Lydia O’Connor, 45, has always struggled with her weight, and it started to cause life-threatening health issues over time.
“10 years ago, I was in a diabetic coma that nearly killed me,” she tells TODAY.com. “It lasted nine days, and I had my last rites read to me, my funeral planned and my family called in. At the time, my daughter was 2 and a half years old.”
O’Connor also has a rare lung disease that causes her body to retain fluid. She was on oxygen 24 hours a day, and after the coma, she needed to use a wheelchair for eight years.
In 2019, O’Connor weighed 600 pounds. “To step on the scale and for it to show you a 600-pound mark, it does something to you,” she says.
That year, she knew she had to make a change: “It was time. I couldn’t do this to my family anymore. I couldn’t do this to myself anymore. And I knew I had to be the one to take the first step. I couldn’t rely on anybody else but myself.”
Since then, she’s lost 300 pounds. Here’s how she’s done it.
She began with a little bit of movement
After years of being homebound in a wheelchair, O’Connor wasn’t able to exercise very much. So, she started with small steps. When she couldn’t sleep at night, she would sit on the side of her bed and shadowbox with her arms. And she pushed herself to get out of her wheelchair and walk up and down her hallway.
Over time, she was able to do more. Her lung doctor recommended physical therapy on a recumbent elliptical, and starting out, she could only do 400 steps in 20 minutes. Now, she’s on the recumbent elliptical for an hour, covering a mile. She also walks on the treadmill for one-quarter mile at a time.
She joined a gym in February 2023, and she goes there three times a week for one and a half hours minimum, and sometimes for three or four hours. A personal trainer works with her there.
Because of her health issues,…
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