‘I weighed 14st aged nine - losing 15st showed the real battle was after the weight came off'

‘I weighed 14st aged nine - losing 15st showed the real battle was after the weight came off' Susan McGinnis weighs less now at 28 than she did at just nine years old A woman who weighed 14 stone when she was just nine says she no longer lives in fear of "everyday things" like restaurant booths, theme park rides and plastic garden chairs after shedding 15st. At her heaviest, Susan McGinnis weighed 28 stone and wore a size 26 in clothes. She says she was bullied from the age of six for her size and also treated badly by strangers to the point that she never “felt scared” walking alone at night simply because she believed: “I’m too fat to be a sexualised target.” But now, after losing weight she says everyone treats her differently. And while the 28-year-old says it has cost her more than £6,000 in medical bills, she says it was worth it. And she says she is having the last laugh as a major lifestyle overhaul has completely reshaped her body. Susan started comfort eating and snacking in secret as a child and continued these habits into her adult life. She told creatorizine.com: “I don’t remember a time in my life I wasn’t aware of it or didn’t feel self-conscious – even being five or six and realising I was bigger than the other little kids. “When I was 11 or 12, I remember I went on a three-day school camp, and they needed everyone’s weight and I was 17 stone, and my mum said to me ‘are you really that heavy?’.She was shocked.” Susan’s mom tried to put her on diets but nothing was effective as she just kept eating in secret, having up to three plates of food in one sitting. She recalled: “I was incredibly lonely as a child and often used food and TV as a way to self-soothe. “One time when I was about 17, I ate two double quarter pounder burgers by stacking the meat together and turned it into a four patty burger. I thought it was the greatest idea I ever had.” Looking back now, Susan feels it was “weird” that no one else had tried to intervene or help when she was evidently obese during her teen years, except for one doctor that had just “shamed” her for being overweight. After years of failed diets, struggling with her eating and worsening self-esteem, she weighed 28 stone at the age of 21. Hitting this milestone, paired with the fact that she and her husband, Zach, hoped to become parents, the medico-legal worker decided to take action. In 2019, the Australian underwent £1,500 gastric sleeve surgery and lost around seven stone in the aftermath but still felt out of control around food. Two years later, she underwent a second surgery, changing her gastric sleeve into a gastic bypass at the cost of £4,700. She quickly shed eight stone but her eating habits and emotional struggles still remained no matter how her exterior changed. Susan recalled: “I was confused because being thin was supposed to fix everything. “But it was like a fog had been lifted and all these issues underneath the weight loss had finally been revealed and hit me like a truck. This is when the real therapy started because there was no weight to blame on my behaviour anymore and I did consistent weekly psych sessions for two years and that was life changing.” Susan was also diagnosed with binge eating disorder and atypical anorexia. In 2024, she achieved her dream of becoming a mum, welcoming her daughter Faewyne into the world. But in the midst of starting her family she regained six stone and was struggling again. She started the weight loss jab, Wegovy, and has shed the weight once more to become a healthy, comfortable size 12. She said: “I eat to live; I don’t live to eat. “People are nicer to me in every way. Waiters are nicer, servers are more willing to help and staff in stores approach me more. My husband says even he notices the difference with customer service, as if there is more inclination for people to assist me now. “Men could be quite rude if I tried to engage in group conversations, now I go out for drinks and finally understand why women get irritated or even scared when they go out. That kind of behaviour is still something I’m getting used to even after looking like this for a few years now. Growing up basically being spat at by men it’s been almost a disorientating experience.” She advised others trying to shed a few stone: “Nurture yourself like you would a child, a plant, sit with your past experiences, sit with the child version of you. And lastly, you didn’t get big overnight, you will not get smaller overnight. “This takes time, new habits take time and when, not if they come back, it doesn’t mean you’re off track, it’s all part of the journey.”