Before: 258 pounds
After: 182 pounds
Height: 5’4”
Age: 48
As far back as she can remember, Lisa Troy, 48, was a big girl. Her family was on food stamps and stressed the value of a dollar, so Lisa was part of the “clean plate club,” eating everything that was served to her. Problem was, what was available and affordable wasn’t always the healthiest, and at age 13, she weighed about 190 pounds and was diagnosed with hypertension.
Children were cruel: Because of her size, Lisa was always the last person picked in gym class and other students would taunt her with names such as fatso, meatball, and whale. Even worse, Lisa was sexually abused by her brother. “It made me emotionally unbalanced and made me eat more,” says Lisa. “I was happy when I was eating. It was like a drug.” She eventually topped out at 258 pounds, was diagnosed with prediabetes, and was on five medications to control her blood pressure.
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The Turning Point
In April 2010, Lisa decided that enough was enough. “After years of trying to lose weight and year after year of my clothes size getting bigger, I woke up one morning and looked in the mirror. I started crying and thought, I don’t want to be like this anymore,” she says.
The Lifestyle
With the help of her doctor, Lisa came up with a healthy eating and exercising plan and aimed to lose 2 pounds a week. She started tracking her calorie intake online with the tools on Livestrong.com and realized that previously she could eat about 3,500 calories in one sitting alone. Now Lisa eats out only at restaurants that list their calorie counts and she makes smarter choices. Instead of choosing the 600-calorie muffin at Dunkin’ Donuts, she goes with a 150-calorie egg white wrap. Lisa learned about proper portion sizes and to read labels—what’s in a packet isn’t always a serving size!
