How this Harley Riding, Cancer Survivor-Lost​​​ 72 Pounds

You know the saying “when life gives you lemons”, well life gave Ginny A TON of lemons, but she never gave up…

Here is her story.
As told to Katie Hinman

I am a little middle child and have always had acceptance issues, never wanting to say no to anyone for fear that I would get in trouble or that someone wouldn’t like me. I have fought weight issues my whole life because of it. Tried Weight Watchers several times, and it worked once for me.

I tried several fad diets and purchased a small fortune in supplement meals to no avail. 

In the fall of 2005, I fell and had surgery for broken bones in my foot. Not even a year later, had to have more surgery to fix the initial surgery.

In mid-Dec 2008, I had another surgery due to breaking my ankle in 3 places, being the proud owner of 12 screws, a plate, and a staple.

If that wasn’t enough, in Mar 2009, after having a very bad car accident and finding out I had pulmonary embolism in each lung, I landed up in CICU for 10 days. I lost weight due to the following year plus of being on major blood thinners that brought on migraine type major headaches and not being able to eat without getting sick. I kept the weight off for about 4 years.

In January 2014 I lost my job of 8 years due to a RIF and was unemployed for the 2.5 years after that. Depression set in, guilt set in and I couldn’t bear to go out in public. I gained all the weight back and then some.

Fast forward to 2016. Our truck was stolen at the beginning of January, I lost my dad to Alzheimer’s on Feb 10, 5 days shy of his 89th birthday and 12 days shy of my parents 66th wedding anniversary. (My mom celebrated her 90th birthday last September!!)

After being unemployed, wiping out our savings and most of our retirement, we were so blessed to be able to find an affordable replacement truck to buy with our remaining retirement money and travel to dad’s funeral, and also to use as our vehicle to commute to work.

While unemployed, I had a million interviews but was always the 2nd choice. That’s very hard on one’s ego too by the way. In March 2016, I finally found my new job and started on March 28!!! I was so very blessed and excited to have a job. 

On June 7, 67 days after starting my new job, I had to tell my brand new boss I had breast cancer, ending up with a very aggressive cancer that resulted with a bilateral mastectomy on July 20, and then 4+ months of dose dense chemo.

5 surgeries to date later, I am finally kicking a** and taking names. Right before my surgery, my oncologist had me start with a nutritional doctor. I was probably the heaviest I had been in my entire life.

I say that because I refused to get on a scale. I was ashamed.

I lost a few pounds prior to surgery but during my chemo run, I gained 54 pounds. I was so devastated. My oncologist was pretty supportive and said it was mostly fluid and it would come off.  It didn’t. It took the remainder of 2016 and all of 2017 to lose that 54 pounds. The chemo really messed up my system and I would stall out for months on end not doing a thing. Not losing, not gaining, not anything.

2018 was my turning point and I finally started losing some weight. When I won my Shapa last December I was ecstatic and could hardly wait for it to arrive.  I received it on one day and didn’t even have a chance to program it as we were leaving for the Christmas holiday to go visit my mom. Thank goodness I found the “vacation” mode setting! The rest is history

 I am down 72 pounds to date and look forward with my daily Shapa goals to lose my final weight to get to my goal. 

Thank you so much for everything so far and I really appreciate everything Shapa has helped me with so far.

**Ginny lost weight before she started Shapa, but continued to lose weight and gain healthy habits with our program. Of the Shapa users who lost weight, they lost an average of 5.8 pounds in 12 weeks.

Looking to sleep better, eat a bit healthier, move more, build a practice of self-care, or just want to feel more energy each day? Let Shapa be your virtual coach. Shapa focuses your program based on YOUR lifestyle and YOUR goals so you can build healthy habits and achieve lasting results. Learn more about the Shapa difference.