Emilie Heeks, 26, stunned wedding guests who barely recognized her after dropping nearly half her body weight for her big day.
The Worcestershire, England make-up artist weighed 17st 12lbs (about 240 lbs) at her heaviest, wearing XXL t-shirts and hiding from social events as her mental health crumbled. After boyfriend Ollie, 25, proposed at the end of 2024, she set her sights on the “wedding dress of her dreams” and joined UK weight loss group Slimming World in January last year.
She refused weight-loss injections or diet pills, instead overhauling her lifestyle from the ground up. “I wanted to lose the weight on my own, without injections or pills,” she said. “I knew I had to change my lifestyle and there was no quick fix.”
Her old habits had been relentless. “I’d often skip breakfast but grab a bacon roll and a coffee on my way to work and then have a chicken bake with chips for lunch,” she recalled. “Dinners would often be a Chinese takeaway or pizzas or curries and I used to drink full-fat Coke,” She added that her mindset had sunk so low she figured she “might as well have the most calorific thing on the menu.”
The weight had piled on over years, worsening after she was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease. “I have always struggled with my weight and I got to the point where I thought I was so big,” she said.
By October last year, just nine months after starting Slimming World, Emilie hit her target of 9st 12lbs (127 lbs) and a UK size eight. She kept it off through her wedding to Ollie in May.
The physical change was so dramatic that friends and family did double-takes. “People were amazed at my transformation and did comment that they hardly recognised me which was amazing to hear,” she said. “When my family and friends saw me, some of them said they didn’t recognise me.” She described her wedding day as “just amazing,” adding that she “had so much confidence” and calling it “definitely one of the best days of my life.”
Ollie’s pride became a recurring theme in her account. “Since losing the weight, Ollie is so proud of me and it has changed our lives,” she said. The couple, who met in 2016 when his rugby-fueled appetite matched her own, now spend weekends walking and hiking together. “We go walking together now at weekends and I’m much more up for socialising when before I’d hide away,” she explained.
Exercise entered her life unexpectedly around the five-stone mark. “I’d never been into exercise but when I lost five stone I started running and now go three or four times a week,” she said, noting she now covers up to 20km weekly around her local streets. Her kitchen habits flipped too: “I still enjoy my favourite foods but I now cook healthy versions of them and all from scratch.”
Looking back at her wedding photographs, she said, “I can hardly believe the change in my appearance. It was the perfect motivation.” The entire experience shifted something deeper. “I am not afraid of my weight loss journey anymore and I want to shout it from the rooftops.”