Michigan woman, 22, loses incredible 100 pounds after making habit of hitting the gym five days a week

A woman who underwent a 100-pound weight loss transformation says she now feels constantly cold, but has no regrets about losing weight.

Drea Vasquez, 22, of Michigan, dropped from 246 pounds to 140 pounds in five years after being stunned by a prediabetes diagnosis at age 18.

However, the miraculous weight loss has had some downsides. Ms. Vasquez says that she suffered from body dysmorphia due to the amount of loose skin she carried.

She also described the coldness she feels when hit by a light breeze as “painful”, saying that she is now an “ice cube”.

Ms. Vasquez found others online with a similar experience after losing weight, with others warning that they “freeze all the time” and that it “really hurts everywhere.”

“My body now gets extremely cold in winter and I couldn’t handle the freezing temperatures,” Ms. Vasquez said.

‘For comparison, when I was older, I could happily walk in a storm without a coat. It was crazy to get completely hit in the face by the cold.

“My parents even bought me electronic hand warmers because now I’m just an ice cube 24/7.”

Her weight loss journey began with a warning from her doctor that she could soon develop diabetes if she didn’t change her lifestyle.

Ms. Vasquez began her weight loss journey on New Year’s Day in 2018, when she was 18 years old by adopting a healthy, calorie deficit diet and weekly exercise routine.

She said she had to “re-learn how to eat.” Her diet is much healthier, including lean meats like chicken and turkey, vegetables, and replacing unhealthy snacks with fruits, rice cakes, and chickpea buns.

He started hitting the gym four to five days a week, doing 30 minutes of cardio and an hour of weight training each time.

“I tried to lose weight for years, but I always ended up losing hope and falling back into unhealthy habits,” she said.

“I was addicted to food and I found out when my pediatrician told me I was prediabetic.

“So I decided to go into a calorie deficit to finally lose some weight and it wasn’t as scary or as difficult as I thought it would be.”

Experts say that the most effective way to lose weight requires changes in diet and exercise.

Eating a low-calorie diet, preferably with healthy, nutritious foods, combined with burning calories through exercise can help a person lose weight.

I did different forms of cardio, walking, running, stair climbing and the same with weight training for about six months.

“Then I started long-distance running, which has stayed with me to this day and is my main form of exercise today.”

Ms. Vasquez is now at a healthy weight, but achieving a slimmer figure was no problem.

He struggled with body dysmorphia due to excess skin on his body. Stretched skin is a common problem among weight losers as their body has already adjusted to their oversized frame that won’t reverse.

Ms. Vásquez decided to have surgery to remove it in June 2021.

“It was a really difficult decision to have the surgery, I was going back and forth with myself,” she said.

‘Before I went to the surgeon of my choice, I was able to ask my doctor to write a letter saying that I had maintained my weight for over a year and maintained good health in the hope that this would help with insurance coverage.

“I was able to cover almost the entire procedure and only paid $3,000 out of pocket for a tummy tuck, which is the removal of loose skin, muscle repair of muscle damage in my abdomen, and belly button reconstruction.”

In all, eight pounds of skin was removed from her body. She said that the recovery process took about two months.

Ms. Vasquez is not a content creator like her full-time job. Part of her job is to share her weight loss story on TikTok.

Another problem that arose is the feeling of cold that you often suffer from now.

“It’s been three years since I lost 100 pounds and my body is still in shock when a cold breeze hits me,” he said in a video that received more than 1.3 million views on his TikTok page.

This is a normal, though unusual, feeling after losing a lot of weight.

The fat serves as a layer of protection for the body and has even been described by experts as a blanket.

When a person loses that level of insulation in their body, they can suddenly feel cold since they are more exposed to the elements than they were used to.

Many people who follow low-calorie diets to lose weight may also be lacking in crucial nutrients like iron. One of the signs of this nutrient deficiency is being colder than usual.

‘This is not a medical condition or a side effect of skin removal, it’s just something that tends to happen after a lot of weight loss!’ she said.

“Fat keeps us warm, so when we lose a significant amount of body fat, it’s definitely going to impact our bodies when we don’t have that extra fat anymore.

“That’s what my doctor said and eventually the cold won’t be as shocking, but since I grew up most of my life overweight, I was never used to the winter cold with most of my body fat.”

Despite getting a little colder at times, Ms. Vasquez is still happy with her weight loss journey.

‘I feel confident in my own body now, even if I have to feel a bit more cold!’ she said.