'I feel beautiful': How teenage girl beat addiction to food and lost 85lb in just 110 days

By Daisy Dumas


Transformation: Family and friends are invited to meet the new, slender, happy Maddy, star of MTV's latest episode of I Used to be Fat. Unrecognisable, she looks like a different woman to that at the beginning of training


Like many, Maddy found solace in food.

Battling with drug and alcohol addiction, eating seemed a benign distraction, helping her to overcome her dependent grip. But as drugs and alcohol receded from her life, food took over.

The latest star of MTV's I Used to be Fat, Maddy, 18, has amazed her closest friends and family by losing an impressive 85lb in 110 days - and by gaining a much-needed confidence boost in the process.

Show stopper: Months of hard work pay off for Maddy as she shows off her new svelte figure. Having gone from saying 'I can't do it,' the teen now says she will never stop trying to be healthy


The student at Fresno City College, CA, weighed over 265lbs at the beginning of the summer and aimed to overhaul her lifestyle and body image completely before starting her new college honours course.

At the beginning of the programme, viewers meet a broken woman - low self-esteem and self-hatred were a part of her daily life.

Her step-mother explains: 'For her, food is like an addiction. She medicates herself with food, it's a comfort.'

The teenager is shown visiting drive-though restaurants, eating when she is not hungry and describing her love of food - though she knows she has a problem.

'I hate myself': Maddy is seen berating herself, ashamed of her reflection and absolutely set on changing her lifestyle for the better at the beginning of the show. She vows to never see her weight hit 265lbs again


'I've put my weight and my health very, very low on my list of priorities. Because food is my drug. Food is my drug and I abuse it horribly,' she admits.

Staring at her reflection, the teenager is appalled by her image.

'I hate myself,' she candidly shares with the cameras. 'When I look at myself in the mirror like this and I see my body, I hate what I am and it makes me want to just go and ruin it even more because it's like it doesn't matter any more.'

Her initial weigh-in at the beginning of the summer revealed a weight of 265.2lbs.

She begins a strict regimen of running, walking, weights, rope work, boxing and cardio exercises, that see her at the gym three times a day.


Before and after: Maddy, 18, is unhappy with her 265lb frame, left, before her strict lifestyle change comes about. After 110 days of working out and eating a balance diet, right, the teenager has shed 85lbs

Work it: Maddy struggles to exercise at the outset, left, her obese body making even short cardio exercises difficult. Slimmer and healthier, right, the student finds boxing a breeze after her weight loss programme

Her eating habits are reshaped to focus solely on simple, low-calorie, nutritious and balanced foods, giving the youngster a break from cheese and mayonnaise, her old favourites.

At the outset, it takes her over 18 minutes to walk a mile. But after just two weeks, her weight was down to 254lbs.

'I cry almost every day,' she says, her family of six siblings and parents helping her stay positive throughout the challenge.

After 110 days of a strictly controlled nutritional plan, three daily workouts with her trainer and confronting some uncomfortable truths, the hard work pays off for the eldest sibling.

Their looks say it all: Astonished at her impressive progression, Maddy's nearest and dearest react in the best way possible to her transformation. She says she finally 'feels beautiful'


Tipping the scales at 190lbs, Maddy has lost 85lbs and looks like a different person.

'I feel fantastic, I feel great, I feel beautiful,' she is finally able to say.

A family party weeks later sees a host of close friends aghast as the transformed, glamorous and beautiful new Maddy enters the room. Their reaction is all she needs to know.

Her plan now is to continue to focus on her new lifestyle. 'It never ends' she says of her new mission to stay healthy.

Get More:
I Used To Be Fat, Full Episodes

source:dailymail