32st Pizza Chef Too Scared To Sleep

32st pizza chef who was too scared to sleep in case she stopped breathing cuts out carbs and loses 18 STONE in just one year

Ana Sirbu, a 28-year-old Romanian chef living in York, was too scared to sleep for fear of being smothered by her bulk. Spurred on by health fears, she has shed 18st (left) in a single year and says she has never felt better. Ms Sirbu has also given up her job as a pizza chef and is pursuing her dream job, which, she says will not include carb-heavy food or odd hours - both of which she blames for her 32st bulk.

         

•  Ana Sirbu, 28, from York, shed an impressive 18st in a single year
• She managed the feat by cutting carbs and signing up for counselling
• The former pizza chef now weighs a slimline 13st and is much healthier

Tipping the scales at 32st and living on a diet of pizza and chips but too scared to sleep in case she stopped breathing, 28-year-old Ana Sirbu knew she had to do something about her weight.

One year on, the Romanian former pizza chef, who lives in York, looks nothing like her heavyweight former self and is now a slim size 14, after embarking on a healthy diet and fitness regime.

'Before I lost the weight, I felt trapped in my own body,' she says. 'I couldn't be myself as I couldn't move or do anything I wanted to do. 

'But now I feel free. I feel like I can do absolutely anything I wasn't to do and I can be as active as I want.'

Ana's problems began five years ago, when a combination of lengthy shifts, a fondness for pizza and comfort eating resulted in slow but steady weight gain. 

Her habit of tucking into piles of carb-laden Italian food at 5am at the end of her shifts didn't help and before long, Ana realised that she was tipping the scales at a mighty 32st.

'The funny thing is, I wouldn't even say that I had an obsession with food or anything like that,' she explains.

'I simply ate the wrong things at the wrong time, for example at 5am in the morning when I got in from work before going to sleep, which is not healthy at all.'

Ana, who says she was 'normal-sized' as a child, was left unable to work out because her weight made it hard to breathe and even found doing daily chores difficult.

'My weight affected everything in my life,' she remembers. 'I couldn't do the housework; I couldn't even walk to the corner shop to buy a loaf of bread.

'I even got turned down for a job because of my size – the manager telling me that they couldn't have anyone working in their kitchen as big as me.' 

'I was so depressed and exhausted that I got to the point where I couldn't even leave the house,' she says. 'I think the most terrifying point of it all was struggling to breathe.

'At 32st, I couldn't sleep - so much so that my boyfriend would have to wake up in the middle of the night just to check that I was still alive. It was a really scary time for everyone.'

Finally, in a frenzy of fear for her health, Ana decided that the time had come to lose weight and enrolled on a slimming programme.

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Svelte: Now a slimline size 14, Ana says the world is her oyster and hopes to get her dream job soon.

Instead of tucking into heavy pizza and chips, she replaced normal eating with four specially formulated food packs per day and attended weekly counselling sessions.'

Her strict diet continued for a year and by the end, Ana had lost 18st.

Now eating normally - if more healthily - once more, Ana says that the combination of counselling and shedding the pounds has changed her life for the better.

'LighterLife was the programme that was right for me a the right time and I think this is by and large because of the counselling,' she explains.

'You have be motivated to do LighterLife but sitting with a group of people and a counsellor who really understands you and the way you are feeling is invaluable.'

Having totally transformed her appearance and her health, Ana says her weight loss has also had a huge impact on the people around her.

'I go jogging every day which I absolutely love - I can't believe that I struggled to even walk around my house before. I go bike riding and I absolutely love to dance.

'I don't think I could have done it without the support of my family,' she continues.

'My boyfriend was absolutely amazing. He loved me the way I was and was always supportive but my unhappiness made him unhappy and didn't allow us to lead the life we wanted to.

'Now when he looks at me I can see him just explode with happiness, he is so so proud of me.

'My mother was always very worried for my health as was the rest of my family. I promised my father that the next time he would see me that I would be a completely different person and I didn't let him down. 

'When I saw him last year after I had lost the weight – he just started crying. I was still his daughter, but a million times happier and healthier.'

Ana, who has since given up her role as a pizza chef, says that she is certain to find another now she is healthy once more.

'I needed to leave my job and make a new start,' she says. 'I feel so powerful and confident that the world is my oyster I can do absolutely anything that I want to do and will find the job of my dreams.'

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2848880/32st-pizza-chef-scared-sleep-case-stopped-breathing-cuts-carbs-loses-18-STONE-just-one-year.html#ixzz3KHwqEpck