An older adult woman wearing a purple textured sweater and large hoop earrings sits indoors with a purple cushioned chair.

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The apartment walk that took off 120 pounds

Name: The apartment walk that took off 120 pounds
Uploaded: 2019-01-15T00:48:18Z
Duration: 3 min 28 s
Description: Her gym is a tiny one-bedroom apartment in St. Louis. Jessica Slaughter walks it every morning, and those steps, along with a big change in what she eats, took off 120 pounds.

Her gym is a tiny one-bedroom apartment in St. Louis. Jessica Slaughter walks it every morning, and those steps, along with a big change in what she eats, took off 120 pounds. more

Food was always her trouble. "I was always the fattest kid in the class," she says of growing up in Mississippi. "I was always eating fried chicken, bacon and eggs, cakes and pies." Her classmates picked on her for it.

An older woman with gray hair, in purple clothes and large earrings, sits smiling in a purple chair. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — Jessica remembers being picked on as the biggest kid in her class.

At her largest she wore a size 42, "and it was getting tight," and by her 70s she was a borderline diabetic. Losing weight is hard, but staying overweight is hard too, and Jessica chose the first kind of hard. "I chose losing weight over staying fat," she says. "I didn't want to die like that."

On the advice of a vegan, she stopped eating meat and became vegan herself. These days she has strong opinions about food. What she eats now includes bananas, oranges and tomatoes.

An older woman with gray hair, a purple sequined headband and large earrings looks down. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — In her 70s, Jessica stopped eating meat and became vegan.

Then she added walking, and she never had to leave home to do it. Her granddaughter suggested a Fitbit to count her steps. At first Jessica had no idea what a Fitbit was, but once someone showed her how it worked, it helped a lot.

Every morning she walks from her living room to her kitchen and back until she reaches 3,000 steps. That's the whole workout. The pounds came off, all 120 of them, and the woman who once wore a size 42 now wears a size four.

An older adult woman wearing a purple textured sweater and large hoop earrings sits indoors with a purple cushioned chair. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — Her gym is a tiny one-bedroom apartment in St.

Her health came with it. She's no longer pre-diabetic, and she's the healthiest she has ever been.

At one checkup, her doctor told her she was healthier than he was. She knows exactly why. It was the food and the steps.

A bald man with glasses, a blue suit, a light shirt and a patterned bow tie speaks in front of a brick wall. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — At 86, Jessica is the healthiest she has ever been, and she knows it was the food and the steps.

At 86, she has a message for people her age. She wants other seniors to know that getting older doesn't mean they have to stop living, and that a better way of life is there if they choose it. Purple is plainly her color, right down to the sequins on her headband.