A mom who piled on the pounds after gorging on nightly dinner dates in the “newlywed phase” has lost almost 200 lbs. so she can play with her son.
Chandra Pearce, 36, found herself gaining weight after marrying her husband Chad, 36.
The pair would treat themselves to restaurant meals most nights but after stepping on the scale and seeing her heaviest weight — 387 lbs. — Chandra knew she had to change.
She got Chad, a university security worker, to take photos to hold her accountable before losing 97 lbs. through a strict diet.
But after Chandra started collapsing from anaphylactic shock when her son was just a few weeks old she decided to look into a vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG), a type of weight loss surgery where a large section of the stomach is “cut off.”
The operation allowed the mom-of-one to lose a further 105 lbs. — and she is now a slender 189 lbs. and a US size medium.
Now she is “healthier” for her son Crew, 1, and has more energy to play at the park with him.
“It was kind of the newlywed phase of going out to dinner almost every night,” said Chandra, a childcare director from Burleson, Texas.
“We didn’t have kids, so we were just going to work and then going to dinner. You’re just happy, with your best friend having fun and it wasn’t until six months after we got married that I noticed my weight.”
Chandra and Chad tied the knot in March 2015 and the new bride didn’t realize just how much weight she had put on until she stepped on the scale in October of the same year.
“It’s weird because they say it doesn’t come on overnight,” she said. “I see the same person I saw then, and I know that doesn’t make sense but there was just one day where it caught my attention.
“I thought, ‘I’m going to get my weight,’ and it was such a shock because I’d never seen that weight before.
“I got off the scales and back on and saw the number again and I was overwhelmed.
“I thought ‘I’m taking control.’ I said to my husband, please take these photos of me because I never want to be here again.”
Chandra was then diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and was put on metaformin to help treat it.
She started a strict diet, switching to home cooked meals or grilled chicken and vegetables if she went out.
“I lost 100 lbs. by myself,” she said. During that time is when we were trying to get pregnant.”
After suffering multiple operations including having her fallopian tubes unblocked, different rounds of IUI, the couple decided to try adoption.
Chandra then became pregnant naturally but sadly lost the baby as it had implanted itself into her cervix.
“It was the hardest part of my whole life. I had everything I ever dreamed of, and it was gone,” she said.
Despite their heartbreak, Chandra and Chad “picked back up” the adoption route in August 2022 and have since gone on to become parents to Crew, now aged one, in May 2023.
Just weeks after bringing their newest addition home, Chandra suffered a health scare.
She had recently been prescribed Ozempic to help continue treating her diabetes and aid weight loss.
“It was probably when my son was around four or five weeks old that I had my first anaphylactic episode,” she said.
“Doctors sent me to have allergy and immunology testing, but everything came back clear.
“All three times I collapsed my doctor had changed my dosage of Ozempic.
“I don’t know if it wasn’t latching in my system, or if it was something I ate with it maybe. I just thought ‘I’ve got to get off of this.’ I was content with my size where I was, and I didn’t want to have to rely on anything.”
A friend recommended Chandra to Dr Cribbins, a specialist in bariatric surgery, for a vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG).
“When I did the consultation I wanted a wonderful life for my son, but I was also scared,” she said.
“The doctor said if you do this procedure, you can get off every single thing. That changed my thinking a little bit.”
She underwent the surgery in August 2024 and has lost another 100 lbs. and hasn’t had anymore episodes.
“I lost another 100 lbs,” she said. “I have a lot more energy now to crawl on the floor and go on the slides at the park with him.
“My interests are working out and being healthier for him.”
With her new lease of life, Chandra’s diet has completely changed.
“Before I ate a lot of fast food, sandwiches and fries. We had a lot of pasta, me and Chad loved Olive Garden,” she recalled.
“Now I don’t eat a ton. I have protein shakes and snacks, but I don’t even crave any of the bad stuff.
“I had to get rid of my whole closet because I was XXXL and now I’m like a size large, sometimes a medium.
“I can shop at normal stores, before I would have to go to specialist stores to find stuff and I can’t shop at those stores anymore.
“I don’t exactly know what my style is now, I feel like I have more options.”
Diet before
- Breakfast: Fast food on the way to work. A breakfast meal from McDonald’s with a large sugary coffee.
- Lunch: Fried chicken wrap with crisps and Dr Pepper. A slice of cheesecake for dessert.
- Dinner: Olive garden’s chicken gnocchi soup and chicken alfredo pasta with breadsticks. Ice cream or cookies for dessert
- Snacks: Crisps, sweets, pretzels
Diet after
- Breakfast: Protein coffee (a protein shake poured in a cold brew) sometimes with low carb yogurt
- Lunch: Grilled chicken or lean ground meat with taco seasoning
- Dinner: Grilled chicken with shredded cheese at a Taco restaurant
- Snacks: String cheese, Legendary protein chips, fresh berries, protein bar
