Maggie Wells weighed more than 300 pounds at 34 years old.

Her health was suffering but that’s not what actually scared her. “I wasn’t afraid I was going to die because of my weight, but I was afraid that just if something happened, my kids would have no pictures to remember me,” Wells told Good Morning America. “My son was 6 at the time and I think we had two pictures together.”

The dearth of photos was because Wells was always too embarrassed to be in family photos. But that deficiency pushed her to make a major lifestyle change. In January of 2018, she decided to cut out all added sugars from her diet and also started reducing her carbohydrate intake. In only a month she already lost 24 pounds. From that point on, she took her weight-loss journey one day at a time.

Instead of focusing on losing “200 pounds or even 20 pounds, I would just focus on 24 hours,” she told GMA. “I would tell myself, ‘I only have to get through the next 24 hours.’ If I want [a specific food or drink] at this time tomorrow, I’ll allow myself to have it.”

After developing that food discipline, Wells adopted a ketogenic diet which is high-fat and low-carb and has led to many weight-loss transformations. She didn’t have the money to spend on expensive and exotic cooking ingredients and substitutes so she just made meat, vegetables, and eggs key ingredients for most of her meals. “I found that this diet can be done by anybody on any budget,” she said.

So far, Wells has managed to lose 185 pounds and she credits being mindful of what she puts in her body with the amazing results. Now that she’s more comfortable with her weight, she has started to incorporate exercise into her routine.

“I feel like I’m 15 years younger,” she said. “I don’t know how to describe it other than I feel like a brand-new person. I have mental clarity and literally a whole new lease on life.”

She now has the confidence to be included in photos and even created a Facebook page to document her journey. She shares real and raw photos of herself that are completely unedited so that she can show other people that while losing weight is not as glamorous as many would think, it’s still tremendously empowering nonetheless.

She has also accepted not getting skin removal surgery. “Surgery is not an option for me, financially, so my body isn’t altered,” she said. “People are seeing [the] real deal of your body when you lose a lot of weight.”

But the most important change of all is that losing all that weight has allowed her to be more present for her family, especially her kids. “I could have lived the rest of my life being a bystander,” she said. “Now I get to be a participant in my life and my children’s lives.”

 

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