I was so fat my calf BURST and kids called me a beached whale – now I’ve shed 10st without pills or surgery

A MUM so overweight that her calf burst underneath now looks unrecognisable after she shed 10st without pills or surgery.

Erin Drotleff began gaining weight in school, where classmates cruelly nicknamed her "thunder thighs" and "beached whale."

Sadly, the cruel comments didn’t stop at the school gates.

At home, Erin, from Texas, US endured similarly hurtful taunts, which eventually triggered a severe eating disorder.

"It wasn’t long before I became a closet binge eater with a horrible relationship with food," she said.

"I was constantly yo-yo dieting and basing my self-worth on the number on the scale."

Now a mum of three, Erin has tried various diets, from Atkins to weight-loss drugs, but none proved effective in the long run.

She'd lose weight, just to regain it again.

At her largest, Erin weighed 22 stone.

"I was obese, my asthma was terrible, and I was often out of breath," she admitted.

 "I had severe foot pain (plantar fasciitis), back pain, heavy periods, and I would get sweat rashes.

"Mentally, I was anxious, depressed, and angry. I didn’t feel like myself anymore," she added.

In 2022, Erin attended a parent-teacher conference at her child’s school.

As she was walking down the hallway towards her daughter's classroom Erin's calf "burst".

"I heard a loud pop and immediately felt indescribable pain," she recalled.

"I sat through the conference sweating until my husband got to the school and was able to help me back to my car," she said.

"I knew in that moment that I needed to lose weight," she added.

It took Erin three months to see the scale move. 

By the fifth month, she had lost just over one stone, and her weight kept dropping over the following months. 

She decided to share her progress on TikTok for others to see.

Since then, she has lost nearly 10 stone, bringing her weight down to an impressive 12 stone.

"It was motivating to hear about other women who had lost weight; their stories helped me so much with my own weight loss," she said.

"I then started sharing my tips, recipes and favourite healthy foods."