This Inspiring Couple Shed Almost Half Their Body Weight in Just a Year

If you think losing weight is hard, you’ll be inspired by Lexi and Danny Reed, who just a year ago weighed more than 700 pounds between them.

Lexi, 26, weighed 480 pounds, and Danny, 28, was 280 pounds at his heaviest — and together they ate 8,000 calories a day.

But after putting off trying to seriously lose weight year after year, the couple from Indiana finally ditched takeout and junk food and 12 months later have lost more than 300 pounds.

Danny has lost 60 pounds, and Lexi has shed an impressive 280 pounds.

So what finally motivated them? Lexi realized that her size wasn’t just controlling her life, but her health too.

“I had difficulty breathing and I’m pretty sure I was pre-diabetic — people don’t understand how hard it is to be overweight,” she told the Daily Mail Online. “I was once turned away at a theme park because I was too big to fit on the roller coasters. It was humiliating.”

But she said that once they put their minds to it, the weight started to fall off quickly. She added their relationship once “revolved around” food like Chinese buffets and takeout, but now they cook from scratch and make healthy versions of their old favorites.

“In January 2016 my best friend challenged me to not eat out for 30 days. I wasn’t allowed to eat any junk food and for once I stuck to it, and so did Danny,” she explained.

“From there it was so much easier to keep at it and I said to myself that I would be happy with losing [about 100 pounds] in the first year,” she said.

“Danny was really supportive and we started to make everything from scratch at home. We found alternative ways of eating food that we loved, so we would still eat pizza but it would be a healthy option.

“I think that’s what made it easier — we didn’t feel like we were depriving ourselves of our favorite foods.”

Besides their diet, they also began hitting the gym five or six times a week, and started an Instagram account to document their journey.

“We want to encourage people that it is possible to change your life with diet and exercise,” she added.

“You don’t need a trainer, surgery, to spend tons of money on healthy food or supplements. You just just need yourself and to put forward hard work and determination,” she said. “Small changes are going to add up to big results.”

Let’s keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.