Lexi Reed's story is one of remarkable transformation, marked by significant weight loss and a battle against a rare and debilitating disease. Known to her over 1 million Instagram followers as @fatgirlfedup, Lexi has openly shared her journey of shedding over 300 pounds while confronting the challenges of calciphylaxis.
The Beginning: A Life-Changing Resolution
Lexi's weight loss journey began in 2016 when she weighed 485 pounds. She felt like a prisoner in her own body, unable to fully participate in life. She feared that if she didn't make a change, she wouldn't live to see her 30th birthday. With her husband, Danny, committing to get healthy alongside her, Lexi resolved to change her life.
Lexi says, for her, weight control has been a lifelong struggle. “I’ve been overweight my whole life. I tried to do Weight Watchers and LA Weight Loss but if I lost weight I just gained it back,” she says.She would often skip breakfast, then have a huge lunch. On the days she did eat breakfast, she would grab a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit, hash browns and a large Coke at McDonalds.Danny says that when he was younger and active, playing sports and skateboarding, he was able to maintain a healthy weight. “Once I stopped doing those things I started putting on weight,” he says. And after he and Lexi got comfortable in their relationship he put on more pounds.Before New Year’s Day 2016 the couple spent most evenings on the couch, binge-watching Netflix, ordering pizza, drinking soda and eating junk food. “We were just sitting, watching TV, not taking care of ourselves. We were this 765-pound couple,” Lexi says.For Lexi’s job at a law firm, she helped people get Social Security disability benefits. “I would listen to people talking about their diabetes, their heart problems, their neuropathy, and I realized if I didn’t take care of myself I’d be the person calling in,” she says.
The Strategy: Diet and Exercise
Lexi and Danny adopted a comprehensive approach to weight loss, focusing on both diet and exercise. They committed to a month-long challenge that included:
- No eating out
- No cheat meals
- No soda
- No alcohol
- Five 30-minute workouts per week
"It wasn’t just a diet, it was a total lifestyle change," Lexi says. They agreed to stick with their resolution for a month, but they ended up sticking with it for good.
Read also: Discover Eric Reed's personal transformation
In one of the previous posts, Lexi shared how she lost weight.She lost weight "with diet/exercise by changing my mindset, counting calories, meal prepping, making small changes".Switching soda for waterMeal prepping instead of eating out every mealSwitched to lean meatsZero sugar options when possibleGoing to the gym 5x a week for 30 mins, Focusing on making the days count instead of beating myself if I had an off day
They made gradual changes to their diet, such as:
- Switching soda for water.
- Meal prepping instead of eating out.
- Choosing lean meats.
- Opting for zero-sugar options.
They also started going to the gym five times a week for 30 minutes, focusing on making each day count and not dwelling on occasional setbacks.
The couple looked for ways to make fun, healthy versions of the foods they liked. “We try to eat more protein and lots of vegetable and less carbs, though we do eat carbs,” she says. They focus their meals on protein sources like lean meats, chicken, turkey and salmon as well as vegetables like Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes and broccoli. They choose whole-wheat bread and will make pizza on a tortilla rather than having a stuffed crust. Instead of Taco Bell, they make a healthy taco salad at home, without the shell.
Lexi and Danny's Typical Meals:
Read also: Weight Loss Guide Andalusia, AL
Breakfast: Eggs with turkey sausage or bacon or sometimes regular baconLunch: Chicken and broccoliDinner: Blackened salmon, sweet potato, cottage cheeseSnacks: Banana with peanut butter, fruit or nuts
The Results: A Transformation Inside and Out
Lexi went from 485 pounds to 173 pounds in almost two years. Danny, who once weighed 280 pounds, dropped to 185 pounds. Together, they lost a combined 400 pounds.
“Starting out wasn’t easy. When your body is used to doing the same thing over and over you become a creature of habit. I think it’s better to shock your body and do everything completely differently than to make slow changes,” Danny says.
Lexi concedes that their changes were hard at first. “The hardest of all of it was changing our relationship to food. We had to learn to eat to live, not live to eat, day by day,” she says. “Having each other as a buddy system kept us accountable. On days we didn’t want to change we had each other. We started to see progress, and that made us want to push more.”
Danny agrees: “We both realized we needed to lose weight and to get healthy for our future. We fell in love with taking care of ourselves and working out, and the positive effects that came with that. We’re seeing results,” he says.
Read also: Beef jerky: A high-protein option for shedding pounds?
The weight loss had a profound impact on their lives. They were able to do things they couldn't do before, such as easily flying in an airplane, riding a roller coaster, and going kayaking and canoeing.
“I can do all these activities with my husband. Before we just sat on the couch. I could hardly walk a block or climb a flight of stairs without being out of breath. Now we’re experiencing all these new things. This is a whole new life,” she says.
Danny doesn’t have any trouble keeping up with his hiking buddies these days, and he can ride his mountain bike for long stretches. “Everything is better and easier,” he says.
The Challenge: Calciphylaxis
In recent years, Lexi faced an unexpected and daunting challenge: calciphylaxis. This rare disease causes calcium deposits to build up in the blood vessels of fat and tissue, leading to painful skin ulcers and tissue necrosis.
Calciphylaxis is one of those medical conditions that sounds complicated and, honestly, pretty scary. It’s super rare, but when it shows up, it can be very serious. At its core, calciphylaxis happens when calcium builds up in the tiny blood vessels that supply your skin and fat tissue. Think of it like your blood vessels getting clogged and hardened with calcium deposits, almost like “plaque” in your arteries, but happening in small vessels under your skin.
When those vessels get blocked, blood can’t flow properly. The result? Painful skin ulcers, patches that turn dark or bruise-like, and wounds that just won’t heal. Because the skin isn’t getting enough oxygen and nutrients, it starts breaking down, which can leave people vulnerable to infections. That’s why calciphylaxis is considered a really dangerous condition.
Most commonly, it affects people with advanced kidney disease, especially those on dialysis. That’s because kidney problems mess with how the body balances calcium and phosphorus. But it’s not only limited to kidney patients; there are rare cases in people without kidney failure, too.
The illness made Reed feel the way she did before beginning her weight loss journey. “Basically, all of the things I wasn’t able to do because of my weight before, now I wasn’t able to do because I was sick,” Reed tells TODAY.com.
She developed it as a complication from dialysis treatment, which followed an unknown illness that caused her organs to fail, including her kidneys.
“(It’s) a disease so rare the doctors had to look it up before they could try to treat me,” Reed wrote in another post. “(It’s) a disease that caused me to have dead necrotic skin that formed excruciating wounds from my thighs to my shoulders & left behind hard calcium deposits that could reopen in the future….”
After rounds of IV treatments, surgical debridement, infusion, transfusions, hair loss and weight gain, Reed celebrated her remission in March 2023. By then, all of her wounds had closed.
Calciphylaxis itself doesn’t directly cause weight gain, but the condition can make managing weight a lot harder. Since it creates painful skin ulcers and open wounds, many people find it tough to stay active or exercise regularly. Add in the fatigue, risk of infections, and the emotional toll of living with a rare, painful disease, and it’s easy to see how weight can creep up. On top of that, some patients are on medications - like steroids - that can trigger weight gain. So while calciphylaxis isn’t the root cause, it often creates the perfect storm for gaining extra pounds.
The Comeback: Regaining Strength and Health
Despite the challenges of calciphylaxis, Lexi remained determined to regain her health and fitness. After months of immobility and pain, she is now celebrating her continued remission from the disease and her renewed commitment to her health.
“I remember last year when I was unable to walk, wondering if I’d ever be able to walk into the gym on my own again,” Lexi posted. “I remember wishing i was able to move my body & just trying to survive the pain. So much has changed but I never gave up on trying to get back to working on my health despite life happening.”
These days, Reed is regularly hitting the gym again. She eased her way in and focused mostly on cardio, “but that doesn’t mean I forgot completely about weights or how much stronger that I’ve gotten,” she wrote in one caption.
In most of her posts since remission, Reed mentions using the rowing machine, walking on the treadmill and using the stair climber. She also documented the difficulty she faced doing moves including leg raises on the captain’s chair, but she kept at it and eventually mastered it again a few months later.
Her time away from her regular routine has left her muscles weaker than they were before, particularly in one of her legs. It resulted in balance issues that led to nine falls in the past year. But after dedicating time to rebuilding its strength Reed can balance on it without it giving out. “It finally got stronger. I felt like it was more capable,” Reed tells TODAY.com.
Reed’s not quite back to where she was before her diagnosis, but she’s optimistic. “We all start somewhere & just because we face obstacles and don’t succeed the first time, it doesn’t mean that we failed unless we never try again,” Reed wrote. She’s working up to lifting weights again and hopes to be able to hike with her husband soon, she says.
Reed also credits her nutrition for her recent weight loss. While she was hospitalized, she had trouble keeping food down. “I wasn’t focused on what I was eating,” Reed tells TODAY.com. “I was just trying to make myself eat because I was in so much pain. I literally didn’t want to move.” Healthy eating, she admits, was less of a priority.
The Inspiration: Sharing Her Journey
Since, her account has amassed more than 1 million followers and she’s continued to share her weight loss journey online which includes her gym routine and her meals.
These updates also included details about her 90-pound regain following her diagnosis and the mental fortitude it took to lose the weight. “This is a reminder that no matter the setbacks you face in life, it’s never too late to start over & keep going,” she wrote in a caption.
In another post, she celebrated being able to walk along the trail near the home she shares with her husband, something she couldn’t do a year ago due to the pain she was in.
Lexi's journey has inspired countless others to pursue their own health goals. She emphasizes the importance of perseverance, mindset shifts, and self-love. “It’s not about the weight you lose, it’s about the life you gain,” Lexi says.
Reed acknowledges that she's worried she'll become ill again because she still has a number of calcium deposits in her body, but she and her doctors are monitoring her calcium levels. "You know I've seen where people who have the same condition have had it come back," says Reed, "which is scary." But she insists that her fears won't keep her from living her life.
Reed says she’s lucky to have survived. Complications associated with calciphylaxis include pain, non-healing wounds, infection and death due to organ failure and infection, per the Mayo Clinic.
“(It’s) a disease that terrified me to my core every single day that I may not wake up, or see my husband, loved ones, and that every moment could be my last,” Reed wrote in one post. “Every scar is proof that I’ve been fighting for my life and against all odds - but this is healing & I’m not giving up no matter what calciphylaxis throws at me.
Lexi's Tips for Success
Lexi offers several tips for those embarking on their own weight loss journeys:
- Never give up: "Fall down seven times, but stand up eight."
- Change your mindset: "We had to learn to eat to live, not live to eat, day by day."
- Find a support system: "Having each other as a buddy system kept us accountable."
- Make small changes: "Switching soda for water, meal prepping instead of eating out, choosing lean meats, and opting for zero-sugar options can make a big difference."
- Focus on progress, not perfection: "It's okay to have off days. Just get right back on track as soon as possible."