Tsia Pullen, who at 5ft 1in and 18st was considered morbidly obese, had struggled with her weight from a young age and now, at 34 years old, says she 'couldn't bear to look in the mirror'.
Tsia, who 'detested' her figure, had tried everything she could to shift the weight.
But after years of fad diets had no lasting effect, the mother-of-one took the drastic decision to sell her £80,000 three-bedroom semi-detached Bolton home to fund cosmetic surgery overseas.
Tsia was overjoyed to be a beautiful bride.
Tsia when she weighed 18st. 'I'd struggled with my weight all my life,' she says
'People thought I was insane, but I knew it was the right thing to do,' said Tsia.
'It was the first house I’d ever bought. It had a massive garden and I was proud of it. But, more than anything, I wanted to look amazing on my wedding day.'
Tsia started gaining weight when she was just 11 years old, and says now that no amount of dieting or exercising could get her the slim figure she yearned for.
Tsia in hospital after surgery in Belgium where
she had a gastric band fitting, an arm and thigh lift as well as breast
implants, costing £22,000 in total
Tsia's final procedure was a tummy tuck to
remove the excess skin she was left with after her weight loss (left),
though the operation left her with bruising (right) but she says it was
all worth it
Tsia met Alistair through her job as a receptionist for a taxi firm when he called up to book a car in 2003
Tsia said that although Alistair, pictured with
her at her heaviest, loved her regardless, she didn't want to be an
overweight bride
But when her fiance Alastair, 33, proposed, Tsia was jolted into taking urgent action.
She said: 'I hated myself so much. I used to end up in tears when I went shopping - nothing fitted. It wasn't only the embarrassment either. Walking around the shops would leave me breathless and in agony as I was so big.
'My confidence was at an all time low - but my luck changed in 2003, when I was working as a receptionist at a taxi firm in Bolton. I received a call from a friendly male voice, who turned out to be Alastair.
Tsia says her lack of self confidence about her
size before the weight loss (left) made it easy to make the extreme
decision to sell her home to fund the cosmetic surgery to give her her
dream body (right)
'He’d only phoned for a taxi, but he was warm, funny and friendly, and for months we swapped messages and chatted on the phone before I finally plucked up the courage to meet him.
'I was certain he’d be put off by my body but Alastair didn’t bat an eyelid. He loved me for me and our relationship quickly blossomed. Three years later, in 2006, he proposed. I accepted immediately.
'But then it hit me - an awful vision of a bulging bride waddling down the aisle, and something snapped.
'I didn’t want Alastair to have to marry me while I looked like that. I wanted to be a beautiful bride.'
Tsia didn’t have much money saved - but she did own a house in Bolton. She made the decision to sell her home and move in with Alastair at his house in Lincolnshire.
Tsia shrunk to a trim size 10 and her breasts shrunk from a size 44GG to a 36FF
Making £80,000 from the sale, Tsia then spent more than a quarter of it - £22,000 - on cosmetic surgery in Belgium.
'We were planning to move in together anyway, so I told Alastair I was going to sell my house, pay off the £55,000 mortgage on it and use the rest for my transformation,' said Tsia, who owns a customised buggy cover business.
'He was supportive of my decision, but he said he had always loved how I looked. But I didn’t love myself, so I went for it.
'The idea of transforming from a frumpy fiancée into a sexy bride was far too tempting. I took the plunge and sold my house to fund my ideal body.'
Between 2006 and 2008, Tsia, of Spalding, Lincolnshire, made several trips overseas and endured an £8,000 gastric band operation which resulted in her losing ten stone.
After spending £22,000 on surgery, Tsia is finally happy with what she sees in the mirror
She then went on to have arm and thigh lifts at a total cost of £4,000, breast uplifts at £3,500, implants for £3,000 and then liposuction for £700.
The transformation set her back over £19,000. With travel and accommodation back and forth to Belgium added in the sum soared to £22,000.
'It was a huge amount to pay for cosmetic surgery, and I know some people would think badly of me for it, but it was worth every penny,' she said.
After every painful operation I kept telling myself that the end result would be worth it. When I started seeing the results, I could feel my confidence soaring. I felt like a brand new person and for the first time in my life, I felt sexy.'
After all her procedures, Tsia managed to fit into a size 10 dress and her breasts, previously an unmanageable size 44GG, shrunk to 36FF.
The final operation on Tsia’s list was a tummy tuck.
She hoped the procedure, scheduled for April 2009, would complete her bridal body transformation.
But just two months before she was due to have the operation she discovered she was 16 weeks pregnant with her son, Milo, now four.
'I had suffered with severe polycystic ovarian syndrome all my life, which was always made worse by my weight. Several doctors had told me I would never have a baby, so it felt like a miracle,' Tsia said.
'We had to put our wedding plans on hold in order to have a family and my new body began to change again - but I didn’t mind. We were overjoyed.'
Milo was born in August 2009 and just two months later, in October, Tsia had a tummy tuck worth around £5,000 to get rid of her remaining saggy skin, which the NHS agreed to fund.
She says: 'Alastair and I finally tied the knot on 18 May - on our ten year anniversary. I had my slim-fit wedding dress ready and waiting and I was so excited to put it on and walk down the aisle. I felt like a princess.
'I really do feel like the luckiest bride in the world. I don’t regret selling my house to fund my surgery for one minute - it’s easily the best thing I ever did.'
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