From anorexic to obese to healthy: Incredible photos chart woman’s extreme weight fluctuation
Doctors advised Brittany's parents to start planning her funeral
AMAZING snaps track a woman’s body transformation: from anorexic to obese to healthy.
After years of battling with her weight, Brittany Burgunder, 27, from California, has finally reached a healthy size.
As a young teen, Brittany felt isolated and battled with depression, anxiety and OCD.
In attempt to gain control back of her life, Brittany became obsessed with her weight.
She explained: “It all started at 13 but by 18 I was a member at three gyms and I would starve myself throughout the day…
"Before I knew it I was stuck, I excessively counted calories, only eating foods that came in a package, and over exercised.”
At the height of her anorexia, Brittany’s family began planning her funeral as she weighed in at a skeletal four stone.
Loving parents, Susan, 59, and Lee, 61, encouraged Brittany to attend college, believing that it would provide some relief from her disorder.
Brittany explained: "I would pace around my dorm room in the hope of burning extra calories and was eventually forced to leave as my health had deteriorated too quickly."
As her anorexia spiralled out of control, Brittany was admitted to hospital and forced to undergo a blood transfusion as she nearly suffered liver failure.
Miraculously, doctors were able to get Brittany back to a stable weight while she was in hospital.
Despite her incredible recovery, Brittany’s battle with food didn’t end, as she turned to binge eating as a form of comfort.
She explained: "At home I didn't know what to do with myself, so I started eating all of the foods that I had forbidden myself from eating for seven years.
"I started eating everything in the house, it felt amazing, but also scary because I didn't know how to stop…
"I could easily eat a dozen doughnuts and that was just a start, I would binge on pure junk food and wouldn't stop until I fell into a food coma.”
At one point, Brittany was consuming between 12,000 and 20,000 calories a day.
Staggeringly, in just 12 months, Brittany was classified as obese after gaining almost 12 stone.
Booking herself into a fat camp, she hoped to get her weight back on track.
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In the end, it was a change in her mental outlook on life that helped Brittany overcome her struggles with food.
She explained: “Looking back as I was so focused on my external appearance rather than on focusing on healing my mind…
"It took me years to realise that what I was doing to my body wasn't normal, but I eventually started to focus on the positives in my life.
"I focused on changing my eating habits and, after suffering for ten years, I am finally at a healthy weight."
Brittany now weighs in at a healthy 8st 9lbs
Now, weighing a healthy 8st 9lbs, Brittany has been accepted into California Polytechnic University, where she is studying psychology.
In hope of inspiring other people suffering with eating disorders, Brittany has written a book called Safety in Numbers: From 56 to 221 Pounds, My Battle with Eating Disorders.
Inspirational Brittany said: "I survived and I want to show others that they can too, I have all of this life experience that I want to share and even if I can help just one person it would all be worth it."