{"id":111869,"date":"2025-09-01T13:08:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T13:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/111869\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T13:08:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T13:08:10","slug":"i-lost-38-stone-using-a-bodybuilders-diet-of-butter-and-eggs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/111869\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I lost 38 stone using a bodybuilder’s diet of butter and eggs’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Danni, 37, switched to the ‘lion’s diet’ last OctoberNeil Shaw<\/a> Assistant Editor (Money and Lifestyle)<\/p>\n

07:37, 01 Sep 2025<\/p>\n

\"DanniDanni shopping in her wheelchair<\/p>\n

A woman who feels she has been \u201cborn again\u201d after losing more than 38 stone with a \u201clion\u2019s diet\u201d is fundraising for loose skin removal surgeries to help her find love. Danni Pryor, 37, from Milton Keynes, standing 5ft (154cm), has always struggled with her weight \u2013 she was a size 28 and weighed 26st when she underwent weight loss surgery, aged 22.<\/p>\n

Due to complications afterwards, however, Danni said she reached her heaviest weight of 49st 6lbs (314kg), with family members \u201cpainfully\u201d commenting: \u201cYou must be liquidising Mars bars.\u201d In 2023, Danni started the keto diet but later switched to a \u201clion\u2019s diet\u201d, primarily consisting of meat, butter and eggs, after being inspired by nurse and bodybuilder Eddie Abbew in October 2024.<\/p>\n

Weighing 10st 8lbs (67kg) currently, she now eats one steak-based meal a day and walks regularly with her St Bernard dog, Diablo \u2013 but says the excess skin on her abdomen, arms and thighs causes daily discomfort, as well as affecting her confidence and dating prospects.<\/p>\n

\"DanniDanni and her granddad<\/p>\n

Recently, her personal assistant, Florence, encouraged her to set up a GoFundMe page to raise the \u00a314,000 needed for surgery \u2013 something Danni hopes will help her start her own business, run a marathon, find love and potentially even become a mother. \u201cWhen I tried some new clothes on recently, all I could see was my loose skin, my thighs underneath,\u201d Danni told PA Real Life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was horrendous, quite frankly. It\u2019s frustrating when you put in so much hard work but you\u2019re still not where you want to be. Every day is a challenge to get dressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Danni said she never realised she was \u201cthe fat kid\u201d at school, but she believes large portions growing up and regular takeaways contributed to her size. \u201cMy mum didn\u2019t think the portions the dietitian recommended were big enough, and weekends at my dad\u2019s involved takeaways and pub visits,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"DanniDanni and her dog, Diablo, when she was suffering with sleep apnea<\/p>\n

She said her father would often order Chinese food and take her to an Indian buffet on a Sunday. Her mother would feed her Lidl<\/a> cottage pies, which she said cost \u00a31 for four at the time, as well as chicken nuggets and chips. She said her mother did make home-cooked meals, such as chilli and bolognese sauce, but Danni feels the meat was low-quality and the portions were too big.<\/p>\n

She said her parents fed her with the best intentions but lacked the right guidance \u2013 and she was referred to a dietitian aged five as she weighed more than 5st aged three. At secondary school, Danni said she began to feel different from her peers, weighing more than 13st aged 13.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was getting bullied, and I had to stand up for myself \u2013 luckily I had the weight behind me to be able to do that,\u201d she said. At 15, she said she was asked to leave home and was placed in the care system. Danni said she had \u201cemotional eating problems\u201d that she tried to control through dieting.<\/p>\n

\"DanniDanni shopping in her wheelchair<\/p>\n

She would binge on chocolate and takeaways and said it did not help that she lived above a kebab shop. Danni\u2019s emotional eating took her to 32st, and she said one of her ex-partners was her full-time carer. She had a commode in her bedroom and a bidet wash facility in the bathroom, as well as a stand-up bed to help her get up.<\/p>\n

It took her two hours to shower with the help of a carer in a wet room. \u201cIt was a very difficult, lonely time in my life,\u201d said Danni.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just had enough at one point but I\u2019m not really sure when. I thought, I deserve a good life and the only way I\u2019m going to get that is if I start loving myself \u2013 then maybe other people will put time and effort into me.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she began to \u201csort her own life out\u201d with the help of doctors and social services. One of the first significant steps was pursuing gastric bypass surgery in her 20s, which she hoped would help her address her weight issues.<\/p>\n

\"DanniDanni has lost 38 stone in tota<\/p>\n

In 2010, aged 22, she said she had a gastric bypass through the NHS<\/a> at Luton Hospital. Danni said she prepared for her gastric bypass surgery by following a liquid diet, as well as daily swimming, to drop from a size 42 and 29st 6lbs to a size 28 and 26st to be eligible for the procedure.<\/p>\n

After the surgery, Danni managed to shrink to a size 16 \u2013 but she said complications followed after her blood glucose and haemoglobin levels dropped. \u201cI got gallstones, and then malnutrition resulted in hair loss, brittle nails, sleepless nights and inflammation,\u201d Danni said.<\/p>\n

She said she had to have blood transfusions and was told that she had to be hospitalised due to low iron levels. \u201cI ended up in a wheelchair, on strong medications and using a social care-funded bariatric bed,\u201d she said. This led her to regain weight after the gastric bypass surgery, getting up to her heaviest weight of 49st 6lbs (314kg).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was emotionally painful because my family would say, \u2018You must be liquidising Mars bars\u2019,\u201d she said. \u201cI think there\u2019s a huge misunderstanding that you gorge yourself to get in that way.<\/p>\n

\"Danni'sDanni’s loose skin on her legs<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I was on a lot of strong medications for pain relief that didn\u2019t make me get out of bed for days, which meant I was an inactive person \u2013 it wasn\u2019t all diet related.\u201d<\/p>\n

Danni decided to stop taking as many opioids to manage her chronic pain and began researching alternatives for sustainable weight loss. She discovered Eddie Abbew\u2019s Facebook<\/a> page in October 2024 and, inspired by his advice, she adopted a \u201clion\u2019s diet\u201d \u2013 eating steak cooked in butter with salt, eggs and cheese, and occasionally berries or mango to manage her sugar cravings.<\/p>\n

She said she typically eats once a day between 3.30pm and 5pm, drinks bone broth in the mornings and spends up to \u00a3100 a week on groceries to buy grass-fed beef and uncultured butter. She also began exercising while still using a wheelchair, going swimming five times a week with help from her mother and a Motability car fitted with a lift.<\/p>\n

She said she used ice packs to manage inflammation from exercise. \u201cI just decided that it was either staying in the wheelchair and being on benefits forever, or just getting on with it,\u201d Danni explained.<\/p>\n

\"DanniDanni is crowdfunding for surgery to remove excess skin<\/p>\n

Danni was driven to improve her dog\u2019s life too \u2013 he is now nine-and-a-half. \u201cI just wanted to give him a really good quality of life in the last few years,\u201d she said. Now weighing 10st 8lbs (67kg), Danni said she can mow her garden unaided \u2013 but loose skin still limits her mobility and self-esteem, and she also struggles with body dysmorphia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it gets hot, my legs and arms chafe together,\u201d she said. \u201cI have to wear bodycon stuff nearly every day. When I look in the mirror, I\u2019m not really sure that it\u2019s my body. It feels like my body is on somebody else\u2019s body.\u201d<\/p>\n

To address this, she is raising funds for a \u201clife-changing\u201d series of procedures, including abdominoplasty and arm and thigh lifts. Danni said she raised \u00a32,500 within just 30 minutes of the fundraising page going live, thanks to Eddie Abbew being the first to donate and share the campaign, with the total now standing at more than \u00a37,200.<\/p>\n

\"DanniDanni also struggles with body dysmorphia<\/p>\n

She will be travelling to Irmet Hospital International in Turkey on September 10 for the first series of procedures, which will cost \u00a36,200. These include a tummy tuck, a mons lift \u2013 a procedure to remove excess tissue and skin from the pubic area \u2013 a breast uplift and implants, as well as muscle repair and limited liposuction.<\/p>\n

However, through the GoFundMe page, Danni hopes to raise the additional funds to cover an extended arm lift and thigh lift, which would cost \u00a34,375, as well as the cost of her flights. While some have been unkind, posting comments such as, \u201cWhy support someone that got to the size of an elephant?\u201d, Danni said she has been \u201coverwhelmed\u201d by the support she has received.<\/p>\n

Now, her goal is to launch her own skincare business after starting to sell homemade body cream at local fairs, and she also dreams of one day running a marathon. Ultimately, she hopes to find love, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like someone tall, that loves my dog \u2013 just someone kind and genuine,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m being born again. I have no idea what my life holds, but I\u2019m ready, whatever life throws at me.\u201d<\/p>\n

To donate to Danni\u2019s fundraiser, visit: gofundme.com\/f\/dannis-journey-to-renewed-confidence<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Danni, 37, switched to the ‘lion’s diet’ last OctoberNeil Shaw Assistant Editor (Money and Lifestyle) 07:37, 01 Sep…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[39321,49,48,63232,2771,549,407,84,9842,10976,961,395,26294,963,63233,24704,26059,953],"class_list":{"0":"post-111869","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-bullying","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-cosmetic-surgery","12":"tag-diet","13":"tag-education","14":"tag-fitness","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-hospitals","17":"tag-love","18":"tag-nhs","19":"tag-nutrition","20":"tag-plastic-surgery","21":"tag-prescriptions","22":"tag-secondary-school","23":"tag-skincare","24":"tag-social-services","25":"tag-weight-loss"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}