Obese woman spent £46k on surgery to remove excess flab and turn her flaps of skin into DD BOOBS
Tanya Benedict weighed a collosal 27st 6lbs at her heaviest
A WOMAN who lost half her body weight has spent £46,000 on surgery to remove excess flab - and transform flaps of extra skin into DD boobs.
Tanya Benedict, 35, weighed a shocking 27st 6lbs at her heaviest after bingeing on sugary snacks and McDonald's double cheeseburgers.
At her largest in 2007 she was wearing size 32 clothes, which left her uncomfortable leaving her home and compulsively snacking all day.
Tanya, from Yuma in Arizona, USA, explained: "Before I would never count calories, I would compulsively snack, eating whenever I was hungry and it was always convenience foods, even my vegetables were tinned.
"I rarely left the house, my comfort zone was my home and I had a lot of social anxiety, I was so miserable."
Tanya had been overweight her whole life. At the age of 12 she weighed a hefty 14 stone (200lbs) stemming from a poor diet and lack of exercise.
Then, during a doctor's appointment she was humiliated after an extra 100lbs had to be added to the other side of the scales because she was too heavy to be weighed.
So, after countless failed attempts to overhaul her diet, her doctor gave her HCG, a hormone which limits hunger, and a restricted daily diet plan of 500 calories.
In two years she'd lost more than nine stone - but struggled to lose more, suffering with crippling back pains from still being overweight.
In 2013 she had a gastric bypass, which helped her to get down to 14 stone, but she was left devastated by the extreme amount of excess skin all over her body.
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The dramatic weight loss left Tanya without any breast tissue - and she would fit her 'flaps of skin' into an A-cup bra.
She said: "There was just nothing left at all, when I lifted the skin where my boobs should have been I could see my rib cage and I didn't feel like a woman.
"Before I'd always thought hitting 200lbs would be a celebration, but I was disgusted with how I looked, I felt absolutely gross, my excess skin would hang down."
But last September she had more than two stone of loose skin removed from her stomach, back, bum, arms and thighs, as well as DD implants.
Now she's utterly unrecognisable in a slinky size 12 - and relishes being able to dance, jump and run without her excess skin swinging beside her.
Tanya, who works in childcare, explained: "My excess skin hung everywhere, from my waistline to my back, to my thighs and my arms, even my bum had a four inch overhang of skin beneath my shorts.
"It was humiliating, I'd lost so much weight but was stuck with this horrible flab around my body.
"I couldn't do any activity whether it was jumping, running or dancing without having my excess skin and cellulite swinging and constantly moving.
She added: "It was like being a flying squirrel - I tried to joke that I could fly by flapping my skin to make light of it, but it was devastating.
"Whenever I moved my arms they were really heavy because of the excess skin, even when I was doing kick boxing or throwing punches it slowed me down.
"I was carrying so much cellulite I was saggy everywhere, it just hung and would sway whenever I moved.
But now, since having more than 30lbs of excess skin cut off, Tanya says she feels so good she feels "like an 18-year-old all over again".
She said: "I feel a lot more empowered now and like I've grown a lot as a person - I've gained a new life.
"It took a lot of determination and inner strength to stick to the diet plan and fight even when I was at my lowest but now I'm finally able to start loving myself."
