A woman who was once too big to fit into her car has shed a staggering 27 STONE (380lbs) and now hopes to have a £23,000 ($30,000) body lift to remove her excess skin.
Andrea Beckman, 37, went from a massive 43 stone (600lbs) – to just 15-and-a-half (220lbs) – with the help of a gastric bypass and a protein-rich diet combined with daily exercise.
But former Pizza Hut manager Andrea now has baggy skin, even after undergoing an operation to remove the excess, around her lower tummy.
Andrea, from St Louis, Missouri, USA, said: “Insurance only covered one panniculectomy, which removes the lower tummy hanging skin.
“I have extra skin on my inner thighs. My arms are terrible. I have extra skin on my back and my stomach, even on my neck and chin.
“I’ve considered taking out a second mortgage on my home to cover the operation, but with the pandemic and not having steady work, that’s just not an option.”
Andrea, who struggled with her weight since she was a child, was inspired to get surgery when she became too heavy for her scales.
She was horrified when she stepped on to the bathroom scales and weighed more than 39 stone (550lbs) – the heaviest weight the device could record.
Andrea said: “I was close to 600lbs and the highest the scale went to was 550lbs. It stopped at that point. I was so huge I didn’t know how much I actually weighed.”
She has now slimmed down to 15-and-a-half stone, and while she used to wear a massive UK size 38, she now fits into a UK size 18.
The scales incident wasn’t the first time Andrea felt humiliated because of her bulky frame.
Andrea added: “When I was 18, I went to Six Flags and they asked me to get off a ride. I remember trying to go to a movie and I didn’t fit in the seats.
“I couldn’t go anywhere. I literally didn’t fit – I didn’t even fit in my car.
“I felt like I wasn’t living. I couldn’t work. I couldn’t go anywhere. I couldn’t walk to the end of my driveway.
“I couldn’t stand up for more than 10 minutes. I tried diet pills, Weight Watchers, the Atkins diet.
“They all worked for a little while but then the old habits came back. I wasn’t learning any new coping methods.
“I was only focussing on food and not on what was causing me to eat.”
Eventually in September 2015, Andrea underwent a gastric bypass to help her lose weight.
She lost seven stone in a couple of months and weighed 26-and-a-half stone in January 2016.
Over the next three-and-a half-years, Andrea worked hard to whittle down her weight further, replacing her beloved pizza, fries, whisky and beer with a protein-rich diet.
She also had counseling to get to the root of her emotional eating.
Andrea said: “I ate when I was bored, when I was sad, when I was happy. Food gave me comfort.
“I constantly snacked during my shifts at work. I ate pizza, french fries and then I’d get Taco Bell or McDonalds on my way home.
“I rarely cooked anything and I was a hard whisky drinker and loved beer.”
Andrea cut out alcohol and now starts the day with a protein shake and eats a chicken salad for lunch and snacks on almonds.
She added: “I try not to eat after eight o’clock and if I do, I’ll have low-calorie ice cream.”
Andrea, who lost her job at a farm market due to COVID, is delighted with her weight loss and is happy to put up with the extra skin.
“I’m absolutely happy and I wouldn’t change it even with the extra skin. I have a life now.
“I can go places, I can run around with my nephew. I don’t have as many doors slammed in my face, men will hold the door open now.”
She credited her doctors with giving her the correct care and guidance after her surgery and warned other dieters to seek help to get to the cause of their eating.
“I have learnt that it’s mostly about your mental state,” she added.
“I advise women to get into counseling and find out what’s causing them to overeat otherwise the habits will come back.”
DIET BEFORE
Breakfast: nothing
Lunch: nothing
Dinner: pizza, french fries, McDonalds or Taco Bell
Drink: whisky and beer
DIET AFTER
Breakfast: coffee and a protein shake
Snack: a few almonds
Lunch: chicken salad
Dinner: chicken or turkey with salad