Publications
It’s not supposed to be like this. You’re fat, then you become thin and your whole life is better – everyone knows that. So what went wrong for Mandy Roux?
She lost 70 kg but longs to be back in her fat body. “Then I was stylish but now I look frumpy,” says this Roodepoort mom. “Who’d have thought I’d be more self-conscious after my weight loss than I’d been in my size 46 dress?
“For the first time in my life I hate looking in the mirror. When I was fat my body was at least in proportion and things looked firmer. Now I shudder at the sight of my body. I look like a dried-out prune.”
She lost her self-confidence along with the 70 kg, Mandy (38) says. She has a poor self-image and her marriage suffers because of it.
“The whole world tells you to lose weight; it’s a multibillion-rand industry. But no one tells you about the consequences.”
The consequences are hidden under her clothes – loose, wrinkled skin; stretchmarks and shrunken breasts. Under her make-up are wrinkles that weren’t there before.
Thanks to her successful diet the past few years have been the unhappiest of Mandy’s life. Now it’s her mission to warn other women about the hidden danger of losing weight.
“People don’t realise you can ruin your life and struggle with your emotions. Your weight can become a dangerous obsession,” Mandy says.
Read more of Gloria Edwards’ interview with Mandy in YOU 7 February 2013.
