Ashamed student who used to photoshop her images to hide her weight loses 13 STONE- and now loves selfies
Haylee Little, 23, from Alabama, US, used to hate photographs of herself, unless she had been able to cleverly alter them, but now has transformed her life
A student who used to photoshop her images to hide her weight has lost a whopping 13 stone and now loves selfies.
Haylee Little, 23, from Alabama, US, hated photographs of herself, unless she had been able to cleverly alter them, using an app to squeeze in her waist and cheeks making her look slimmer.
She battled with obesity since the age of three, at her heaviest weighing close to 25 stone when she would guzzle up to six cans of coke a day and eat large quantities of fast food.
Her weight gain was worsened by having polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which is thought to affect around five million Americans.
Haylee was also in denial about her true size – despite being classified in the highest category of obesity with a BMI of 56.5.
At school she experienced alienation for being the “fat girl” and would dread people's comments about her last name being Little when she was overweight.
But last year, after the shame of being too wide to ride a rollercoaster, she opted for vertical sleeve gastrectomy – where surgeons removed a large portion of her stomach.
She said: “My breaking point came when I went to Six Flags amusement park and was kicked off a rollercoaster because I couldn't fit in the seat.
"I was in front of everyone in the line, we waited for an hour to get on, when I was kicked off I tried not to show it bothered me, you learn to brush things under when you're overweight."
HAYLEE'S DIET CHANGE THAT HAS AIDED HER WEIGHT LOSS
DIET BEFORE
- Breakfast – Three bowls of cereal
- Snacks: Chips, candy, chocolate
- Lunch: Large salad with tacos, burritos, rice and beans, with churros
- Dinner: Chicken tenders and fries
- Desserts: Cupcakes
DIET NOW
- Breakfast: Protein shake
- Snack: Protein bar
- Lunch: Small bowl of chilli
- Dinner: Chicken with broccoli and cheese
Since then, she's kicked sugar and unhealthy foods that plagued her life before, in favour of small healthy meals helping her to drop to 12 stone in less than a year.
Haylee said: "You do have to eat smaller portions and be careful with the foods you choose, like staying away from breads and sugar.
"I feel like a different person now, when I was bigger I felt invisible, like people would see me in social situations but were not interested in me because of my weight.
"When I haven't seen people in a while, it will take them a few seconds to register who I am, then they just at me like 'Oh my gosh' and can't believe it's me."
Now she's delighted with her figure having lost half her body weight and after years editing images she now shows off her real-life slimmed body self in selfies.
Haylee, who is studying to be a guidance counsellor, said: "I was eating all the southern comfort foods potatoes, bread and a lot of carbs, in large portions that were way too big.
"Then I loved chocolate and anything sugary, I was bad with cokes too I would drink up to six cans a day and sometimes would go over that.
"I would edit images past the point of it being real, I was in denial, which is why it took me so long to take steps towards having weight loss surgery
"Now in less than a year I've already lost over half my body weight which is a crazy amount to lose so quickly, it makes me very proud.
"One of my keys to success has been avoiding everything I used to binge on before, I don't want to put myself back in that place, I want to keep control.”
She said that she now loves to share photos of her transformations and she is proud of how she looks and wants to inspire others to make a change.
Haylee added: "I don't know how I used to believe my edited images were real before, the only person I was fooling in reality was myself - thankfully I'm happy with how I look now and don't need to edit how I look whatsoever.”
More in diet and weight loss
We previously shared how a woman deliberately ballooned to 24 stone to make herself ‘unattractive’ after being raped at 19 lost eight stone after dad diagnosed with cancer.
If you need more weightloss inspo, this man lost half his weight after being too fat to fit on a two-seater sofa.
This mum lost TEN STONE by cutting out bread... she was eating an entire loaf a day.