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Couple who lost a combined 600 pounds is getting married on Saturday
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"This is a story you could make a movie about," the couple's trainer told Syracuse.com. "It's a match made in heaven." - photo by Herb Scribner
A New York couple will be getting married this Saturday. But something old they wont bring to the wedding the 600 pounds they both lost.

As NBC Los Angeles reported, Ronnie Brower and Andrea Masella will get married in their hometown of Syracuse. Since they met four years ago, the couple lost a combined 578 pounds.

Brower, who at his peak weighed 675 pounds, lost 458 pounds on his own. His trainer, Nick Murphy, will be his best man, the station reported.

Masella said Browers tremendous weight loss inspired her, too.

"I was just really inspired by him and I thought he was super cute," Masella, 24, said, according to NBC-LA. "We started talking at the gym, and I hate to sound cliche, but it was love at first sight."

Research has shown that happily married couples gain weight, according to The Huffington Post. Research from Andrea Meltzer of Southern Methodist University found that happy couples are more likely to gain weight, mostly because couples feel their search for a loved one is over.

But Masella said she and her husband will work together to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

"Both of us had used food as a coping mechanism; I would just eat my feelings," she said. "We've gone through a lot of counseling to come to terms with that and change."

Brower said losing weight was a life or death matter.

"I was depressed, addicted to pills and alcohol, eating 10 double cheeseburgers or two large pizzas at a time," Brower said. "My turning point was, my doctor told me if I kept on like this I'd be dead before I was 30. I was 28."

So he went to the Mission Fitness, where he met Murphy, who, along with his own wife, Jill, told Brower that hed eventually meet someone who would encourage a happy and healthy lifestyle, Syracuse.com reported.

"I didn't believe it at first, then I started praying for it," he said, according to Syracuse.com.

Meanwhile, Masella decided to lose weight in 2014, when she had problems fitting into a bathing suit while on a beach vacation, Syracuse.com reported. She weighed 250 pounds at the time and eventually slimmed down to 120 pounds.

She started to work out at Mission Fitness, where she met Brower in 2015.

Murphy, who doubted Brower could lose weight at first, cant believe everything worked out.

"This is a story you could make a movie about, he told Syracuse.com. "It's a match made in heaven."

So whats Browers weight loss advice? Its hope.

"People come to me all the time, asking for weight-loss advice," Brower said. "I just tell them there's hope out there. If you want it bad enough and put your mind to it, anybody can do it."
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