KEY POINTS:
Karen Mullin gets angry sometimes when she goes into a clothing store and is treated nicely. She still remembers how the same people treated her when she was fat.
Mrs Mullin, a 40-year-old accident claims team leader in Hamilton, was overweight from the time she was a toddler until she slimmed with Weight Watchers from 115.7kg to 63kg in 18 months in 2002-2003. She weighed in this week at 59.6kg.
"I do get treated differently now. In a way, that makes me angry because I'm still the same person," she says.
"I get quite upset when people that I know would have treated me differently when I was overweight."
Big from the age of 2, she has been dieting for as long as she can remember.
"I remember joining a thing called the Daisy Club when I was very young. We used to get little daisies for every bit we lost," she says.
She lost 30kg just before she married in 1991, and lost 20kg a few years later, but both times put it on again - and more - before she finally reduced permanently.
Far from the stereotype of the happy fat person, she was desperately unhappy.
"I know it sounds quite tragic, and of course life wasn't all bad, I had some great times," she says.
"But I almost felt like I was trapped in the wrong body. I feel like me now."
She was teased at school.
"I didn't have friends. I was never picked for the teams at school. I was never asked to dance," she says.
"People treat you differently and treat you almost cruelly because you are overweight, so it's devastating for a younger person. You tend to develop an armour in relation to comments and things, you laugh it off. But you don't really."
People would yell "fatty" at her from passing cars or in the street.
"I bumped into people and they said: 'Get out of the way, fatso!'
"The hardest thing for me was people looking at you. There was a look in people's eyes. It was almost a pity, or a disgust. You can see the way they are looking at you, they are looking at you and thinking you are revolting."
She loved good clothes and makeup, but hated going into fashion stores.
"Going into shops to buy clothes, I would be ignored," she says. "But now I'm not, and that makes me mad sometimes. I go into the same shop and they serve me when they never used to come near me.
"You can't always blame everyone else. I think you exude a different aura when you feel bad about yourself. I think probably you have a look on your face when you are feeling bad about yourself.
"I used to be uncomfortable. Nothing would fit. I tried to get into the car and the steering wheel was pressing on my stomach. Physically and emotionally it was a struggle.
"Now I wake up and go for a walk. I think I look good. I feel good and I feel healthy. So I think I give off a different aura. I probably have my head up high, I'm probably smiling."
Although her mother was a diabetic when she was born, Mrs Mullin believes her weight problem was mainly due to her environment, not genetics. "Going out in the public eye, knowing people are going to be looking at you because you are so big, you just want to stay home," she says.
"And of course if you stay home, you eat, and that just compounds it and you are just in this vicious cycle."
It has taken her half a lifetime, but in the end she has broken the cycle through sheer determination. She gets up before 6am to walk for half an hour every morning, cooks her own healthy meals instead of eating takeaways, and has trained herself to say "I'm full, thanks" instead of eating everything in front of her.
After years of taking three blood pressure pills a day, her blood pressure is down to normal.
Weight Watchers also helped her to deal with her emotions. When she was upset, she used to eat.
"Now if I'm upset, I address that. I don't eat."
"When I went out to dinner, all I used to think about was what I was going to eat and what was on the dessert menu," she says.
"Now it's 'I can't wait to catch up with this person, what are we going to talk about?' I do enjoy food but it's not about everything I do."
