A teacher who was dubbed the ‘fat friend’ as a bullied schoolgirl has revealed her astonishing transformation after dropping nine stone – and told how the boys who used to tease her at school are now lining up to ask her out.
Elizabeth Jobson, 23 from Durham, says she was mercilessly bullied throughout her childhood and describes her time at secondary school as ‘absolutely awful’.
She said she used to hide stashes of crisps and chocolates in her bedroom to eat in secret, with her weight eventually rocketing to 20.5st.
After deciding to overhaul her lifestyle ahead of a beach holiday with friends, Elizabeth has slimmed down to 11.5st in 12 months – motivated by her desire to wear a bikini for the first time since she was five.
Elizabeth Jobson, 23, a teacher from Durham, has told how she was dubbed the ‘fat friend’ at school because she was overweight (seen above, on the right, with a friend before her weight loss)
Elizabeth Jobson, 23 from Durham, has revealed how she dropped from 20 and a half stone to 11 stone in just one year (seen after her transformation)
Elizabeth said she finally decided to lose the pounds when, three years ago, she and her ‘skinny’ university friends started planning a girls’ holiday abroad.
Elizabeth, then a size 26, tried to get into a bikini for the planned beach holiday to Marmaris, Turkey, but didn’t like what she saw.
Realising that she wanted to look good in her bikini, she became a regular at the gym and a ‘keen meal-planner’.
Elizabeth dropped eight dress sizes and said she was proud to show off her svelte figure when they went on holiday in August 2016, even next to her slim friends.
It was the first time she had worn a bikini since she was five.
She revealed how she was inspired to lose her weight after she planned to go on a beach holiday with friends and realised how she dreaded trying to get into a bikini
The teacher (seen in a family photo holding a baby) revealed how she had been mercilessly bullied at school and how her issues with weight led to secondary school being ‘absolutely awful’
However, she admitted that she would always give up after a few months on her weight loss journey – until making a committed effort last year
She also revealed how the school bullies who once taunted her now routinely chat her up on nights out – although she is quick to tell them ‘where to go’.
Elizabeth said: ‘It’s a massive difference. I am delighted.
‘The funny thing is that since I lost the weight loads of the lads in secondary school that used to call me names and take the mick, they’re always the ones on the night out trying to chat me up and stuff.
‘I tell them where to go straight away.
‘A lot of my friends I had in secondary school I’m not friends with now because since I lost the weight and they just drifted away.
‘I think they must have liked me for being the fat friend that was just there. I was the token fat friend in the group.
‘I was able to go on holiday and wear a bikini and everything which I probably haven’t done since I was about five. I used to hate swimming – I just hated it.
Elizabeth also told how several of the boys who used to mock her weight in school now try to chat her up when they see her on nights out
‘It was a really nice holiday. My friend is quite petite as well but I didn’t feel out of place.
‘We’ve got loads of pictures and I just look like her. I look the same size as her and everything.
‘It’s hard because it took me a year to lose all the weight and I saw myself in the mirror every day, so even now looking at myself I still feel as though I’m quite big compared to everyone.
‘But then when I look at a before and after picture it just shows how different I am.
She also shared how a lot of her friends from her school days in Durham are no longer close to her and said it made her realise she was seen as the ‘fat friend’
Elizabeth admitted she tried dieting while in school and even attended Weight Watchers in a bid to stop the bullies abusing her
‘It takes other people to compliment me and say I look good because I don’t think there’s a massive change.
‘I’m still the same person – I still have the same personality and like the same things. It’s just my body has completely changed.’
As a chubby child, Elizabeth said she had been bullied at secondary school for her weight and always felt like the token ‘fat friend’ with her friends.
She tried dieting and even joined Weight Watchers while she was still at school – but would always give up after a few months and the pounds just kept piling on.
She says that it is hard to accept her new look and says that it still takes compliments from other people for her to realise she’s lost weight
Elizabeth paid tribute to her mother for her help in her transformation but insists that despite the change in weight she is still the same person
She said: ‘Secondary school was just awful. Absolutely awful. I started weight watchers when I was in secondary school but it just never worked.
‘I was in my second year at university and my friends all decided that we were going to go on a girl’s holiday.
‘My friends are all thin and would be wearing bikinis and stuff. I was a size 26 massive girl.
‘We were going to go in a year, so I thought ‘I’ve got a year to do something about it’ and that’s when I lost all the weight.’
Elizabeth said she teamed up with her mother, Louise Jobson, 42, to shift the pounds and they food shopped and meal planned together to curb their snacking habits.
Elizabeth imposed a strict 6pm curfew on eating and stopped stashing crisps and sweets in her bedroom.
The teacher shared how she imposed a strict 6pm curfew on eating and stopped stashing crisps and sweets in her bedroom
She said that she was further motivated to lose weight when she lost nearly two stone in just her first month
She shared a story about how she used to dread the nurse coming into secondary school because she was terrified of being weighed in school
Now she says that after all the struggles and pain of losing weight, she feels like she is just like her ‘skinny’ friends in photos
Louise even joined her daughter the first time she went to the gym – and the young woman was delighted when she lost nearly two stone in just her first month.
She said: ‘You’ve got to be in the right mind-set to do it.
‘Because I was doing it with my mam and I had her helping me to plan meals and encourage me, it really helps to have someone there because she came to the gym with me for the first time.
She admitted that one of the big reasons for her weight was how she used to take chocolate, crisps and sweets and stash them in her room
‘She’s my best friend. I absolutely love her. I couldn’t have done it without her at all.
‘When I was losing weight I cut down meals and stuff and bulked it out with vegetables and salads.
‘Now because I know that I don’t want to go back to how I was. I still eat how I would usually but then I know I’ve got to go to the gym a bit more.
‘It’s more of an understanding of the balance between what you’ve got to eat and how it affects your body.
She said that a key part of her weight loss journey was realising the balance between her meals and knowing how much to eat of a particular thing
‘My stomach just shrank. I used to eat loads and still be picking on stuff after my tea but now I can eat much less than I used to. I used to eat anything – up to five bags of crisps a day.
‘I absolutely loved crisps, sweets, it was just really unhealthy. I’m not allergic to anything, I don’t not eat any food – so I would literally eat anything that was there.
‘I used to take food and hide it in my room so when I went to bed I would eat loads of crisps and chocolate. I used to stash food so I could eat it in private.
‘I didn’t find it hard to lose weight, particularly after I started seeing results.
‘In that first month I lost so much weight I started thinking I could actually do it.’