CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
These before and after photos showcase the transformation of Amber Snyder, a Marshalltown woman who has lost 110 pounds since February of 2024.

Losing weight and keeping it off is a struggle for many people. Diet, exercise, health, family history of health conditions, and stresses of everyday life can get in the way. Amber Snyder of Marshalltown has surmounted those obstacles and has lost 110 pounds since February 2024.

She set a goal weight of 150, knowing this wasn’t her first time trying to achieve that figure.

“I’m able to lose weight on my own through diet and exercise, but after a couple years, it creeps back up, and then it just hits back to the same baseline weight that my body seems to think I’m supposed to be,” Snyder explained. “I have a family history of obesity and diabetes.”

Feeling self-conscious, she’d exercise outdoors by walking and wait until losing 30 or 40 pounds before hitting the gym, in her case, Planet Fitness.

This time around, she pursued surgery, undergoing gastric bypass in August 2024. Recovery time included spending time in a recliner (laying flat hurt) and easing back into solid foods.

“It makes your stomach about the size of an egg, and a piece of your intestine that absorbs carbs is cut off from the rest of the stomach,” she said of the procedure.

Weight loss came quickly after surgery, and she reversed the diabetes diagnosis.

Her plan for staying at her target weight is portion control, hydration, avoiding carbs and eating a high-protein diet. She works out at least five days a week at Planet Fitness before heading in to work in the healthcare food service industry. She is also one semester away from earning a master’s degree in hospitality management from Johnson & Wales University. She has a bachelor’s in food service management from that school as well.

Snyder uses a treadmill at a high incline for 20 to 30 minutes before switching to machines that target arms, legs and abs. Her goal: maintain her current weight, strength train and tone.

But, she points out, it’s not just about seeing the number on the scale decrease; it’s about feeling healthier and being in less pain.

“It’s just kind of an adrenaline rush, a dopamine rush, reaching those milestones, and you can feel yourself getting stronger and breathing easier and walking without your ankles hurting,” she said. “But on top of that, I think that kind of just paves the way to more self confidence and self respect.”

Even with surgery, the stomach will stretch with time.

“The surgery is just a tool. It’s not the solution. You still have the lifelong commitment of eating healthy foods and eating the correct portions and doing your exercise,” she said. “What’s on my plate is what got me here, and what’s on my plate is what’s gonna fix it.”

She said she worries about people becoming dependent on weight loss surgeries and pills and shots.

“People that go these routes that haven’t tried to diet and exercise first, those are the people I worry about being successful long term,” she said.

Snyder meets with a dietician and attends support groups. She makes “healthy” swaps such as Greek yogurt in place of sour cream.

“It’s definitely day-by-day. It’s a lot of mental willpower and persistence, a lot of mental work that goes into having a healthy lifestyle for sure,” she said.

To ensure you don’t lose too much muscle mass, she said protein is the key.

“The protein piece is so important and getting those nutrients…I’m taking multivitamins and calcium and biotin and different supplements to make up for the things that I’m not getting from food that I’m not able to eat as much of that as I once did,” she said.

She also said not to be afraid to make changes to your treatment plan as you go, and understand you’ll likely slip up now and then. But anytime you can exercise or make a smarter food choice, you’re on the right track, she encourages.

“We don’t have to beat ourselves up or stick to one plan. We can adapt to our needs,” she said. “Anything is better than nothing, and tomorrow’s a new day.”