By Mark McConville
MEET the woman who lost more than half her bodyweight after being prompted into action following a miscarriage.
Drew Rad (31) from Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA lost 16st 3lb after having a miscarriage and being diagnosed with sleep Apnea in the same year.
The banker weighed 29st 9lb at her heaviest but now weighs 13st 5lb after following a healthier diet of around 1100-1500 calories a day coupled with exercise four times a week.
“My health started to get out of control,” she said.
“I suffered from a miscarriage and was diagnosed with severe sleep Apnea, all within the same year. I would stop breathing 134 times per hour on average in my sleep.
“I felt hopeless. I would tell myself that I was meant to be heavy my entire life. I didn’t think that I would ever be capable of losing the weight.
“I feel like a stranger in this new body a lot of days. I struggle with body dysmorphia at times and often look at photos of myself or in the mirror and do a double take.
“Most days I feel good about myself and some days I use photos of myself as a source of inspiration to keep fighting.
“People can’t get over how great I look. They tell me that they almost didn’t recognize me. They think I look really great.”
Drew, who has two daughters, came from a family that wasn’t very health and fitness conscious and she thinks this played a role in her weight ballooning.
She hopes her fitness journey can help inspire others to take the first step to transforming themselves into the person they want to be.
“I lost 8st 11lb from reducing calories and increasing exercise,” explained Drew.
“On October 4th, 2016, I had a gastric sleeve done to make it very difficult for me to ever return to the size that I was. Overall, I have lost 16st 3lb.
“The hardest thing was breaking up the relationship I had with food. I used food as a source of comfort for many years and had to mentally choose each meal to make good choices, meal by meal.
“I now eat around 1100-1500 calories per day. I exercise four times a week and try to get in around 10,000 steps or more every single day.
“People should start by changing one small thing in their life to help them lose weight. Once they master that one thing, they can add another thing and master that.
“Then over time all of those small things add up to make one huge difference.”
For more information see @Justlikedrew on Instagram.
