Growing Up
Lyss Remaly was born into a very affectionate home. She loved spending time with her siblings and her parents, and laughter could always be heard around the house.
While many people develop an addiction to food due to trauma, this wasn't Lyss' case. In fact, she had en extremely happy childhood, which she remembers fondly.
Gaining Weight
According to Lyss, however, having such a supportive and caring family was a part of the problem. Her parents let her eat whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, and they never pressured her to lose weight.
Because she had so much freedom, she continued to eat anything she wanted, slowly developing an addiction to junk food over the years.
Out Of Control
As the years kept going by, her weight got out of control. Before she knew it, Lyss was weighing 300 pounds and could not stop eating junk food.
Her family was OK with her weight, so she never really cared about it. It wasn't until high school that she realized that she wasn't like the other kids.
The Bullying Begins
When Lyss started high school, she realized that people looked at her weird because of her weight, and it didn't take long for the bullying to start.
She wasn't shy and had a great personality, so it wasn't hard for her to make friends. However, there were still many people who were mean to her and would make fun of her size.
Mean Comments
The mean comments people made about her just intensified over the years. Lyss tried to ignore them, but it became too much to bear.
Although she had always been confident, happy, and bubbly, her self esteem began to deteriorate. She felt ugly, inferior, and rejected by her peers at school. As time went by, this got worse and worse.
Depression
Before she knew it, Lyss fell into a deep depression. She felt worthless, and this feeling of emptiness only made her want to eat more. It became a vicious cycle, as people bullied her for being overweight and because of it, she ate more and more.
In order to deal with her anxiety and depression, Lyss found another outlet for her feelings: self harm. She began hurting herself only occasionally, but it quickly spiraled out of control.
Going Too Far
Lyss felt completely worthless and believed her life had no meaning. She wasn't the happy, funny girl she used to be, and she began to harm herself more and more often.
She even attempted to take her own life, but it luckily didn't work. Then one day, one of her classmates changed her life forever.
Getting Help
One day, a classmate of Lyss' noticed the cuts on her arms and confronted her. She had managed to keep her self harm a secret for months and always wore long-sleeve shirts, but luckily someone finally noticed it.
Her classmate told her that she needed help and that she should stop, so Lyss broke down. That same day, she talked to the school counselor, and her parents were notified about what was going on.
Heartbreaking News
Her parents could not believe what they were hearing. They had no idea that Lyss was depressed and even tried to take her own life, but they were ready to support her in her recovery.
And luckily, Lyss was willing to do anything to get better. She got counseling and talked about her feelings and thoughts. Eventually, she realized that, in order to be in a good place mentally, she also had to be in a good place physically.
Starting The Change
Lyss was determined to make a change, and while being motivated is definitely a big step, it is only the beginning of a long, difficult road. The first thing her parents tried was sending her to fat camp.
Just like it happens to many people, the camp helped her only temporarily. She did lose some weight, but as soon as she was back home, she began overeating once more.
Trying Other Things
Lyss tried countless diets, which didn't do much for her. It didn't take a genius to realize that the problem wasn't her diets, but Lyss herself.
Her issue was that she could not commit. She wanted to lose weight and be healthy, but as soon as she got a craving, she would break her diet.
In A Better Place
Even though she did not manage to lose much weight, Lyss was in a much better place mentally by the time she finished high school. She learned to love herself and gained back some of her confidence.
Because she could not lose weight, she decided to embrace her weight and make it part of her career by becoming a comedian. Her routine was mostly about her struggles with weight, and people absolutely loved it.
In A Box
Lyss was doing great as a stand-up comedian, but as she tried to get a few acting roles here and there, she realized that she would only be cast as "the funny fat girl".
And while there is nothing wrong with playing that role, she realized that she hated wearing that label and being put in that box. This was the second moment in her life when it finally dawned on her that she needed to make a change.
Same Problems
The road to losing weight is definitely not an easy one, and Lyss tried countless times to go through it. But again, she was stuck with diets that didn't work and a lack of real motivation.
She then tried a different approach and got in contact with a doctor to get a bariatric surgery in order to help her lose weight more effectively.
Recovery
Her surgery was a success, but she had no idea how hard the recovery would be. Although getting these types of surgeries definitely helps people, it is only a small part of the process.
There's a lot that goes into the recovery after the surgery and to maintain a healthy weight moving forward. You have to change your habits and your diet permanently, otherwise you gain all the weight again.
Hitting A Wall
Unfortunately, Lyss did not take the surgery as an opportunity to change. As soon as she recovered, she went right back into her old, unhealthy habits.
Before she knew it, she had gained back all the weight she had lost. It seemed as though there was no solution to her problem...
A Revelation
One day, Lyss just looked in the mirror and something clicked in her head. Out of nowhere, she finally understood what was going on: nothing was going to change until she actually worked for it.
It took her years and many different tries to finally understand that there was no easy solution and that she would have to give her all to change her life: and she did.
Going To The Gym
That day, Lyss wrote a list of goals that she would slowly achieve. She decided to take baby steps but was determined to go through with everything on the list.
One of the things was to go to the gym, and it was truly terrifying. She felt out of place and had no idea how any of the machines worked, but she still went in and tried her best.
Not Giving Up
It was difficult and terrifying, but Lyss was not going to give up. Every single day, she woke up and did exactly what she had set her mind to do, and she quickly started seeing results.
After five long years, she achieved every single one of the items she had written on her list that day she decided to change. She reached her goal of 150 pounds and was over the moon.
Only The Beginning
But losing weight was only the beginning for Lys. She actually fell in love with fitness and continued to train, eventually getting into bodybuilding.
She is now an inspiration to thousands of people and goes on bodybuilding competitions as often as she can. Her favorite part of her journey is to inspire others to do the same.