A desperate mum who spent £4,000 on takeaways in one year feared she'd "eat herself to death" and leave her kids without a mum.
Ashlie Foster, 25, would start each day with two bowls of Cocopops, followed by Subway for lunch, chocolate throughout the day and a large meal for tea.
Her weight crept up to 17st, with the speech and language therapy student from Aintree, Liverpool, consuming about 4,000 calories every day.
Fearing that she was putting her health in danger, Ashlie said she felt like a "bad mum" to her kids.
Determined to make a change, she took the drastic measure of paying privately to have a gastric sleeve operation in January 2022.
What do you think about Ashlie's incredible transformation? Let us know in the comments...
Now, the 5ft 4in student weighs 10st 6lbs.
Ashlie said: "Life before weight loss was really hard. It was probably the lowest point of my life.
"I just felt like a really bad mum. That was probably the biggest drive.
"I just couldn't do the things with them [my kids] that I wanted to. I knew that I wasn't a fun mum.
"I wanted to be here with them for as long as I possibly can. I knew that if I carried on I'd eat myself to death.
"The thought of them losing me young actually broke my heart. It just snapped inside of me one day."
For Ashlie, one of the most scary part was the loss of her physical fitness.
"I couldn't even walk up the stairs without being out of breath, run around or keep up with them," she continued.
"I wouldn't be willing to even join in with the activities and I knew I wouldn't be able to do it.
"I didn't want to go out anywhere, to the park or to be around other mums.
"I'd have much rather stayed in, which wasn't fair on them. I was very conscious of how sweaty I was and how I looked.
"In my mind I thought it was better for them to not be seen with me because it was embarrassing but in hindsight that was never the case, they loved me regardless."
She tried to lose the weight with diets, but found she would give up quickly and put on even more weight after each attempt.
Ashlie continued: "I had a binge-eating disorder and food was my comfort. I'd use it to feel better but it'd end up making me feel worse.
"Each time I lost weight, I put it back on. Every time I put it back on, I'd be bigger than the time I was before. It got worse every time I went through the cycle of it.
"I knew that there was no way I was going to come back from my binge eating disorder by myself and keep it off.
"[When I'd binge] I'd eat absolutely everything in sight. I didn't eat out of hunger, I just ate because it was there."
Ashlie felt that an operation was the only thing that would help her lose weight, as it changed the amount she could physically eat.
Initially, she was on a liquid only diet and after that she could only manage four forkfuls of food in one sitting.
Ashlie added: "It took me a long time to learn my body's signals and learn what actual hunger looked like and felt like.
"I always felt like I was hungry, but I wasn't physically hungry.
"I had to learn what feeling full and satisfied felt like without feeling full to the point of feeling sick.
"It was quite hard to unlearn the behaviours I'd known for so long. It felt like I was a baby again, learning the skill for the first time.
"As time has gone on, I do eat a lot more now than in the early stages but, I still can't eat a portion size as a normal person would, never mind anywhere close to what I used to eat."
While Ashlie is thrilled with her progress, the weight loss has brought another problem with it.
She was left with excess skin, and she went in for a '360 body lift' and breast reduction surgery so she could get back to her old self.
Ashlie said: "With clothes on, I felt amazing. I felt so good. I started to take on new hobbies that I'd never had the confidence to do before losing the weight. I'd put myself out there more in social situations.
"But when the clothes came off, I still felt really quite low. I felt like I'd tried so hard and should be happier than I was.
"Without clothes I felt like I had the body of an older person because my skin elasticity wasn't great.
"It was all on my tummy so I knew that I was a lot smaller than I appeared, but that you couldn't see it under the skin.
"Now that it's gone, I just feel on top of the world to be honest. I can't even describe what it's done for me. I look at myself and think 'who is that?'."
Fashion lover Ashlie is also now enjoying being more adventurous with her wardrobe after working hard for her new physique.
Ashlie said: "I genuinely like what I see for the first time in my life. It makes me feel so empowered and confident.
"The concept of liking my reflection was always so alien to me. Now that I do, it's been quite hard to wrap my head around but really enjoyable.
"Shopping was never a happy experience for me prior to weight loss. It always ended up in tears in the changing room.
"Nothing would fit and if it did I hated the way it looked on me. Now, it's very much the opposite. I really like going into the changing rooms and wearing things.
"I like being who I am, I'm not jealous of anybody else or want to be anybody else. I feel so grateful to both surgeons, they've changed my life and it makes me quite emotional.
"I've cried so many happy tears."
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