A mother-of-five who began uncontrollably eating after she was bullied as a teenager and nicknamed ‘tree-trunk legs’, has revealed how she dropped 10 stone—and the lifestyle changes she’s made to maintain her new figure.
Laura Taylor, 35, from South Yorkshire tipped the scales at 20st 1lbs at her heaviest, and wore a size 24.
She admits she had always struggled with her weight and was bullied for being fat at high school, which she says is the last time she wore a skirt.
The cleaning business owner says the bullying caused her develop incredibly low-self esteem, and planted the belief that no one would ever be attracted to her.
Later, to numb these feelings, she developed unhealthy coping habits, and turned to food for comfort.
She was soon eating McDonald’s takeaways for breakfast, and swigging five cans of Coca-Cola a day, using the sugary drink to wash down snacks of chocolate, sweets and crisps.
She said: ‘I was bullied a lot at at school. When I used to wear skirts I’d get called “tree trunk legs”.
‘After a couple times of wearing skirts I never wore them again.
‘Food became a comfort to me. I used to sit at home and eat food because I got bullied and I felt like no one fancied me.
At her heaviest, Laura tipped the scales at 20st 1lbs and refused to leave her house and would never wear skirts or dresses
At her heaviest she wore a size 24, but now fits into a size 10
‘Then when I started going on dates—when I was really big—men would say they didn’t realise how big I was or that my pictures looked different because they couldn’t see my body.
‘An hour later they would say that they had to go and then I’d get blocked.’
After struggling with her weight for years, Ms Taylor decided that the only way to get her weight under control and boost her self-confidence was to have bariatric surgery, and asked to be put on the waiting list for a gastric sleeve.
But her doctor told her she was not heavy enough to qualify for the surgery on the NHS.
To qualify for weight loss surgery on the NHS a patient must have a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or more—or between 35 and 40 and a health condition that could improve with weight loss, such as high blood pressure or diabetes.
She said: ‘I looked at the prices [to have the surgery done privately] in the UK, but it was £10,500 and I didn’t have the money.’
Feeling disheartened by the health service’s six-year waiting list, and fears that she would have the confidence to be able to leave the house until she got a slot, Ms Taylor started looking further afield.
‘I didn’t see my friends or anything like that because they were all quite skinny and I was the fat one of the bunch,’ she added.
Laura flew to Turkey to have life-changing weight loss surgery after she was told she wouldn’t qualify to have it on the NHS
She wasn’t heavy enough to have bariatric surgery on the NHS
So the young mother decided to pay around £3,000 in total to have the surgery done in Turkey.
Gastric sleeve surgery is a procedure in which surgeons remove around 80 per cent of the stomach to shrink the stomach.
Since the op, Ms Taylor has lost over half her body weight and now weighs a svelte 9st 13lbs and wears a size 8.
She now makes an effort to eat more healthily, swapping her Coca-Cola for protein coffees and ultra-processed takeaways have been ditched for salads, portions of lean protein, and rice.
She added that since her operation she gets told she looks very different, and even some of her closest friends don’t recognise her.
‘I get told I look younger because I have lost a lot of weight in my face,’ she said.
‘I feel good in myself and people say I look amazing. I really need to start taking those compliments in because I’ve been fat all my life and it’s hard for me to say I do actually look good.’
Ms Taylor added that she now has the confidence to wear skirts and dresses again and is working on her self-confidence.
Men would leave dates half-way through then block her, leaving her devastated
Laura now weighs 9st 13lbs and is a slender size 8.
‘I think I look a lot better now, but I think I still have the mindset of when I was fat.
‘I go out and I’ve got men coming up to me asking to buy me a drink and I think “what do you see in me really?” Sometimes it’s quite hard to take in.’
But, she said the positive impact the surgery has had on her mental health is unmatched.
‘I’ve always been the one that’s sat in the corner and not really danced because I didn’t want to [draw attention to myself].
‘Now, I’m on the dance floor before anyone else because I’ve got so much energy and I want to dance.
‘The operation really did save my life. I’d still be say in the house now not going out [without it], so it has changed my life completely.’
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