Student Emma Burton, 22, at one time tipped the scales at a massive 27 stone and was a size 32 dress. Emma was even forced to wear custom-made uniform during her school years which further fuelled the cruel taunts from bullies.
She says: “I was verbally and physically bullied for years, all the way through secondary school,’ she added. ‘The whole school had a nickname for me. I was known as “The Burtonator” – because everyone said I was built like the Terminator. I was enormous. I had a specially made man’s blazer, as my mum couldn’t buy one big enough for me. It was a 50-inch chest, the same size as a bodybuilder. But since I’ve lost weight, I’ve seen some of the girls who made my life hell and they didn’t even recognise me. It was the best feeling in the world to go over and introduce myself. Their jaws hit the floor when they realised who I was.”
Despite the satisfaction of being able to flaunt her enviable new figure to her past tormentors, Miss Burton says the primary factor that inspired her weight loss was simply for her children; Liam, three, and Jennifer, 15 months. Seeing pictures of herself holding Liam following his birth also spurred her on as she was horrified at how she looked in the photos, saying she wanted to ‘rip them up’.
Emma could finally begin her mission to shed the pounds after Jennifer’s arrival and she subsequently adopted a strict weight loss plan that restricted her to consuming soups and shakes for a period of time, prior to the slow and measured integration of ‘real’ food back into her diet.
Now a music student at the University of Kent, Emma has completely revamped her previously unhealthy food choices such as pizzas and crisps, and instead enjoys chicken salads and grilled meat. In addition, a staggering eight cans of fizzy drink Vimto per-day has now been replaced by the often-recommended intake of eight glasses of water per-day.
When her daughter Jennifer had reached the age of one, Emma had slimmed down to a much healthier weight of 10st 9lb, and was delighted at now being able to fit into a size 10 dress.
She comments: “I’ve been hugely overweight my whole life and never in a million years did I think I’d be able to go clothes shopping in a normal shop, let alone buy a size 10. I lost weight so quickly, and once it started coming off it was easy to keep going. I used to be so embarrassed to be seen by other people, I’d avoid going out. I did all my shopping online. Now, I love going shopping – especially for new clothes. I love being able to take my baby out for long strolls in her pram and not be out of breath. My family and friends even struggle to recognise me in a crowd sometimes.”
Perhaps upon seeing how amazing Emma looked, it appeared her school bullies were remorseful and she found it in her heart to forgive them, adding: “They couldn’t apologise enough for how they treated me. But I lost the weight for me and my children, not for them.”
hmmm.... I tink so ^_^
ReplyDelete