Twenty-five-year-old Summer Stultz who weighed 410lbs lost about 200lbs as she made a firm decision to change her life after a suicide attempt.
Speaking to Barcroft TV about how stressed she felt when she became a laughing stock for others, Summer, who now weighs 195lbs, said: “There were a lot of bullies growing up, but I almost built a shield against them.
Watch to meet Summer and her inspiring story in the video below.
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Video credit: Rumble
“I always called myself ‘the funny fat friend’ because I was always making fun of myself for other people to laugh but of course I wasn’t laughing inside.”
Though carrying insults, bullies, and weight, was no less than a constant strain for Summer, her visits to the doctor added up to her misery too.
During her visits, her doctors would often accuse her of ‘doing something wrong.’
She said: “I knew what the doctors were going to say… a lot of the doctors that spoke with my mum told her that she was basically doing something wrong, and I knew that upset her and I didn’t want to see her that way.”
Depressed by the straining situations all around her, Summer attempted to take her own life but was, fortunately, saved in time.
This was the time when the heartbroken girl decided to entirely change her life and her appearance.
She said: “What actually sparked my weight loss journey was getting to the lowest point of my life – feeling like no one understood me, no one understood what I was going through, no one could help me and I just felt completely alone and it wasn’t until a suicide attempt that literally changed my life, that I kind of woke up.
“I realized I can’t go back to living the same life that I was or this might happen again and seeing the look on my parents face in the hospital waking up it was just like an automatic switch.
“And I decided I am going to change my life.”
Summer worked really hard, she went on a diet, did exercises and accomplished her goal of losing 200lbs weight but she again encountered a problem.
After all those efforts, she was left with drooping and sagging skin.
Being unhappy with the fact that she couldn’t become aesthetically pleasant despite working so hard, Summer decided to opt for surgery.
“I really wanted to see the body that I’ve been working for so long and I knew at a point that the only way I was going to do that was trough having skin removal surgery,” she said.
“Going into consultation I was told that I had about 15 to 20 pounds of excess skin.”
Before her surgery, she said: “At this point in my journey I look at myself as the butterfly that is stuck in a cocoon.
“Once I have my skin removed and once I can finally feel like I have the body that I have worked so hard for I feel like I will be the butterfly.”
And now, after the surgery, Summer feels like having control over her life. She feels confident and proud of herself.
She said: “My life has completely changed after surgery, I have so much more confidence, people have always seen me as a confident person, but I see the confidence in myself now.
“Every time that I walk outside and when I am in a public I just feel comfortable, I feel normal.”
Explaining her efforts to become who she is today, Summer said: “It has taken so much out of me psychically and mentally to get where I am today so I am just so proud of myself.
“So starting out as the caterpillar at the very beginning of my journey, moving to the cocoon and finally breaking free, I feel like I’m finally the butterfly.
“I feel like I am finally Summer.”
Summer shared the journey of her life on social media so that people who feel distressed on negative comments from others can get hope in their lives.
She concluded: “Don’t let anyone’s negative comments or backlash deter you from finding happiness within yourself and being comfortable in your own body.”
Replaced!