I really enjoy stories of weight loss such as this. Shannon Davis lost 300 pounds on her own, without any gimmicky exercise machines or diet pills. Her starting weight was 589 pounds. She has lost an average of 100 pounds per year. Watch the video below to view her story:
How Shannon Lost Weight
Let's take a look at how Shannon was able to shed the pounds. First notice her change in eating:
- She eats 3 meals a day
- Her meals are very simple (protein, vegetables)
- Her meals are not made up of bad carbs (white bread, pasta, soda, etc.)
- She indulges once in awhile
Diet is crucial to weight loss. I eat very similarly to Shannon now and realized that eating bread and pasta (white flour) on a regular basis was a bulk of the reason I wasn't losing weight. My lunches and dinners almost always used to consist of bread or pasta. Those meals were often followed by dessert (more refined sugar.) I don't cut out those types of carbs completely. I save them for Saturday when I indulge in a favorite meal.
Also notice that Shannon is very active. She exercises 7 days a week. I bet that is a huge change for her and she says it herself: "There is no magic bullet, you cannot lose weight without putting in the time and effort." When she first joined a gym, she says she couldn't walk on a treadmill at her starting weight, so she would walk back and forth in the pool for an hour. Now she does an hour of cardio 4 days a week and weights with a personal trainer the other 3 days.
Is it easy? Absolutely not. I'm sure she has her good days and bad days. What matters is staying consistent - making lifestyle changes and not following fads. Shannon's story is inspirational and proves once again that healthy eating and exercise are the true keys to getting fit.
Resources:
abcnews.go.com
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Turbulence Training
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
This is a very inspiratioinal story. I have been trying to get my son more motivated to lose weight. Although, I have little room to talk myself. Neither of us are as heavy as this lady used to be, but we could definitly stand to shed some pounds.
I’m so glad that she did this without using any fads or gimicks. My own mother has often told me that any one can lose weight by simply eating right and exercising. Here is one story that proves Mom’s right.
That’s absolutely great that there are a few people out there (and I mean a few) that can actually diet and exercise and loose signifigant weight. Unfortunately for the majority of us it simply does not work. No matter how much we stick to diets the significant weight does not come off. I myself loose the same 20 – 25 poiunds over and over ( I weigh 348) and YES I stick to the diets 8 months, 1 years, etc. at a time. So, unfortunately for the rest of us we still need them to come up with something to overcome our metabolisms and bodies in order to loose significant weight. I do not beleive they actually want to “come up with something though” and for example her weight loss just feeds into the myths and society’s predjudices that its our “fault” and we “could do if we wanted to” – NOT TRUE!!! We needt o come up with WHY 1000′s of people are dietning their life away and sitcking it to it like myself, writing itdown, yeh, etc. and are still very large. Blame, sensationalism, cutting up stomachs, wieght loss shows will not cut it – figure out the science of it or stop the hating and predjudice…there will be big beautiful people ALWAYS!!
This is really good lesson for me. I am obese and really need to lose weight. I have tried every thing, and there are no magic bullets. If you have any suggestions please let me know.
j. laprade
This is avery inspirational story, and it will inspire others to do something about their weight if they are not happy. Anything can be done with dedication.
I also cut down on bread and pasta, and I realized I don’t miss it. My only favorite things in the world are fruits and peanut butter, I really don’t care about breads or pastas.
What an inspiration – you GO Girl – YOU are AWESOME!!!
I have only 25kilos to loose and I have also tried the gimmicks. On Jan 10 2011 – I gave up the gimmicks and started a fresh. Since Jan 10 I have lost 15 Kilos and have 10k to go. I would like to get it all off by the end of this year — it is slow progress BUT it is the best way. I am learning all over how to eat and exercise.
This is what I do.
- Weigh myself every Monday morning before eating – and MARK it on the Calendar that is beside my fridge — let me tell you — that is a GREAT insight and motivator to stay on eating healthy. I do not LIE to myself – I mark it how it appears even if I did not loose anything (ex. during the Easter Holidays I gained 1 kilo).
- I drink 2 litres of water every day and of course my coffee (without milk) and 1/2 tsp of sugar
- Mon to Fridays I eat healthy – Lots of Fruits, Veggies, Fish, Chicken, Turkey. NOT fried – all on the BBQ. Veggies Raw or Steamed. NO Potatoes, and DEFINITELY NO Salt
- Sat and Sun – I eat what I want (of course within reason) NO Fried Foods, NO desserts, MINIMAL Bread, Pasta, Potatoes, Rice, and of course DEFINITELY NO Salt
I also walk, jog or jump rope and walk my dogs to keep fit.
Once I was able to form the habit it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Easy to stick to. It took 2 weeks before I stopped cheating but it was WORTH IT!!!
I have MORE Energy and always excited when I put clothes on because I feel GREAT knowing that my clothes are loose. I tell you the feeling is truly WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a very inspirational story. It gives me a lot of motivation in my quest to lose some weight in the near future and her diet was so simple, anyone could use it. I think i’ll try it out 100 pounds a year! Quite amazing.
K. Mutang
The key here is she does not look at it as a diet, but a change in life style. Daily exercise and eating better over time will help her keep the weight off forever. It took her 3 years at 100 lbs. per year so that is a little less then 2 lbs per week. So what if a person only loses 1/2 pound per week as long as it is moving in the right direction you will eventually get to the weight or size you want to be. Slow and steady is good! Congrats to her.
That’s exactly it, a change in lifestyle, diets are simple unmaintainable, by choosing to do it this way she’ll keep the weight off for good. Congratulations Shannon.
An amazing story indeed. Really reminds me of my new favorite show – Extreme Makeover Weightloss Edition, Monday nights on ABC.
Just like Shannon, Extreme Makeover focuses on amazing transformations and follows each person as they drop hundreds of pounds over the course of a year. It also focuses on the their emotional struggles as well. Fantastic show and I’m obsessed. Check it out:http://abc.go.com/shows/extreme-makeover-weight-loss-edition/video-detail/featured/dana-sneak-peek/pl_PL55124937/vd_VD55130081
I think I’ve read this over Yahoo news. And how many years she’s been doing this?
Hi–I’ve been working out and eating right for 3 years now. This is my fourth year, and HOPEFULLY my goal weight year.