A woman from Plasmarl, Swansea ,who used to eat McDonald's six times a day has revealed how her lockdown weight loss has now seen her become a finalist in the Ms Great Britain contest.
Kirstie Logan, 31, was 17st 4 lbs when lockdown started in March 2020, but a nasty bout of Covid-19 sent her to hospital for four days where she was told by doctors that she needed to change her lifestyle.
She told Wales Online: "The doctors gave me a big warning - they told me that I was on the verge of diabetes and that if I didn't start to look after my health I would likely end up with diabetes & other obesity-related conditions.
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"I was diagnosed with hypertension and high cholesterol that used to make me feel sick and dizzy.
"Ironically, my dad also suffered with the same and here I was, potentially about to go down the same path."
It was Kirstie's dad's passing in 2015 that she thinks was the trigger for her binge-eating.
She said: "I gained seven stone after he died. He was found in a bad way, and his death left me bereft and I developed a serious binge eating disorder.
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"In my grief I became unable to make logical decisions and would abuse my body because I didn't know how to process what had happened.
"I was haunted with nightmares about his post-mortem, his decomposing body, and in my waking life I became unable to rationalise or control even the smallest things in my life - which started with my diet."
Kirstie describes a typically day's food for her as starting with a McDonald's breakfast consisting of two double sausage and egg muffin meals with two drinks - although on some days this number would often rise to three or four meals.
Lunch would be a pizza and three or four curries at the office, while dinner would be fast-food again - two large McChicken sandwich meals, two mayo chickens and extra chips.
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Alternatively, she would order from Deliveroo three times a day with enough food to feed four people.
"In 2019 alone I spent £1,000 on McDonald's," Kirstie admitted.
"After contracting coronavirus in March 2020 it left me feeling grateful for life and realising that so many people weren't so lucky. I set out on a mission to lose the weight and reclaim my life."
Since then she's lost 7 stone and is down to 10st 4lbs, and has entered and qualified for the final of Miss Great Britain.
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Kirstie says she began her journey by walking up and down the Swansea hills every day. After six months of walking, she weighed herself and saw she'd achieved a three-stone weight loss, before joining a gym when they re-opened.
She hopes her success in beauty pageantry will increase awareness around binge eating disorder.
She said: "I have been working with the charity BEAT who have supplied me with some really helpful resources. I want to de-stigmatise binge eating disorder and show that recovery is possible whilst shining a light on the obesity crisis in the UK.
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"If I win, I will spend my year dedicating time to helping those who have suffered with not only binge eating disorder, but other types of serious eating disorders too.
"I am firmly against the 'extreme body positivity' movement. There is a huge difference between being a curvaceous and healthy size 16-18 - which I think is normal, and being morbidly obese at a size 26."
Featured Image Credit: Credit: Media WalesTopics: Weight Loss, UK News, Inspirational, Health