A WOMAN who ate THREE huge dinners every night and ballooned to 25 stone has lost 14 stone – and even her closest friends don’t recognise her.
Erin Hulick would gorge on pasta drenched in butter and cheese, then peanut butter sandwiches followed by a huge bowl of sugar-laden cereal in the evenings - clocking up 5000 calories a day.
She was a size 34 on her 29th birthday, in March last year, when she suddenly realised that if she didn’t change her lifestyle she could die young.
After ditching the stodgy dinners for healthier food, and taking up running, she slimmed to a size 12 and now weighs just 11 stone 4lb.
The 30-year-old said: “I had an old pal who didn’t recognise me after I lost the weight.
“I was seeing some people in Florida and one guy introduced himself to me when I’d known him for years and years at high school.
“He said ‘Nice to meet you, I’m Rick’, and I just said ‘Uh, it’s Erin!’ and he was really embarrassed and shocked.”
But the rapid weight loss has left her with a stone and a half of excess skin, and she is now trying to raise £27,000 for an op to have it removed.
Erin started gaining weight when she was four years old after scoffing macaroni and cheese and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
By the time she hit her teenage years she weighed almost 19 stone.
She would gorge on cheese-drenched pizza and chips with friends, without thinking about the calorie content.
Erin, who helps the disabled find work, said: “My mum Ann, now 63, became really worried about me so I eventually went to the doctor and was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), where cysts develop on the ovaries, causing weight gain, amongst other symptoms.
“The doctor said I should think about losing some weight, but I really thought I was happy the way I was.”
Even at her largest Erin says she was in denial about her size, and would even get offended when people suggested she should start eating healthier food.
“Family and friends tried to encourage me to lose weight, but I got really angry with them,” she recalled.
“They’d say ‘Come to the gym with me’ or ‘You’d feel so much better if you were a bit lighter’.
“I know they were just trying to encourage me, but I took offence. I felt happy the way I was and didn’t want people telling me what I should be doing.”
Erin thinks she may have had a mild form of body dysmorphia, thinking she was much slimmer than she actually was.
She said: “I thought I was fine the way I was. But now I look back at pictures of myself then, I can’t believe how large I’d got.
“I really didn’t see myself like that. Now I look at those pictures and think ‘what was I thinking?’ and ‘how did I let myself live like that?’”
But Erin’s 5,000 calories a day diet – 3,000 above the recommended amount for women – told a different story.
“I’d not eat breakfast, and for lunch I’d have pizza or some kind of takeaway, washed down with fizzy drinks,” she said.
“But in the evening, for dinner, that’s when I would really go mad. I’d eat three meals.
“Usually starting with a large portion of pasta, drenched in butter and cheese, I’d then have a peanut butter sandwich and cereal after.
“Then I’d sit on my sofa all night and watch television. It is no wonder I piled on the pounds.”
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But, the turning point came for Erin on her 29th birthday, March 23, 2016.
“I was getting ready for a night out with my girlfriends and I couldn’t find a single thing to wear,” she recalled.
“I must have tried 10 outfits on and nothing looked good. I was sat at the end of my bed, and then it dawned on me… it’s not the clothes… it’s me.
“I realised I really needed to do something about my weight. I was turning 30 the following year and I worried I was going to die really young.”
Having never tried to lose weight in the past, Erin started researching the best way to shed the pounds.
She cut down on her carbohydrate heavy diet, opting for a high-protein foods like a healthy egg and banana pancake for breakfast, turkey salad for lunch and chicken and vegetables for dinner.
Most importantly, Erin ditched her three meals a night for good.
She started running and even bought an exercise ball to sit on at her desk so she could do small movements whilst at work.
One friend, who was used to seeing Erin big, even thought her weight loss plan was an April Fool’s Day trick when she turned down a meal at her favourite fast-food restaurant Taco Bell.
“I feel fantastic and can’t believe how much weight I’ve lost in over a year,” she said.
But one drawback of her weight loss is the stone and a half of excess skin she carries.
“The result of the years of abuse and neglect I put my body through has left me with 20lbs of excess skin,” she admitted.
“When I look in the mirror, my mind struggles between pride and discouragement.”
She went on: “I would be lying if I said there wasn’t a dismal feeling that coincides with knowing that I worked so hard to get to where I am today, and yet this is what I am left with.
“Not to mention the physical discomfort that comes with carrying this excess skin. It’s really uncomfortable and is something I would really like to get rid of.”
Now Erin is fundraising for the £27,000 surgery, which she hopes will complete her transformation.
Another slimmer, Jessica Weber, recently revealed she was motivated to lose weight because she feared her mum would outlive her.
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