Fitness blogger puts her 6st weight loss down to the cruelty of her ex

A WOMAN, who was fat-shamed by her own family, has revealed that an ex-boyfriend’s comment drove her to slim down.

Formerly obese Britney Vest, 29, is now a fitness blogger but says that she had struggled with her weight since birth – she even had high cholesterol at just 36-months-old.

She drank her first diet fizzy drink aged three and was overweight by the time she was eight.

After spending four years at university feasting on calorie-laden junk food, Britney tipped the scales at a whopping 250lbs (nearly 18 stone).

However, despite numerous comments from friends and family, Britney wasn’t motivated to make any changes to her lifestyle.

Even when her tough-love grandma tried to bribe her with money for every pound she dropped, Britney was still unable to shift the weight.

However, in 2011 her then-boyfriend warned her that she “had gained weight” and Britney was devastated and finally decided something needed to be done.

Determined, she started a Weight Watchers program and spent the next two years slimming down to 160lbs (just under 11 and a half stone).

In 2013 her amazing transformation became complete with the help of a tummy tuck – paid for by her grandma.

Now fighting fit Britney runs and is thankful for her ex’s frank comments.

Britney said: “He was also considered obese and when we would see each other we would eat out constantly and then feel horrible because of it and he was ready to stop that cycle.

“Our relationship definitely led me to over eat and I would even have horrible indigestion and acid reflux and still continued eating horribly.

“He wasn’t saying what he said to be mean but it felt like he was telling me what I heard my entire life from my family.

“But his words really opened my eyes. I felt like I wasn’t good enough and then to top it off we broke up that same day.

“I was destroyed. I cried for a few days and then something within me snapped.

“Who knows? Without his comments about my weight, maybe I would have never seen the light and kept getting bigger and bigger.

“Six years later and I’m thankful for his words, because it set off an internal fire within me and my life would never be the same without losing the weight.”

Growing up as one of four and with both parents working, Britney’s fight with the flab started as a child.

Her dad was often away working with the marines, so her mum often took Britney and her siblings to McDonalds as a treat for good behaviour.

She said: “Since I was born I was in the overweight area on all the charts.

“I was the oldest of four kids and my mom would make us pasta with cheese, peas and chicken almost four nights a week.

“The other nights were filled with fast food.”

And her bad food habits only got worse when it came to uni and moving onto campus to study.

She said: “University was crazy food wise – when I think back on it, it makes me sick to think what I was eating.

“We also had food options late at night. So after a night of drinking we would come back and eat tons of fried food.

“It was technically free for me so I was making sure to take advantage of it. I also always had snacks on hand just in case too in my room.”

Although Britney had always felt comfortable in her own skin, she found her loved-ones constantly reminded her of large frame.

She said: “I honestly was always super confident with myself and my body.

“It seemed that I was fine about my weight but everyone else had a problem.

“My grandmother would bride me with money, clothes and gifts for every 10 pounds I lost.

“My little sister would monitor my snacking, she hated that I was overweight.”

However, it was her ex’s remark that sparked her weight loss journey and Britney hired a personal trainer and began to go to Weight Watchers every week.

She said: “I would rejoice every week when I lost weight.

“I told myself if I can really do this for real this time, I’m getting the stomach I’d always wanted.

“It took me a total of 14 months to lose 86 pounds and I told myself I was going to see if I could actually keep it off for a year.

“When that time came I had just booked a trip to Mexico for a week and I was eager to get the process going to see if I could get it done before my trip.

“I had done so much research beforehand.

“But I was so nervous the doctor was going to tell me it was all just fat still and it wasn’t loose skin and that all my hard work wasn’t over.

“Thankfully, my grandmother, who was super mean to me growing up about my weight, offered me the money for the surgery.

“I knew having a tummy tuck had to happen.

“Even working out the skin was annoying – holding planks and the skin would touch the floor, running the skin would shake and bounce and felt sore afterwards.”

Now the lean and mean blogger writes about health and fitness and has over 66K followers on Instagram: .

She said: “After my surgery, I was just even more in love with my body.

“I could finally see my body how I had imagined it to be when I was fat.

“I was super confident afterwards and now I just really love what I see when I look in the mirror.

“I have come to truly know myself and love myself entirely even with my “flaws” like my stretch marks and scars and I’m so happy at what I see when I look in the mirror every morning.”