Teenager Loses 130 Lbs For Prom After Being Bullied By Classmates

Jan 17, 2020

There's no denying the fact that kids can be incredibly cruel. Most of us have stories from our adolescent years about being the victim of painful bullying. Over the past decade, society has progressed and more schools have cracked down on bullying and mistreatment. However, we still have a long way to go when it comes to eliminating the problem entirely.

Many people erroneously think that bullying is "harmless" or just a part of life when you're a teenager. However, it's important to remember that bullying can lead to years of emotional wounds.

Meet 16-year-old Josephine Desgrand of Queensland, Australia. At her highest weight of 280 pounds, Josephine knew very clearly that she was obese and that her health was suffering due to her weight. Although Josephine already knew the reality of her situation, that didn't prevent her peers from reminding her about it and destroying her self-esteem, reports The Daily Mail.

While the impetus should always be on the bullies and not the victim to stop these scenarios, Josephine decided that she wasn't going to wait around for her tormentors to suddenly become good people. Instead, she decided to take matters into her own hands.

Josephine set out on a weight loss journey that would span the course of two life-changing years. She did not resort to surgery, pills or medical intervention, she writes on her website. Instead, she did things completely naturally.

At the beginning, Josephine sped along the weight loss process by cutting sugar and drastically lowering her carbohydrate intake. Although this helped to jumpstart Josephine's progress, she decided it was too limiting to be sustainable. Six months into her journey started to re-introduce natural sugars again, she told The Daily Mail.

After two years, Josephine was triumphant. She lost 139 pounds reported Bored Panda. She also showed up to prom confidently, saying "I will never forget the day I turned up wearing a figure-hugging size 8 dress, and people who had ignored me for years congratulated me," to News.com.au.

Today, Josephine is no longer an insecure high school student. Instead, she's a confident young  who runs a very popular Instagram account called @nolongerfatjosie. While Josephine might look like a model now, she's never forgotten who she used to be. While the images she posts on Instagram are stunning, the descriptions she posts alongside them are funny, touching and inspiring.

Josephine maintains that at no point during her weight loss journey did she hate herself. Instead, she always kept a positive mindset and chose to love herself regardless of where she currently was in her progress. Josephine credits her positive attitude for her staggering success.

"You are the greatest project you will ever get to work on. Take your time, create magic," the beautiful blonde recently posted to her followers. She reminded her admirers that taking care of themselves was the only way that they could ever truly reclaim their power and greatness.

Although her detractors might make a somewhat fair point, what matters at the end of the day is that Josephine is happy, confident and triumphant. Show this story to someone on a self-improvement journey to motivate and inspire them.

All photos were used with the explicit permission of Josephine Desgrand - you can visit her Instagram here @nolongerfatjosie