‘This saved my life’: Waco woman using weight loss journey to inspire others around the world

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - A Central Texas woman who said she accepted at 24-years-old that she’d always be overweight, anxious, and depressed, has lost 120 pounds through weight training and nutrition, and is now coaching people around the world to follow in her footsteps in a booming online business.

Meredith Hutson, 28, of Waco, says she’s the most unlikely candidate to have a following of more than half a million people on social media platforms for her eye-catching transformation.

“Did I think that I would accomplish what I have, and better yet, be an online fitness coach for people like me?” Meredith laughed. “No, never in a million years!”

You’d never know her past by looking at the current pictures or videos of the exceptionally fit woman who looks like the poster child of good health.

Meredith struggled with weight since she was a young girl, and suffered from binge eating disorder until she reached more than 250 pounds.

“Since I was eight, I have struggled with my weight and tried every diet that you could ever think of,” she said. “Most of these, I would lose a little weight here and there, but it always resulted in me gaining it back plus more.”

The 2013 Hubbard High School graduate was an athlete, but says she never understood proper weight training and didn’t focus on healthy eating.

She continued to gain weight until just about accepting her situation was permanent.

“After graduating college and inching more into my 20s, I reached 256 pounds making it my heaviest weight yet,” she said. “For years, I stayed at that weight and just accepted the fact that I was going to be this way forever. Depression and anxiety started taking over my life, and each year that passed, my binge eating disorder would only get worse and worse.”

Meredith had an epiphany that changed her life during one late night binge eating session.

“One random Wednesday night I found myself binging, staying up until 1 o’clock in the morning and wasting time watching other people do what I wanted to do so badly on social media. In that moment, I told myself, no matter how bad, that I didn’t want to, that I would get up tomorrow and take one step toward making a change.”

Meredith took that first step and never looked back. She joined a gym in August of 2019, but says her journey didn’t really start until January 1, 2020.

Meredith began to work out and lift weights, without the help of a trainer, and with little idea of what she was doing.

She began to educate herself any way that she could.

“I actually taught myself,” she said. “I went by myself to lift because at the time my husband wasn’t into it. None of my friends were into it. I just knew I had a lot to learn, so I started diving into listening to a lot of podcasts and I started going to 5-Star Nutrition. They were very helpful.”

Meredith ate a high carb, high protein, low fat diet, and says she didn’t restrict herself which is why she thinks she failed at so many diets in the past.

She also didn’t focus much on cardio. Meredith dropped 50 pounds by her wedding in November 2020.

She lost another 50 by the summer of 2021. Today, Meredith has lost 120 pounds, and gained not only muscle, but confidence.

She said the transformation has changed her life. “To some this just might be a weight loss journey to achieve a certain body, but to me, this literally saved my life,” she said.

Meredith chronicled her journey on social media and garnered nearly 600,000 fans on TikTok and 136,000 followers on Instagram.

Her journey to change her life has now changed the lives of thousands of others as she launched an online fitness training program called “Get Fit With Mer.”

Meredith currently has eight coaches, including those with nutrition expertise, who help her manage more than 800 current clients around the world.

“I have a lot of people in Australia,” she said. “I have some in India, Canada, Chicago, Asia. Most of my clients are based in the UK, but they’re really from all over.”

Meredith quit her full-time job as a hair stylist which she did for nine years.

She now exclusively works as an online coach and says finding her true calling in life has been an added bonus.

“Because of this journey, I can now say that I’m happy that I was the girl who struggled with her weight, because now I can share my story, show people what is possible and help thousands around the world start their own journeys.”

“Fear of failure is what’s getting in the way of having the life you deserve,” she says, “because if I can do it, trust me when I say anyone can.”

For more information you can check out www.getfitwithmer.com.

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