A 29-year-old woman is showing her excess skin for the first time after losing 200lbs in two years.
Lorena Vazquez, from Illinois, USA, weighed 435lbs at her heaviest. Since beginning her weight loss journey in 2018, she’s managed to lose almost half of her weight, now weighing 235lbs.
However, this massive weight loss has left Lorena with loose skin on her arms, legs, back and stomach, making Lorena feel incredibly self-conscious about her new body.
Lorena told Truly: “It’s hard for me to look in the mirror sometimes. I thought that I would look much different at this point.”
Lorena has struggled with weight since her childhood. Growing up, Lorena’s family didn’t have much and would often rely on unhealthy, frozen meals to save money. However, when Lorena began her weight loss journey, the first thing she changed was her relationship with food.
"I signed up for six months on weightwatchers and began looking at food differently. A month later I lost 25lbs and thought 'Holy cow, I can do this'."
Weightwatchers requires you to record everything you eat and drink, allocating each meal, snack or drink a number of "points". The idea, of course, is you have a certain amount of points to "spend" in any given day.
However, it might be the act of recording itself that encourages weight loss. A study published way back in 2008 showed that people who monitor their diet by keeping food diaries lose around double the amount of weight as those who don't keep track of what they eat.
In addition, Lorena said: "I didn't realise how bad I felt until I started feeling better. I exercise five days a week now. Usually [my friend] Emily and I go for a bike ride or for a run."
getting a weight-loss partner in crime, whether a spouse, friend or personal trainer, is vital to success. In one study, patients with a partner were more than twice as likely to lose a significant amount of weight within a year. Two heads really are better than one
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