A New Zealand mother, Claire Burt, once found herself weighing in at 170 kilograms, nearly eating herself into a health crisis. Her remarkable journey to shedding more than half her weight has since transformed her life.

At the age of 28, Claire was gripped by a severe binge eating disorder that kept her confined within her home, ashamed of her appearance. The simplest tasks became daunting; tying her shoelaces proved impossible, compelling her to wear sandals throughout the year. Even a short walk to her house, perched on a small hill, left her gasping for air.

Claire’s eating habits spiraled into frequent indulgence in excessive meals. She recounted consuming up to 50 chicken nuggets and two large pizzas in a single sitting, repeating this pattern three or four times daily. These extreme eating episodes often left her in a daze, unable to recall devouring the food, only to discover crumbs on her cheek as evidence of her binge.

In her own words to FEMAIL, she shared, “Sometimes I would black out and wouldn’t remember eating anything, then would find crumbs on my cheek. But every time I would get up and just eat more food.”

‘Sometimes I would black out and wouldn’t remember eating anything, then would find crumbs on my cheek,’ she told FEMAIL.

‘But every time I would get up and just eat more food.’ 

The now 31-year-old likened the crippling binge eating disorder to ‘an addiction’.

Desperate to cure herself, Claire made the decision to have gastric sleeve surgery..

Claire Burt, from New Zealand , developed a crippling binge eating disorder at 28 and refused to leave the house because of how she looked

It got to a point where she would eat 50 chicken nuggets and two large pizzas in one sitting then binge eat another three times a day

Now she’s a happy, healthy mum (pictured today)

On April 28, 2020, she went under the knife and had 80 per cent of her stomach removed which meant she could no longer consume giant meals. 

In just over 12 months she lost a staggering 92kg. She then became a mum to her daughter Lulu and is pregnant again.

‘I wasn’t living before – I was just existing. I wouldn’t leave the house because I was too embarrassed to go out in public,’ she said.

‘I spent my days in bed or eating food.

‘I lived in this bubble. I only trusted my close circle of friends and family to visit me. It was a vicious cycle because the more you gain, the more depressed your mindset becomes so you eat more and it continues from there.’

At her heaviest weight, Claire could barely do simple daily tasks.

‘It got to the point where I could barely pull my underwear up or do things myself. I had lost all hope.’

Claire was relentlessly bullied throughout high school, which eventually triggered her eating disorders.

‘I was taller than the average child so I struggled with bullying. I went from having bulimia to anorexia, and then binge eating,’ she said.

‘I was suffering from eating disorders at both ends of the spectrum. Binge eating disorder was the most destructive.’

Claire said she was suicidal over her binge eating and weight gain, and said the surgery was her ‘saviour’.

Following the procedure she suffered from a ‘rare’ complication and almost died as her body was rejecting the operation and her stomach had twisted.

‘I wasn’t living before – I was just existing. I wouldn’t leave the house because I was too embarrassed to go out in public,’ she said

At her heaviest she was suicidal and said weight loss surgery was her ‘saviour’ as it changed the course of her life

‘I couldn’t keep anything down, not even water. I don’t have much memory of it but I had to go to hospital. Then I was on liquids for six weeks,’ she said.

After recovering she was able to mend her broken relationship with food and start a new life.

‘I started running and going outside, I was socialising and learnt how to love myself. I basically started living life at 28,’ Claire said.

‘But it makes me sad that I feel like I lost a lot of my 20s.’

Claire shed the kilos by running, drastically reducing her food intake, cutting out fast food and eating fruits and vegetables.

‘I never ate any healthy food before, but now I love it,’ she said.

Claire recognises that there’s ‘no such thing as good foods or bad foods’ and doesn’t count calories because she doesn’t want to fixate too much on what she’s consuming.

‘I did it all by myself. I started with my runs, didn’t was to focus myself on strict diet, and had everything in moderation,’ she said.

‘I no longer had a voice in my head that would obsess over food and tell me to eat. It went from being a constant voice to silence. It was amazing.’

Her meals are now ‘super basic’, and include fish, chicken and vegetables.

‘Sometimes I have to remind myself that I have lost the weight and that I’m not the big girl that I used to be,’ she said.

By sharing her extraordinary story, Claire – who documents her inspirational weight loss journey on her Instagram page called Life of A Binge Eater – said she wanted to break the stigma surrounding weight loss surgery.

Now the proud mum to daughter Lulu is expecting a son with her partner Charlie 

She met her partner Charlie in 2022 and the pair will soon welcome their second child later this year.

‘When I was 170kg I was told I would never be able to conceive. It was so heartbreaking because I always wanted to be a mum. Now having Lulu and another baby on the way is incredible,’ Claire said.

If she could, she would tell her younger self to ‘not give up hope’ and that ‘the world is going to be a bright place for you’.

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