Detroiter Michele Anderson loves shopping for the latest styles.
“I love this fabric and such dresses,” said Anderson.
But this wasn’t always the case.
“I really didn’t look. I had gotten that big because I refused to look at myself,” said Anderson.
At her heaviest, Anderson was around 520 pounds — a struggle that started in her childhood.
“It became difficult going to class. Not knowing if I could fit in a desk or not,” said Anderson.
“What was the hardest point in your life?” asked WXYZ.
“One day, I was at home in the tub and I couldn’t get out. I didn’t know what to do. Who are you going to call? What are you going to say? People were brutal. I could walk into a store, and in my mind, people would just stop and look at me. Little kids would point at me. And adults were worse than children,” said Anderson.
Due to her weight, Anderson developed several co-morbidities, including sleep apnea and congestive heart failure. Michele even resorted to gastric bypass surgery.
“I was desperate to let someone cut me to lose weight. And that didn’t help either,” said Anderson.