Young Couple Go Viral After Weight Loss Transformation

Enabing One Another

The couple started dating in 2007, and without realizing it, they did very little stop each-other from overeating. In fact, they were actually just enabling each-others’ bad eating habits. They ate out at restaurants all the time, or ordered take-outs and lounged on the sofa while they watched TV. Whatever weight they managed to lose, quickly came back on.

Enabing One Another

A New Year’s Resolution

It’s not uncommon for people to make a New Year’s resolution, and even more common not to keep it. But in 2016, when Lexi and Danny decided that they were going to change their lives, they became an exception to the rule.

A New Year’s Resolution

Daring Challenge

A friend of theirs heard about their resolution and decided to step in. This friend made the resolution a measurable one and dared Danny and Lexi to avoid alcohol and cheat meals for 30 days. The couple took on the challenge and even signed up for a gym membership afterwards. But would they actually use that gym membership? So many Americans sign up and never go.

Daring Challenge

Taking Baby Steps

Speaking about the cardio classes Lexi took, she remembered, “I tired to do high-intensity cardio, but I wasn’t able to.” Although she was fully motivated to lose weight and get fit, she realized that it would take time. She convinced herself that she wouldn’t give up, no matter what, even if it meant she needed to take breaks during the 30-minute sessions.

Taking Baby Steps

Seeing The Progress

With her undying devotion to her cause, Lexi started to notice that all the hard work she was putting was starting to pay off. At the rate she was going, she was managing to lose about 20 pounds each month. But her weight loss started to plateau at a certain point, and she needed to fire it up. “My weight loss had slowed and I had picked up the intensity of my workouts and adjusted my calories to continue losing consistently.”

Seeing The Progress

No Excuses

Although many people really wish to lose weight or become fit, they don’t make it a priority. The result of this is that they don’t get around to the gym, they don’t get healthier and they just feel worse about themselves. Lexi was not going to let that happen to her. Speaking of her gym routine, she said, “I just kind of try to set it up like a business meeting. I am my own boss and I can’t cancel.”

No Excuses

Partnering Up

But it wasn’t Lexi alone trying to lose weight; her husband Danny was right on board with her. It was their shared goal to get into shape and to become healthier. They made sure to constantly support each-other and help each-other through the difficulties that they faced.

Partnering Up

What About Danny

Even though Lexi had more weight to lose, it’s important that we don’t forget about the weight loss journey that Danny went through too. Danny once weighed 280 pounds and now he only weighs 190 pounds. It was a wake-up call for him to get off the sofa and to start getting fit. He said, “At first the idea didn’t sound great because it was always good going home, sitting down, eating a not having to worry about anything.”

What About Danny

Getting Viral

This couple’s story started to hit social media and soon enough their story was running viral on the internet. In just two years they had lost a combined 400 pounds! They took to their Instagram accounts to share pictures of what their progress looked like and soon people were following them. People Magazine featured them in their “Half Their Size” issue. Soon they were being invited onto talk shows because people wanted to hear their story.

Getting Viral

Couch Potatoes

When Lexi met Megyn Kelly on her show, she explained that she felt that she and Danny weren’t living their lives to the fullest, “We were just fed up with spending so many nights sitting on our couch binge watching television, mindlessly eating all our calories.” But their weight also affected going out to regular places.

Couch Potatoes

Rollercoaster Rides

Lexi had always dreamed of visiting Harry Potter World at Universal Studios but her obesity held her back. She didn’t believe that she could climb onto the rides at the park with the weight she was carrying.

Rollercoaster Rides

Becoming A Mom

But it wasn’t just about them parks that Lexi was worried about. She and Danny wanted to become parents one day, and she knew that with her size it would be dangerous to her and the baby. “I knew I could never be a mom at the size that I was and that was the one thing that motivated me.”

Becoming A Mom

Warning Signs

When Megyn Kelly asked Lexi about the greatest difficulties that she faced on a daily basis, Lexi answered, “I would wake up in the morning, my joints would be sore, I would be tired, I would be out of breath quickly.” She realized that for someone at the young age of 25, this was a major issue.

Warning Signs

Changing Their Lifestyle

Lexi went on to explain how small changes encourage more positive changes and how it can all be accomplished. “We started changing the foods that we were eating… we stopped eating out for every single meal and we made healthy versions of the food that we were craving. We started moving more and walking and going the gym just five times a week.” Their lifestyle had become penetrable.

Changing Their Lifestyle

Instagram Fans

The world started to watch as Lexi and Danny improved their lives. Instagram was the main platform the couple used to broadcast their lifestyle changes to the world. Lexi’s account, named “Fatgirlfedup” had become a place for others to draw motivation from. Lexi has a following of more than 705 thousand fans and she constantly uploads pictures and motivational quotes to share her message.

Instagram Fans

Looking And Feeling Good

Some critics said that the couple only pursued weight loss for superficial reasons, but Lexi replied that it was nothing like that. Her response was, “I’ve always been a super happy person. Like I loved myself even at 485 pounds, but just to be able to wake up and do whatever I want to do and go wherever I want to go… I don’t feel like I’m a prisoner in my own body anymore.” Looking good was the by-product, but feeling good was the goal.

Looking And Feeling Good

Love In All Shapes And Sizes

What is so amazing about Lexi and Danny Reed, is that their love was strong from the get-go. It only became stronger as they teamed up to tackle their dangerous unhealthy lifestyle. Lexi best explained it in an Instagram caption, “He (Danny) never saw me as my size, asked me to change, or made me feel as anything other than beautiful,” she continued, “He treated me the same way at 485lbs that he does at 182lbs. Love doesn’t have a size or weight limit.”

Love In All Shapes And Sizes

Lexi’s Weight Loss Advice

Many people want to know what Lexi’s advice is for anyone trying to lose weight. She recommends, “Start small. Small changes add up to big result.” So often we try to make resolutions and goals that seem right but turn out to be insurmountable.

Lexi’s Weight Loss Advice

Gaining Not Losing

When it comes to these two, and many like them, we can only think about “losing weight”. But Lexi puts a little twist on it, and she explains that it’s not all about losing; there’s a lot to gain according to her. On her Instagram page, she wrote, “It’s not about the weight that you lose but the life that you gain.”

Gaining Not Losing

No Rush

One of the points that Lexi really wants to drive home, is that weight loss is no race. It may seem like something that can happen overnight, but it’s not like that. She posted on Instagram, “I am human and it’s so important to remember at the end of the day this is a journey, not a sprint. This is a lifestyle, not a diet.”

No Rush

Growing Together

When couples pair up to tackle a mutual goal it usually does good things for their relationship. This was no different, and the Reeds felt the positive shift it had for them. In an interview, Danny explained, “This helped our relationship a lot and that is pretty cool… Us being able to do stuff together has brought us closer together.”

Growing Together

Addicted To Being Healthy

Despite being so committed to the weight loss challenge, Lexi faced adversary at many turns. But continuously doing the same activities causes them to become habits, for better or for worse. “Once I saw the results, it kind of became more of an addiction for me,” Lexi said.

Addicted To Being Healthy

No Liposuction Required

Some people have asked Lexi if underwent liposuction surgery, but she denied it. “You don’t have to have surgery, you don’t have to pay crazy amounts of money just to eat healthy or to have a trainer, like just move! Start walking,” she said. Liposuction might lead to weight loss, but there are healthier ways to go about it.

No Liposuction Required

Huge Following

With more than 750,000 followers on Instagram today, Lexi admits that she didn’t believe she would become this popular. “I just would be happy if like maybe ten people would follow me that were my friends. I didn’t think anybody would follow me. It’s just crazy.” But her message and her transformation touched people on so many levels.

Huge Following

Inspiring Others

“It’s not even about that, just for people to come and be like, ‘You really inspired be. Because of you I went to the gym today’ or, ‘because of you I’ve started to diet and I’ve lost 20 pounds and I can do this now.’” Lexi doesn’t want any special credit for what she does, she just wants people to believe in themselves.

Inspiring Others

Just Numbers

Lexi has expressed that people shouldn’t get so caught up on the numbers on the scale, “Always remember to love yourself because at the end of the day the scale is just a tool & you are worth more than a number.” Obsessing over the numbers on a scale can cause great damage to one’s self-esteem.

Just Numbers

Cooking VS Eating Out

We all know that breaking a bad habit is very difficult. Danny and Lexi had a very specific relationship with food and it took a lot of work to break off from it. “The hardest part of our journey was changing our relationship with food. To go from eating out for every single meal to teaching myself how to cook every single day to meal prepping together, it was a very drastic change,” she explained.

Cooking VS Eating Out

Not Paying Attention

After starting their own YouTube channel, the couple answers questions put forward by the public. One of the answers the couple provided about their weight gain as they were dating went like this, “I don’t think we realized in actuality how large we were because I look at progress pictures and I’m like, ‘That was me. That doesn’t even look like me.’ We didn’t feel like it was a problem.”

Not Paying Attention

Their Channel

Just like Lexi’s Instagram account, their YouTube channel is called “Fatgirlfedup”. With more than 30,000 followers, the “vlog-style” videos the Reeds upload are all about weight loss . Recently they attended the SAG Awards in Los Angeles.

Their Channel

It Takes Hard Work

Contrary to many commercials and advertisements, losing weight in a healthy manner is more than just taking a pill. Danny and Lexi insist that there is no shortcut to weight loss, but there is a way.

It Takes Hard Work

Comparing Themselves

When you take a look at the first picture of this couple and compare it to this one, it seems impossible that we’re looking at the same people. But what it does show us, is that it is possible and what a transformation they have been through.

Comparing Themselves

Over Eating

A simple trip to a Chinese restaurant meant they would eat way more than they should. It was common practice for the couple to eat more than 7 plates of food… each! They would usually order chips, chicken, ribs, a variety of meat dishes and most of their food would come deep-fried.

Over Eating

Loved For Who She Was

True love can sometimes be a part of the problem, because of this Danny didn’t see the problem with their weight. “When Danny & I met at 16 years old, I weighed over 300lbs. He never knew me as any less & never asked me to change,” Lexi said in an interview.

Loved For Who She Was

Homemade Fastfood

Even when there was a craving for fastfood, Danny and Lexi made sure to cook instead of eat out. Lexi recalled, “For the first month, I didn’t eat out at all, I made everything and I don’t even like cooking, so I was constantly learning. I was cooking foods I enjoyed and taking foods that I had liked before and making healthy versions of those meals. I didn’t feel deprived and could still eat the foods I wanted.”

Homemade Fastfood

Walking Was Difficult

Being overweight really took its toll on every single daily activity. Lexi used this as a springboard to motivate her to get healthy. “I wanted to be able to go on hikes and walk with my husband, to go on the bike and rollercoasters. I wanted to do all the things you want to do, that you can’t when you are overweight. For me, even walking was chore.”

Walking Was Difficult

Waiting For Results

At the start of the fight to lose weight, results couldn’t be seen and that’s not inspiring for anyone. “Obviously you didn’t gain all that weight overnight, you’re not going to see results right away and you’re not going to lose all your weight in a day,” Lexi reassured those starting the journey.

Waiting For Results

Finally, A Sign

It took three whole weeks before even a sliver of change was noticeable. But it was at that point, when she saw progress, that she realized it was something attainable. “It took 3 weeks before I really saw results. Once I did, I became addicted.”

Finally, A Sign

Straining The Relationship

Before their lifestyle change, the two were becoming more and more distant from each-other. Even though they were sitting together, eating take-outs and watching TV, they weren’t engaging with one-another. Lexi explained it best, “We would spend so many nights, eating and watching Netflix and not talking.”

Straining The Relationship

No Knowledge, Just Will

It takes a huge decision to do what they did, but when you feel your life is on the line, you can do anything. Lexi said, “I just decided enough was enough. I was ready to change my life. I decided I was going to work hard for it every single day. I didn’t have a trainer or meal plan.” She went on, “I didn’t know about nutrition, cooking, I had no surgery, took no pills. I was just your average girl who was fed up and wanted to change.”

No Knowledge Just Will

One Day At A Time

Aside from wanting to lose weight, Lexi wanted to learn about herself along the way. “I was willing to learn every single day. I focused on the single day ahead of me, not the 300 pounds I knew I had to lose, because that would have overwhelmed me. It made me feel like I didn’t have such a long way to go.”

One Day At A Time

Lexi’s Diet Plan

Not everyone will agree with the diet plan that Lexi created for herself, but it worked wonders for her. Her daily plan is: 30 Minutes Cardio (Elliptical Machine), Breakfast – 3 Pieces of turkey bacon, 2 Large eggs, Snack 1 – Protein shake, Lunch – Salmon patties, asparagus, broccoli cottage cheese, Snack 2 – Banana + Almond butter, 30 Minutes Cardio (Elliptical Machine), Dinner – Turkey Burgers (Buns – Honey Wheat Sandwich Thins, Cheese – Fat Free), Steamed Broccoli/Cauliflower, Mushrooms.

Lexi’s Diet Plan

Saving Their Lives

Being so severely overweight can actually kill a person. So when this couple decided that they would become healthy, the were in fact saving their own lives. “There are no words to explain the feeling of saving your own life,” Lexi said. “Going into 2018 I have nothing but a newfound happiness for this life I am living. I no longer am a prisoner in my own body and instead of just existing in my own life, I’m finally alive. Every day I wake up is a blessing.”

Saving Their Lives

Studying Nutrition

The experience has meant so much to the two of them that Lexi wants to become better educated in nutrition. She decided that she wants to go to school to study the subject.

Studying Nutrition

Quite Busty

Lexi looks back at the size of her bosom when she weighed almost 500 pounds. She laughs at how large her chest was and how she needed bras that were of a special size of their own.

Quite Busty

Getting Out

Remaining healthy depended on many things, and one of those things was being outdoors. Lexi and Danny wanted to change their habit of lounging in front of the TV to something more productive. She commented, “We now have a more adventurous relationship & can do more active things together such as hiking, walking, bike riding, etc.”

Getting Out

Get The Right People

We all know that love and support can inspire a person to do more and be better. Lexi relays how happy she is to have such positivity and support from Danny and the people around her. “Losing weight is hard & even harder when those you love don’t support you. I’m one lucky girl to have someone who always loved me no matter what size & saw who I could be.”

Get The Right People

Leaving The Comfort Zone

Losing weight has given Lexi self-confidence like she hasn’t ever had before. It has also given her the courage to try things that she would never have ever thought of trying. Just recently she learned how to dirt bike, and she was thrilled. “Riding a dirtbike! Never in a million years did I ever think that my weight loss journey would take me here or I ever would get to do something that [Danny] loves so much.”

Leaving The Comfort Zone

A good replacement for a meal is a protein shake, according to Lexi. She swears by them and makes sure that she consumes at least one a day. It doesn’t have to serve as a meal, it could be as a “mini meal” between bigger meals.

Protein Shakes

Setting High Goals

Although some might advise against it, Lexi believes that setting high goals for yourself is the key to success. She believes that pairing yourself up with someone is the secret to beating the moments when you have zero motivation. Danny is that person for her, and she’s that person for him.

Setting High Goals

Summer DietBet

Lexi has joined the movement called “DietBet” which encourages people to lose weight while winning money prizes too. The movement has helped hundreds of thousands of weight-watchers to shed pounds, and some have even walked home with cash.

Summer DietBet

Needles And Tattoos

As a token of the great achievement Lexi has made, she has been considering getting a tattoo. Even though it would mean so much to her, she doesn’t like needles. She posted on her Instagram feed, “Fun fact – I HATE needles and even though I want a weight loss tattoo i’m terrified.”

Needles And Tattoos

Making Dreams Come True

If there’s one thing we can learn from this extraordinary couple, it’s not just about weight loss. They have taught us that it’s possible to do what is thought to be impossible. All it takes is a decision, and the rest will follow, even if it means hard work.

Making Dreams Come True