DoctorOz: Inspiring Weight Loss Journey: 6 Strategies for a 219lb Transformation

Welcome back. Today we are talking to people who have lost half their body weight. Here's some of the most amazing transformations I have ever seen. Next, I want you to meet Rebecca. She's joining us behind a picture of her at her heaviest when she weighed 381 pounds. Rebecca, tell us about yourself. I grew up obese, bigger than everyone in school. My mom worked three jobs and sometimes fast food was the easiest option. I was addicted to food. I didn't like myself. And at 16, the doctor told me I would die if I didn't lose weight. You guys ready to see Rebecca? Come on out, Rebecca. Let's beat you. I love that. I love that. Give me one more twirl. I want to see it. That's great. It's hard to do with people watching you. It is. That's fantastic. You lost 219 pounds. I did. I did. Isn't that incredible? Can you believe that is you? I look back at it and I still see myself like that. Why do you see yourself like that? It's hard to change your body image the way you see yourself when you were like that your entire life. It's hard. I can't believe it. Do you see little bits and pieces of yourself that are different now than you were? Oh, definitely. Definitely. Better changes. Both emotionally and physically. Here's the amazing thing. I meet a lot of people on this show. I'm most amazed by your story today. Because you're not just about you. You might not know this, but Rebecca's become a social media sensation. With 38,000 people following your journey. Following your journey. So I want you all to sit back for one second. Take a look at how you made this happen. In 2011, I was invited to do my very first 5K with my mother-in-law. I walked the whole thing. It took me an hour and 15 minutes. I was miserable the whole time. And at the end, I finished last. Dead last. I was embarrassed. I was 29 years old, 381 pounds. I knew right then and there it was time to make a change. My ultimate goal was to go back at the 5K that I finished and run it with my friend. And she said, you know, you should really put your journey on Instagram. It's really inspiring. I started my account as Get Fit Beck. Because my name is Rebecca. And my whole sole purpose was to get fit. I never had the purpose of a certain body image. I just wanted to get stronger and more active. I only had 10 followers when I made my first post. And I was still pretty nervous to see what they would say about a picture of me working out. Going to a gym, not knowing what I was doing was extremely terrifying. So my first step was to buy a workout video. Once I started seeing the pounds come off, I knew it was time to start changing my diet. I started with portion control. Using a smaller plate to trick myself. Learning more about nutrition and reading labels. Straying away from over-processed foods. Adding a lot more lean protein into my diet. Experimenting with vegetables. It's yummy. So as I kept continuing to lose weight. And I kept losing pounds. And posting about it. I would gain about 100 followers from each post. Two years after finishing that hour and 15 minute 5K. I went to the exact same 5K. I remember going down. Running the same parts that I remember wanting to stop. And starting to cry. I thought, I'm running this. And I would see people behind me running. Or stop and slow down. I'd be like, no. Keep running. We're almost there. And two years later, I finished it in 34 minutes. What a crazy story. So many folks want to ask you questions. I've asked some women who are here in the audience. Who wanted to ask you how you did it. To join us. So Nadine, you want to go first? Sure. First, I want to let you know that you're such an inspiration to me and to others. But my hurdle is, every time I go on a diet. I can't seem to lose more than 15 pounds. It seems like my cutoff point. And I just have so much difficulty moving forward. Do you have any advice as to? First, I hate the word diet. Because we always feel like die, it. So we have to kill off everything that is in what we usually eat. And so I never went on a diet, per se. I just changed my nutrition. And like I said, I just started substituting different things. I mean, do you like chocolate? I do. Okay. It's a trick question, by the way. Yeah. I have chocolate every day. Believe it or not, I had dark chocolate before I came on the show today. And I keep dark chocolate. You can get dark chocolate chips. And I get 62% cacao. Which is a better form of chocolate for you. And the higher the percentage, the better chocolate it is. I keep those in my freezer. And my husband will always know whenever it's like chocolate time. He'll be like, I hear you in the chocolate in the kitchen. So, you know, I always allow myself to still have the things that I love. And I never cut everything out of my diet. So you just have to kind of find what works for you. And then just kind of go forward and stay off the scale. That's a great point because, you know, the scale doesn't have a finish line. Reaching a goal like running a 5K or getting to a mountaintop or just doing something you couldn't do before does. Amanda, you want to ask a question? Yes. First of all, you were beautiful and gorgeous before. And you're even more gorgeous. You're even more gorgeous now. You know, all my life my weight has fluctuated going up and down. And trying to stay on track, I found every time I start getting in a routine of exercising or dieting, I wind up getting sick, becoming ill. You know, and then that makes me, you know, fall back. How do you stay on track? To be honest with you, every day is a struggle. I've actually, my weight has fluctuated since June of last year. I'm actually up about 10 or 15 pounds from my lowest weight. So I struggle with it all the time. I noticed how emotional it was for you guys just to hear that story. Yeah. You struggle every day with it. Yeah. You've got some cool ideas. There's one more question, actually it's on video if it's okay. Sure. This is a question from Rossi in California. Take a look. I actually don't have a question. I have a thank you message. Hi, Rebecca. I'm one of your 38,000 followers. And I want to say thank you so much for your daily inspiration that you provide us. We've never met. I live in California. I'm here in Arkansas. But your daily motivation and inspiration means so much to me. And thank you so much for being so real about your journey and sharing about things like clean eating and saggy skin. You really help me believe that I can do this, too. You're amazing. So how's that to hear Rossi's story? You've inspired her and 38,000 other people. I feel every day I always say I'm blessed. I hope that I can touch more people. You are. You're making people's dreams come true. And I want you to make sure yours come true, too, as well. It's been a real pleasure meeting you. Thank you for your question. Thank you so much. You can find lots more weight loss stories at DrOz.com. Thank you for watching. Don't forget to subscribe and turn on notifications so you never miss out on new videos to live the good life.