I lost the weight of a full grown man on ‘Nozempic diet’ as years of emotional eating saw me struggle to walk up stairs

AFTER years of “eating her feelings” Christina Togher tipped the scales at 22 stone.

Struggling to do “everyday tasks” such as walking up a flight of stairs, it was the prospect of turning 30 that made her realise it was time to address her weight – and she’s now lost the size of a “full-grown man”, without the help of jabs, pills or surgery.

Since she was child, Christina, 31, says she’s always been a “bigger person”.

Severe bullying due to her weight during her younger years led to her suffering crippling anxiety.

Christina, from Castlebar in County Mayo, Ireland, said: “My weight made me feel so self-conscious but I didn’t deal with it.

“I tended to eat my feelings.”

The manager of a local coffee shop said she continued to gain weight throughout her late teens and early 20s, and at her heaviest, she weighed 22 stone (140kg) and wore a size XL to XXL in clothing.

After temporarily shedding the pounds while at university in Ireland to study accounting and finance, where she dropped to 11 stone (70kg), Christina took a job as a chef – but her “old habits came back hard”.

She gained 7st 12lbs (50kg) until she weighed 18st 12lbs (120kg) in March 2024.

As the prospect of turning 30 loomed over her she decided to change her life for the better and enlist the help of a personal trainer.

From March 2024 to June this year, Christina has lost 13st 7lbs (86kg) and she now weighs 8st 7lbs (54kg) thanks to a food plan and a consistent exercise routine, helping her to feel “so much happier” in herself.

She said: “It’s crazy when you start putting numbers on it, it’s actually crazy to think that I’ve lost the weight of a full-grown man.

“If something’s bothering me, I now take it out in the gym instead of eating my feelings.

“I feel so much happier, I have more energy and I don’t hurt as much as I did.

“It’s all about consistency and showing up – keep showing up for you, your kids, your loved ones and know that change is possible.”

At university, Christina went down to a size 12 in jeans after dieting and exercising.

She recalled: “I weighed around 11 stone (70kg) and that was my lowest weight at that point.”

I was in a really bad place mentally, and I went back to eating my emotions instead of dealing with them in a healthy way

Christina Togher

But taking a job as a chef afterwards made Christina “lose all [[her] good habits”, including her love of walking and running.

Christina said she would reach for “fast, convenience food”, such as takeaways, bread rolls, wraps and chocolate biscuits.

She quickly piled on 7st 12lbs (50kg).

Around this time, Christina said she “stopped going out”.

She continued: “I stopped wearing nice outfits and I was hiding in baggy clothes.

“I was in a really bad place mentally, and I went back to eating my emotions instead of dealing with them in a healthy way.”

‘I DIDN’T WANT TO HIT 30 FEELING THIS BAD’

Before turning 30, Christina said she felt “tired all the time and everything hurt”.

She said: “Even a basic, everyday task, like walking up a flight of stairs, was such a struggle.

“I knew I didn’t want to hit my 30s, I didn’t want to hit that new decade, feeling this bad.”

Determined to change her life for the better, Christina started looking into local personal trainers – when her now-trainer, Nicky Kearney, walked into her place of work to get a coffee.

Thinking, ‘what’s the worst that can happen?’, Christina said she “bit the bullet” and reached out to him for help.

She said: “Nicky went through it all with me – my lifestyle, my diet, my exercise routine.

“He made me realise that it wasn’t such a big thing in my head, that I’d made a mountain out of something that shouldn’t have been a mountain.”

For the next two months, Christina started increasing her step count by going out for long walks, and she focused on her diet by counting her calories and using a food plan.

Having always wanted to get into weightlifting, Christina joined a gym and her personal trainer created daily workout plans for her to follow – but she left her first session in tears.

She said: “I walked in and I saw all these muscly people that were boxers, toned, skinny…

“In my head, I thought I looked so bad beside these people and I had to leave in tears.”

Christina reached out to Nicky for support and she plucked up the courage to return to the gym with her trainer in tow.

Christina said: “Nicky got me to see that no one was actually watching me and everybody is in there for themselves,” adding the revelation was “brilliant” for her confidence.

REPAIRING HER RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD

Christina began to employ a razor-sharp focus to her diet and exercise plans.

She consistently lost 3lbs (1.4kg) every week, which “spurred (her) on to keep going”.

Christina now weighs 8st 7lbs (54kg).

From her heaviest, at 22 stone (140kg), she has lost 13st 7lbs (86kg).

According to the latest data from an NHS health survey for England, which was conducted in 2022, the average weight for an adult man was 85.8kg.

Christina now wears a size eight in jeans and a size XS or small in tops.

Describing a typical day’s worth of meals, Christina said she will now have an oat protein shake with fruit for breakfast, high-protein wraps with falafel for lunch and a mixture of proteins and vegetables for dinner.

She said: “For me, it’s diet and exercise – I’m on a food plan so I meal-prep and it’s all calorie counted.

“I do weight training five days a week with two rest days, I do 30 minutes on the Stairmaster as my cardio and I get between 10,000 to 12,000 steps every day.”

Christina’s mental health has also improved, she’s now friends with the boxers and bodybuilders from her gym, she wears clothes she never used to and she reaches for fruit or rice cakes instead of unhealthy snacks.

She has also reduced her caffeine intake, said takeaways are “few and far between”, and she has stopped drinking alcohol – only having a drink once or twice a year.

Christina added: “I’ve repaired my relationship with food and I’ve fallen in love with exercise – I now know how to maintain this lifestyle in a healthy way.”

As a result of her mammoth weight loss, Christina has been left with excess skin, especially around her stomach and arms.

But she’s hoping to receive skin removal surgery in Dublin and her personal trainer has launched a GoFundMe page to help her reach the required costs at an estimated 10,000 euros (£8,819).

As the surgery is for cosmetic purposes, it’s not available on the public health system in Ireland.

Christina said: “It would mean so much to get the surgery because it’s the last thing that makes me self-conscious.

“It would make me feel beautiful again.”

To find out more, visit the GoFundMe page for Christina here.