Misty Shaffer: Army Wife Loses 150 Pounds While Husband Is Deployed, Surprises Him At Airport

Misty Shaffer lost close to 150 pounds while her husband was stationed for a year in Afghanistan with the USArmy, keeping it a surprise until the minute he stepped off a plane back home.

The Army wife once weighed more than 300 pounds,but, over the course of the last year, worked hard to take off the weight. While she was losing the weight, Shaffer also took great measures to make sure her husband, Specialist Larry Shaffer, had no idea.

“I just kept pictures off Facebook, off the internet,” Misty said. “When I did send him pictures, they were from the shoulder up.”

Misty Shaffer did a good job building up the anticipation for the big reveal. When Larry stepped off the plane, the first person his saw was his mother, Barbara Suerken. He then turned toward baggage claims and saw a group of family and friends, who yelled “surprise!” and parted to reveal his newly thin wife.

“Wow,” Shaffer said after seeing Misty. “This is icing on the cake because I’ve been happy with the way she’s looked since day one but it’s something she wanted to do and she reached her goal.”

Pictures revealed an Army wife who had slimmed down dramatically. A news crew even followed Misty Shaffer and family for their surprise homecoming for Larry.

Larry said he wasn’t even expecting such a big affair after being in Afghanistan the past year.

“I was speechless. There was so much to take in,” Larry Shaffer, 27, told Yahoo! Shine. “I was expecting only immediate family and was so surprised to see the crowd. Then Misty appeared and she was half the person she used to be. I couldn’t believe it.”

For Misty Shaffer, the 150 pound weight loss wasn’t the only surprise for her husband. The Army wife also fulfilled one of the family’s dreams by buying a new house while Larry was gone.