{"id":146,"date":"2025-07-14T11:23:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T11:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/146\/"},"modified":"2025-07-14T11:23:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T11:23:04","slug":"school-bullies-called-me-whale-so-i-lost-half-my-bodyweight-using-a-simple-at-home-method-that-cost-nothing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/146\/","title":{"rendered":"School bullies called me ‘whale’ – so I lost HALF my bodyweight using a simple at-home method that cost nothing"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 16-stone law student who was branded a ‘whale’ by school bullies says she dropped from a size 18 to a tiny size six by using a simple at-home method.<\/p>\n

Jessica Turner, 20, shed an incredible 8st 3lb after deciding she had had enough of taunting by cruel fellow pupils.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Though admitting she was always ‘chubby’, Jessica said she piled on the pounds after turning to junk food for comfort whilst at school.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This, combined with no exercise, saw the 5ft 3in student from Caterham, Surrey eventually tip the scales at 16st 5lb and balloon to a size 18.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jessica says she was picked on by classmates for her weight, with some branding her ‘too slow’ when walking up stairs, while others dubbed her a ‘whale’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So when the Covid lockdown<\/a> hit in 2020, Jessica decided to take things into her own hands.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The then-15-year-old began doing daily at-home YouTube workouts by watching videos from fitness influencers Joe Wicks and Chloe Ting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She also cut out junk food from her diet – instead focusing on eating enough protein.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Jessica <\/p>\n

Jessica Turner, 20, shed an incredible 8st 3lb after deciding she had had enough of taunting by cruel fellow pupils<\/p>\n

\"Now <\/p>\n

Now a size six, weighing 8st 2lbs and a successful fitness influencer herself, Jessica says she’s had the last laugh\u2014as cruel lads who tormented her at school now slide into her Instagram DMs but don’t get any reply<\/p>\n

Now a size six, weighing 8st 2lbs and a successful fitness influencer herself, Jessica says she’s had the last laugh\u2014as cruel lads who tormented her at school now slide into her Instagram DMs but don’t get any reply.<\/p>\n

‘Throughout my life I had been quite a chubby girl and struggled with my weight so until that point I didn’t know what it felt like to feel confident in my body,’ said Jessica.<\/p>\n

‘I looked at food as a source of comfort. I had very low self-esteem so I didn’t like going out very much.<\/p>\n

‘I looked in the mirror and never really felt beautiful.<\/p>\n

‘Covid hit and everything shut down and I thought “I’ve got an opportunity to better myself and I have a lot of time on my hands”.<\/p>\n

‘It started with home workouts on YouTube and I started learning lots about nutrition, I watched Joe Wicks and Chloe Ting.<\/p>\n

‘Once it started, I fell in love with the process and once you start seeing results it gets easier.<\/p>\n

‘I was 105kg [16st 5lbs], so my health was on the line.<\/p>\n

\"Previously, <\/p>\n

Previously, Jessica would regularly eat calorie-laden foods including pizza. But now the trim influencer prioritises eating high-protein diet with minimal junk food, but urges people aiming to lose weight to not be ‘scared’ of eating<\/p>\n

\"Jessica <\/p>\n

Jessica said: ‘You can do anything, it’s a case of being willing to take that plunge and accept you need change.’<\/p>\n

‘I was bigger than my mum and most people in my family. I felt so miserable in myself that I didn’t really care what I was eating.’<\/p>\n

Not only did the weight affect University of Exeter student Jessica’s health, but also her social life.<\/p>\n

Jessica said: ‘[At school] people would make comments like I was walking up the stairs ‘too slowly’, I had someone call me a whale before.<\/p>\n

‘They would laugh at me. I never felt like anybody found me attractive and people would pick on me in class because I was a bigger girl.<\/p>\n

‘A lot of boys I found as well will only respect girls that they find attractive<\/p>\n

‘My old classmates follow me on Instagram now, which feels a bit weird – almost scary – because they never really paid me any attention before.<\/p>\n

‘Then you have guys trying to speak to me [on Instagram] and I’m like ‘no, I still remember what you did’.<\/p>\n

‘I never really got any male attention before uni.<\/p>\n

‘I haven’t had any long-term relationships but I’m very career oriented so I’m prioritising that.<\/p>\n

‘My confidence has definitely increased physically and mentally. If I hadn’t gone through my weight-loss journey, I wouldn’t be at a Russell group uni and I wouldn’t be studying law.<\/p>\n

‘People 100% treat me differently, even on the street.<\/p>\n

‘When you’re a bigger girl people don’t respect you as much. I never had someone hold the door open for me, but as a girl now I get that all the time.’<\/p>\n

Previously, Jessica would regularly eat calorie-laden foods including pizza.<\/p>\n

But now the trim influencer prioritises eating high-protein diet with minimal junk food – but urges people aiming to lose weight to not be ‘scared’ of eating.<\/p>\n

Jessica said: ‘You can do anything, it’s a case of being willing to take that plunge and accept you need change.<\/p>\n

‘I looked a lot smaller but I had loose skin on my arms and legs, my inner thighs in particular.<\/p>\n

‘Only when I started weightlifting did I start to tone up and build muscle. I haven’t looked back since.<\/p>\n

‘A typical day of eating would be cereal in the morning, at school it would be pizza or a muffin, then after school I’d probably go to the bakery down the road, and then at dinner it would be normal home-cooked food like a pasta bake.<\/p>\n

‘I used to eat lots of cakes and chocolate because it would give me short-time gratification.<\/p>\n

‘I had veg but after school I would do a little Tesco shop and get a bag of sweets and chocolates.<\/p>\n

‘Now I make sure I eat at least five fruits and veg every day, I have a protein goal I hit every day I eat over the government-recommended amount which is 2,000 calories a day.<\/p>\n

‘You don’t have to be scared of eating, you can achieve your goals without starving yourself. I focus on balanced meals, which will fuel my workouts.<\/p>\n

‘I want to share my journey not just to celebrate how far I’ve come, but to inspire others – to show that no matter where you start, it’s possible to rise, grow, and achieve what once felt out of reach. If I can do it, so can you.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 16-stone law student who was branded a ‘whale’ by school bullies says she dropped from a size…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[97,59,102,133,56,54,55,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-146","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-joe-wicks","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom","15":"tag-youtube"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}