AT 320lbs, Jessica Beniquez from Spring Hill, Florida, started her weight loss journey in 2016. Growing up, Jessica was always overweight and it was not until after graduation she finally put her foot down. Jessica told Truly: “I was just sitting in bed watching Netflix and I would binge watch for a good two months. After that, I was like I am done with this." Jessica was stuck in a dangerous routine of watching four to five hours of TV and eating which was causing her weight to increase. She wanted to feel and look better and decided to make the journey to a brand new self. "I was just lazy. I just didn’t want to do anything or talk to anybody. I was drawn into the show and just didn’t want to get off the couch. As well as binge watching TV, Jessica would fry a lot of her food in oil. "I would cook like deep fried food corn dogs, French fries, chicken strips, chicken nuggets, mozzarella sticks. All of it. I would fry it. It's crazy like thinking back on my old eating habits because now, forget it. So gross."
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FunTranscript
00:00 At my heaviest, I was over 320 pounds.
00:05 I was watching TV all the time because I was lazy.
00:09 I could be watching it from 8 to midnight.
00:12 I would cook deep fried foods, corn dogs, french fries, chicken strips.
00:16 All of it, I would fry it.
00:18 After watching two months of TV straight, I was sick of it.
00:23 I wanted to stop that and start my own journey.
00:26 I've lost over 170 pounds.
00:29 [Music]
00:33 When I found out I had cancer, that was a big thought in my head.
00:38 How am I going to stay working out?
00:41 [Music]
00:46 Growing up, I was definitely overweight.
00:48 I was more on the heavier side through elementary, middle, high school.
00:52 I was always into sport, but I was just always heavier.
00:56 Just overeating.
00:58 [Music]
01:00 We'd have a pot of oil or a deep fryer filled with vegetable oil.
01:05 Just like at a fast food restaurant, but we would just do it at home.
01:10 Corn dogs, french fries, chicken strips, chicken nuggets, Montrella sticks.
01:15 All of it, I would fry it.
01:18 I ate that. It was good. It was tasty.
01:21 I didn't think anything of it.
01:23 I didn't feel any type of way because that's what I grew up eating.
01:27 I just was watching TV all the time because I was lazy.
01:30 I just didn't want to do anything.
01:32 If I didn't want to talk to anybody, I was just drawn into the show.
01:36 I could be watching it from 8 to midnight sometimes.
01:40 Four to five hours a day, just doing nothing.
01:43 [Music]
01:47 After watching two months of TV straight, back to back, going to work, coming home, eating and watching shows,
01:55 I was just sick of it.
01:57 I was just sick of being overweight.
02:00 I was sick of feeling gloomy all the time.
02:03 So I finally took the initiative after seeing people on Instagram do it.
02:09 I knew that I could do it.
02:11 So I kind of just put a stop to the whole binge watching TV all the time.
02:18 I wanted to stop that and start my own journey.
02:21 [Music]
02:25 I finally got a gym membership and it took a lot of courage just because I was scared and not knowing what I was supposed to do.
02:33 I had a trainer help me a lot with exercises and that really kicked my butt into gear.
02:41 I lost this 170 pounds.
02:44 I lost that probably within 17 months.
02:47 With losing weight, I feel like the workouts that helped me most were high intensity.
02:53 So I did a lot of cardio mixed with weight training.
02:57 Like I said, getting your heart rate up, getting it down is really effective for me.
03:03 [Music]
03:05 I would say my journey inspired me to become a trainer.
03:10 [Music]
03:12 Just because I know what it's like to be over 300 pounds.
03:18 And when somebody walks into the gym not knowing, feeling uncomfortable, I've been there.
03:22 Hit the line.
03:23 Been through the experience.
03:25 You know what that means.
03:27 You gotta speed it up.
03:28 Fast.
03:30 Having her as a personal trainer to be there to motivate us is really inspiring.
03:34 And knowing that she could do it means that we could do it too.
03:37 Woo!
03:38 Go speed!
03:41 [Laughter]
03:44 The end of 2018, I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.
03:50 I would have already lost all my weight.
03:52 It affected more of my maintenance of trying to stay fit while going through chemo
03:59 and going through the thoughts and the process of it all.
04:02 And it affected my strength.
04:05 That was a big thought in my head.
04:08 Oh, how am I going to stay working out?
04:11 How am I going to have the energy?
04:12 Because you hear chemo and you see people going through it.
04:16 I was determined to not let my weight loss go to waste.
04:20 So I had a lot of reassurance through Instagram.
04:24 People would reach out.
04:26 So I looked at that as motivation.
04:29 Right now, I would say I feel the best.
04:32 With weight-wise, looking in the mirror, I feel the most confident right here, right now.
04:37 Today, yeah.
04:39 [Music]
04:51 Things happen.
04:53 Cancer happened.
04:55 It was a little setback, but cancer-free now.
04:58 And now I'm just doing the things that I've been wanting to do.
05:02 I want to help other people.
05:04 I want to show them what's you and how to do it and help them reach their goals.
05:10 I would say if you are thinking about losing weight, just go for it.
05:15 Don't overthink it.
05:17 Cut out the excuses and just don't give up.
05:22 That's a wrap.
05:24 [Music]
05:28 [End of Audio]