Obese woman taunted by a drunk lad who was challenged by mates to ‘pull a pig’ loses a whopping 10 stone

AN obese woman who was taunted with a cruel ‘pull a pig’ prank has had the last laugh – after the unkind joke shamed her into losing an impressive 10 stone.

Harriet Morgan Smith, 36, tipped the scales at a whopping 23 stone – and her BMI was a colossal 50.4 – off the charts for her 5ft 7 frame.

Harriet says that she hadn’t even noticed how big she’d become because the weight had crept on  slowly over the years.

But, soon she was squeezing her overflowing curves into a hefty size 28 and avoided going out for in case she had to squeeze into a public toilet cubicle.

However, the turning point came on one night out when she was out at the pub with friends.

Harriet was chatting to a pal outside when a drunken lad came up to her and leant in for a smooch – before hurtfully saying: “sorry, my mate dared me to”.

Needless to say, she was devastated when she realised she was the butt of a cruel dare ‘kiss the fat girl’ dare – and vowed to shift the flab.

After signing up to the Cambridge Weight Plan only year ago, Harriet has slimmed down to a svelte size 14, having shed an incredible 10 stone.

Harriet, a health and social care coordinator from Dorset, said: “It was a fleeting incident, but it really stuck with me.

“I was stood outside the pub chatting to one of my friends, and a young drunk chap came up to us and said ‘my friends have dared me to do this’ – before lunging in and trying to kiss me.

“I just brushed him off and tried to laugh about it.

“But afterwards I thought about it, and wondered why they singled me out – why should I be the dare, rather than my friend?

“It was really upsetting to be singled out as something embarrassing.”

Despite her shame, Harriet knew that something needed to be done about her weight – and after seeing Cambridge Weight Plan work so well for friends and colleagues, she decided to give it a go.

Harriet said: “For a long time before that, I buried my feelings and let them fester – turning to food to comfort myself instead.

“But this was the last straw.”

While Harriet ate reasonably healthy meals, like jacket potato and spaghetti Bolognese, she puts her weight gain down to ‘getting comfortable’ with her boyfriend of 10 years, 42-year-old Chima, as well as snacking on cakes and flapjacks while at work.

She added: “My weight wasn’t a big problem growing up – I started putting on weight when I was eight.

“I had psoriasis that started getting bad, and it made me unhappy – so I turned to food.

“I wasn’t obese, but I was always at the top end of normal.

“When I got together with Chima 10 years ago, I got into a comfort zone – we’d go out for dinner, or stay in with a bottle of wine, and the gradual drip of having too much made me balloon.

“We never ate particularly unhealthy, but we are both foodies.

“He is able to eat a lot and not put on loads of weight – he’d have big portions, and I’d make myself the same without really thinking about it.

“I would always be tempted to have a slice of cake or a flapjack in the office as well, as there were often goodies around.”

But whilst Harriet was lucky and was never bullied over her ballooning weight, other than the odd comment, it did get her down.

She said: “I put on a front a lot of the time.

“We had an active social life but I stopped wanting to go out – I would make excuses because I felt self-conscious.

“Little pubs, toilet cubicles and things like that can be a struggle to fit into, and squeezing through crowds was a struggle.

“You just feel like the world isn’t really made for you, and you’re always very conscious of how much space you take up.”

These days Harriet has a new lease of life, she’s overhauled her diet and hits the gym five times a week – and she’s thrilled with her slim new frame.

She said: “I feel really good about myself – it takes my brain a while to catch up, but I’m getting a hell of a lot more attention from men and people in general.

“I’m able to express my personal style more – I couldn’t wear shorts before because I had chub rub, so being able to wear whatever I want is great.

“I feel like I’m more ‘me’ than ever, and finding myself and who I am – which is amazing.”