This woman lost 536 pounds and got a new lease on life

“Before I couldn’t walk eight feet without feeling like I was gonna die. Now, I could do just about anything I put my mind to.”

Christina Phillips had always struggled with her weight. By the time she was 12, she was already 300 pounds. When she appeared on the TLC show “My 600-Lb. Life”, she weighed 708 pounds.

But thanks to gastric bypass surgery, careful eating and a lot of hard work, she has lost 536 pounds and has a completely different life.

“It’s been pretty amazing having my life back. I’m able to do so much more now. It’s pretty great,” Phillips told PEOPLE. “Before I couldn’t walk eight feet without feeling like I was gonna die. Now, I could do just about anything I put my mind to.”

Aside from having surgery, Phillips credits diet and exercise for her success. She said she shifted her eating habits away from “simple carbs, such as soda, chips, sugar and processed foods,” she kept a food journal to track her daily intake and made sure to meal plan in order to have healthy, nutritious food at the ready.

Phillips says she goes to the gym four times a week and aims to hit 10,000 steps a day in order to stay in shape and maintain her weight.

The road to weight loss was, obviously, not without its battles. After her bypass surgery, Phillips continued to diet dangerously, at one point eating fewer than 400 calories a day. In a 2016 episode of “My 600-Lb. Life: Where Are They Now?” Phillips was frank about her disordered perceptions.

“Lately, any time I see the scale go up, I tend to freak out and I will stop eating for a couple days,” she said in the episode. “I still see myself as 708 pounds… and people are staring at me. It makes me not want to leave the house.”

Phillips overcame her body dysmorphia, “moments of weakness” and intense cravings to create her new lifestyle. And now, she’s happier than ever.

“The simple things in life are enjoyable to me. I know that seems silly but it’s the honest answer,” Phillips told PEOPLE. “Just walking and being able to go to the park with my nephew. [It’s] the most simple thing like taking him to the park or going shopping or driving.”

Phillips says she is reveling in her new life that comes with significant weight loss.

“I’m so much more happier now. Being able to wake up in the morning and get out of bed without feeling like I’m gonna die, I thank God every morning for that,” Phillips said. “I am so blessed to have a second chance at life.”