Lexi Reed inspired her 1.2 million followers to strive for a healthy lifestyle, but a mystery illness has put the weight loss influencer in critical condition for weeks, her family has revealed.
The 30-year-old from Indiana gained a following on Instagram as she chronicled her two-year journey to losing 312 pounds “naturally” with a balanced diet and regular exercise.
On Thursday, her husband, Danny, shared the troubling update with Lexi’s fans on her @fatgirlfedup account.
“A few weeks ago Lexi kept getting sick and couldn’t keep any food down. She then started acting differently so I took her to the hospital where they admitted her into ICU, placed on a medically induced [coma], on a ventilator, and [told] me that her organs started failing,” he said.
“They said if I waited another day to take her she could have died,” he added.
The diet diarist began her inspirational dispatches as a New Year’s resolution in 2016.
“When Danny & I met … I weighed over 300lbs. He never knew me as any less & never asked me to change,” she said at the time. “I however wanted to live a longer life with him, be healthy, and be able to have kids in the future.”
After a dramatic weight loss, she decided to undergo skin removal surgery in 2018, cutting away 7 pounds of excess flesh. “I’m in a lot of pain. I’ve never had surgery before and I’ve cried daily multiple times,” she wrote then. “I am determined to heal and give recovery my all.”
Lexi hadn’t published on Instagram since Jan. 2, when she posted a New Year’s weight loss challenge to help motivate herself and others. She recently admitted that the COVID-19 pandemic had set her back on her goals. “Despite gaining some of that weight back I’m still happy to be alive after fearing I’d miss 30 and I’ll never go back to where I was,” she wrote last year.
Lexi remains hospitalized following her downturn.
“She is currently in dialysis, can’t walk, and working on recovery,” Danny continued in his post. “Getting her back to health has been our top priority.”
Her husband, who has shared his own 95-pound weight loss journey via @discoveringdanny, also said that the family “unfortunately” is without health insurance and may launch a GoFundMe to help cover medical expenses, People reported.
