Fitness blogger admits her ex's fat-shaming helped her drop the weight

We’ve heard countless tales of the effect fat-shaming has on women, men and even children, but for fitness blogger Britney Vest, it was the final push she needed to lose weight.

Already weighing 250 lbs at the age of 23, Vest describes how it was actually an ex that convinced her it was time to make a change in her life.

“I honestly hate to even write this out and I hate to say that this is what broke me down and made me finally finally realize I had a problem, but here it is – I’m going to say it,” she writes in a blog post describing her weight loss journey.

“i was visiting my then boyfriend and we were talking about what to eat while driving back to his house, and he looked at me and said he was tired of being overweight and he thought I had also recently put on some extra weight. I was so upset, he was the one person in my life who never had a problem with my weight. He never mentioned it and he always said I was beautiful and now he was saying what my parents and grandparents and society had been saying all along. I was furious, i was confused, and i was sad.”

Having struggled with weight her entire life, hearing that she needed to lose weight from her boyfriend struck a cord. While his comments marked the end of the relationship, she admits that it was the kick that prompted the beginning of her weight loss story.

“I went back home and was upset for a while and then one morning I literally woke up and said that enough was enough. Just. Like. That.”

Six years later, Vest has completely transformed her life, inspiring others with her story through her blog FittyBritttty and sharing recipes, workouts, tips and tricks for staying healthy and in shape.

While Vest is aware that the driving force behind her finally dropping the weight was something many would view as negative, she’s thankful that it resulted in a positive.

“I know that people really don’t believe me sometimes when I say that but it honestly just finally clicked. My mind decided, OK I’m ready to do this. I didn’t think any more about what would happen or how long it would take or how painful and exhausting it would be. I didn’t think about it at all, I just did it.”