Brandy Morris is a new woman.

Before she began her journey, she weighed 454 pounds and was on disability, with diabetes and acid reflux.

Nearly two years later, she has lost 233 pounds and no longer needs medication for diabetes and doesn’t have any issues with acid reflux.

“I’m literally half of the person I used to be,” Morris said. “When people have seen me at Walmart, they have done a double take. They just couldn’t believe how much weight I have lost.”

For Morris, the key to her weight loss journey hasn’t been a quick fix diet or plan. It’s has been a complete lifestyle change.

At the beginning, she considered getting the gastric bypass, but there was one caveat.

“They told me that I had to lose 30 pounds just to get the procedure done,” Morris said. “I thought to myself, if I can lose 30 pounds just to have this surgery, I can do this without the surgery.”

Morris started by reading the “Fat Smash Diet” and went by its plan to get it started. While she doesn’t follow that diet now, she said it helped retrain her body to think about food differently.

Instead of chips, she looks for crackers or healthy alternatives. Instead of going for a Big Mac at McDonald’s, she orders a side salad and a chicken wrap.

“I now eat mostly fruits and vegetables,” Morris said. “I don’t eat much red meat. It’s mostly fish, chicken and pork, the other white meat.

“It takes me a long time to go to the store now, because I read the labels to see what’s in there.”

She also started by walking at the J.P. Cain Stadium track that summer.

She then joined the Hartselle Athletic Club and enrolled in Yoga and Zumba classes.

Morris said the reason why she decided to lose the weight is because of her teenage daughter.

“She was afraid I was going to die,” Morris said. “I knew right then that I was going to do this. I was going to show my children that if you can do anything if you put your mind to it.”