A man who has never dated spent £25,000 removing his excess skin after losing an incredible 20 stone
Michael Sebti went from morbidly obese to a trainee bodybuilder in just two years.
At around 32-stone at 20 years old, the former engineer from Villeurbanne in France, felt ashamed.
He had been obese since childhood, with most of his family either overweight or obese for various health reasons
The 24-year-old had stopped going outside and socialising, as the constant stares and comments from strangers had him feeling like a circus freak.
Michael, an ex-engineer, had no luck meeting women, as his weight made him uncomfortable to go out and meet new people.
He had never tried to speak to a girl because he was too ashamed of his weight.
After struggling to find a job, and feeling like his weight was holding him back, Michael decided to make a major change.
He signed up for a gym membership, but cancelled after only two sessions when he noticed people staring at him and the cost didn't help either.
Out of options, the only thing Michael could do was change his diet.
Having previously eaten fast food and snacks in large amounts, Michael decided to fully commit to healthy eating.
It was a big change he cut out processed food and replaced them with lean proteins like chicken and salmon, and every kind of fruit and vegetable.
The weight started to pour off, and after two years, he had lost around 20-stone.
Michael now weighs 12-stone and has gone from a UK size triple extra-large to a UK size medium.
However, the rapid speed at which he'd lost the weight had caused extreme, sagging loose skin around his stomach and limbs.
It affected his self-confidence to a massive degree and Michael knew he had to do something.
He researched surgeons specialising in loose skin after weight loss and found one who was renowned worldwide.
After taking out a loan and receiving some financial assistance from the French health service, he scheduled his first surgery in October 2019.
Due to the complexity of the surgery, Michael required two further skin surgeries, in February 2020 and again in January 2021, costing him a total of £25,000.
Despite the progress Michael has made, he isn't done yet.
After admiring the bodybuilder physique he had never had, he decided to start training at home in January 2021, and started at the gym once lockdown ended.
Michael has now given up his freelance engineering career to start a YouTube channel called MS Transformation and aims to start coaching other people to help them lose weight.
"I've been obese since childhood," he said.
"My mother's side of the family is all morbidly obese I'm genetically made to be obese.
"I was also eating lots of processed food in large quantities.
"At school, we would have swimming lessons, and I would ask my mum for a doctor's note to avoid it, because I didn't want people to see my body.
"It was the same when I was in my twenties. I hid myself, because when I went out, I was criticised.
"When you're morbidly obese, you're treated like a circus freak, so I would spend most of my time at home. "People would call me fat or mammoth and point out my weight in the street.
"When I went food shopping or to restaurants, people looked at me and laughed or whispered. "I couldn't find a job that I wanted either, and I came to the point where I started to ask myself what kind of life I wanted to have I wanted to be able to choose for myself.
"I went to a gym, but I only did two sessions and cancelled my membership.
"I didn't have money because I was a student, and I was ashamed to go to the gym and have everyone look at me.
"So I started with diet I mostly ate salads with protein in them. I eat a lot of chicken, vegetables and fruits.
"It was hard. When you're doing so much dieting, you're always hungry.
"I made a lot of mistakes, and I was so focused on losing the weight that I was restricting my diet too much. "I started to get loose skin everywhere.
"I started to think, 'why am I doing all this just to still have a bad body?' I nearly gave up.
"So I found one of the best surgeons in the entire world, and I really wanted him to do my surgery.
"It was expensive, so I had to take out a loan. We also have some financial aid in France for people that lose lots of weight.
"After meeting with a medical officer, I got approved, and spent around £25,000 on my surgeries."
The combination of losing weight and removing the loose skin brought about a whole new chapter in Michael's life.
"It completely changed everything. I developed a mentality that I'm unbreakable. When I set a goal, my only option is success," he said.
"I'm a very demanding person, and my goal now is to be successful at bodybuilding. I'm not quite happy with my body yet though I want to gain muscles and do a contest in two years.
"I've always wanted to launch a company too. I was a freelance engineer, and I was getting job offers, so I had to decide whether to take the job or start a company.
"It was the right time, and now I can give 100 percent to my passion helping people lose weight.
"I started a YouTube channel and received thousands of comments. I remember a man said that he was thinking about suicide, and saw my video, and it was mad."
