Quote :

"nternet Saves a Life Going Online Helped Nancy Makin Lose More Than 500 Pounds Dec. 3, 2007 — Weighing 700 pounds, Nancy Makin had lost hope. After 12 years of weight gain, Makin had spiraled into despair. The more food she ate, the more shame she felt, and nothing could stop the cycle. Then one day her sister gave her a computer. Inspired by the friends she'd made online and no longer judged by how she looked, Makin finally took control of the situation. "The anonymity of the computer gave me access to a world that would have just as well have left me alone, alone to die but I did not," Makin wrote in a letter describing her saga. Click here for ABCNews.com's new and improved BEAUTY & FASHION section. Today Makin weighs a healthy 170 pounds and hopes others will be inspired by her story to take back their own lives. Out of Control The weight gain started after a divorce and fear at her job. Makin began overeating to avoid her feelings and soon she just couldn't stop. "My son would bring me 10 double cheeseburgers. So I'd eat four, put the rest in the fridge. And then they'd call to me during the night or whatever and you'd eat 'em cold. I could go in and overeat cold squash out of the fridge. It doesn't matter." "You're stuffing your feelings. That's what people need to know. It's not just being a glutton." Too humiliated to go out in public, Makin only allowed her family to see her, often sending her son to get her groceries. "I only regret that my son  that I hurt him, that I marred his childhood somehow, that it could have been more full." Escape Online It was the gift of getting online that ultimately let Makin escape her misery. "Internet provided anonymity. And people who would have rejected me out of hand, based on appearance, got to see my insides." Before she knew it, the political junkie was surfing through chat rooms and making friends, beginning to find value in herself again. "I was being loved and nurtured by faceless strangers. & Friends accepted who I was based on my mind and soul." "I was so busy and happy to get up every morning that I like to say I lost weight in my fingers first." Makin said the psychological transformation was so complete that she lost all that weight without diet pills, exercise or even a diet. She just stopped gorging. "I achieved this on my own, in a natural way, with no surgical procedures having been performed. No particular 'diet' plan was followed; no pills, potions or ab-crunching exercises played a part in my recovery," she wrote in a congratulatory letter to herself. Advice Three years and 530 pounds later Makin is keeping the weight off. She wants people to know that crucial first step is realizing the weight is not the problem. "I've heard so many times, I said it myself, if I could only lose 40 or 50 pounds, I'd be so much happier. I've found on this journey that the opposite is true." Unless you focus on what's going on inside and start to feel better about yourself you won't be able to stop the cycle. "The key is to find contentment and value in yourself by reaching out and doing something not for you, and the weight will come off as a side effect." "

Damn, she's kinda hot now.


That being said, I love you people

You never judge me!

[Edited on December 4, 2007 at 10:12 AM. Reason : .]

12/4/2007 10:11:01 AM

Quote :

""My son would bring me 10 double cheeseburgers. So I'd eat four, put the rest in the fridge. And then they'd call to me during the night or whatever and you'd eat 'em cold. I could go in and overeat cold squash out of the fridge. It doesn't matter.""

12/4/2007 10:13:13 AM

Thats Hot now?

12/4/2007 10:30:06 AM

the word kinda has several interpretations

plus, I think my eyes were still burning from looking at the first picture that looking at the second, in comparison, makes her look mega hot

[Edited on December 4, 2007 at 10:34 AM. Reason : .]

12/4/2007 10:33:48 AM

Quote :

"My son would bring me 10 double cheeseburgers."

we can clearly see who is at fault here.

12/4/2007 10:39:37 AM

Quote :

"they'd call to me during the night"

12/4/2007 10:41:18 AM

http://www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Phone

TEH INTERNET MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE

12/4/2007 11:01:22 AM

good thing she didn't join TWW

12/4/2007 11:09:25 AM

^ LOL, indeed.

12/4/2007 11:09:52 AM

^^haha, I guess the rest of the internet isn't as harsh.

12/4/2007 11:09:56 AM

i always wonder what kind of forums the general person would find and start posting on, you find some really random forums that are ghostly as hell some times.

12/4/2007 11:11:55 AM

THE CHEESEBURGER CALLS ME!

12/4/2007 11:13:24 AM

^Duke player on the right is wearing the wrong shoes

12/4/2007 11:14:56 AM

Quote :

"kind of forums the general person would find and start posting on"

probably forums related to things that interest them. This lady was probably on some womens forum, and they gave her support, no college boys to pick on her there.

12/4/2007 11:19:28 AM

Quote :

"^^haha, I guess the rest of the internet isn't as harsh."

it's weird!! people on other forums are so .... nice

on TWW, only the strong survive

12/4/2007 11:21:03 AM

that's what makes this forum the best. It's Darwinian. Not this liberal feely crap.

12/4/2007 11:22:01 AM

12/4/2007 11:22:50 AM

12/4/2007 11:37:25 AM

god dammit chembob

12/4/2007 11:38:00 AM

no fatties

12/4/2007 11:42:31 AM

^^^Turn off that fucking autoplay


And it isn't that people on TWW are harsh, they are just brutally honest.

[Edited on December 4, 2007 at 11:43 AM. Reason : ]

12/4/2007 11:42:51 AM

TWW isn't that bad if you're trying to lose weight or looking for diet/exercise advice. But then again, I've been around for years, so I know who's a troll and who isn't.

I can tell you that dieting forums, women's forums, and parenting/childbirth forums are all very huggy touchy feely and supportive.

12/4/2007 11:49:23 AM

Quote :

"Click here for ABCNews.com's new and improved BEAUTY & FASHION section."

ajajajajaja

12/4/2007 2:01:18 PM

I've met some nice folks from messageboards on the internet.

I come here to hang out with douchebags like myself though.

12/4/2007 2:06:13 PM

Quote :

"Damn, she's kinda hot now."

I can only imagine how much sagging skin is underneath all that. They had a dude on Maury that lost a ton of weight (through gastic bypass, don't know if that matters or not) and his nipples were hanging near his belly button.

12/4/2007 2:11:51 PM

I questioned that as well... but looking under her chin, it doesn't look like she's got a lot hanging.


The article did say she did it with no surgeries... I wonder if that means cosmetic surgeries after the weight loss.

12/4/2007 3:21:12 PM

I've ballooned up to 450 pounds since I started posting here.

Also I use the internet to meet minors for sex.

12/4/2007 3:27:25 PM

She may not have hanging skin, but she doesn't look healthy either. Something about the skin and hair.

12/4/2007 3:33:33 PM

the before picture frightens me

12/4/2007 3:43:14 PM