Real life weight loss: How one woman lost half her body weight in one year

For years, Carla struggled with food addiction and negative self-talk. The 34-year-old from County Dublin, Ireland, eventually realised that these thoughts about herself were untrue and so began a transformation journey both mentally and physically. YouTube channel Truly interviewed Carla as part of Brand New Me, a series on dramatic weight loss. 

She told Truly: “When I approached my weight loss from a place for me and not for anybody else, it was for me because I was worthy of it, that was how I decided to lose weight.” 

Beginning with tackling the self-critical voice, Carla then embarked on a calorie controlled diet in January 2020 and started walking on a daily basis. Carla weighed 323.8lbs at her heaviest and over the course of 12 months, managed to lose an incredible 175lbs. 

Watch Carla's inspiring weight loss journey here:

Carla’s weight loss transformation has had a massive impact on her confidence and her style. Before, she felt she could not express herself through fashion, opting for all black ensembles to avoid attention but now, Carla is embracing more colours. 

To celebrate this change, she is trying on a red dress for the first time and showing her sister, Adrianna, who has been a massive support on her journey. 

Carla said: “I feel like this is the start of something. While kind of the end of my weight loss journey, it’s the start of a new chapter in my life. And I feel like this is a really good symbol of what I’m going to be carrying into the rest of my life now, nice and fiery and confident and outgoing.”

Carla first began her weight loss progress with journaling, realising she was trapped in a series of negative thought patterns which were affecting her relationship with eating. often, the journey to a healthy body begins with a healthy mind, as exercise and a good diet have been shown to alleviate some symptoms of anxiety and depression. 

In addition, we recommend keeping a separate food journal: one study found recording what you ate in a food journal for 15 minutes a day doubled its participants' weight loss progress. 

Carla also began walking to lose weight, around one hour a day. Walking is an easy accessible way to get exercise into your day: all you need is a pair of the best shoes for walking and some comfortable clothes to get started. Eventually, you can graduate to more intense forms of exercise, working up to running with programmes such as Couch to 5K. But first, it's more important to simply get used to moving as often as you can every day, to really ingrain the habit into your day.