Influencer Samantha Milton has lost 260 pounds with the help of GLP-1 — and she’s ready to share her story.
Milton, who is known on social media as “Smaller Sam PCOS,” told People in a Monday, January 5, interview that five years ago, she realized “something had to change” in her life and with her health. The revelation came around the same time her husband, Zach Milton, was struggling with alcohol abuse.
Samantha, 29, recalled being diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) at age 12, which jump started her disordered eating cycle and weight gain. At her heaviest, Samantha said she weighed 400 pounds, which took an emotional and physical toll.
“It was pretty extreme. If you saw me from one summer to the next, it was up and down,” she told the outlet, noting that after her first daughter was born, she suffered from postpartum anxiety and depression that added to her stress levels.
“I don’t like to put blame on his issues, but I definitely ate those feelings. I ate for comfort,” Samantha confessed, revealing she gained 200 pounds in five years. “I needed to make serious decisions about where my life was going, and my husband’s alcoholism contributed to this.”
The influencer, who has shared her food journey and weight loss process online, explained that after she and Zach separated for about one month while in college, she decided to focus on herself. (At the time, the couple shared two children under 2 years old.)
“We needed that time to make sure that we were going to be healthy for our kids and for each other,” Samantha recalled, adding that her husband stopped drinking “cold turkey” and has been sober ever since.
Samantha Milton Courtesy of Samantha Milton/Instagram
The mother of three, meanwhile, said she started small with her weight-loss goals because she didn’t have money to join a gym or get a trainer.
“I couldn’t put my life on pause to get healthier. I had people relying on me. I had my kids,” Samantha explained, pointing to a calorie deficit and exercising as her keys to success. “I learned to adapt my old lifestyle.”
As she started to lose weight, Samantha taught herself to start choosing lower-calorie foods and when she ate indulgent meals to make sure they were healthier than in the past.
In 2022, Samantha started sharing her journey via TikTok and Instagram with a focus on her fast-food hacks, like eating a Chick-fil-A kale salad with chicken strips and honey hot sauce.
She felt seen by her followers, which are now up to 4 million and counting, because she was showing her “normal life” as a mom to young kids that doesn’t have a “chef at home making me things.”
Samantha took it a step further by taking GLP-1 drugs — which she started two years ago — to maintain her now 140 pound weight. She told People that continuing to eat fewer calories than she burns, doing the treadmill and microdosing GLP-1 has quieted food noise and helped treat her PCOS symptoms.
Through her weight loss, including skin removal surgeries that helped her get rid of 11 pounds, Samantha has also grown closer to her husband.
The couple have both lost weight over the past five years — Zach is down 90 pounds — and renewed their vows in November 2025. (Samantha revealed in April 2025 that together the pair had lost 335 pounds.)
“It was magical. I didn’t ever think that I would get my fairytale moment, but we got it,” Samantha said of her special day. “You can change your lifestyle in small ways that add up to big changes. And you can come out the other side of anything.”
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