Teresa and Tonya UNPLUGGED
Teresa & Tonya UNPLUGGED is a heartfelt and inspiring podcast that chronicles the personal journeys of two friends, Teresa and Tonya, who have dramatically changed their lives through bariatric surgery. With a focus on weight loss, wellness, and the ups and downs of life before and after surgery, this podcast offers a unique blend of personal stories, expert advice, and supportive tips for those considering or navigating the path of weight transformation.
Teresa Parent and Tonya Spanglo, having experienced the challenges and triumphs of bariatric surgery firsthand, share their insights, lessons learned, and the lifestyle changes that have helped them maintain their health and happiness.
Each episode features discussions on topics ranging from the emotional aspects of weight loss and the importance of mental health to practical advice on nutrition, exercise, and navigating social situations.
This podcast is more than just a weight loss podcast; it's a community where listeners can find motivation, encouragement, and understanding. Whether you're curious about bariatric surgery, in the midst of your own weight loss journey, or looking for ways to support a loved one, Teresa and Tonya invite you to join them in this unplugged version of the podcast.
Teresa and Tonya UNPLUGGED
Navigating Life After Extreme Weight Loss: The Loose Skin Dilemma
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In this episode of Transform Your Life, your hosts Teresa and Tonya peel back the layers of an often-overlooked challenge in the weight loss journey: dealing with loose skin after significant weight loss. Both hosts bravely share their struggles with obesity, touching upon the accompanying mental and emotional strains, societal judgments, and the pursuit of feeling worthy and beautiful.
As Tonya and Teresa recount their experiences with massive weight loss, they provide a candid look into what it means to carry the physical remnants of their past selves in the form of loose skin. They discuss how these concerns impact the decision-making process for those considering weight loss surgery and how the fear of loose skin can be a deterring factor. Despite medical necessity, insurance roadblocks often stand in the way.
You are not alone, and transformation, in all its forms, is within reach.
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Welcome to Transform Your Life with Teresa and Tonya, where we talk weight loss and all things in complete.
Ready to transform your journey from bariatric surgery to weight loss, to plastic surgery, to recovery? Top Recovery Systems is here to guide you every step of the way. With our unique comprehensive support system, we match you with top surgeons, provide customized wellness plans, and offer financing solutions to make your dream a reality. From concierge wellness, mental health, to nutrition, our team is dedicated to your success. Don't navigate this path alone. Join Pop Recovery Systems and experience a seamless supported transformation. Visit us at poprecoverysystems.com to learn more and start your journey to a new you. Hi, guys. Welcome to episode 5 of transform your life with Teresa and Antonia.
I'm Tonia Spenglow, and we're gonna talk about loose skin today. And 5 weeks ago, actually, 5 weeks today, I had £20 of loose skin removed from my body. So, Teresa, what about you? How are you doing today?
Hi, honey. I'm doing good. 5 weeks. I can't believe it. Oh my goodness. And you are doing so amazing. I have had a total of, oh my goodness, £50 of skin removed from my body over the past, 13 months. So we know a little something something about the skin, don't we?
Yes. And I think yours has gotta be some kind of record because that is so much when you had your first surgery, and it was, like, worldwide. Like, it was what was it? £47?
My abdominoplasty, I had £47 of skin removed. So I had what's called a hanging apron stomach, and it literally hung down to my knees, completely blocked my thighs, my lady parts, everything, and it was very heavy. It's £47, so it's like the size of a small child hanging from my abdomen.
And you don't realize that. You don't realize that when you have it because that's like me. When she said, originally, doctor Rednam, which is my plastic surgeon, she originally thought it would only be around £15. But when she got in and we decided to go all the way around, I had such a huge fat pocket that had settled above my bottom that when she got that in there and went all the way around, it went up to £20. And then, I had a breast lift with a fat transfer. And so instead of just wasting all of that fat, she took the good fat and put that in my breast because I don't wanna do implants, which, you know, the people listening might not know all the details of that. That was just a decision I made because I didn't wanna put any foreign objects in my body. And when she told me that whenever you do a fat transfer after a loose stand removal, fat has no idea where it's at on your body.
So, like, right now, the fat in my breast has no idea that it's not on my stomach. So let's say I gain a little bit of weight, it's gonna gain a little bit of weight in my boobs, which I'm okay with. I'm okay with that. I'm like, I'm not mad about it. I'll I'll have it. So You
know, loose skin is a reality of extreme or massive weight loss. And I know that for a lot of people, that can be a deterrent for losing weight. People say I'm afraid to lose weight because of all the loose skin, and I know you can probably attest to this. I would happily lose all the weight again and deal with all of the loose skin as painful as it was emotionally, physically, and all the things. I would do it again in a heartbeat if I had to. Like, the loose skin for me was debilitating physically. So we can talk a little bit about even getting coverage for the skin removal. Mine was medically necessary.
I followed all the right things. I documented everything. I had multiple doctors who said that it was medically necessary for me to get it removed because it caused problems with my spine. I had rashes. It was difficult to even walk or go upstairs. But even with all of that, insurance did not want to cover skin removal surgery, which is so crazy because they did cover my bariatric surgery. And when someone loses, you know, £300 all at the time and, has that much skin, it should be covered. And it was literally debilitating for me.
I remember so many people would, hear my story and be like, oh my gosh. You lost, you know, £300 or whatever. You know, £360. How why do you still have all that skin on your stomach? And it would make me feel bad, like, everything I had done was not enough. You know? I remember when I woke up from the abdominoplasty surgery, I tried to move the stomach out of the way because, for me, it was so big. When I slept, I had to prop it up with 6 pillows. I had to pick up my stomach and slide it aside. Like, I literally had to lift it and move it like a massive sack of flour or something sitting on my lap.
And when I got up from the surgery, I literally tried to move my stomach, and it was like muscle memory. And the doctor and everyone was like, honey, it's gone, and I just burst into tears. Now for me, if people don't know my story, I originally gained all of the weight because I was incapable of of coping with grief. I had lost my mom and my brother to suicide. And for me, that loose skin, all of that weight was the physical representation of all of that grief. And so for me, having it removed was not just something that was gonna help me be happy with my parents or, you know, physically. It was emotionally releasing the last of that guilt and grief and trauma that I had carried around for so long. So, you know, when people make those comments as they do, most people are amazing and supportive, but there are those comments who are mental and who think I did it for, you know, vain or vanity reasons.
It was so much deeper than that for me, you know, emotionally, physically, spiritually on so many
levels. It is so much it's so much more than vanity. And for what you see in the mirror, it's so much more. People don't get that. I've gotten I had one lady particularly. She said if you get your whenever I announced that I was having skin removal, she said I followed you for 3 years. And if you get your skin removed, I will unfollow you because you will no longer be one of us. And that comment struck me even though I had thousands of positivity, motivating comments on their, like, yeah, bro.
You deserve this. You know, like, you worked so hard. And what happens with weight loss is just like what you said earlier. The loose skin is a side effect, and we all know that. And I've had friends that they need the surgery. They will not get it because they saw my loose skin. And so that is that's keeping them from I literally have talked to them, and they've have been like but my quality of life, even though I have the loose skin, I can get up out of bed. I can tie my own shoes.
I can fit in a any chair I want to at the restaurant. Like, I can go to a doctor's office and fit in the chair with the sides. I can get on a roller coaster. I can get in a pool. I can climb a ladder. I can do all the things even though I have that loose skin. The loose skin is a side effect. Just like with any surgery, there are side effects.
We know we're gonna have hair loss. We know we're gonna have loose skin if you lose a ton of weight. Your body just can't keep up. And so I think that, like, what you said, people opt out of surgery because they don't want the loose skin because then they think they're gonna have to have another surgery to deal with that. And that used to be my way of thinking. I thought about weight loss surgery forever, and then my sister had weight loss surgery. She flew to Mexico, Tijuana, and got it and come back. And even my kids, my son in particular, he was like, I don't want you to get when it came time for me to get weight loss surgery, and I was telling my kids, my son was like, but are you gonna have all the loose skin like aunt Tiffany? Are you gonna have the loose skin? Because I don't want you, like, I don't want you to have that.
And I was like, yes. Because that's a side effect of weight loss surgery. You know that going in. And but now, you know, I wore that loose skin, and I was one of those people that was like, oh, you're loose skin. You know, you keep it and it's a badge of honor. It's gonna remind you of what not to go back to. You're just telling yourself that because you're either scared of skin removal surgery or your insurance will not cover it. Those are the people who say that.
I said that because my insurance wouldn't cover it just like you. My insurance covered the bariatric surgery when it comes to the loose skin, and that loose skin is so nasty. All of us that haven't know it. And I'm so right now, when I'm thinking of this summertime is coming up, I am so excited that I don't have the skin because I would really have to put a towel under my stomach in the summertime if I wanted to go to a ballgame and sit or outside with Mila, my grandbabies, because it would sweat, and it would stink, and there's rashes. And it's itchy, and it's just nasty, and you have to bathe in powders and things. You shouldn't have to put in areas that they're not made to go in, you know, unless it's Lumiere or something like that, which it wasn't. And so it's just, you know, I was one of those people that thought it wasn't an option for me. So I said all of those things.
Like, I will wear this skin with pride. I mean, it's a badge of honor, and it's gonna remind me what not to go back to. But once I got with Prop Recovery and once I realized that's the first time I ever thought I was gonna have the opportunity to get the skin removed, I got excited. I got excited thinking about going shopping again, and, like, right now, it's about to be summer. I'm not gonna have to put a towel under my apron belly because I don't have that apron to put that towel on there anymore. And it it's just it's so freeing.
This is why we started the podcast, why we started the transformation academy because these are all issues that you don't hear people talking about. You don't hear people talking about the fact that we get massive rashes and have to put things under our loose skin because it sweats so bad. When you just said summer is coming and you're so excited, it gave me goosebumps because I remember my first summer, my entire life, this past summer, my entire life, I was not drenched in sweat. I was not struggling to carry around £47 hanging from my abdomen. I wasn't stuffing it into my pants or my skirt and worrying about it hanging down below my skirt, which it it would when I would wear a skirt sometimes, it would catch and you could see it. And just that freedom, the physical freedom from not having to worry about the rashes or the sweat, but the emotional freedom that that has given me, I cannot wait to see you and talk to you this summer Mhmm. When you when you are going through that, it is it is such an incredible feeling, and that's one of the reasons why we started this podcast because people need to understand that the loose skin, yes, it's a part of weight loss, but it's not something anymore that's unattainable for everybody. Like, if don't don't make that a reason not to start your transformation journey.
Yes. Like, it's so worth it. It's so worth it.
Yes. People settle. I was one of those people that settled with my loose skin, and I thought, you know what? Okay. I'm about £280, £230. It depends on when, what time of my journey I was at. This is it for me. I've lost the weight. I've got the loose skin.
Let's just come to terms with it, and let's dress our body how we want to and, you know, love what I love what I saw in the mirror compared to what I saw for years before, but had that skin everywhere. And I just saw it that that was it, that I was gonna die with the loose skin. So it was not the end of my weight loss journey because I think the journey never ends. You know, you have to go in maintenance mode and all of the, seasons that you go through in your weight loss journey. But now that I don't have the loose skin, my it's like my eyes are open. It's like I I see so many people settling when they don't have to, and I hear it in my comments. In our weight loss community that we have, I hear people, oh, I wish I could get that surgery. You can.
Like, you can. It is a reality because if I can do it and my insurance would never approve it because it was always considered cosmetic. No matter how many rashes I got and documented, no matter how many times I went to the doctor, no matter how many watch towels I would have to no matter what my lifestyle was like, they were not going to approve it for me until I got with Prop Recovery. And so that's what it's a game it's game changing. Prop Recovery is game changing because they finance for people whose insurance has denied them, but they need the skin removal so bad. And that's why I love it. We're talking about this because I hope as many people hear this episode, out of all the episodes so far, they need to hear this one the most because they're settling. You think you're at the end of your weight loss journey, and you're gonna be stuck with the loose skin for the rest of your life, so you're still not happy with your body.
Not that anyone's ever a perfect body. Not that anyone's ever perfectly had when they live in the mirror, but you've lost the weight. And for me, I feel like I get I get like, when I talk about it with my husband, I feel like it's a prize I've given myself. I feel like this the skin removal is what I've given myself for doing all the hard work and losing all the weight. And so even though I have carried that listing around for all these years now, now I don't have it. And it's like this I'm just giving myself this prize. You know? Like, I I feel like I've just got my all my weight loss off. Like, like, I'm just new again.
Like, I'm born again. It it's it's just such a amazing feeling. Do you feel like that?
I wake up every day, and I still have to look in the mirror multiple times a day. I say to Mike all the time, baby, I'm I'm skinny now. I'm kinda thin. I'm I'm not he's like, baby, you're not overweight anymore. You're not obese. I'm like, are you sure? Like, because, you know, mentally and emotionally like, I went to sleep and 3 hours later woke up with 47 pounds of skin removed. My brain did not catch up with the physical changes. It took months months, and you've known me now for almost a year, and you guys have seen me go through that mental and emotional battle of acknowledging the fact that my body now represents and for me shows all of the hard work, all the days that I woke up every single day and literally had to fight to save my own life, feel like that prize at the end.
You know? Yes. And playing with fashion, I literally dressed my body to be invisible for most of my life and now I am having so much fun playing with fashion, doing my hair, makeup, shoes, all the things. I never would have done that in a 1000000 years before, and it's the the skin removal surgery has given me the greatest confidence in the world. It's helped me to embrace my body image, self love, self care, all the things. And I'm so grateful. And I that's what I when I share my story, that's what I want other people to see and feel that this is not just something that's for other people. We are the other people. We are regular.
We are regular everyday average people, and we've managed to do this for ourselves. And this is something that any person can do. And I so desperately sometimes when I see someone struggling in the beginning or middle of their weight loss journey, I want to go over to them and hug them and be like, honey, you've got this. Like, this is what I've gone through, and this is where I just want them to to feel that spark again that's come back inside of me. And I've seen it with you just the change just in the past 5 weeks since you've had your skin removal surgery.
That's exactly what I'm talking about. I feel like I lost the weight. I was so excited, but then I was left with a loose skin. So that kind of it kinda like the air coming out of your balloon. It's like, you know what? I did all this work, but I still can't see the work that I've done. But I don't get a but I still look better, and so I feel better, have more energy. Things are. I'll just deal with the list then.
You know what? Last year, I like you to talk about shopping because I went to Vegas next week, and so I went to Vegas last year also. But last year's dress, completely different. It's a flip flop for this year. Last year, I wanted to show off my top as my collarbone was popping and show off a little cleavage. My arms, I covered those up because they've always been an area for me, but then a big huge ball gown skirt. So it showed a little bit of cleavage, collarbone. My waist was shown, then none of the rest of my body because all that loose skin. So that was last year's dress, which it was beautiful.
Love that dress. But when I was shopping district with my friend, and she was like, okay. So are we gonna get a ball gown on the bottom? I was like, no baby, we're gonna bam bam bam. We're gonna like we're gonna fit it and fit it fit it. We're fitting it all the way down. It's fitting. The dress is off the shoulders. I never would in a 1000000 years.
Like, just like what you said. You would never have caught me dead in a dress that I'm about to wear next Saturday in Vegas for the church. You would never in a 1000000 years take me in a dress like this. It's fitted all the way down until at the bottom, it kinda mermaids out. And it is flashy pink with magenta rhinestones, and the earrings are top and everything's matching. And it's when I put that dress on and, of course, I had on my compression garment, but my friend, she cried. My friend was crying. And she because we've been friends forever.
And she was just like, I cannot believe this. That literally were her words as she was tear just tears rolling. And we just looked we just sit there forever and stared at me in the mirror. We were inside of a little of a dressing room. You know? And then you get to go out and step up on, like, you know, when you get a prom dress. I never did that experience before because I borrowed, like, my first prom dress and I'm like, it was I I learned to cover my body just like what you're saying. Now I'm like, I am gonna have a 100 flashiest address. Not that I've stood out to get that.
It just happened. I just when I put it on and she was zipping me up, she was like, this is it. And I was just like, this is it. Because she was like, your face. She was like, your face is just lit up with a small glow, like you're glowing in this dress. You have to get this dress, and that's the dress I got.
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I can't wait to see you in the dress, and I love this conversation, this topic, because I feel like for most of my life, I never felt pretty. Never once in my life did I ever feel beautiful. And I can even recall one time I was at a wedding and I got dressed up in this beautiful dress. And I remember this was the first time that I really it really hit me that being fat in society and to other people meant that you were not pretty and could not be attractive. And I was at a wedding and I walked out of the room having gotten dressed with my cousin. My cousin's tall, thin, and everything and was wearing a gorgeous pink dress. We walked out together and there was about 50 people, all of our family and friends. Everyone gathered around her and told her how stunning and gorgeous she looked.
Not a single person even acknowledged me. And my cousin feels bad when I tell that story and I'm like, that's not the purpose of it, but it was a moment for me in my timeline, in my life where I realized people do not think that I'm pretty or beautiful. And now fast forwarding, having lost £464, having gone through the plastic having transformed my mind, body, and soul, I still struggle with allowing myself to feel beautiful and pretty, to feel worthy. I do see it more now, but that's something that I feel like we program ourselves, but also we're programmed by our culture, by society to not even dare to think that you are beautiful in the body that you're in. And I that just makes me feel sad. I feel sad for myself. Sometimes I feel sad for other people, for women that we are programmed not to see our own beauty and our own value, and plastic surgery, having skin removal surgery helped to reduce that feeling. So now I still work on a daily basis.
I have to look in the mirror and tell myself you are beautiful. You shine from within. That's where you draw your inner beauty from, but to give myself permission to feel beautiful. You know?
Right. I was told my whole entire life, you know, you have a pretty face. You look just like your mama in the face. My mom was just like me, jet black hair, and our faces are the older I get, the more I look just like my mom. But she had this little bitty waist, and she had these big old hips, and no one would ever be like, you look just like your mom. They would always say to me, you have such a pretty face. Your face is your mom's face. They would never say anything because I was so morbidly obese, and the world is not set up.
I've said this a 1000 times on my socials. It's not set up for morbidly obese people. It is just not. And I'm not it's like I'm torn. Because when I was morbidly obese, I wanted the chairs to be bigger. I wanted the booths to be bigger. I wanted the roller coasters to be bigger. I wanted there to be a pool I could just step into, and not have to worry about a ladder because I couldn't get up and down the ladder.
I wanted there to be beautiful clothes in my size, you know, when I was bigger. But now that I'm not, I think those things sometimes I think they helped me because sometimes I think I can well, now I can remember standing up when I took kids to the doctor. My kids could fit in the chairs, so they would sit. I would stand. All of the other moms or dads in the room would know why I was standing because I couldn't fit in the chair. At the time that it happened to me, it was horrible. Like, I would literally be in tears and just be like, please tell Zach's name. I'll release call his name so I can get out of the situation I'm in.
But I put myself there. I put myself into that situation because I'm addicted to food. I'm a food vendor. All of that leads to you know, it it's just it's one of those things I struggle with still thinking. If the world was set up for all types of people, like, what would have made me change if society you know what I mean? But at the same time, society poured into me that I was not worthy when I was more of the obese, that I could not wear what I wanted to wear because my fat would hang out everywhere, that, I didn't deserve to fit in the chairs. You know? I could barely fit in my desk in high school. And that, walking in every day in high school, do you know how mean kids are? They're horrible. Even in high school, kids are awful.
And I could barely fit in the desk, so then I would make sure I was the first one in the room and the last one out of the room because I didn't want anyone looking at me not being able to fit in the desk. I just have all those
I don't think people realize unless they've struggled with obesity for their entire life because, yes, you know, I have. I've struggled with it since I was about 5 years old. I don't think people realize the level of mental and emotional strain and effort that you put into maintaining that body.
Mhmm.
My thoughts were always from the time I grew to a very young age. My thoughts were always preoccupied with, food, with how far I had to walk, with the fact that the desks, the chairs were never gonna fit me. It was a very limiting mindset because I knew, like you said, everywhere in public, no one, had a space that was made for someone like me. And so seeing those messages throughout, you know, our society, throughout our world that we live in and exist in, you automatically absorb the mindset that you are not good enough. You are not worthy. You are not beautiful. You are not like everybody else. And as you go through a transformation journey, as you go through the weight loss, that mindset doesn't necessarily stay on track with the changes in your body, and that is something that you and I both still struggle with.
I still, when I think of something that I have to do, like traveling or anything, my mind automatically goes to fear because how am I gonna do that? How am I gonna do this? And going up 3 flights of stairs or something like that. And then I'm like, oh, wait a second. It's okay. But it still triggers all of those emotions and those feelings. And it it I have to take time to process still, and I'm 6 years into my journey and almost £500 down, but your mind still is in that space. So, you know, people need to give each other grace and be open and accepting, of other people's journeys and their choices. And if someone wants to keep their loose skin, more power to you, I could not do that. I wish that I was a woman who felt comfortable and beautiful with the £47 of loose skin hanging from my body, but that just was not for me.
I definitely needed to have the skin removed, just to level up a little bit in my confidence and my physical comfort. So you know?
Yeah. And there are all different types of people. Like, my sister and I both have been morbidly obese for as long as I can remember, but it never held her back, back, and I was the complete opposite. She wore the shorty shorts and the bikini, and she went up the stairs at the glaciers, and she was loud and proud about her weight. So she was morbidly obese, I thought, and happy with herself. But come to find out, she had a surgery before me. And then conversations that we've had, she's told me how miserable she was. That's why she had the surgery, but she never showed it.
Never. And for me, it's written it was written all over my face from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed. It was all I thought about. Every if I had to leave the house, I was so self conscious. Like, I wanted to look down and just don't look at me. Don't look at me. Don't look at me. I didn't want anyone looking at me.
There weren't anyone judging me because I knew as soon as they looked at me, they were judging me because, you know, the dead of summer, and I've got on capris, deemed capris, and long sleeve shirts at least that covered my elbows. I try to cover as much as my body as I possibly could at all times because I didn't think that people wanted to see it. And we really need to we need to change the way we think because, like, my sister was more of a be obese. But for trade, it never held her back for a second. My whole life, I thought we are the complete opposites because I'm really obese, so are you, but you are so happy. And I am literally miserable from daylight till dark, and no one knows it. I held that in. No one knew that.
My mom was my best friend my whole life, and I never she never even knew how miserable I was. She thought, just like Tiffany, that I was happy, that I was okay. You know? And it's just it's like society. You're programmed to think these things. And if you've never been like what you just said, that resonates with me because I've said that a 1000 times also. If you have never been morbidly obese, you do not get it. You do not get the thoughts. Maybe if you've been married to someone that's morbidly obese or partnered with someone, then you might get it a little bit because you had to be around them and you know how they're like, oh, let's take this road because there's steps over there and there's no steps right here.
Or let's do this one because it's flat and not that one because that's a hill. Let's always always sit in chairs. Like, it's the thinking that it's literally it's it drives me insane. Like, for me, being morbidly obese, I I drove myself crazy daily thinking of who's in the grocery store, trying to look at the cars and see if there was anyone that had made fun of me in my lap.
Did you ever circle? So when I would go to the doctors or the grocery store, I would circle the parking lot, like, waiting for the closest parking spot because I knew if I had to park far, by the time I got to the door, I'd be dripping sweat and out of breath and everyone would be looking at me. And I literally remember, like you're saying, every thought, like, I was preoccupied with how I was going to move my body in a public place because it was so embarrassing. I literally remember people I've told this before. People throwing food on me, people calling me names. When I did try to go to the grocery store, I literally had people looking in my shopping cart and telling their kids, like, see, this is why we eat the way we do because you're that woman is disgusting, and we don't wanna look like you. So every message that I received when I went out in public was negative, and it reinforced that feeling. And just like you, I was miserable from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed, and I would beat myself up every single night when I laid in bed, tear myself apart. I would reinforce all of those sad negative feelings, and it just made my life so much worse, and you could see it on my face.
Everyone knows when when I have a feeling, you can see it on my face, whether I'm happy or deflated or whatever, you can see it. And my family, though, was always afraid to say anything because I would get defensive. I would get upset. And that, again, was a way for me to maintain that lifestyle. For me, weighing over £600, was like a form of punishment. I felt guilty because I was living and my mom and my brother weren't. And so I in some ways, which seems crazy to people, I literally removed myself myself from, like, the world of the living and punished myself for so long. And the messages I received when I went out in public only validated that that I was not worthy, that I shouldn't be enjoying my life.
And I have had to fight fight so hard over the past 6 years to make myself feel worthy and happy and deserving of this beautiful life that I've created for myself. And, it's not easy sometimes when we share our lives on social media. When you put your life out there, you're gonna get the good and you're gonna get the bad. And when you are on a healing journey, sometimes those things can hit hard. You know? And I'm so grateful for the thousands of comments that we get messages that are so supportive and uplifting and people sharing their journey and their stories. And, those are the things that have kept me going. You know, when I've had a hard day, I open my my DMs, and I will start to read all the the messages from people about, like, thank you for sharing. I've never known anyone struggled with this.
My loose skin video, like you said, it had over 30 something 1000000 views. And people, I don't think at that time, had seen anyone showing their stomach like I had done. And I remember the comments. There were 1,000,000 that were, like, so supportive, but there were the people who were saying that I was disgusting and I was trying to normalize obesity or that I was a monster or that it was fake skin. Like, it was just crazy. But that moment when I decided I had never shown a living soul, my hanging apron stomach. And when I did that, Tanya, I was absolutely terrified. I literally sat there with my phone going, oh my god.
How can you do this? Everyone at work is gonna see. All the students, all the staff, your family, everyone's gonna see it, and then they're gonna know what you look like underneath. And when I shared that video and it went viral, crazy viral, I felt such a sense of freedom. For the first time in my life, I felt free. I was like, you know what? It's all out there. Who are you hiding it from? You can see it under your clothes. Who why are you hiding it? And I remember sharing it and then reading all the messages. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you. I've been terrified. I hide my skin. People sharing the stories, the lengths that they go to to hide their loose skin. Mhmm. And and, again, this is why we share even the most difficult aspects of our life because we know that it's somewhere out there in the world that's resonating with someone and hopefully making a difference.
It is resonating with people because just like you said, you know, we put our loss on social media and we've been given this platform. We've worked hard for it, but we've also been given it. And we're a huge part of the weight loss community. And every day, I get messages. You know, some of those are, I don't know how you can show your belly. I don't know how you can show your loose skin. I could never. You know? And then I get this at the same time I'll open it.
It's 1,000 to every 1 or 2 horrible comments that you get from people who are just miserable with theirselves and don't know how to how to fix their loss. So they think they're gonna be so mean to us. It's 1,000,000 and thousands of other people that are like, go, girl. Yes. Show the belly. Show the loose skin. Show what the products of losing all of the weight is. Show reality.
You know? People need to know. They need to know that loose skin is a product of weight loss surgery. Hair loss is a product. Having to take vitamins, all of these things, we know it. But when they actually see it, yes, it may deter some people. And you saying the messages you got, I got one in particular this week, actually. I was shared a lot about my surgery recovery, and so I had a woman. You know, I did that before and after.
Just last week, I did it before and after. And I don't do a lot of before and after. I usually do those whenever I'm needing a little bit of encouragement or I'm not feeling so good about myself. And I did it before and after, and I had them message me a whole paragraph. And she was like, I will never follow you. I'll never glamorize letting yourself get so humongous and so obese that you have to have surgery, and then you have to have another surgery to remove the skin. If you would have been healthy your whole entire life, then you would not have the platform that you have today. I should be the one to have the platform you have because I've been healthy.
I'm, like, a £136 my entire life. I've been active. I've been healthy. I should have your platform. You don't deserve this platform. Platform. That was the comment I she messaged it to me a paragraph, and I actually read it. And, you know, I thought about messaging her back, but then those people, they're jealous.
It this and this. It's not about the platform. It's not it's about reaching people who are out there looking for something that motivate them to change their life, to take their life back, to transform their life. Like, that's what this podcast is for. That's what our social channels are for, is that exact reason. It's not for the ones who your entire life, you've been blessed and you're skinny and you're healthy. Good for you, but that has not been my story. And I know there are others out there who are just like me, who are at the bottom of the barrel, who are just scraping by.
They're miserable, and no one knows it. They're overweight. No one knows how their weight is affecting them. They're binge eating in silence. They're keeping food for me. I had food everywhere shoved in my house. My kids didn't know it. My husband didn't know it.
I would get up in the middle of the night and eat the whole fridge out while they were all asleep. They never knew it. I know there are other women and men out there doing this exact same thing. That's why we're here. Because it's not to normalize it, not to say that it's normal, but to just say you're not alone. You're not alone. I'm right here with you because I've been you. I am you.
I'm still you. And, you know, it's every day is a struggle.
And having skin removal surgery does not mean that we are still not those women. We have both struggled and fought every day of our lives, and, you know, we're we are warriors. We call ourselves that, and I do not take that term lightly. And I feel like anybody who has gone through anything in your life, you're a warrior. This life is not easy. And whether you have you're at the beginning of your journey, you're at the middle, you're at the the end or the later stages where you have a loose skin, Tanya and I, we get it. We've been there. We've been at every different stage, and we've got you.
This is, again, why we've created this podcast, why we've created the transformation academy because we don't want other people to feel alone with their issues, with the issues related to obesity. We have both gone through it combined. I think we figured out we've lost £745 together. And That's wild. It it's crazy to me, but, you know, through all of that loss, all of the weight loss, we have gained the most beautiful lives. And I'm so glad that our paths have, you know, crossed and that we've developed this friendship and that we are extending that friendship and this sisterhood to everyone out there. And we love you guys, and we're so grateful for you. You know? Thank you for listening, and, this is just the best.
I love this so much.
It is. It's just it's just us talking. You know? I wanted to say in the beginning, like, hey. Grab coffee, grab your water, and settle in because we're just gonna talk about it. And today, it was so skin, and next, who knows what it'll be? But thank you guys for listening so much. We love you. We love the weight loss community that we're a part of. You guys inspire us daily, and we just want to give back to you.
We love you guys.
Thank you for tuning in to the Transform Your Life podcast. And remember, your journey to a happier, healthier life starts with just one step. Together, we'll guide you towards sustainable weight loss, holistic wellness, and a renewed sense of vitality. Don't wait any longer to invest in yourself and unlock your true potential. Visit our website now to learn more and sign up for our transformation academy. Your future self will thank you. Let's transform your life together. Go and visit transform your life with Teresa and tonya.com, or you can go over to Instagram and check out our podcast page.
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The link is in our bio. Go do it now. Your future self is going to thank you.
