This 'TV challenge' helped one mom with MS lose 87 pounds
Welcome to Start TODAY. Sign up for our free Start TODAY newsletter to receive daily inspiration sent to your inbox — and join us on Instagram!
Brenda Halsey, 49, knew something was wrong when she started having vision problems in her left eye in November 2004. Those problems turned out to be symptoms of multiple sclerosis.
For years, MS only caused minor issues. But in the fall of 2013, the mother of four started to lose feeling and function from her belly button down due to a lesion on her spine. The lesion made it harder for her to walk.
“It was really scary,” she tells TODAY. To focus on keeping her legs strong, she started running, hoping to enter a 5K or 10K race in a few months.
But MS can affect your balance, and in 2014, Halsey fell in the basement of her Eldora, Iowa, home. Her fall broke a canning jar, and the shards severed her Achilles tendon. “That led to a downfall of many years,” she says. In a separate fall, she severed tendons in her other foot.
Over the next eight years, she needed 11 orthopedic surgeries — five to repair the tendons, plus knee surgery, two shoulder surgeries and three hip surgeries. She also had more MS flares.
“My MS made every recovery more difficult. It was like my muscles forgot what they were supposed to do. It felt like I had lost so much I would never be able to get back to who I was,” she says.
She had been active and fit when she was younger, but managing MS, recovering from surgeries and caring for her children made it hard to find time for herself. “Life gets in the way,” she says.
Her weight crept up to almost 250 pounds and was limiting her daily life. “I didn’t want to go out to eat with my friends because I always felt self-conscious. Unless I ordered a salad, I thought people would think, ‘Look what that overweight lady is eating.’ I didn’t want to fly on a plane because I didn’t want to be that person that people didn’t want to sit by. I was stuck in my home. I didn’t want to go out,” she says.
After her last surgery, in 2021, she struggled with depression. “I’d had surgery after surgery. It took me down. I just laid in bed. I didn’t want to do anything,” she says.
“And then, one day, I was laying there, and I thought, ‘I’ve got a choice to make. I can either live like this and be miserable and depressed or I can make a change and not let all of this win. I decided that I wasn’t going to live like that.’”
She figured out ways to be healthier despite her challenges, lost 87 pounds and feels better than ever. She says, “I took my life back this past year, and I will never stop fighting!”
Here’s how she did it.
She found ways to exercise in spite of her limitations and MS symptoms
During her recovery from hip surgery, she liked to watch "Chicago Fire." So, she created a challenge for herself: She could only watch the show if she exercised. “It’s silly, but it’s what worked for me,” she says.
She couldn’t put any weight on her hip, but she didn’t let that stop her. She brought a skateboard to her gym, rested one foot on it so that leg wasn’t doing any work, and worked out on a rowing machine with her arms and her other leg. Her leg that was recovering could roll alongside her on the skateboard.
After her doctor cleared her for more exercise, she ramped up her workouts and created challenges for herself. She saw people doing a polar plunge in an episode of "Chicago Fire" and decided to try it herself.
“I knew I would have to work toward that. I would have to be able to walk down the beach and get into the water. It gave me a goal,” she says.
She met that challenge and decided to set a challenge for herself every month. Over time, she:
Went snow hiking with her brother in Utah and on other hiking trips to Colorado and South Dakota
Completed a 5K, 10K and half marathon
Finished a gladiator assault challenge
Tackled a 5K obstacle course with one of her sons and her son-in-law
Completed a Tough Mudder competition with one of her sons
“Getting ready, I worked my way through 'Chicago Fire,' 'Chicago PD' and all of 'Law and Order SVU,'” she says.
For her regular exercise routine, she aims for cardio — usually walking — three days a week. Sometimes, she mixes in a little running, depending on how she feels. On three other days, she lifts weights, cycles and uses her rowing machine. And she rests one day a week.
“But there may be weeks when I only get cardio in once and lift weights once. I may have to take several rest days. It took me too long to realize that I need to listen to my body and stop trying to push it to the max. My MS doesn’t always like me to do that. All that did was set me back,” she says.
She alternates between a low-carb diet and low-calorie diet
Halsey knew she wouldn’t lose weight with exercise alone. So, she’s been switching between low-carb and low-calorie diets.
She loses weight faster on a low-carb diet, but it’s not sustainable for her all the time — she likes carbs. To start her weight loss, she followed a low-carb diet for about three months. A typical day of meals included:
Breakfast: One egg and two egg whites scrambled or in an omelet with cheese, onions and mushrooms.
Lunch. A salad with chicken and light raspberry vinaigrette or a chef salad with lots of veggies and hard-boiled eggs.
Supper: Chicken, beef or shrimp with low-carb veggies like green beans or broccoli, or burrito bowls or poke bowls with cauliflower rice.
Snacks: Greek yogurt with a scoop of protein powder and 1/4 cup low-carb fruit, cottage cheese with chives or light string cheese.
When she counts her calories, she eats mostly what she was eating on her low-carb diet. She adds some whole grains, protein bars and shakes, and veggies like potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn. “I allow myself cheats during this time, too. But my body lets me know when I am not fueling it the way it would like to be fueled,” she says.
She eats 1,500 to 1,600 calories a day for weight loss, plus a little more if she’s exercising. Sometimes, she takes a break and maintains her weight rather than trying to lose. Then, she aims for about 2,200 calories a day.
“I wiggle my diet around. Sometimes I do low-carb, sometimes I count calories. If I think I’m getting into a rut, I switch it up to try to keep it interesting,” she says.
Non-scale victories: How her life has changed for the better
Halsey points to these non-scale victories:
She had back pain that wasn’t responding to treatment, and she couldn’t have surgery unless she lost weight. “I thought I would never be out of pain,” she says. Now that she’s lost weight, her pain has eased. “It’s improved by at least 75%,” she says.
She sleeps better.
Her mental health is better. “The mental health part is probably what everyone has noticed most. My sister said, ‘I see the old you shining through.’”
She has more confidence and found the courage to apply for a different job, which she got — she now works for the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services.
She has more energy to join her family in activities. She rides bikes with her youngest son, who is 16, and plays with her 7-month-old granddaughter. She’s been hiking with her family. “They could always go, and I used to stay behind. Now I can lead the pack if I want to,” she says. “We focus on fitness as a family. The benefits have been fantastic.”
She finds the support she needs
Halsey’s family has been supportive and encouraging throughout her journey, and she also turns to the Start TODAY Facebook group when she needs motivation.
“I’m not a put-it-out-there person. I’ve only made a few posts, and it took all the courage I had. But I don’t have to post. I can log in and read all the uplifting comments and support,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if someone walked five minutes to their mailbox for the first time — there’s beautiful support for everyone at every level of their journey.”
Her health and weight-loss goals moving forward
Halsey would like to lose another 10 to 20 pounds, but she’s more focused on how she feels. “I’ll know when my body feels good and I’m where I want to be,” she says.
She’s trying not to let MS control her life while recognizing her limits: “Having MS makes my future more uncertain. I want to make sure that when it rears its ugly head, I am in the best possible place I can be with my health to fight back. I still have a lot of life to live.”
At one time, a neurologist told her that, based on the damage to her spinal cord, he was surprised she was mobile. “I said, ‘Nobody told me I wasn’t supposed to be,’ and he said, ‘Well, just go out and live your life to the fullest.’ I’ve taken that to heart.”
She and her sister both got tattoos for MS: “Mine says, ‘She believes she could, so she did.’ That’s how I live my life.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
