For years, Laura Rosenthal’s metabolism allowed her to take pleasure in her rapid meal dependancy without gaining weight. “I ate 3 massive speedy food an afternoon, and my coworkers might tell me, ‘One day that’s going to wrap up with you,’ ” Rosenthal, 41, tells PEOPLE for the 2019 “How I Lost 100 Lbs.!” feature. And soon enough, it did. Rosenthal’s weight fluctuated in the low 200s for years. However, she hit a brand new high — 270 lbs. — after giving birth to her daughter at age 33.
“I became so sad with myself and dissatisfied that I’d permit myself get those ways,” she says. “I didn’t need to do something — I’d visit paintings, come domestic, sit back on the recliner and examine my cellphone rather than playing with [my daughter]. There are infrequently any snapshots of me together with her — I’d delete them due to the fact I became so embarrassed of what I looked off.” And even beyond aesthetics, Rosenthal felt like her frame was starting to collapse.
“I reached a factor wherein my body become telling me, ‘I can not manage this.’ Every part of me hurt,” she says. In 2017, the Nashville-primarily based office manager wished an ankle fusion to repair an antique soccer injury from her more energetic teenage days that had gotten worse because she was “so overweight.” The complicated surgical treatment required fusing her ankle joint to a brand new bone.
“It’s a very long recuperation, and you have to be in 3 casts and a wheelchair,” she says. “I turned into crawling around my house, and the whole lot becomes exponentially more difficult due to the fact I weighed 100 lbs. More than I have to have.” In December of that year, Rosenthal decided that she “did not want to spend the rest of my life fighting” her weight. instead, she joined WW and loved that, so some of the ingredients had been factor-unfastened on the brand new Freestyle software.
“I could devour a taco salad with floor bird, black beans, corn, and lettuce, and it changed into one point. It felt so livable,” she says. “I felt relieved due to the fact I wasn’t hungry, so I felt comforted, understanding I can stay with this. I can eat loads of food and now not be hungry.” Rosenthal gradually misplaced about three lbs. Per week, and took it “one meal at a time, one day at a time.” Finally, she had lost 100 lbs after about a yr. She decided to wait until she hit that mark to begin exercising, and now Rosenthal is going for each day’s walks and does circuit training.
“Yesterday, I become doing burpees, and I turned into like, ‘I can’t trust I’m doing this.’ I’m still shocked that I may want to pass from being in a wheelchair and hobbling on this foot for 3 months to doing this,” she says. “I can’t consider it. I clearly can’t.” However, Rosenthal says each part of her existence has now improved. She got promoted because she speaks up more at paintings — “and I receive commission loads more.” She also doesn’t pull away from photographs together with her daughter and loves taking her to play within the park or for a hike.
“It is weight literally has been lifted off of me,” she says. “I experience lighter about existence. I don’t take matters as severely; I’m now not as terrible approximately matters. It sounds cheesy to mention it. However, it’s like the entirety I desired I feel like I have now. It without a doubt seems like a dream in approaches, due to the fact I am more outgoing, more confident and happier.”
