![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/web-12-779x840.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
\nThese before and after photos showcase the transformation of Amber Snyder, a Marshalltown woman who has lost 110 pounds since February of 2024. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
She set a goal weight of 150, knowing this wasn\u2019t her first time trying to achieve that figure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m 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\u2019m supposed to be,\u201d Snyder explained. \u201cI have a family history of obesity and diabetes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Feeling self-conscious, she\u2019d exercise outdoors by walking and wait until losing 30 or 40 pounds before hitting the gym, in her case, Planet Fitness.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt 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,\u201d she said of the procedure.<\/p>\n
Weight loss came quickly after surgery, and she reversed the diabetes diagnosis.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s degree in hospitality management from Johnson & Wales University. She has a bachelor\u2019s in food service management from that school as well.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
But, she points out, it\u2019s not just about seeing the number on the scale decrease; it\u2019s about feeling healthier and being in less pain.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s 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,\u201d she said. \u201cBut on top of that, I think that kind of just paves the way to more self confidence and self respect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with surgery, the stomach will stretch with time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe surgery is just a tool. It\u2019s not the solution. You still have the lifelong commitment of eating healthy foods and eating the correct portions and doing your exercise,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat\u2019s on my plate is what got me here, and what\u2019s on my plate is what\u2019s gonna fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she worries about people becoming dependent on weight loss surgeries and pills and shots.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople that go these routes that haven\u2019t tried to diet and exercise first, those are the people I worry about being successful long term,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Snyder meets with a dietician and attends support groups. She makes \u201chealthy\u201d swaps such as Greek yogurt in place of sour cream.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely day-by-day. It\u2019s a lot of mental willpower and persistence, a lot of mental work that goes into having a healthy lifestyle for sure,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
To ensure you don\u2019t lose too much muscle mass, she said protein is the key.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe protein piece is so important and getting those nutrients\u2026I\u2019m taking multivitamins and calcium and biotin and different supplements to make up for the things that I\u2019m not getting from food that I\u2019m not able to eat as much of that as I once did,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She also said not to be afraid to make changes to your treatment plan as you go, and understand you\u2019ll likely slip up now and then. But anytime you can exercise or make a smarter food choice, you\u2019re on the right track, she encourages.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have to beat ourselves up or stick to one plan. We can adapt to our needs,\u201d she said. \u201cAnything is better than nothing, and tomorrow\u2019s a new day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS These before and after photos showcase the transformation of Amber Snyder, a Marshalltown woman who has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4322],"tags":[1630,105,86575,86576,72370,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-219110","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-local-woman-loses-110-pounds","11":"tag-shares-diet-and-exercise-tips","12":"tag-todays-news","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114756413470180967","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}