Losing Weight After Alcoholism

After being incapacitated because of her weight, a Texas woman quit eating carbs and drinking alcohol — steps that helped her shed 139 pounds and enjoy life.

“I thought I was happy; I didn’t know I was depressed, ” Misty Mitchell, 36, told . “What I thought was happiness was me just surviving.”

When she weighed close to 300 pounds, Misty Mitchell would only take pictures with something or someone in front of her. She has lots of pictures of herself holding her nephew in an attempt to hide.Courtesy of Misty Mitchell

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In 2003, when she was 23, Mitchell's grandmother started hospice and Mitchell quit school to care for her. She sat around mindlessly eating, which led to a rapid 60-pound weight gain. Over the next four years, she slowly gained more, with her weight increasing to 285 pounds. Shocked, she started the Atkins diet and lost 110 pounds.

Mitchell kept the weight off until 2009 when she started eating carbs again and problem drinking. What began as too many drinks while out escalated to her guzzling a half liter of vodka a day, or about 11 drinks and 1, 000 calories.

She knew she had a problem, but told herself it wasn’t bad: She never passed out anywhere, drove drunk, or missed work.

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For six months into her weight loss plan, Misty Mitchell feared going to the gym. She received some unexpected inspiration from the movie Wild.Courtesy of Misty Mitchell

As her weight ballooned to 296 pounds, the 5-foot-6-inch woman couldn’t push the cart down the grocery store aisle without getting winded. Mitchell struggled to fit in her seat belt, bend over to put on socks, or care for her now 12-year-old daughter.

“I was completely bedridden, ” Mitchell said. “I was close to 300 pounds. I can’t even explain how terrible it feels to be stuck inside that body.”

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At her heaviest, Misty Mitchell hid from cameras. After losing 139 pounds, she takes plenty of pictures to mark her accomplishment. Courtesy of Misty Mitchell

While disk surgery eliminated the pain, Mitchell realized her life “was in shambles.” She had lost her job and had to sell her house. After a meal of Frito pie and a pint of ice cream, she decided she had to make a change.

In February 2015, Mitchell stopped drinking and started a ketogenic diet, eating less than 20 grams of carbs a day to keep her body in ketosis. She immediately lost weight, but struggled to control emotional eating and drinking.

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Misty Mitchell went from 60% body fat down to 25% percent after changing her eating and drinking habits. She feels like the change helped her appreciate life. Courtesy of Misty Mitchell

“I was so pissed at my life, it kind of fueled my drive. Every time I would think of drinking — which happened a lot — or eating carbs, I remembered that anger, ” she said.

That motivates her to skip drinks and ignore emotional eating. But one piece was still missing — working out. She feared the gym, but found unexpected inspiration from watching the movie “Wild.” Much like the main character, Mitchell decided to take her life back.

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Since November 2015, she's only missed two days at the gym, transforming herself from 60 percent body fat to 25 percent. Her goal weight is 148 pounds, which would mean she has lost half her body weight. She's currently at 157 pounds.

After giving up junk food and booze, Misty Mitchell lost 139 pounds. At her worst, she was drinking more than 1, 000 calories of alcohol.Courtesy of Misty Mitchell

I really like who I am now and it is who I always wanted to be, she said. “If I can do it, anyone can do it.”

How I Quit Drinking

Thinking that a pint of ice cream will help with that bad day? Paint your nails instead. It’s tough to snack with wet nail polish.Bhaven Taylor, 41, from London, shares how he transformed his body—and his entire mindset—by changing his diet, giving up alcohol, and working out three times a week.

I was extremely fit when I was younger, playing all sports at first team level (rugby, football, cricket) while at school and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The negative change started to occur once I attended university, which often consisted of nights out binge-drinking, lack of good sleep, and poor diet. My weight began to creep up, and this continued into my work life in London from 2002 onwards. This lasted for almost 20 years, and a combination of unhealthy eating and inactivity meant that I steadily gained weight throughout my 20s and 30s.

I probably reached my heaviest around 35 years old. It had a huge impact on my self-esteem and overall confidence, both of which were extremely low. I did not feel good about myself or how I looked, and I was a prime candidate for Type 2 diabetes, which runs in my family.

How Much Weight Will I Lose If I Stop Drinking Alcohol

Having spent a large part of 2020 indoors in the UK, coming into 2021 I decided I wanted to make a change. I decided that this could be a good opportunity as there were still so few distractions available due to lockdown. So in January 2021 I signed up to Ultimate Performance. I had come across them 15 years ago but when I saw the before and after pictures from their transformation program, I honestly thought that was not possible for someone like me. However, I spoke to a friend who went through it and achieved incredible results, so I immediately signed up. This was the first time in my life where I invested directly into myself, and thought I would put my all into it and see what happens.

The UK was in a strict lockdown from the moment I started until gyms reopened on 13th April 2021, so my trainer Jason and I had a weekly 30-minute call to focus primarily on nutrition and increasing my energy output. He aimed to improve my education on nutrition and how to ensure I was eating and tracking the right amount of calories, split across the appropriate protein, carbohydrates and fats. I quite enjoyed cooking and I got into it immediately, weighing foods and learning how to use spices to ensure the meal tasted good. I also cut out alcohol in order to get the best outcome from the whole process.

The first time I worked out with Jason in person three months later, I was blown away. We kept the workouts simple, did around 6 or 7 exercises per session, super-setting each exercise and ensuring we did a whole body workout. Jason started to educate me on weight training, proper form and slowly progressively overloading. My experience in the gym at UP was just incredible: the environment is set up for gear motivation and maximum output and I loved every minute of it.

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From then on, I worked out with Jason 3 times per week and this really was enough to change my overall body. In addition, Jason set me a daily step target and I found a new appreciation for long walks—podcasts and audiobooks became my best friends during this time—but I was able to hit my weight loss goals without doing excessive amounts of cardio.

Within three months I lost about 17 kgs (37 pounds) and got my body fat, which was close to 30 percent when I started, down to 11 percent. When I saw my friends and family for the first time after lockdown, many of them were shocked, and some didn't even recognize me. I have now got myself back to how I looked when I was 17 years old, at the age of 41. My experience has motivated others to get fit themselves, and I have countless conversations about what I did. What blew me away is when an extremely close friend referred to me as an inspiration, and that he has never seen me this focused, and how proud he was.

The entire transformation journey was truly an incredible experience, but the most dramatic effect was not my weight or the way I looked: it was actually more on the mental side and how I felt. My sleep was transformed, I naturally became a morning person (not something I could have said for 25 years), productivity increased, my energy rose, and my self-esteem and confidence improved dramatically. I started to ask myself how far can I take this, and what could I be capable of? I actually got approached and started a new job during lockdown and have begun working in a new industry for a truly amazing company. This for me was a life transformation rather than just a body one.

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If you want to make a change, just go for it: it's all about taking it one step at a time, and once you begin to see progress it is immensely motivating. Consistency is key, but if you're turning up every day, then it is amazing what you can achieve in just three months.

, covering fitness, pop culture, sex and relationships, and LGBTQ+ issues. His work has appeared in GQ, Teen Vogue, Man Repeller and