REAL LIFE
Kill
Yourself:
You’re
Fat!
AN obese woman
taunted by bullies who
said ‘big girls should kill
themselves’ loses 88kg.
T
HIS woman was teased for being
obese for most of her life and even
att ended a school where cruel
bullies encouraged big girls to kill
themselves. But aft er fi nding out she was
pregnant she turned her life around and lost
over 88kg – the only problem now is the
excess skin, which she admits dampens her
sex life!
Although accountant Kara Beck, 25, used to eat
vegetables and fruits, she sti ll regularly binged,
and with only exercising twice a week she
allowed the kilos to pile on.
Kara grew up in a small town in Wyoming with
her teacher parents and brother and sister. She
att ributed her weight gain to being hereditary
as both sides of her family had struggled with
obesity and diabetes. She also had very low
self-esteem, which perpetuated her unhealthy
diet.
“I have been obese most of my life. When I was
younger, I had poor mental health and self-
worth. Family on both sides were obese and
diabeti c so I do have a geneti c dispositi on to
being larger,” she says.
That’s not to say her diet had a small role,
however.
“As a young adult I’d eat some healthy foods
like protein shakes, vegetables and the
occasional fruit – I even exercised twice a week
for about 20 minutes each ti me, but because
I’d then binge on big burrito bowls, bags of
chips ice cream I consumed over 3 500 calories
a day, so my weight just kept climbing.”
Tragically, Kara was teased mercilessly at school
because of her size.
“Even my friend would call me ‘Red Cow’
behind my back at school because I’m a red
head,” she says. “I also saw other big girls being
bullied and seeing pictures of them with the
words ‘do the world a favour and kill yourself’
really didn’t help me. I fell into depression as a
teenager and started to self-harm.”
Then in August 2016 Kara fell pregnant. When
she jumped on the scales at the ti me, she was
167kg and a dress size 32. Doctors kept telling
her how risky her pregnancy would be due to
her weight and they showed her how badly her
weight was aff ecti ng her health.
“When I fell pregnant I felt so excited as I’d
always wanted to be a mother, but when I went
to the doctors weighing 167kg I was forced to
see and understand just how much my weight
was aff ecti ng not just my health but also my
baby. I risked hypertension, diabetes and
preeclampsia. I knew I had to make a change
for us both and this was the key turning point
for me.”
In January 2018 Kara had a gastric bypass and
more than a year and a half later has changed
her life by losing an incredible 88kg. She now
weighs 78kg and is a size 14.
“It allowed me to fi nally lose weight through
calorie defi cit and proper nutriti on,” she says.
“For breakfast now I’ll have pre-made egg and
vegetable casserole and a coff ee; lunch will
be a protein bar, cheese, nuts and veggies;
then for dinner always a source of protein and
vegetables and I’ll try to add a complex carb
like whole grain rice and oats. I’ve brought my
daily calories down from 3 500 a day to about
1 500 a day, which is normal.”
Kara’s exercise regimen has also had a total