Entertainers often inspire us, and Amanda Fuller's journey is a testament to that. This article explores Amanda Fuller's weight loss story, intertwined with her experiences of motherhood, career, and health challenges, offering insights into her path toward well-being and self-acceptance.
Early Life and Career
Amanda Fuller, an actress known for her roles in "Orange Is the New Black" and "Last Man Standing," grew up watching Brittany Murphy so much that she and her friends would throw "Clueless" parties. Fuller's credits include cult indie film Red White & Blue and Creature, with appearances in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, NCIS, 7th Heaven, Judging Amy, Boston Public, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 8 Simple Rules, The Division, Touched by an Angel, Malcolm in the Middle, The Practice, Without a Trace, L.A. Doctors and That 70s Show and a role in the graphic adventure game Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster. Fuller directed the Los Angeles production of the theatrical play This is our Youth written by Kenneth Lonergan starring Tyler Williams (of television's Everybody Hates Chris). In 2012, Fuller joined the cast of the Tim Allen-starred ABC sitcom Last Man Standing, portraying the role of Kristin Baxter, replacing Alexandra Krosney who played the role in the first season. She also portrayed Madison "Badison" Murphy in the final two seasons of Orange Is the New Black (2018-2019). When ABC cancelled Last Man Standing and FOX Network picked it up, she signed on to continue playing her role as Kristin Baxter in 2018.
Health Struggles and the Initial Motivation
Amanda Fuller's weight loss journey wasn't primarily about aesthetics; it was driven by a desire to feel "lighter" both physically and spiritually. She faced several health issues, including diabetes, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, and severe back pain. Working on a university campus, she needed to move around a lot during the day from building to building. With poor muscle tone, all-over joint pain, and so much weight, walking around felt slow and effortful-like when you’re trying to run in sand or walk toward the deep end of a pool. At her heaviest, she would actually fall asleep at night thinking about death, panicked that she would stop breathing in the middle of the night.
Fuller also wanted a fuller, more social life and to participate in physical activities without being limited by pain or breathlessness. She was suffering from severe sleep apnea, which left her chronically exhausted, with headaches and treatment-resistant manic-depression.
Dietary Changes and Initial Weight Loss
Fuller's weight loss journey began in March 2020 and had two phases. Initially, she focused on dietary changes and gentle exercise. Having tried weight loss programs in the past, she found that tracking systems like Weight Watchers or MyFitnessPal weren’t sustainable for her, because she would find herself bouncing back and forth between getting too obsessive over numbers (which felt terrible for my spirit) and feeling so diet-fatigued that I not only stopped tracking, I stopped my healthy eating and exercise altogether.
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Suffering from joint pain and weighing 333 pounds, she couldn't even walk to the corner store. She was also a hardcore sugar addict consuming massive amounts of sugar in drinks and desserts every day. Without much of a plan in mind, she started cutting out all added sugar including fake sugar, too, so I could adjust my taste buds to the taste of unsweetened food. As this coincided with the COVID shutdown and working from home, she used those strange circumstances to control the food in her environment.
Cutting out sugar had a rapid positive effect on her body. Within days of that first detox, she had much less inflammation and swelling in her joints, and they felt markedly better. Her migraine frequency dropped, and within weeks, she started to lose weight. She reduced her takeout consumption from almost daily to a once or twice-per-month treat and taught herself to cook healthy, delicious meals.
In their house, they’re also big fans of nuts (all kinds), nut butter, and fruit, especially berries. They have a weekly household ritual of making homemade dry-roasted muesli (rolled oats, dried fruit, nuts, sometimes coconut) to top their morning yogurt. She lost the first 40 pounds this way. It was slow and imperfect and far from a straight shot, but I was happy because I didn’t have to obsess about it.
Sleeve Gastrectomy and Further Progress
After losing 40 pounds through diet and exercise, Amanda Fuller opted for Sleeve Gastrectomy (VSG). She had Sleeve Gastrectomy [VSG] 4 months ago, and I’ve lost 46 additional pounds so far. I’ve continued my healthy eating, but of course, with smaller portions and some other adjustments. You tend to like different foods post-op than you did before. For instance, sometimes I prefer lower-fat dairy now, and I seem to have less of a taste for the richer cheeses. However, whole foods with high protein and high fiber are still working wonders for me. The small stomach provides a ceiling on how much I can eat in a day, but I find the more small meals I can squeeze into the day, the more efficiently I lose. At the time that she began the process of preparing for the surgery, she had diabetes, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, migraine, treatment-resistant manic depression, GERD, and severe back pain (all of which can be improved with surgery). She was 44 years old and felt too young to be so sick. Everything on that list required attention and treatment, but for her, the sleep apnea and the pain were the issues in which she wanted to see improvement the most.
The surgery for me has not been a quick or easy fix. I’m glad I did it, ultimately, but I’ve definitely struggled with the new eating patterns-and pace-it requires after eating so robustly for the previous year. Life after surgery requires planning, mindfulness, and acute attention to the body that most of us are unused to. I often eat in a kind of trance, just shoving food in my mouth because it tastes good. I find the surgery requires so much more intentionality. In other words, you have to make good choices and take your time eating or risk physical discomfort. What’s more, the surgery can be easily undermined, especially by someone like me who is a hardcore sugar addict.
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Exercise and Physical Therapy
Amanda Fuller incorporated physical therapy exercises into her routine to strengthen the muscles around her knee and hip joints, support her back, and relieve lower back pain. During her best, most disciplined times, she try to do that daily. She try to take walks in my neighborhood a couple of times per week, even if they’re short (though sometimes they’re longer). She often go with my housemate and best friend, and we try to make the walks pleasurable in other ways-by looking at the neighborhood gardens (we love gardens!) or walking to the local park and reservoir.
Weight and Health Improvements
Amanda Fuller's journey took her from 333 pounds to 247 pounds.
Pregnancy and Endometriosis Battle
Amanda Fuller's journey to motherhood was intertwined with her health struggles. I have endometriosis and suspected adenomyosis, but it went undiagnosed most of my life. Endo runs on a spectrum, and in my case, I would be bed ridden and unable be able to move my body for days at a time. It was debilitating. I couldn’t eat, I would get insanely bloated. I had chronic bowel issues and gained 50 pounds in one year without changing my diet or exercise. My mom always suspected I had it, but growing up, it wasn’t on the forefront of discussions like it is now. You can’t be diagnosed with endo unless you have surgery, but you can have a vaginal ultrasound, and if doctors see enough evidence, they can make a pretty accurate prediction of whether or not you have it. My husband and I asked, “What does that mean for fertility? Does that mean we can’t have babies?” He said, “It’s possible someday, if you clear out the endo enough, that you’ll be able to have a child. But as of now, that is not a possibility.” Even prior to the diagnosis, I had been told that my hormone levels were at such a point that there would be no way I could get pregnant. A year later, I was back in LA working on Last Man, and things were getting worse. In my head, I was wondering, “Is this is getting worse because now I know what it could be?” I’m a tough girl, and I’ve never taken off of work because of my health issues. I’m a workaholic, I love it, and I will work through anything, so it didn’t make sense that I was like being a wimp about it. I saw a specialist in LA who did another ultrasound, and she agreed that I had endo, as well as adenomyosis. So that was the plan - when the season ended, I was going to have surgery. I was extremely nauseous. I couldn’t eat anything. They did more hormone tests, and the results pointed to potential ovarian cancer. So I went to NY and had an MRI to look for cancer, and that’s when we discovered my son. At first, they didn’t know if it was a viable pregnancy. More tests were needed to see if there was a heartbeat, so we spent a good day or two trying not to embrace it as truth. But we knew that regardless of how it turned out, it was a miracle. Now we knew we could get pregnant. We tried to hold on to that to get us through. I always knew that I wanted to be a mother. I didn’t know when that was going to be or what it was going to look like, but I knew we weren’t ready yet. We were going to get my body healthy and do the surgery and then decide when to get pregnant. I was hard for me to be where I was at with the news. To not feel more excited about it. My whole pregnancy was kind of a struggle over that. I think it’s an important message to say, “It’s okay to not feel good about it all.” He is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, he’s the light of my life, and he’s meant to be here. Yet it’s one of the hardest things that I’ve ever done, and I don’t know how to get through each day. Motherhood is not a perfect bubble or the facade that we’ve put out into the world. Your experience can only be as layered as you allow it to be. The community of motherhood has become so accessible now with social media, and that’s beautiful, but it can be hard because there are so many people to compare yourself to. If you are a person in the public eye or a person with a platform, It’s important to remember to speak without an agenda. Share your experience from a compassionate, heartfelt place. Be understanding and open.
Body Image and Self-Acceptance
Amanda Fuller's journey also involved a shift in her relationship with her body. I hated my body for years before this happened. The weight gain was not the hardest part. It was loving my body when I felt like I was at war with it. My pregnancy was the healthiest I’ve been in over a decade. My body was finally doing what it was supposed to, and it put a pause on everything else that was happening. I actually felt healthy, and for first time, I was able to be in awe of my body and kind of fall in love with it. Don’t let doctors make you feel like you can’t have a baby. Our bodies are incredible, and I believe wholeheartedly that if it’s meant to be, if you’re meant to carry a child, you will. And if it’s not your path, then it’s not.
Lessons Learned and Advice
The biggest lesson I’ve learned so far is to have patience with myself. My journey doesn’t have to be fast or perfect. To use a variety of measures for success, especially ones that don’t involve numbers. The biggest one is-how do I feel? Is movement easier?
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Her advice for women who want to lose weight: You don’t have to change your whole life all at once. That can seem too daunting. Do one small, impactful thing first, like drinking more water or cutting out takeout. Something that feels doable. I think you’ll inspire yourself to go further. Finally, choose methods that are sustainable for you.
Playing Brittany Murphy
Amanda Fuller played the role of Brittany Murphy in "The Brittany Murphy Story."