Renatta Keith, 37, from Hunstville, Alabama, decided to change her lifestyle after she was unable to fit into a plane seat because of her weight.
The obese woman struggled with her weight for years due to the grief and pain of losing her mother to drug addiction.
She used to weigh 290lbs and the realization of being overweight hit her hard when she boarded a plane to Los Angeles two years ago and had to request a seat-belt extender to support her larger frame.
After spinal surgery, the mother-of-one decided to adopt a healthier lifestyle. She opted for a Ketogenic regime – high-fat, adequate-protein, low-carbohydrate diet and exercise with a personal trainer thrice a week.
In 2009, Renatta lost her mother to drug addiction and just four years later, her father, who served a soldier in Iraq, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease upon his return and died. Renatta was the one who found his body.
She was already going through a lot of pain and her brother died of asphyxiation from alcohol just a year later which caused her to turn to food even more.
She used to drink almost an entire liter of Coke a day, and mainly ate drive-through meals and sugary high-calorie foods throughout the day, which caused her weight to peak at 290lbs.
The 37-year-old said: ‘I experienced the sudden loss of my mother out of the blue in 2009.
‘She had been hiding an opioid addiction from the family and it got out of control really quickly. In 2012, my father came home from Iraq and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
‘One day I had found him dead and the imagery was very difficult to deal with and escape from.
‘I began eating to deal with the grief. The very next year my brother died of asphyxiation due to an alcohol binge.
‘He had been dead for several days before we found him and again my grieving process included a lot of food to cover up my pain.
‘I ate the equivalent of a day’s calories and sugar before noon. I ate mostly all my meals from a drive-through and consumed almost a liter of Diet Coke daily.’
After the incident of not being able to fit into a plane seat she decided to change her food habits. Renatta said: ‘The humiliation and experience made me realize I had to do something about my weight. I needed to treat my body better.’
Her spine got damaged due to the excessive pressure from her weight which caused her to undergo an anterior lumbar interbody fusion surgery.
‘It all came to a head for me when I had an anterior lumbar interbody fusion, it’s a type of spinal fusion that utilizes an anterior approach to fuse the lumbar spine bones together.
‘The recovery and pain from this made me realize how I had taken granted of my body and had to lose weight to stop further damage to my spine.’
She quit drinking diet soda which she said helped lessen her cravings for sugary foods and reduced her carb intake as part of a new Ketogenic diet.
She said: ‘I started tracking my food and seeing how much sugar I consumed daily. This visual really helped me learn what was in the foods I was eating.’
‘I cut out diet soda completely and my taste buds changed. I could taste food again and stopped craving unhealthy foods full of sugar. This helped my joints felt better and I could move my body with less pain.’
‘I adapted to a low-carb diet and eventually cut my carbs down to a Ketogenic level. I did this for two years. I worked with a trainer three times a week and he taught me how to workout.’
‘Once I started working out and eating well, I had clarity and focus like I never experienced.
‘I kept a photo of my scar from my spinal surgery and it motivated me to keep going.
‘I had been in the place of not being able to bend, walk, sit too long, or stand too long.
‘I knew that pain and never wanted to experience it again. I was determined to do everything I could to help me not need additional surgery.’
‘When I made a mistake instead of giving in to eating whatever I wanted the rest of the day, my next meal would be back on track.
‘I stopped the “Well I made a mistake today; I’ll start back tomorrow or Monday”.
I got off this roller coaster and broke this cycle. This realization and the time I spent getting mentally fit was where the magic started happening for me.
‘Working through my grief with a professional was the key for me. I found ways to cope with my heartache besides food and that changed my mentality, which in return changed my life.
‘I feel reborn, funny because that’s what my name means! I feel free. All the energy I spent wanting to lose weight is now used enjoying my life.
‘Instead of being consumed with grief and heartache with the loss of my family, I can now guide others out of pain and offer advice.’
Renatta has since formed her Instagram page @renatta_rising, where she shares photos of healthy meals and her incredible weight loss transformation.
She said: ‘I had an Instagram page for years, but just recently made it public.
‘I got the confidence to share my story and be vulnerable so maybe someone else could find their way to healing.
‘The support online has been amazing. A lot of people talk to me about their grief and weight gain, I try as much as I can to help them find the resources to get mental health help.’
Renatta has one 16-year-old daughter and she says her biggest support during her weight loss period was her boyfriend Matt, who helped motivate her.
Speaking about her current lifestyle, Renatta said: ‘I still eat low carbs because cutting sugar helps me keep my inflammation down.
‘I do have sushi and a cupcake monthly, because life without those just don’t seem very fun to me. I don’t call these cheat meals, I call them earned meals because I work hard and earn them.
‘Having these earned meals helps me mentally, I know that I can have them and that keeps me focused and on track during the week.’
‘Instead of just diving in another weight loss program spend some time working on and nurturing your mental health first, figure out your why. Why did you gain this weight?
‘Why are you overweight? I learned losing weight wasn’t enough until I changed all the behaviors and negative thinking about myself that got me there.
‘There are wonderful doctors out there so never be ashamed of reaching out and getting mentally fit, not just physically fit.’
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