GORGING on entire pizzas, desserts and chicken wings every single day – Samantha Soto’s weight was spiralling out of control. She’d ballooned to a staggering 19 stone and felt as though she was wasting her life eating her feelings away. Determined to do something about her size, Samantha, 23, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, had gastric sleeve […]
GORGING on entire pizzas, desserts and chicken wings every single day – Samantha Soto’s weight was spiralling out of control.
She’d ballooned to a staggering 19 stone and felt as though she was wasting her life eating her feelings away.
Determined to do something about her size, Samantha, 23, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, had gastric sleeve surgery and decided to try the keto diet.
She has since shed an impressive nine stone and feels happier and healthier than ever.
Samantha said: “I feel 100 percent better now, I can actually move around and have energy.”
Samantha says her weight started piling on after she developed a binge eating disorder.
She admits she had no restrictions or limitations on her food, and would eat whatever she wanted at whatever time of the day.
And her emotional eating became so bad that in her spare time she would stuff her face with food at Chinese buffets, eating as much as she possibly could.
Samantha said: “I ate whatever I wanted when I wanted whenever. I used to be able to eat a whole pizza wings and deserts with more to spare.
“My favourite pass time used to be going to Chinese Buffets and just eat everything.”
Samantha became more and more miserable as the weight piled on – until she reached a staggering 19 stone 7lbs.
Feeling as though she no longer had anything to live for, Samantha decided to take her health into her own hands and transform her life for the better.
“I always thought I was going to be overweight and at a time I just didn’t care,” she said.
I realised that I was 22 and had nothing to live for and I was just wasting my life eating my feelings away
Samantha Soto
“It wasn’t until I realised that I was 22 and had nothing to live for and I was just wasting my life eating my feelings away.
“Then I realised that I’m young, let me focus on my health now before it’s too late.”
Samantha went to see her doctor who recommended gastric sleeve surgery in November last year.
After her operation, she hopped on a Ketogenic diet, cutting her carbs down while increasing her fat intake and also taking up weight training at the gym.
She said: “I had weight loss surgery in November. Not for a quick fix but because I was a binge eater and I could not maintain my portion control.
“But no secret, it’s really about you diet and staying motivated.
“Prior that I had nothing, I did a whole 180 degree flip. But now I go to the gym every other day and I follow a Ketogenic diet and try to stay under 20 net carbs per day.
“Now I’m trying to gain muscle so I try not to go over 30 net carbs.”
Samantha said it was her drive to lose the weight that allowed her to reach her goal, saying she didn’t have much as a child and was inspired by her hardworking mother, who made sacrifices to make ends meet for her children.
She said: “I have a drive to achieve everything I set my mind to so I stay motivated by caring about my health and clean eating.
“I know that would help me achieve my goals. As a child I didn’t have much and my mom fought for what we need.
“I try to stay with that same drive, taking inspiration from her mother.”
Samantha now claims that she has more energy and no longer feels her life just “drag” away.
She said: “It gives me more motivation to keep going because I never want to feel that way again.
“I actually live and no longer just drag away my life now that I have lost most my life – this summer I’m going to travel more and challenge myself physically.”
Samantha has credited her family and boyfriend of seven years for keeping her spirits high during her weight loss journey.
Despite this, some of her friends were concerned at first about her rapid progress as she had shed the weight off very quickly in the first few months after her weight loss surgery.
I actually live and no longer just drag away my life now
Samantha Soto
She said: “My boyfriend always supported me and told me that he would love me however I was.
“He knew that I was doing it for myself and supported me the whole way.
“My family and my boyfriend they never questioned my decision, they always wanted the best for me.
“At first when I started to lose the weight, my friends and family were concerned because it happened so fast.
“They had never seen me small in my life but they adjusted their perceptions and went along with it, they just wanted to make sure I was healthy.”
Now, Samantha has lost over nine stone, dropping her weight from 19 stone to ten stone in just under a year.
She follows a strict eating plan and tracks all her calories every single day, making sure she doesn’t consume any bread, past, soda or foods with high carb content.
“My diet is strict, I do track and log my food and I don’t consume bread, pasta or soda so any type of high carbs is a big no no for me,” she said.
“I also don’t drink my calories unless it’s a protein shake.”
Samantha has since started up her own Instagram page, @_samantha_fitvsg, where she posts pictures of her weight loss transformation to over 5K followers.
Speaking about her account, she said: “I had my Instagram since I was a teenager but didn’t make it public until I had weight loss surgery.
“I wanted to share my journey to inspire others and keep me accountable.
“The support has been amazing. I couldn’t have ever thought that people would want to hear my story and also give me so much support and kind words.
“It keeps me so motivated and accountable. It makes me want to be better for myself and then do it to keep them motivated.”
In a final word of advice to others who want to lose weight, Samantha said: “Don’t do it for anyone else but yourself.”
