A bride-to-be who was so embarrassed by her size that she wore a painful waist trainer has now dropped a third of her body weight.
Rebecca Bennett-Formstone, 23, had become so fed-up of her 15st figure that she bought the corset to hide her frame.
She wore it during meals out or at work - and it was so painful that she couldn’t eat or sit down.
So the Coventry-based clothing business owner started a new low-carb ketogenic diet in a last-ditch attempt to slim down for her wedding.
Some experts have raised concerns about the wearing of corsets, warning that it can deprive your body of oxygen.
Some suggest it can reduce lung capacity by up to 60 per cent - even leading to a potential build-up of fluid in your lungs.
Rebecca is thrilled after she dropped five stone.
Rebecca decided to go alone and she said: “I bought a waist trainer because I was told it would give me amazing curves and I began to wear it because I felt so self conscious of my own frame.
“I’d wear it two or three times a week - when I’d go out for a nice meal or under my work uniform - but it was so tight I felt like I couldn’t sit down and I wanted to take it off after 30 minutes.
“I didn’t notice my weight as much until I got engaged and then I became more conscious that I was going to have to wear a big wedding dress if I didn’t lose weight. I heard about the keto diet on Pinterest and thought I’d try it because I had nothing to lose other than a bit of weight.
“Within the first week I’d lost four pounds already and I was shocked that it was working for me when the other diets hadn’t.
“Now I feel so confident and I can finally dress how I want without straining myself in a waist trainer.”
Rebecca began piling on the pounds in 2018, after feeling the need to snack constantly and treat herself to a Starbucks drink every day due to her retail job.
When she got engaged to now-husband James, 26, she tried to follow diets - but nothing was working.
She turned to waist trainers to help build her confidence but grew tired when they became unbearable and constantly left marks on her stomach.
Rebecca said: “I always wanted to wear baggy clothes so I didn’t have to wear the waist trainer because if I wore anything tight, I would have to wear it, and then I couldn’t eat or sit down - it was horrible.
“I wore it once or twice a week but as I got a bit bigger I had to stop because it became so unbearable, I could only wear it for three hours.”
Deciding enough was enough, Rebecca came across the keto diet and began to reduce her carbs and introduce more healthy fats to her diets, such as fish and nuts.
Rebecca managed to lose almost two stone in only two months, and had her wedding dress altered by an inch-and-a-half on the bust.
She said: “It was really quite quick - I didn’t expect to lose that much when I’d only wanted to slim up a little bit before my wedding.
“I felt really confident on my wedding day, especially when it came to taking the photos because I didn’t feel like I had to tuck myself in to try and look tiny.”
Rebecca has now continued to slim down on the keto diet, dropping five stone in less than a year, weighing a healthy 10st.
She also shares top tips with over 10,000 followers on her weight loss Instagram page.
She added: “I’ve got loads of energy now and I feel like I can’t do enough things, I’m also a lot more sharp.
“My husband has always said he never remembers me looking like I did when I show him the ‘before’ photos, but he’s been really proud and supportive of my journey.
“Before, it was so difficult to model my own clothing brand because I’d hate every picture I took for the website.
“But now that I’ve slimmed down, I’ve gained the confidence to be able to do my job a lot more efficiently and I feel amazing.”
Rebecca's diet before:
Breakfast - Big bowl of cereal, fruit loaf or teacake
Lunch - Subway baguette or chips
Dinner - Frozen oven-ready food
Snacks - Cake, donuts, chocolate, hot chocolate or sugary tea
Rebecca's diet now:
Breakfast - Eggs with bacon or keto toast with cream cheese
Lunch - Low carb wrap with ham and cheese or chorizo
Dinner - Meat or fish and vegetables acting as carbs, such as cauliflower or swede mash
Snacks - Dark chocolate, quarter cup of strawberries or a cheese triangle
