Mama June dropped from 33 STONE to a tiny size eight using weight loss surgery and skin removal as ‘it was time for a change’
Plus-sized mum of pageant brat Honey Boo Boo reveals the secrets behind her staggering transformation
MAMA June has opened up about her staggering weight loss - admitting that she overhauled her 32 STONE frame as "it was time for a change".
The reality TV matriarch, who found fame through her daughter Alana 'Honey Boo Boo' being part TLC's Tantrums and Tiaras series, has now landed her own show charting her incredible transformation from 'Not to Hot'.
Speaking ahead of her new series, which premiered in the States last night, the 37-year-old shared her motivations for losing weight.
: "I just decided it was time for a change, to be more healthy and to do something for myself because I do so much for everybody else.
"At first, people were saying, 'You're losing weight, you look great' and I just ran with it."
Supported by her four children, Alana, Pumpkin, Anna and Jessica, Mama June is forced to reassess her lifestyle and her eating habits - although not all the family were totally behind giving up their infamously terrible diet.
During previous show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, viewers saw that one of the family's favourite meals was 'sketti sauce' - basically ketchup and butter melted and poured over huge bowls of spaghetti.
Mama June added: "I'm trying to cook healthy, but when you got teenage kids, they're going to not wanna eat everything you want to cook that's healthy. But they're trying.
"They still live at home and they've been, 'OK mama we support you, but we don't want to eat all of your healthy stuff all the time!'"
But as well as "working out when you don't want to" with trainer Kenya Crooks, Mama June also turned to the surgeon for an extra boost.
In 2015 she had bariatric surgery, undergoing a gastric sleeve operation.
The operation, which is a less invasive version of a gastric band, worked wonders for June and she can't recommend it enough.
She told Too Fab: "I've not had any complications. I'd definitely recommend it.
"Before you have any skin removal surgery done, it is recommended you do have some kind of gastric, whether its the lap band or the gastric sleeve, but I've had no complications with any of my surgeries.
"I've actually had a pretty good recovery, the doctors are surprised I've not been in as much pain and I've recovered very easily."
It is not known how much of June's operations will be shown on screen, but it's safe to assume that people of a sensitive disposition won't want to watch her having her excess skin sliced off or her breast lift.
She added: "As everybody knows, when you do lose weight, there is stuff that you want to get fixed that makes you look better.";
Her daughter Pumpkin told that there was a LOT of skin to get rid of.
She said: "Her stomach started looking gross.
"It was hanging from where she lost so much weight, and her arms and her chin, so she got [the skin on] her stomach removed."
"She got her boobies done. She got them from a 44 long to 36 up."
While fans will need to wait until the final episode in MARCH, Mama June has promised that her big reveal will be worth the wait.
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Mama June said: "I'm very happy where I am now. I'll never go back to where I was.
"I hope that somebody will realise that's going through the same weight loss struggles that they're not alone and realise it's not all peaches and cream.
"I hope one person gets something out of it, that they realize the struggles are really real.
"I'd tell people who are struggling with weight, just take it one day at a time.
"You can't just give up because it seems like the easy way to go. Trust me, I wanted to give up several times through this journey."
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