When Auckland woman Simone Anderson was in her teenage years she began putting on 10 to 15 kilograms each year.
‘I’m sure the people around me could see it, but for me it was so gradual I barely noticed,’ Ms Anderson, 27, said in her new book, Journey to Health.
‘I went from being a bit overweight to being seriously obese. By the end of high school I was somewhere between 120kg and 130kg, so for a 17-year-old, let’s be honest, I was huge.’
Auckland-based woman Simone Anderson (pictured) has been sharing her weight loss journey with the world
Ms Anderson said her unhealthy relationship with food began to spiral even further out of control in her early 20s when she had her first boyfriend.
Ms Anderson said she started dieting to lose weight for him but then would fall off the bandwagon.
She said he was supportive at the start but then would bring home takeaway meals.
![Ms Anderson said her unhealthy relationship with food began to spiral even further out of control in her early 20s](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/09/15/02/4449E4CC00000578-4886234-image-a-9_1505438493006.jpg)
Ms Anderson said her unhealthy relationship with food began to spiral even further out of control in her early 20s
![The popular blogger decided to embark on a weight loss program on August 29th, 2014, after weighing in at 169 kilograms and just 11 months after gastric sleeve surgery, had lost a staggering 92 kilograms](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2018/01/28/00/48A5FA7300000578-5320811-image-a-21_1517100690957.jpg)
The popular blogger decided to embark on a weight loss program on August 29th, 2014, after weighing in at 169 kilograms and just 11 months after gastric sleeve surgery, had lost a staggering 92 kilograms
A few years after the relationship ended, Ms Anderson said she had one of those ‘I have to do something’ moments.
She embarked on a weight loss program in August 2014 after tipping the scales at 169 kilograms and just 11 months after undergoing gastric sleeve surgery, she had lost a staggering 92 kilograms.
But Ms Anderson said just a year into her weight loss journey she experienced a harrowing rape that derailed her life.
‘I was out on a Wednesday night with a couple of friends at a bar in town. By about 3am, I was feeling quite drunk and ready to head home, but I didn’t know where my friends had gone,’ she said.
Ms Anderson said she was approached by a group of guys who told her about an after party.
‘The guys took me to a house and walked me inside, and that’s when I realised what was going to happen.
‘For two hours, those five men gang-raped me. I did everything I could to stop them, but I had so little control over my body that it was hopeless,’ she recalled.
‘I couldn’t push them off me, let alone run. I was physically there, but I couldn’t do anything.’
![In late 2015, the blogger underwent a nine-hour surgery that cost more than $20,000 and included abdominoplasty, a bra line back lift and a breast lift and augmentation](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/09/15/02/4449E4EA00000578-4886234-image-a-13_1505438522295.jpg)
In late 2015, the blogger underwent a nine-hour surgery that cost more than $20,000 and included abdominoplasty, a bra line back lift and a breast lift and augmentation
Ms Anderson said she managed to get out of the house but had no shoes or handbag.
‘In the days and weeks after the attack my mind was all over the place,’ she explained.
‘My friends were gentle with me, and encouraged me to go to the police, but I just didn’t feel up to it.
‘Trying to process what had happened was taking all my mental energy — the last thing I felt like doing was marching down to the police station, especially if there was a chance they might not be sympathetic.
!['In the last three and a half years, I have undergone the most epic transformation you could imagine,' Ms Anderson said](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/09/15/02/4449E33000000578-4886234-image-m-23_1505438643162.jpg)
‘In the last three and a half years, I have undergone the most epic transformation you could imagine,’ Ms Anderson said
‘I think that at that stage I was still blaming myself. I convinced myself that it wasn’t something I needed to report or take any further,’ she added.
‘And by the time I had recovered sufficiently to understand that it was not my fault at all, I felt that I had missed the window of opportunity.’
Ms Anderson said it took her months of support from friends to move on from the ordeal and to focus on herself again.
![Ms Anderson said as a result of the weight loss surgery, she was left with a large amount of excess skin](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2018/01/28/00/48A5FA5B00000578-5320811-image-a-15_1517100380938.jpg)
Ms Anderson said as a result of the weight loss surgery, she was left with a large amount of excess skin
!['As you can see, that is all loose skin. You can pull it right out... it's quite confronting,' she said](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2018/01/28/00/48A5FA3300000578-5320811-image-a-14_1517100371763.jpg)
!['As you can see, that is all loose skin. You can pull it right out... it's quite confronting,' she said](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2018/01/28/00/48A5FA4300000578-5320811-image-m-13_1517100365895.jpg)
‘As you can see, that is all loose skin. You can pull it right out… it’s quite confronting,’ she said on social media
Through her honesty, she has gained more than half a million followers on social media and regularly shares inspiring words of advice, her workout regime and her diet choices with them.
She said as a result of the weight loss surgery, she was left with a large amount of excess skin.
She underwent a nine-hour surgery in late 2015 – a mammoth operation that cost more than $20,000 and included abdominoplasty, a bra line back lift and a breast lift and augmentation.
![Simone Anderson has written a book on her weight loss](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/06/08/02/4D07BF3C00000578-5819481-image-a-3_1528419668908.jpg)
Simone Anderson has written a book on her weight loss
‘When I was big, I had known that I had a shape hiding under all my fat, but when I lost the weight that hourglass stayed hidden beneath all the folds of loose skin,’ she said.
‘It wasn’t until this point that it was finally revealed what a great figure I had.’
‘I know that the 23-year-old Simone, 169kg and struggling just to get out of bed in the morning, would hardly recognise the me I am now,’ she said.
‘In the last three and a half years, I have undergone the most epic transformation you could imagine,’ she added.
‘I don’t need to be accepted by others I just need to accept myself.’
Journey to Health by Simone Anderson (published by Allen and Unwin) is out now. To find out more click here.