Woman tries on old wedding dress after dropping six sizes

Five years after her wedding, Shandra Redwine came across her wedding dress in the cupboard.

It was a size 22. Redwine has since lost more than 40kg and was delighted to find that it swamped her.

"What a crazy journey!" the 33-year-old weight-loss and life coach, now a size 10, wrote in a post on Instagram.

"The craziest part is that I had already lost 35 lbs [15kg] and I was feeling super skinny on my wedding day."

Redwine, from Michigan, wrote on her site that she'd always been "a little pudgy", but things escalated when she reached adulthood.

Despite a loving partner, supportive friends and a successful business, she struggled with low self-esteem and anxiety and tried to ignore her weight as it crept up.

But after "a series of disappointing and embarrassing occasions", she saw her weight peak at 117kg and resolved to get things in hand.

"I joined a gym, terrified, and made a commitment to go every single day for 21 days," Redwine wrote.

"I'd heard that's how long it takes to make a new habit."

Getting healthy is as easy (and as insanely difficult) as changing your habits. This episode of 9Honey's hit podcast series has advice on making the changes stick:

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Slowly but surely, she started to see results.

Redwine said joining Weight Watchers helped her to eat more mindfully. Over nine months, she lost 33kg and managed to keep it off throughout two pregnancies.

This year, with her younger son now two years old, she decided to redouble her efforts.

After much research, Redwine selected the low-carb, gluten-free 'ketogenic diet'. She said that for her, it has been transformative.

"My IBS is under control for the first time in 15 years," she wrote, adding that she's now only 7kg off her goal weight of 71kg.

"I've learned so much about weight loss, health, food, and fitness over the past few years. 

"My hope is that my story and the knowledge I've gained might help someone else to change their life."

Related video: How Anastasia Chiarello lost 85 kgs – half her body weight