The mum of 2 continued over eating and growing fat until she suffered a stroke, then, she knew her life was at risk if she doesn’t do something drastic.
An obese mum who ate 11,000 calories of fast food a day has lost 17 stone after suffering a stroke and vowing to change her ways.
Tiffaney Anderson, 26, from Utah, in the US, reached 29st 7 (413lb) (That’s 181kg) following a traumatic childhood that led her to overeat .
Her unhealthy diet included eight McGriddles, two mushroom triple burgers, a large pizza, sugary drinks and
snacks.
The mum-of-two splashed a whopping $8,000 (£6,500) a year on her junk food addiction and one month she received a $1,600 credit card bill for just her takeaways.
But after suffering a mini-stroke while six-months pregnant with her second child, she made a promise to herself to get healthy.
To ensure an end to her overeating, Tiffaney had a gastric sleeve in 2015 and a gastric bypass the year after.
Now the mum-of-two is utterly unrecognisable after dropping down to 12st 7 (175lb).
Tiffaney said: “I would constantly eat fast food every day no matter what, my diet was so high in calories that I was gaining weight very easily.
“While travelling to work, I would order four egg, cheese and sausage McGriddles and a large chocolate chip frappe.
“Then 20 minutes later I would be back at McDonalds, for a second time, ordering the exact same thing before going into work.
“There were days that I’d arrived to work early and go to the staff room disgusted with myself, all I could smell was the fast food I’d eaten.
“I always used to have big purses to hide all my food in, then I would either go to the bathroom or sit eating in my car because I was embarrassed.
“Financially, I went through over $600 a month eating out, once when it got out of hand there was a credit card bill of $1,600 for just for one month.
“I knew I was big but I never saw how I big I actually was, over the years I think I developed body dysmorphia.
“But due to my size, I had a mini-stroke while pregnant with my son, which was a reminder that if I didn’t do something I would die.
“For me surgery was my only option, but it wasn’t an easy journey like everyone believes, it was just as hard and now thankfully I’ve lost weight.”
Her excessive eating stemmed from the emotional and physical abuse she suffered growing up.
Tiffaney said: “I had a really rough childhood, I graduated high school and college homeless because I had to escape from my home.
“Growing up I lived in a nightmare.”
The bullying continued at school where she was brutally victimised by classmates.
“I was made fun of in high school, called ‘beached whale’ and ‘fat cow’,” she said. “I would walk on the bus and people would ‘moo’ at me. It hurt a lot and only led me to eating even more, it was a horrible, vicious cycle.”
Tiffaney reached a body mass index (BMI) of 54.5 – putting her in the highest level of obesity, according to the World Health Organisation.
She suffered a long list of medical issues due to her obesity, including a severely high blood pressure and heart problems.
The extreme weight placed onto her legs also caused her bones to bend inwards resulting in Tiffaney losing three inches in height and suffering bone problems.
Tiffaney said: “I couldn’t fit into a CAT scan machine when I was 400lb and I had so much fat around my heart the echocardiogram couldn’t pick up my heartbeat.
“Before I used to have a resting heart rate of 170BPM now it’s in the 60s, my heart was working way too hard to push blood around my 400lb frame.”
Tiffaney’s life radically changed after having a gastric sleeve operation and then a mini-gastric bypass last year – which in total led her to lose 17 stone (240lb).
The extreme weight loss left her with saggy skin that she’s trying to raise $15,000 (£12,000) with a GoFundMe page to have it removed.
Tiffaney said: “The skin looks nasty, it pulls over my abdomen and back.
“It hangs down and is disgusting, I feel like it makes me look like the 400lb girl still.
-MirrorUk