A woman who used to weigh more than a small car – has ditched the flab and lost an incredible 36 stone.
Catrina Raiford, 38, was once the fattest woman in the world, weighing in at a scale-busting 68 stone.
But the former ‘Half Tonne Woman’ has been left with a whopping ten stone of excess flesh to deal with following her remarkable weight loss .
Bedbound for five years, medical professionals had to bulldozed the side of her home to free her from her bed after she suffered breathing difficulties.
Now she hopes to lose even more weight of excess skin she has been left with.
Ms Raiford said:
“I’m so much happier now and feel so confident.I was in bed for so long that now I’ve lost the weight I just want to be free.I love running around, going to the gym three or four times a week and keeping fit.”
Following years of sexual abuse as a child, Ms Raiford found comfort in sweet, sugary snacks and secret eating.By the age of 12, she was so big that her mum had to start making her clothes as shops did not stock sizes large enough.
Aged 14, and weighing 32 stone, Ms Raiford was admitted to a psychiatric home for eight months to help her deal with her overeating.
Soon she did not leave her home. She would spend her days eating and avoiding people. She was unable to move around easily, lost her job and had to move back in with her mum.
Five years followed where she was bedbound. Her mum would bring her food and a cousin would empty a bed pan for her.
Instead, she’d spend long days on the internet lying to men about her appearance .
“It was the worst time of my life,” she said. “I just wanted to die. Each day I’d just eat and go online from morning to night.”
In December 2003, she started having breathing difficulty.Desperate for medical help, emergency services were called.
A wall of her home had to be bulldozed to get her out and a mortified Ms Raiford was transported to hospital on the back of a flatbed truck.
“It was the worst thing that had ever happened to me,” she said. “But it was the thing that saved me.”
