Mom who lost 200lbs in 15 months explained how she avoided gaining weight back

A mother has revealed how she managed to keep off the impressive 200 lbs she lost by making some simple changes.

At her heaviest, Megan Christenson was around 350 pounds. She had been overweight all her life, before but she said things started to get out of control after she had her children.

The then-37-year-old from Windsor, Connecticut, spoke to TODAY in 2021 about her weight loss journey and how she managed to get started.

Speaking about how her size was holding her back, she said: “Being a parent at 350 pounds, there’s so much that you can’t do, like climbing stairs or going for a walk or a trip to the amusement park.”

She explained that she wanted to make a health decision so that she could be around for her children.

Speaking about her diet, she said: “For the first six months, I focused 100% on nutrition, looking at the calories I was eating.

Megan was able to lose over 100 pounds with diet changes alone (TODAY with Jenna & Sheinelle)

“The calories I was eating — it was a lot of processed foods. It was a lot of carbohydrates.”

She insisted it was the diet change that made her drop the initial 100 pounds, before she focused on her exercise regime.

“After 6 months I had lost more than 100 pounds, I realized i needed to do something different to maintain that weight loss.

“All the research that I had done had suggested that people who successfully maintain their weight loss focus on strength training.

“So that was my next phase, I hired a coach and focused on strength training goals.”

She added that she got herself a fitness coach, and the pair started with small goals that built up her cardiovascular health and becoming stronger.

After a while, she found herself running and was able to build her stamina to the point she was running longer distances.

She said: “Running the 5K, the 10K, then running the half marathon and continuing to build on that strength.”

In a 15-month period, she lost a total of 200 pounds and went from 351 pounds to 146, and while she was thankful the weight loss meant she could do more physically, the real benefits from what she can do with her family.

She continued: “Things like going on a vacation with my kids and going zip lining for the first time because I was finally under the weight limit or going roller skating with my son, focusing on those things and those milestones really helped keep the momentum going.”