me working out and cooking. Over time, my feed started to gain a ton of followers. Now, I have more than 8,000 and use @Roxi_Fitness to provide fitspiration. It makes me feel so good to help inspire others!

 

A photo posted by Roxie's Fitness IG (@roxi_fitness) on Dec 18, 2014 at 4:56pm PST

Today, I weigh 216 pounds and am looking forward to being under 200 pounds—for the first time in more than 10 years—very soon. I have no plans to go back to my old ways.

The Reward
There have been so many rewards from losing weight, both mental and physical. I used to suffer from depression and anxiety attacks, but now I feel so much better than I ever did. Another bonus of my weight-loss journey has been that going to the gym with my husband has actually made my marriage stronger. We love having the designated time to ourselves, and it makes us both feel more confident. One more thing that I love about my life after losing almost 100 pounds is that I have so much more endurance. I can’t run a mile yet, but I’m working toward it and am so thankful that I can run at all.  

Roxie’s Tips
Allow yourself a cheat meal. I don’t eat super healthy all the time. I do allow myself a cheat meal once week. Usually it will be food at a birthday party over the weekend or a nice dinner with my husband. But I know that after that meal, I will get right back on track.
Weigh yourself daily. As a woman, I know that my weight is going to fluctuate a lot depending on hormones, but I try to weigh myself as much as possible so that I know that I’m staying on track. It helps keep me accountable.
Take measurements. Some might think this is crazy, but I measured different areas of my body before I started losing weight. Those measurements really came in handy when I went through periods of not losing weight despite sticking to my plan. Even if the scale didn’t budge, my body measurements were always changing because I was shaping my body by working out, and that helped keep me motivated.

Roxie McGillberry, 24, is 5' 8" and a stay-at-home mom in Sweet Water, Alabama.

More from Women's Health:
4 Things I Wish I Knew BEFORE I Started Losing Weight
What 200 Calories of 10 Different Foods Looks Like
9 Easy Ways to Crush Your Food Cravings
 

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