Obese woman’s six stone of SAGGING SKIN gets trapped in car doors after dramatic weight loss… which has left her hating her slimmed down body
EMMA Lovell lost an incredible 21 stone
A WOMAN who previously weighed 34 stone has been left with lower confidence than ever - after her dramatic 21-stone weight loss left her with six stone of sagging skin which is so loose it even gets trapped in car doors.
Emma Lovell, 35, completely overhauled her body, but she is still forced to wear clothes four sizes bigger than her 13-stone frame and often feels too self-conscious to leave the house.
The administration assistant, from North Queensland, Australia, explained: "I have more body issues now than I did when I was big.
"I've always believed that nobody will love me until I love myself, but when I was heavy I really did love myself. I thought I'd never change and that I'd live with that body forever, so I just accepted it.
"Before I was outgoing and didn't care what people thought, but now I'm much more of a recluse.
"I even feel self-conscious taking my clothes off in front of my partner of two years Douglas Murray, 22. He tells me he loves me no matter what, but I have no confidence."
Having struggled with her weight all of her life, Miss Lovell weighed 28 stone by the time she was 17 - leading to merciless teasing from cruel classmates who would follow her through the corridors mooing at her.
The bullying got so bad that she found herself unable to focus during lessons, and had to repeat Year 11.
She said: "I used to spend a lot of time alone in the library. I would never eat at school because I didn't want people to tease me.
"Eventually, I made a group of friends in the year below. We were all outcasts but we didn't care, we banded together. Repeating a year was actually a good thing because I got to be in the same classes as them and, by then, the bullies had left.
"I went from being someone who failed at school to someone who breezed through."
Emma's confidence grew after leaving school, and flanked by the support of her new friends she stopped listening to cruel comments and began to feel comfortable with her body.
But despite her newfound confidence, she couldn't understand why she kept gaining weight - as she ate a balanced diet, rarely gorged on junk or takeaways and rode her bike everywhere she went.
After repeated visits to doctors, it was discovered she actually suffered from a rare syndrome that meant she was intolerant to carbohydrates – a huge part of her former diet. It is now believed that this contributed massively to her eventually ballooning to 34 stone - and around a size 32.
She explained: "Even at my heaviest, I still think my diet was varied.
"I'd often skip breakfast, but if I did eat it I'd choose toast or cereal. For lunch I'd have a pie and a can of Coke then I'd always make dinner at home.
"I never got takeaways. Instead I would make things like vegetable or pasta bakes, lasagnes and stir fries.
"I never went back for seconds or thirds. I genuinely didn't consider myself a big eater and couldn't understand for the life of me why I kept gaining weight.
"Even at school, my mum would be worried about my weight and always ask me if I was secretly snacking, which I wasn't. Everyone was baffled."
But after being diagnosed with the intolerance three years ago via a blood test, Emma has now virtually cut carbohydrates out of her diet - with dramatic results.
She said: "Doctors have now told me that my biggest problem wasn't that I was eating fatty foods, it's that I was eating carbohydrates without realising I was intolerant to them.
"Had I known this, I would have tried to lose weight naturally rather than having gastric surgery."
Emma was moved to do something about her weight once and for all when she wanted to start a family with her now ex-husband, but was told by doctors there was no way she could do so at her current size.
She was put on a waiting list for gastric bypass surgery - but did not have the operation for almost five years, in April 2010.
Within just one month, she had lost three stone - but it was not an easy journey, as shortly after the operation she began to feel constantly sick.
She said: "I was told to expect some nausea, but I knew this wasn't right. I couldn't even keep down water – I just threw everything back up," she said.
"Eventually, I was rushed back to hospital where they discovered the hole that joins my stomach and intestine had closed over.
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"As I'd been so big before, my body could handle the dramatic weight loss otherwise it could have been really dangerous. I was also very dehydrated as only tiny amounts of water had been able to trickle through."
To treat the problem, doctors put a balloon down her throat to expand the hole - and even now, she returns every three to six months for check-ups.
Though she is less-than-half her former size, she is still unhappy with her body- as the enormity of her weight loss has left her with saggy skin on her arms, stomach and legs.
Currently, she is fundraising for surgery to remove the folds but, as it's classed as a cosmetic procedure, she must pay for it herself.
In order to help with costs, has set up a GoFundMe page called 'weight loss surgery skin fund'.
Emma said: ";I have between 20kg and 40kg of excess skin. It makes me so self-conscious.
"I've gotten it trapped in car doors before which is very painful, and can't even go for a run because it moves and pulls so much.
"Even though I'm technically a size 12/14, I'm wearing size 20 trousers just so my skin isn't hanging out.
"Skin surgery would help my self esteem dramatically. I could actually wear something pretty in size that fits me rather than just what covers everything up."
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