PARTY animal Emma Harvey who would binge on junk
food and down countless shots of alcohol has beat the bulge and become a
fitness fanatic.
TRANSFORMED: Emma went from lardy ladette to lovely lady [HOTSPOT MEDIA]
Emma, 23, spent nine months working as a promo girl in Magaluf and binged out on booze and junk food for two summers.
Emma became so ashamed of her size 22 body that she began cutting the labels out of her clothes and spent her nights scoffing pizza on the sofa.
Eventually, when tying her own shoe laces left her breathless, Emma decided to give up her boozy, junk food-fuelled lifestyle and went on a diet.
Now weighing 9st 2lb and a size 6 to 8, Emma has become a self-confessed fitness addict - swapping greasy takeaways for lean steaks and daily gym sessions.
She said: "During those two summers in Magaluf I was eating absolute rubbish and doing no exercise whatsoever.
"I would wake up at 2pm and have a kebab for breakfast with a shot of tequila.
“The alcohol there is practically free and I was drinking at least 10 glasses of vodka and lemonade and 12 shots of Sambuca a night.
"I don't think I had a single glass of water while I was out there."
Living in the city’s main strip and working as a promo girl, Emma would encourage revellers to visit bars and clubs.
She said: “An average day began with me waking at 2pm. I worked from 8pm till 4am and then partied till 10am.
“Healthy eating wasn’t on my mind. I was living off fried chicken, burgers and curries.”
Six months later, those unhealthy eating habits returned with Emma when she arrived back in the UK and she continued to pile on the pounds.
She had left her family home in Milton Keynes a size 10 to 12 and 11st and returned a size 20 and 14st 8lb.
Emma says: “I didn’t care about my weight when I was out there.
“It was only when I got back to the UK and saw my friends again that I could see the difference.”
PODGY: Emma would gorg on junk food and booze before deciding to start a diet [HOTSPOT MEDIA]
Her second spell as a promo girl only lasted three months and back in the UK she continued to put on weight.
Becoming conscious of her size, Emma shunned socialising for lonely nights on the sofa where she would binge on takeaways.
By December 2012, she weighed in at a hefty 15st 4lb - soon realising it was time to make a change.
She says: “My family were walking to the pub and I was about to join them. Only, when I tried to tie my shoes, my stomach got in the way and I couldn’t bend over. I ended up putting flip flops on.
“It was snowing outside and when my dad saw me in my flip flops, he helped me put on shoes.”
Mortified, Emma made a New Year’s resolution to lose weight.
Emma used the phone app ‘My Fitness Pal’ to calculate a healthy calorie intake, based on her weight, height, sex and age, and she slashed her daily calorie intake from 5,000 to 1,200.
After cutting out junk food and eating balanced, nutritious meals, within three months she had lost 2st.
LOVE: Emma met her now-boyfriend Leon Hodge when he introduced her to weight training [HOTSPOT MEDIA]
Emma explained: “We met on a night out and started going to the gym together.
“When I started weight training, that’s when I got addicted to the gym.
“Leon was amazed when I showed him pictures of what I used to look like. He had no idea.
“Being with someone who has the same healthy outlook has been inspirational. We have a home gym and I’ve stopped drinking alcohol."
“But I can have just as much fun on a night out on soft drinks.
“If my younger self could see me now and how having a healthy lifestyle has become an obsession, she would absolutely punch me in the face.
"I used to hate people like me.”
FIT: When Emma first joined a gym, she would exercise five times a week [HOTSPOT MEDIA]
She said: “I make the right choices now.
“Leon and I eat healthily, but once a week we have a ‘cheat’ meal, where we’re allowed to indulge ourselves.
“Now when I’m slobbing out on the sofa with a pizza, I’m not sat there alone.”
