By the time Jessica was 22, she tipped the scales at 173.7kgs and was bullied for her large frame. Photo / Caters News
A young woman who gorged on two dinners every night has lost 150lbs (68kgs) after having weight loss surgery.
Jessica Weber, 23, from Peru, Illinois, USA, started gaining weight when she was nine years old.
By the time she was 22, she tipped the scales at 383lbs (173.7kgs) and was bullied for her large frame.
In January this year she underwent weight loss surgery and so far has lost almost half her body weight.
Now she lives on protein and veg and has become a body positive role model on her Instagram account: @jessica_vsg44.
Jessica, a shop assistant, said: "I wasn't eating healthy.
"I was on a diet of meat and starches. We ate a lot of potatoes and pasta growing up.
"The extra weight affected my life with how I was looked down on for my weight gain being since that I started so young.
"It also affected my life in making friends because I lacked the confidence.
"I wasn't happy, I would pretend to be okay with it though.
"I think it was the fact that I was so close to being 400 [pounds] that kind of woke me up in a way to get my life together and take the steps to lose weight."
Jessica struggled with her weight as a child, gorging on potato everyday.
She said: "When I look back at pictures I can't believe I got to be as big as I was.
"I can't believe I didn't try harder to lose weight before I got to that point.
"I feel sad because I feel like I wasted years of my life, but now that I'm losing weight I feel more confident and am out doing a lot more so I feel like I'm getting my life back."
Her weight also made her a target from cruel bullies.
She said: "I definitely feel like I was treated differently. I think a lot of overweight people get looked down upon.
"I use to get made fun of growing up in school. I remember I stopped riding on the school bus because this one girl would be so mean to me
"I wasn't even at my heaviest weight then though, it got better but I still felt like people still judged me."
Tipping the scales at almost 400lbs (181.4kgs) , on January 12th 2016 Jessica had vertical sleeve gastrectomy which was covered by her insurance.
She said: "Although my health was fine - doctors were surprised that I didn't have diabetes or sleep apnea.
"But they wanted me to have the surgery to prevent that from happening.
"Basically my stomach was cut into the size of a banana and I can only eat 4 ounces of food each meal time.
"With this I now just eat super healthy.
"Mainly protein and veggies and fruit. No starches or liquid calories."
She added: "It's completely changed my life so far and I'm excited to continue the process."
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