Woman looks unrecognisable after 6st weight loss she managed in months by ditching one popular staple

A 22-year-old lost an impressive six stone in only a matter of months by cutting out bread from her diet.

Ellie Crabtree, from Cumbria, fell into a trap of emotional eating after her father, Geoff, 59, was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer in July 2022.

She found herself frequently skipping breakfast and gorging loaves of bread and she gained five stone in just a year whilst caring for her father.

‘I saw food as a comfort and felt so ashamed and didn’t talk to anyone about it. We had bad news, and I would just eat more food,’ she said.

‘My biggest comfort food was bread. I could have easily have eaten half a loaf because that’s what gave me that comfort.

Ms Crabtree realised she needed to overhaul her diet after finding herself deeply unhappy with her appearance in one of the final photos taken with her father.

‘I thought if this is the last photo I have with him and I don’t even want to look at it, I need to make a change,’ she said.

After scattering her father’s ashes in September 2023, she started a calorie deficit to try and shift the weight.

For Ellie Crabtree, bread was her biggest comfort food, which she would binge on alongside chocolate and Chinese Takeaways

Ellie went on to win second place at the 2024 NABBA North West bodybuilding competition and placed for the British finals the week after, where she walked away with second place

Ellie said she was unable to look at the last photo she has with her dad, because she ‘hated the way [she] looked’. Pictured here with her father Geoff and mother Mandy

A calorie deficit involves consuming fewer calories than you burn through daily activities and bodily functions leading the body to burn fat instead.

Alongside her new protein rich diet—which consisted of oats, yoghurt, eggs, chicken, cottage cheese, salads, nut butters and fruit—Ms Crabtree also started exercising, determined to turn her father’s death into ‘something beautiful’.

‘I lost four stone and joined a gym local to me’, she said.

‘It was just from eating in a calorie deficit but I tried to educate myself on the scientific way of losing weight healthily’.

Then, in January 2024, Ms Crabtree committed herself to preparing for a bodybuilding competition to be held in May that year, dropping another two stone in the run up to the event, for a total of six stone lost.

But the strict exercise regime and meal plan soon took a toll on her mental health.

‘My whole life revolved around it at the time,’ she said.

‘I would get up and do my fasted cardio seven days a week. There were no off-plan days, it’s just the dedication to your goal and the preparation is what you prioritise’, she explained.

Ms Crabtree’s father was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer at just 59 years old

‘I didn’t go on holidays. I put my life on hold.’

While she placed second at the bodybuilding competition, and qualified for the British finals, the young athlete started to struggle with her body image, and the pressure of maintaining her ‘goal’ weight.

After placing second in this competition, Ms Crabtree realised that she hadn’t truly dealt with the grief and trauma that came with losing her father.

‘I thought after [the competition] it would all be rainbows and happiness as I’d worked for this goal, but I had a lot of healing to do’, she explained.

‘I’d been on such a journey and there was so much unresolved trauma from losing my dad. A few bingeing habits crept back up and I struggled with body dysmorphia.’

Ms Crabtree is now working as a weight loss coach for women and is also open about the hazards of becoming too thin.

‘You have to gain weight back and learn how to be healthy’, she said.

‘You can’t be competition weight forever. I’m 10st 5lb now and maintain that in a healthy way.’

Ellie lost 6st in just a matter of months following the dead of her father. She is now on a mission to help other women lose and maintain weight healthily

She now wants to raise awareness about the toll such extreme diets and exercise plans can put on women’s mental and physical health.

‘There should be more awareness for women not to just see [bodybuilding] as a glittery bikini’, she said.

‘I feel people should have healthy relationships with food before they do something like that.

‘It does have long lasting effects on your mental health, and I have struggled with that.

‘In my job as a fat loss coach, I work with women to better their mindset and habits for weight loss. I’m trying to make their fitness journey fun rather than it feeling like a punishment.’

Meanwhile, thousands have turned to so-called ‘skinny jabs’ like Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy as quick fixes to weight loss.

A parade of slimmed-down celebrities have fuelled concerns that the jabs are behind the return to the fat-phobic size zero trend—with A-listers including Sharon Osbourne and Oprah admitting to using the drug.

Ozempic and Wegovy contain the active ingredient semaglutide, which mimics glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)—a naturally occurring hormone released in the small intestine when eating.

Ellie helped care for her terminally ill father at home and gained 5st in just a year

The chemical signals to the brain when you are full and slows digestion. This keeps people feeling fuller for longer and dramatically reduces appetite.

It also slows the liver’s production of sugar, forcing the body to burn stored fat for energy.

Approximately half a million people in the UK now take GLP-1 drugs, with clinical trials showing they can help patients lose up to 20 per cent of their body weight. However, experts said users should be made aware of potential negative effects.

Doctors have warned that these weight-loss drugs could be harming your bones increasing the risk of fractures.

The Royal Osteoporosis Society recently expressed concern over research showing that up to 40 per cent of the weight people lose by using these jabs–comes from their vital muscle and bone mass.

This can have a significant impact of joint stability, raising the risk of osteoporosis—a condition that causes brittle bones.