Misty Shaffer, an Army wife who weighed 300 pounds when her husband, Larry, a soldier, left for Afghanistan more than a year ago, gave him a huge surprise upon his return.

She lost 150 pounds in the past year, as reported by UPI.

Shaffer had weighed more than 300 pounds when her left to go overseas.

She managed to keep her slimming down a secret surprise from Larry until he arrived back at his hometown airport in Wilmington, North Carolina.

'I just kept pictures off Facebook, off the internet,' Misty said. 'When I did send him pictures, they were from the shoulder up,' she told WSFA.

But, that wasn't the only surprise Ms. Shaffer had for her returning husband.

Their three year old daughter, Nevhah, had grown in the year he had been gone and, Misty had bought the family a new house.

'He's been wanting to buy a house now forever, and I went and did it while he was gone,' she said.

The first glimpse Larry had of his slimmer spouse was as he turned the corner and walked out of baggage claim at Wilmington, North Carolina airport. At first, it appeared Shaffer didn't appear to recognize his new-look wife, UPI reported.

A group of family and friends held signs and yelled 'surprise!'

The couple hugged each other tightly as they saw each other for the first time in 12 months.

'Wow,' Shaffer said after seeing his wife. '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,' he said.

He was also surprised to see how much his little girl had grown in the year he had been gone. He hopes to be at home for a while before starting another tour of duty.

'Everything's new,' Shaffer said. 'I pretty much have a new wife. My daughter's three times the size she was and we have our own home now.'