What Is This Episode About…
In this episode, I’ll have a conversation with Heather Mackenzie about her amazing weight loss journey. She has lost a whopping 200 pounds ever since she joined Code Red, and she expects to lose another 80lbs. Previously, she stood at a shocking 421 pounds, and seeing a picture of her back then is mind-blowing because you wouldn’t even recognize her. She looks like a completely different person. Heather McKenzie has lost 200 lbs so far on the Code Red Lifestyle with 80 lbs left to lose. Hear her story of crisis, pain, suffering, and discrimination before she found code red and what life is like 200 lbs down.
Heather’s life was terrible, she has had two knee surgeries before the age of 30, her knees hurt constantly..her back hurts and everything hurt all the time. Before code red, her life was just worthless like there was no quality of life. She gained all this weight from trauma when she was young, she kinda pushed it away, and she was so embarrassed decide to cover it up and food and trying not to appear attractive to others.
Her turning point was when she got married about a year and a half ago and her wedding pictures just made her sad because she just looked terrible in them.so a Nick video she watched got her ball rolling.so when they got home a month after her wedding her weight loss journey started. Listen to this amazing story of Heather about her weight loss journey and you will be inspired.
Key Points of Discussion
- Holding the record for the most weight lost on Code Red for a female (02:39)
- How being overweight reduces your quality of life (06:18)
- How it took her wedding to get to a turning point and decide to lose weight (07:10)
- Choosing a custom weight loss program over weight loss surgery (08:55)
- How being big and overweight limits your ability to enjoy life (11:51)
- Getting off multiple medications after weight loss (14:04)
- Losing weight while eating real food (16:16)
- Taking the leap of faith and getting into a Code Red custom program(21:53)
Learn More About The Content Discussed…
Get the Code Red On-The-Go Guide here.
Join the next 10-Pound Takedown Challenge here.
When Was It Released…
This episode was released May 13, 2020
Episode Transcript…
Disclaimer: This Transcript Is Auto-Generated And May Contain Spelling And Grammar Errors
Cristy 0:00
The rebel eight loss and lifestyle. I am Christy Code Red author, entrepreneur, retired professional boxer pop up Ha, ha ha. Wow. This podcast is absolutely incredible. Heather Mackenzie, folks, your life is going to be changed. It really is when you hear from Heather Mackenzie because she has lost 200 pounds on code red so far with only 80 pounds left to go. And I have to kind of pull the words from her but when I asked her to describe her life before at 421 pounds, it’s pretty shocking. So without further ado, I’m introducing Heather Mackenzie to you, who has sharing her heart with you for the benefit of you guys. Somehow, your life being changed because of this. And I really appreciate her coming out with her story. It’s incredible.
Intro 1:01
I’m Christy Code Red and you’re listening to rebel weight loss and lifestyle where we believe food pulls the power to heal or poison. And we believe our society has been misled regarding proper nutrition and weight loss. You’re in the right place if you’re looking for some straight-up truth because I’m here to shed light on the lies and brainwashing that is taking place over the past five decades. Thanks so much for listening.
Cristy 1:27
And welcome Hello to you Well, I don’t know why I started with and but I just sounded fine. It just sounded funny to do it like that. I don’t know what I don’t know what’s wrong with me sometimes. Hello, hello to all of you. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. Thank you guys. I always start off my interviews by saying I have special guests and really all my guests are special but this one. It’s got to take the cake no pun intended. I mean, it’s got to take the cake. I it is when I heard about Heather. She Story, which you guys are getting ready to. And I haven’t heard all I had their story, by the way, I just heard a little just enough for me to contact my assistant said, get in touch with her ASAP I’ve got to talk to her. When I heard just a little bit. I my jaw came on unhinged, and I couldn’t believe my ears. And Heather, I just want to say thank you so much for taking your time to talk to all of us. I know this is a bit out of your comfort zone. And you are and I it took a lot of guts to come and share your story with all of us. So thank you for being here.
Heather Mackenzie 2:32
Yeah, definitely out of my comfort zone. But if it could help anyone, then I’m willing to do it for sure.
Cristy 2:39
Guys, I’m going to get right to it. I’m going to give you the I’m going to go ahead and do the spoiler alert because you’re like guys, Heather has lost at the time of this recording. 198 pounds. Yes, 198 pounds. So by the time this actually comes out, I’m sure it’s going to be well over 200 and that’s all I needed to hear at the time. And so she definitely holds the record for the female the most weight lost on code read from a female, Nick gibbler still holds the record for the man, Heather, I almost don’t even know where to even begin with you. So how about you take us back before code red, describe to us what life was like, and how things were with for you just any kind of details you want to include. So we could paint a picture in our mind how things were before you finally made the switch.
Heather Mackenzie 3:34
So life was terrible, really. I work at an elementary school and the school is sort of long. And so my classroom that I work in is at the very end and all of like the staff things are at the other opposite end. So just walking down the hall, I was winded and embarrassed when I would get down to get supplies or whatever that I was huffing and puffing to get I don’t know I was just miserable. I’ve had two knee surgeries before I was 30 years old. My knees hurt constantly. my back hurt, everything hurt all the time. I could barely function at work. And then I would come home and just like, not doing anything because I had no energy left. So before Code Red life was just worthless. Like there was no quality of life. I would barely get some sort of quick dinner on the table and then I would just veg and watch TV all night before I barely peel myself off the couch to go to bed.
Cristy 4:42
Do you mind if I share with people your starting weight or would that be just too much? You know? Go ahead, Heather. Oh, you Heather’s got a picture of Heather starting weight was 421 pounds. Wow. For those of you guys who are listening online, you can’t see this. She’s holding up a picture of herself and It doesn’t even look like the same person. 421 pounds. So can I ask and you know me well enough to know that I’m pretty direct here? How did you gain all this weight? What got you to that,
Heather Mackenzie 5:10
um, there was some trauma in my life when I was very young, not big trauma. I just kind of pushed it away. So, I was embarrassed, though, so I covered it up and food and making myself look and appear to be not as attractive to others. So that’s really where it’s stemming from. I’ve sort of dealt with it a few years back, and it’s not an issue anymore. Yeah. So trauma when I was a child, from another human being.
Cristy 5:53
Yeah, I’m sure it’s just, you know, any kind of victimized, any kind of situation. Where’s the beginning? violence or molestation or anything? Have you tried to? Yeah, I’ve tried to make it makes total sense. I’m not a counselor, but it makes sense you know, trying to make yourself less attractive by piling on the fat. So every part of your body hurt your knees, your hands, you just always no energy. So every task, every task was difficult.
Heather Mackenzie 6:18
Yeah, everything I would like, chop things up, do everything that I could in the kitchen, at the table. Like, I would sit and chop my food or it hurt to stand up it hurts to do everything. So yeah, now, obviously life is very different, but it hurt to do anything,
Cristy 6:41
man, just the pain, the daily pain. So what how did you hear about Code Red?
Heather Mackenzie 6:47
So one of my friends, my old co-workers, posted your Nick video, this interview like you’re doing with me, and I was just like, Wow, she bigger guy like I was if you can do it, well, maybe I can. So I watched you on Facebook for a while. And then Mike kind of turning point was my husband and I got married about a year and a half ago. And my wedding pictures just really made me sad because I just looked terrible in them. I mean, I was pretty, but like I was big, I was way too big and I was not proud of that. So it was really the Nick video that got my ball rolling and just watching your videos here and there. So when we came home from our wedding, it was like a month later, I jumped into a custom program. I had no idea what the heck I was doing. So it was a little bit of a learning curve to figure out what to do and all that because usually people start on the challenge All that stuff and just kind of dip their toe in, but I just kind of dove right in full force. And it was definitely the best choice I’ve ever made. Because here we are almost 200 pounds later and I’m a completely different person. I have like 10 pounds to go where I’ll be exactly half of who I was before, which is kind of a fun fact. Yeah, it was the best choice ever.
Cristy 8:27
So that was it. That’s when you show the pictures of yourself in the wedding photos, that’s when you have another photo. She’s got another I love it. This is I love this. Oh, look at you. Oh my goodness. Wow, Heather. Wow, for those of you
Heather Mackenzie 8:43
but like, not who I see myself.
Cristy 8:47
Right. That was the turning point for you. That’s when it was going right into a custom program. That’s quite a commitment. You really must have had your mind made up.
Unknown Speaker 8:55
Yeah, I was done. I was done being fat. I knew I needed to change my life. I was literally either this or paying for weight loss surgery. But this was cheaper. Should you considered weight loss surgery for sure to doctors talk to you about it. I had like looked into lap band years and years ago because that seems like less invasive because it was not like you’re not taking out part of your stomach. But I’ve always been hesitant to the weight loss surgery because it’s changing your body and it just freaked me out. So I was looking into it and getting married. I was gonna be on my husband’s insurance, so his company would cover it. So yeah, I was going to start that ball rolling with the like six months of seeing the doctor beforehand. But I jumped on code red first and I’m so glad I did. Doctors trying to talk to you about your weight problem. Oh, every single time I went to the doctor, everyone talked to me about it. Even the eye doctor talks. Thinking about it. What
Cristy 10:01
did they say? Did they just say you need to lose weight? You’re like, Yeah, I know that.
Heather Mackenzie 10:05
Yep. They’re like you’re overweight and you need to do something about it. You need to do diet and exercise and all those normal things that everyone says to do.
Cristy 10:14
Had you tried diets before?
Heather Mackenzie 10:16
Oh, for sure. Yeah, I’ve tried a million different diets before. And Weight Watchers, of course, did nothing for me. I did lose 115 pounds on, like working out like a crazy person and eating like 1200 calories a day. But then as soon as I stopped working out, I gained it all back within months. So
Cristy 10:44
yeah, just wasn’t working and all that money you spent on diets that just continue to fail you.
Heather Mackenzie 10:50
Yeah, it was just so worthless and wasting of my time.
Cristy 10:55
And it wasn’t that you weren’t motivated and it wasn’t that you were dumb. You were doing the program that that those other days put you on?
Heather Mackenzie 11:02
Yeah, I was following it. I was doing everything they told me to do, but it wasn’t working.
Cristy 11:09
But code read worked and here we are eating real food, drinking water and sleeping. Was that pretty shocking to you when you realize how simple it was?
Heather Mackenzie 11:17
Yeah, for sure. It was cool. Like initially the water amount is a little bit shocking. And for how big I was, I needed to drink almost two gallons and that’s just like, it was a lot but I got that figured out. I decided I was gonna do it and it’s just been the easiest. I’m in Jade’s tribe. So as Jade says it’s the easiest hard thing we’ve ever done. So
Cristy 11:44
did you travel a lot? What was it like when you were a big girl trying to travel with that? Did you do a whole lot of traveling? No, I
Heather Mackenzie 11:51
did not because I had the biggest travel anxiety because of my weight. I we went to Hawaii and got married and We had to pay for first-class tickets because the seats were wider. And I had to get a seatbelt extender. And before that, my parents live in Boise. I live in Seattle. So I could just take a quick little our trip on an airplane and go see them, but I wouldn’t, because who knows who I would sit next to and that poor person had to sit with me taking up half of their seat to and hopefully it was a kid because then they wouldn’t take up that much space. It was terrible. It took over far too much of my brain power and space, even like going to like a concert. Like I couldn’t fit in the seat, so I wouldn’t do it. So it’s freed up a lot of my abilities to do things in life. Now we’re prisoner.
Cristy 12:54
Exactly, yeah. So You’re the waist. Now coming off with your custom program, though. You get your mammogram, the weights coming off, and polies pretty steady, big numbers dropping off while you’re eating real food. That had to have been a shock when you watch the scale, of course you’d lost weight before.
Heather Mackenzie 13:09
Yeah, I at one point I had lost like 13 pounds in a week and it was just like, holy crap, this is the coolest thing ever. So it was definitely motivating to see it working. And it just kept me going and going, and it’s been the best thing ever. Do you have
Cristy 13:27
any kind of sleep apnea or trouble sleeping at all?
Heather Mackenzie 13:31
Um, I do. I have a sleep apnea machine. And because of the world, as we know it right now, I had a doctor’s appointment to go check up on that because I haven’t been using it because I don’t think I needed anymore. But that appointment has been pushed off till June. So I have not been using my sleep apnea machine anymore and I feel fine. So I’m thinking I don’t need it anymore.
Cristy 13:59
Oh, no. My gosh, are there other medications or medical conditions that have improved?
Heather Mackenzie 14:04
Yeah, there are, I’m off my blood pressure completely. I’m off my antidepressant completely. And I have lowered I’ve cut in half my daily headache medicine I, I have what’s called pseudotumor three brace so it’s I make too much spinal fluid. And so this is just like a daily maintenance, headache medicine and I’ve cut it in half. So that’s, I’m working on getting rid of that one next, but I’m a little hesitant because headaches are no joke. But yeah, the pseudotumor is supposedly caused from being overweight. So probably that’s gone too but haven’t been to the doctor for that
Cristy 14:48
yet. So, so I’m I’m looking at you and even though you still have more weight to lose, you are looking like a I don’t know hate to use this word. I’m really against this word, but I guess for lack of it. normal person again. I don’t what is even normal. But you you have any anxiety about traveling even at this point?
Heather Mackenzie 15:08
No, not anymore. No. I have traveled since being smaller. Well, I went to code read live. Yeah. Um, and my seat belt fit on the airplane. And I am fine to sit next to somebody because my booty fits in the seat now. So no, there’s no more travel anxiety. And I’ve been to a concert in the last like six months, and I fit in the seat. So yeah, that’s all gone now even like dining chairs. And I haven’t been to a restaurant in a long time but like, used to be restaurant chairs, like outside outsource outside dining chairs. I was like, No, I don’t know what I can’t go there because I don’t know what those tears look like. It’s not a worry anymore, but it’s just so stupid. But the things that when you’re fat you have to think about
Cristy 16:04
so you don’t have to think about that anymore. So when it’s all said and done and you’re down to your goal weight, how much weight will you have lost?
Heather Mackenzie 16:12
I believe it’s 280 Wow,
Cristy 16:16
that’s absolutely incredible. And you’ve done this all with real food. We’re talking to steak and asparagus and eggs and bacon and cream cheese and cottage cheese. What are your favorite foods on Code Red?
Heather Mackenzie 16:26
for breakfast? I usually am pretty keeping it pretty the same. I scrambled eggs and butter, sausage or bacon, mostly sausage, cucumbers and ranch. My second meal right now I’m enjoying ground beef with taco seasoning on it. It sounds so weird. Oh, but like red pepper. And then I like scoop up the ground beef with the red pepper.
Cristy 16:54
Yeah, maybe like a little spoon. Yeah,
Heather Mackenzie 16:56
guy. It’s like I call him my little code red nachos. It’s Oh,
Cristy 17:01
that’s amazing. So your husband how has this gone with him? Because according to your wedding photo, he is overweight to his weight dropping just by proxy.
Heather Mackenzie 17:11
Yeah, he is eating what I eat, because that’s the only thing we have in the house. Um, he’s definitely lost weight. I don’t I should have gotten a number from him before I started doing this, but um, he’s down. I want to say at least 80 pounds. Oh my gosh, at least.
Yeah, he’s down. Like, six pant sizes at least. Yeah, he’s down a lot.
Cristy 17:39
Have you seen your doctor? I know that you were supposed to have your medic, like one coming up real recent, but that has been canceled. But have you seen your provider or anything during this whole process? I have and they’re kind of just
Heather Mackenzie 17:51
blown away. Yeah, I tell them. It’s keto esque, because it’s not keto. And they’re just like well, just be careful. That the fad diet thing and I’m just like, whatever. I don’t really get into it because I don’t want to go there. But yeah, they’re pretty blown away.
Cristy 18:10
Wow. And you have the numbers and the good health to prove it. I mean you’re reducing medication your confidence is going up Have you have what have other people said to you as they’ve been watching this before quarantine,
Heather Mackenzie 18:21
the people at work especially are just like, slow, slow, slow to say anything. And it’s sort of funny, but I’m just like, what the heck dude, I’ve lost over 100 pounds. But I know I don’t think I would say anything either. But now that they know that that’s the thing I’ve been more open about it. They’re like holy crap. How did you do that? So I’ve been sharing code right obviously with them and I need to be right now is weird time so I need to get the book to one of my co-workers. But yeah, they’ve been all encouraged and excited about
Cristy 18:58 People have hard time believing that it’s done with real food, water and sleep and no exercise or pills or powders or potions.
Cristy 19:08
So this is a new light for you now that because you’ve been overweight all your whole life and now you’re going to be the size that you need to be the healthy size and weight for you for you. Has this opened up a whole new world of opportunity for you in your mind? I mean things changing as far as what you want to do what you want to be or
Heather Mackenzie 19:26
Yeah, we actually just bought this house like a month ago before everything happened. I’ve been I’ve almost painted the entire inside of the house. I got two rooms to go. I’ve dug up the backyard. We’re we’ve got a bunch of old dead rotten roots. So I would never have had the energy to do anything like that before but I just I can’t sit still like I just said okay, what can I do now? What can I do next? And so yeah, there’s that No way I would have been an outdoors the garden kind of person before or I wouldn’t have ever picked up a paintbrush.
Cristy 20:07
No, that would not have happened. I can tell just from your before and after pictures. Can you see the difference in you? Do you see it?
Heather Mackenzie 20:14
Yeah, there’s a huge difference.
Cristy 20:17
Yeah, it’s not even like the same person. It’s incredible. How, how different, and boy has it been a grind for you? Is it been hard for you to have faith in the middle or you’ve been pretty steady Eddie with your outlook and your mood? I know a lot of times when people are losing weight, they have a hard time with the middle part.
Heather Mackenzie 20:32
I spend hard at times, especially when I hit like a plateau or stall. But I just keep I’ve been pretty focused this whole time. Like it wasn’t until like 190 loss that I was like, Oh, I like I lost a lot of weight. So I’ve like been super laser-focused on getting this done. And So it’s not been that hard. It’s not been hard at all.
Cristy 21:04
You’re in the homestretch. I mean, this is you’ve lost, you know, twice as much as more than that as much as you have left. So it’s really the homestretch as far as I this is incredible. I you know, this Are we going to see this goal met in 2020. I’m trying to remember what I wrote for you and your custom program is 2020. The year that you’re going to hit the goal,
Heather Mackenzie 21:22
I believe is October, yes. Oh,
Cristy 21:25
my goodness. Oh, my goodness. I’m already like, Alright, let’s get her on the stage. And kind of read live 2020. I mean, this is incredible, I hope to get you on the news. I want to get you. I mean, this is incredible, almost 300 pounds lost all by eating real food, drinking water and sleeping. What would you say to somebody who is in your position, or somebody who is on the fence or anybody that may be started as you know, at the size that you were? You need to
Heather Mackenzie 21:53
take the leap of faith and do it. It sounds crazy. And That could not possibly work, but it definitely works. And it’s way cheaper than that scary medical weight loss surgery alternatives.
Cristy 22:13
All the money that you spent all the time nobody ever said anything. Like they just said lose weight, but they never gave you a plan and never give you the option and nothing has ever come close to this before. No, no. My biggest weight loss before with the crazy exercise and like basically starving myself was 115 pounds. So yeah, this far exceeds it. Yeah, and there’s no pain. Your pain has been mitigated.
Heather Mackenzie 22:41
Yeah, I have no pain. If I go out and shovel too much in the backyard, then I have pain.
Cristy 22:47
So do I. Yeah. Yeah. That is incredible. Heather, I cannot even thank you enough for sharing your story with us. This is just, I mean, I’m going to be thinking about this for a long time and I’m so I’m so thankful because it takes a lot of guts to get on the get on a platform like this of this size and share your story. But my gosh, the people that you could influence and help I mean, there’s no we don’t even know the kind of reaches is gonna have. You’re bringing hope and healing to millions of people all over the world but the fact that you’ve been so transparent with us,
Heather Mackenzie 23:20
yeah, well if it helps one person then it’s more than worth it. So I’m more than willing to do it.
Cristy 23:27
Wow, well, guys, 10 pound takedown calm is the best place to get started or you can always jump to the front of the line like Heather did and go to code red lifestyle command-click on programs, get yourself a coach and just get started on a full out custom program. I know that Heather does not regret that. And it’s either one just you got to get started. You have to understand the proper human diet. And that is what Heather is eating, or focusing on real food, water, and sleep. That’s it. So definitely join the code red lifestyle. We can help you like we have Heather and Heather. I’m Shelby Proud of you. Thank you so much.
Heather Mackenzie 24:03
Yeah, I’m so happy to share.
Unknown Speaker 24:06
All right, you guys have a good one. We’ll catch you later. Thanks so much for listening to this episode of rebel weight loss in lifestyle. Do you have a question that you’d like me to answer raw and uncut on the podcast? Then all you have to do is head over to Apple podcasts on your phone or computer and do three simple things. leave a rating and review telling me what you think of the podcast. And in that review, ask anything you want related to help weight loss or mindset. And if you want a shout out, leave your Instagram handle or name that’s all been listening to hear your question answered live raw and uncut on the next q&a episode, so I’ll see you on the next episode of rebel weight loss and lifestyle.