An ASU grad is taking her weight loss experience national to help others battle the bulge. Melissa Sledge’s 43-pound weight loss is featured in the latest issue of SHAPE magazine.
“I saw the cover of the magazine and grabbed every single copy,” Sledge said.
Her journey started in 2013 during a trip home to Kansas for Thanksgiving.
“My dad came in and sat on my bed and said, ‘I love you, but I don't know what's going on, this is not you, this isn't the person that I know you to be,’” said Sledge.
Those words finally sank in two months later while she was combing through her closet.
“There's that one moment where you're like, this is it, enough's enough, I'm not doing this anymore,” she said.
So, she started simple.
“I gave up the two foods that I knew I ate the most, pizza and French fries, and I gave them up for 90 days because that seemed like a reasonable amount of time,” Sledge said.
She lost 10 pounds and only gained momentum from there. Now she works out six days a week and maintains a diet focused on foods in their most natural state.
“This initial change that was just for me, is actually affecting other people in my life and in the community,” she said. “Hearing and knowing that the choices that I've made have an impact, is huge.”
