It’s been nearly four years since makeup artist and dancer Brandi Mallory was on the hit weight loss show, Extreme Weight Loss. During the show, she lost over a 150 pounds and looked great. Only thing is, she said that with her weight loss came pounds of excessive skin, which made it difficult for her to initially stay positive about her new body.
But recently, in a video of her dancing, you can tell that Brandi isn’t about to let her loose skin get in the way of her love for dancing. Her dance video is going viral for unabashedly shakes what she’s got while performing a choreographed routine, and it’s inspiring as hell. Like, for real.
She may be bigger and have more loose skin than most, but she’s dancing like none of that even exists.
She’s dancing like Janet Jackson. Like “Rhythm Nation” Janet.
She’s dancing like Usher and Omarion. You know, like “Yeah” Usher.
You get the picture (see the video below).
And she’s learning to appreciate each curve and jiggle with every move.
“When you appreciate it all…even the jiggle,” says Brandi on her Instagram. “Because that once was solid FAT…as in DIDNT MOVE WHEN I️ DID….lol! I was, “Heavy….real Heavy”! “Light on my toes”, has always been my descriptive….oh but now! Now…Proud of Myself is an understatement! Can’t think of any other word in the English dictionary to describe how I️ feel about my life or God’s amazing grace and favor over it!”
“Once you’ve beat your self up enough on a subject you’ll NEVER allow an outsider to penetrate your emotions in that same manner! Society has unrealistic standards,” she explains. “You better find out what makes you a unicorn and ROCK THAT SHIT!”
Growing up in Georgia, participating in beauty pageants, Brandi was her parents’ pride and joy. They shared a love for each other and many times, that love was shown through food.
“My mom taught me, even when cooking, cook with love,” Brandi said. “That’s how she showed love to her husband and kids.”
Slowly but surely, Brandi began to gain weight. She said there was no specific event that triggered the weight gain. She just liked to eat.
“I just was just sneak eating. I wanted more. It was good,” she said.
Pageant judges eventually noticed the weight gain and didn’t hold back in letting her know it. Brandi went from winning pageants to receiving participatory trophies.
She said she was an investment to her parents and said her mother would spend thousands of dollars trying to…