A woman has shed 13 stone in a year after struggling with body image and eating disorders.
Carla Piera has ditched the weight in 14 months slimming down from 23st 1.8lbs to 10st.
The 34-year-old charity manager from Dublin has faced weight problems since childhood.
She has also suffered from from bulimia and a binge eating disorder.
The Irish Mirror reported how in July 2019 Carla realised that she had a food addiction and decided to seek therapy.
She started to lose weight for the first time ever come January 2020.
After joining BodySlims and she began reducing her calorie intake and walking for one hour every day, addressing her own mental health.
She said: “No matter what I achieved in my life, I never thought I was good enough because I was overweight. I thought I was worthless.
“Since then my entire life has completely changed. I have mental freedom. I’m no longer worried about fitting into tight seats or on a plane.
“I don’t have to walk sideways down a bus aisle. I can shop in any store I want and dress the way I want to, not just in the things that fit.”
Carla is now seven months pregnant and says she and her partner Vincent, 41, are “over the moon” as she thought her weight had affected her ability to have children.
She added: “I was the healthiest I have ever been and the happiest and ready to become a mum.
“I also wasn’t 100% sure I could have children.
“I tested my egg reserves at the start of my weight loss journey and the results were very poor but I believe becoming so healthy really helped to change this for me.
“I am a much more open person, my happiness and self worth has changed completely because I’ve proven to myself that I’m worth this change, I’m worth showing up for myself.
“I’m so incredibly proud of myself and the changes I’ve made for myself. I know I’m worth the effort I put in and continue to put in to my health and life.
“I think most people are surprised that I weighed 23st prior to losing weight and they’re even more shocked that I managed to lose 13st.
“I think people sometimes don’t even know what to say and because I lost most of my weight in lockdown, they’re stunned when they see me. Even if they’ve seen photos it can be quite shocking in real life.
“I catch people looking me up and down now as much as before which is funny.
“The hardest part of my journey was the work on my mental health, the weight loss was simple but not easy.
“I just did what I needed to do consistently until I lost the weight.”
