Misty Shaffer's 100-Pound Weight Loss: Afghanistan Vet Comes Home to Wife's Surprise (VIDEO)
Misty Shaffer's 100-pound weight loss was quite the surprise for her husband Larry, who came back from Afghanistan from his year-long tour in the army. Larry Shaffer, an Army specialist, never said anything about his military wife's weight, but was happy that he could finally pick up his wife.
Misty Shaffer managed to lose 100 pounds, but the journey was anything but easy. When the 25-year-old Leland, North Carolina wife first decided to shed the weight, she was 5'6" and 260 pounds, sometimes weighing up to 300 pounds at her heaviest. Still, she had made up her mind.
"I just sat in bed one night and was like, 'I can do this,'" she recounted to CNN. "I need to do this."
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That meant breaking some bad habits. Misty and Larry had been together since high school and been married since 2008, and he'd never even been able to lift her up. Part of her weight stemmed from bad eating habits, like constantly having soda, junk food and sweets— those were the first to go.
"I would eat when I was bored. I'd eat three huge meals a day, and then snack in between. Sad or happy, I'd turn to food for everything," she admitted.
Misty also had to overcome the constant temptation at her job. As a personal shopper, she would pass hot fried chicken that "just smells so good," but she learned to stick to the salad bar. Though the first three to four months were the most difficult, Misty said after a while her body craved the healthier options like water, oatmeal with fruit, cereal bars, and other better foods.
The military wife hid her progress from her husband, never posting pictures on Facebook and only sending him photos from the shoulders up.
Soon, the big day came. May 15, 2013, Larry came home. When she jumped into his arms, all he could say was "wow," because she had shrunk from a size 24 all the way down to a size 6 and weighed only 155 pounds.
Misty Shaffer also had another surprise for Larry: she bought a new house.
Although some have pointed out that Larry never asked or prompted her to lose weight, Misty believes it was worth it to not be fatigued all the time, not be picked on, and finally be picked up by her husband.
"[When] you never thought you'd see that moment, that somebody can pick you up … it is a big deal," the military wife told CNN. "I've seen how hard I worked, and what I had to go through to get to this point."
She's since kept off the weight.
