( CNN ) -- Friends describe Mia Vayner as boisterous , outgoing and passionate . She 's not afraid to tell you what she thinks and has a wicked sense of humor . `` Mia is a go-getter , '' says her wife Evelyn Vayner . `` She has lived a life with setback after setback ... yet she manages to look at the future and go after what she wants with more vigor and fight than anyone else I have ever known . '' That innate drive made Evelyn certain Mia would accomplish her latest goal : to lose more than 250 pounds , despite her paraplegia . Evelyn met Mia while she was backpacking around Australia in the late 1990s . Mia grew up in the outback and offered to show Evelyn around . Their friendship quickly grew into something more . `` I realized that Mia was transgender and given that I 'm from NYC , I truly thought nothing of it , '' Evelyn says . `` I was immediately taken by her openness . '' The couple now lives in Flushing , Queens . Mia is a hotel consultant and blogger ; Evelyn works in publishing . At her heaviest in 2009 , Mia weighed close to 540 pounds . Evelyn had also battled obesity her entire life . Late-night binges , empty bags of chips and emotional eating were common in their house . One day , Mia decided she 'd had enough . `` A lot of people think once you 're in a wheelchair , you 're just nothing , '' she says . `` The doctors said , 'There , there , good fat person . ' And I said , 'Screw that . ' '' Mia ditched her motorized wheelchair and built a new one from a few broken chairs she got off Craigslist . Her `` Frankenchair , '' as she called it , had a sporty design that allowed her to move more efficiently . She started off slowly -- pushing herself around the block . In the first month , she lost 50 pounds . By the time she had lost 100 pounds , she was pushing herself a mile every morning . Evelyn and Mia decided to change their diet , as well . A lifelong vegan , Mia had always eaten good food -- `` but you can eat a lot of vegan food . '' They cut back on portion sizes and started shopping for locally grown , organic produce . `` When we set out to make this change , we knew that it would be a slow road , '' Evelyn said . `` We wanted it to be a slow road because we knew that fast weight loss had always led to ultimate failure . '' To keep her goal attainable , Mia told herself she would lose 10 pounds 30 times . She bought a fishbowl and pulled a treat out of it every time she reached another mini-goal . By April 2011 she weighed 325 pounds . `` I do cheat , '' Mia says . `` It 's no good saying , ' I 'm never going to have chocolate cake again ' because your wife will find you on the floor at 3 a.m. with chocolate all over your face . '' Mia does n't like to talk about the incident that left her partially paralyzed below the waist . A physical assault when she was young damaged the nerves in her back , severely weakening her spine . Another accident in her early 40s exacerbated the condition and left her with minimal feeling in her legs . `` I have n't stood up since Bush was president , '' she likes to joke . But her disability has n't stopped her from doing the activities she loves . She does judo from her wheelchair . She swims 2 miles every morning and is thinking about competing in a triathlon . Mia also loves rock climbing . She and Evelyn joined the NYC Adaptive Climbing group and started climbing two to three times a week at Brooklyn Boulders . Kareemah Batts , founder of Adaptive Climbing Inc. , saw Mia 's determination her first day . In the beginning Mia was frustrated that climbing did n't come easily , Batts says , but she would n't quit . `` You 're fighting with your body to do something that it does n't do , '' Batts told Mia . Mia now weighs 265 pounds and is still losing weight . Her cholesterol and blood pressure levels are normal , and she no longer has type 2 diabetes . She 's gone from wearing a size 36 dress to wearing a size 16 . `` The weight loss has changed her outlook on life and her self-respect , and also has given her another way to connect with her community , '' Evelyn says . `` It has reinvigorated our mutual interest in all kinds of things we thought were not possible . ''
At her heaviest , Mia Vayner weighed around 540 pounds . Mia decided to ditch her motorized wheelchair and built a manual sport chair . She was able to walk with the help of crutches for about 6 months before she had surgery on both legs in order to fix them up.