Lindy Cellucci, 60, recalls the exact moment she decided it was time to do something about her weight. It was 2014, and the Toronto resident and three of her friends were making a girls trip to the east coast of Canada.
“I had a hard time keeping up with her,” she said TODAY. “We did a lot of walking and I found it harder every day. I had these spells, and I was afraid something might happen to me. ”
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Their journey included a stop at Hopewell Rocks, a natural formation where you can stroll on the ocean floor as the tide blows, surrounded by sandstone structures resembling flower pots. “One thing I really wanted to do was go to the Rocks. It was on my bucket list, ‘she said.
But it was a hot day, and reaching the ocean supply meant a steep walk down and up. “I just knew I couldn’t do it,” she said.
Her friends felt terrible, but Cellucci encouraged her to go on without her. ‘I saw them go. I could see them way, way down, walking on the ocean floor, taking selfies, laughing and joking. I was on top of the grandmothers. I thought, ‘This is stupid. You missed it, ” she said.
I said loudly, ‘It’s time. I’m stopping everything right now and I’ll fix this. ”
And that’s the. With five more days left in their vacation, they stopped eating junk food and started making them healthier food.
When she got home she stepped on the scale for the first time in years. “The scale only went to 300,” she said. ‘I had no idea my weight started with a’ 3. ‘It was mortifying. ”
She changed her diet and started exercising
She joined Weight Watchers (now WW) and followed his healthy eating plan. “Immediately I started to lose some weight and feel better,” she said.
‘This was the first time in all the weight loss programs I tried, where I realized that it was not just a quick fix – this will be forever. I did not cling to myself and just ate bananas or just potatoes. I bought wonderful food and made wonderful recipes that were healthy and delicious, ”she said.
To prevent temptation, she keeps triggering food out of her house. ‘I’m addicted to food. That has not changed, ‘she said. “I can say ‘no’ once in the store, or 400 times in the house.”
Exercise was a challenge. “Because I was a very big woman, it was bad to start exercising. I have not done that for about three months, ‘she said. For Christmas, her sister bought her a Fitbit and started running one block, which was about 1,000 steps. “My back would hurt and my knees would hurt,” she said. But they enjoyed competing with other Fitbit users. “I liked the feeling of moving forward,” she said.
“When the weight came off, I was able to add an extra round, and more weight came off,” she said. ‘I kept going, and I started going to yoga, Zumba, boating and swimming. I felt so excited. ‘She worked her way up to 25,000 to 30,000 steps per day and was half her target weight at the end of 2015.
A difficult diagnosis causes a major setback
Cellucci suffered a serious stroke – breast cancer. In December 2015, after a cold walk, she wrapped her hands under her arms to warm herself. And she felt a lot. From then on, everything happened fast – ultrasound, mammogram, biopsy and surgery. She needed months of chemotherapy and radiation and medication through a port in her chest.
‘The worst part of breast cancer was not losing my hair, not feeling physically ill, not afraid to die. The worst thing for me was that I put every last pound back on. ”
The steroids she had to take led to weight gain, and chemotherapy made most of the food tasty, so she said she lived off fried foods and salt. ‘The worst part of breast cancer was not losing my hair, not feeling physically ill, not afraid to die. The worst thing for me was that I put every last pound back on, ”she said.
She found a way back to health
Cellucci still wore her Fitbit, and she joined WW again during her second very clear mammogram. Slowly the pounds came off again. “After 20 months of losing absolutely every week, in September 2019 I reached my goal – I lost half of myself,” she said. “I look better at 60 than I do at 40.” She now weighs 149 pounds and has gone from a size 22 to a size 9.
© Lindy Cellucci
She even appeared on the cover of People’s Half Half Size magazine. “For a whole week I hung out at the supermarket where the magazine was on the rack and strangers told me, ‘That’s me!'” She said.
And as for her trip to Hopewell Rocks? She is planning a visit if the pandemic is easier. “As soon as I can travel, I will walk up and down those stairs,” she said.
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