An ex-Burger King addict has revealed how she met her husband after losing 17 stone – and says her soulmate doesn’t mind her rolls of excess skin.
Paula Tilley, 44, from Bridgwater, Somerset, explained how her weight ballooned to 31st due to her fast food habit, which saw her eat Whopper burgers and down two or three litres of cola every day.
She became determined to lose weight after doctors told her at the age of 38 that she would be dead in two years, explaining how she was determined to get married.
After spending £12,000 on gastric bypass surgery, Paula now weighs 13st 7lbs – but says she still doesn’t see herself as attractive thanks to the loose, wrinkled skin that hangs from her stomach, thighs and arms.
However, she explained how husband David, who she met after her weight loss, doesn’t mind her excess skin – and tells her every day that she is beautiful.
Paula Tilley, 44, from Bridgwater, Somerset, (pictured before her weight loss) saw her weight balloon to 31st due to her fast food habit, which would see her eat Whoppers from Burger King every day
Paula (pictured on her wedding day in 2014) lost 17 stone after having gastric brand surgery, and now weighs 13st 7lbs. She met husband David shortly after her weight loss, with the couple tying the knot less than two years later
Paula said: ‘I hate my skin just because it’s there. It’s got no purpose to me. I don’t like it. It’s all wrinkly. It reminds me of how big I was.
‘Sometimes I look back on photos of me at my biggest and they make me feel sick.
‘The photos depress me that I let myself get to that point in my life. I could never let myself get back to that.’
She explained how she is hoping to one day have the excess skin removed, even though husband David doesn’t believe she should have the surgery.
Paula (pictured with husband David, as she is today) explained how her husband doesn’t mind the rolls of excess skin she has been left with since her dramatic weight loss
However, Paula (pictured with the excess skin around her waist) explained that she is desperate to get rid of the rolls of excess skin she’s been left with as it reminds her how big she used to be
‘My long term goal would ideally be to have the skin removed but it’s so expensive that financially I couldn’t do it unless I won the lottery. I think that’s the only way I could pay for it,’ she said.
‘The main part is the inside of the tops of my thighs, my bingo wings, and around my stomach and breasts.
‘I would like it all lifted and tightened up a bit. I think it would be quite a procedure to go through.
‘So that was always my long term goal and my husband says to me he doesn’t want me to have it done, but he also understands that that was my end final point to my journey from the beginning.’
Paula added: ‘He will support me no matter what I decide to do, but he’d be quite happy if I don’t have it done.
‘He tells me I’m beautiful every day. He’s always saying it. But I don’t agree.’
Paula (pictured before her weight loss) explained how she became determined to lose weight after doctors warned her at the age of 38 that she might only have two years to live
Paula – previously a size 32 – said she had always struggled with her weight since being a teenager and struggled to keep to a diet.
She explained how her diet of fast food and takeaways that saw her get through more than 730 Whoppers and 1,000 litres of cola a year led to her weight getting out of control.
At her heaviest, she couldn’t bend down to play with her four-year-old nephew and would often find herself falling asleep mid-conversation with her family.
After a wake-up call from the doctors, she saved up and booked to have gastric bypass surgery in 2012.
Paula said: ‘I felt awful [to be told I only had two years left to live]. It scared me. It was like a life sentence.
‘That’s why I had to do something about it. I didn’t want to be dead. I wanted to be well to not only see my nephews grow up and have children of my own.
Paula (pictured with husband David on her wedding day in 2014) explained how she met husband David shortly after she began her weight loss journey
Paula (pictured with her parents on her wedding day in 2014) explained how her weight loss gave her the confidence to begin dating again, firstly joining a dating website
‘That was going to be ripped away from me in two years if I didn’t get off my backside and do something about it. I needed someone to give me the kick up the backside like that.’
She added: ‘I knew I wasn’t strong enough to do diets and stuff like that because I had tried them all. I’d lose it all and then I’d just put it all back on.
‘I knew I had to do something that was going to change my life forever.’
She dropped an astonishing five stone in just the first month, with family and friends soon commenting on her impressive weight loss.
‘Everybody noticed such a drastic difference. My mum used to show my youngest nephew a picture of me when I was at my heaviest, and he wouldn’t know who that was.’ she said.
‘He doesn’t know who that was and doesn’t remember me being that size. It’s quite strange.’
After her weight loss, Paula discovered a small lump nestled in the loose skin on her stomach. Doctors later found it was a nine pound cyst in her womb, meaning she had to undergo a full emergency hysterectomy. Pictured above is the scar left on her stomach
Paula explained how she hates the excess skin (above) she has been left with since her weight loss but can’t afford surgery to have it removed. However, she says husband David doesn’t think she needs the operation
Paula said her initial weight loss gave her the confidence to sign up for online dating where she soon started chatting to her future husband David.
Within just a week the pair had started dating and the couple soon knew they were meant to be.
Paula, a care assistant, said: ‘It was exciting to see the changes to my body. It was scary at the same time because [losing weight] was something I didn’t remember.
‘I first started noticing my energy levels go up within the space of less than six months.
‘I had two young nephews at the time and it used to upset me that I couldn’t get down and play with them, but all of a sudden I had the energy to run around after them.’
She continued: ‘[When I lost weight] I decided to sign up for online dating and there were a few random men on them but nothing very interesting so I came off it.
Paula (pictured before her weight loss) explained how her diet of fast food and takeaways previously saw her get through more than 730 Whoppers and 1,000 litres of cola a year
Paula, who was previously a size 32, (pictured before her weight loss) explained how she had lacked energy before her transformation, and couldn’t play with her young nephew
‘I had been single for quite a long time and my weight hadn’t helped – or that’s what I thought.
‘And then a few nights later my now husband started talking to me. And my life has never been the same since.
‘It spiralled really quickly because it was a case of when you know something is right you have just got to go with it.
‘It was quite quick. But I wouldn’t change it for the world.’
The couple decided to get married, but one day, as Paula was feeling her excess skin, she noticed a small lump nestled in the loose skin on her stomach.
Not thinking much of it, she ignored the lump and continued with her wedding planning – but the lump kept growing.
Paula (pictured after her weight loss, with excess skin on her stomach) explained how she wanted to undergo an operation to have her excess skin removed
Paula (pictured holding to the excess skin around her waist) admitted that David didn’t think she needed to have the operation, but would support her in her decision
Shortly after their wedding in June 2014, Paula went to the doctor to get it checked out and was devastated when she was told it was a nine pound cyst the size of a rugby ball in her womb.
Devastated Paula had to undergo a full emergency hysterectomy just four weeks later – robbing her of the chance to have children with her new husband.
Paula said: ‘I could lie on my back and put my hands around the lump and move it around my stomach.
‘It used to creep my husband out because I’d do it in front of him. It was funny at the time – until I found everything went wrong.
‘Luckily, and thankfully, it wasn’t cancerous, but it had attached itself to my ovaries in my womb. It literally took everything away from me.’
She added: ‘I had no choice if I wanted children or not. It was awful. It was an awful time for me and my husband.
Paula (pictured as a teenager) explained how she had always struggled with her weight since being a teenager and struggled to keep to a diet.
‘We had only been married for a couple of months and I’d just had this life-changing surgery. I said to him at one point that if he wanted to go he could.
‘He stuck around. He was amazing. I don’t think I would have gotten through it without him – in fact I know I wouldn’t..’
Now the couple are stronger than ever and are considering other options to be parents – and Paula is grateful that losing weight helped her save her life twice.
Paula said: ‘We didn’t really talk about the operation properly for ages because we didn’t know what to say to each other about it.
‘The way I saw it I thought my life was over. I always wanted children and it had just been taken away from me without me having a say in it.
‘I felt like I wasn’t worthy of anything. I kept thinking, why me? Why am I such a bad person that this gets taken away from me?
Paula (pictured above before her weight loss) explained how doctors told her she could be dead in two years if she didn’t lose weight, describing it was a wake-up call
Paula (pictured before her weight loss) decided to spend £12,000 on gastric band surgery in order to lose weight, after struggling to keep to diets in the past
‘All the way through my husband kept saying to me but you’re here, you’re alive. And that’s right, I’m alive, but it could have potentially killed me if I’d left it.
She continued: ‘On top of all the loose skin and everything I’ve got a cut from my belly button right the way down because they couldn’t do the hysterectomy any other way.
‘They had to open me up fully because of the size of it. I’ve got a great big scar right down the middle of my belly as well, just to add insult to injury.
‘I lie in the bath and it just looks horrible. It’s something else I’d like to change about my body.
‘It’s taken me a long time to come to terms with not being able to have a child.
‘The hardest part is not having someone who will call me mum. That’s probably been the hardest part of all of it.
‘I know now I’m here. I’m alive. I’m fighting fit. I’ve got the whole world in front of me now. Me and my husband, and that’s amazing.’