Health

Teen Girl Bullied For Her Weight Loses 138 Pounds—Now She Looks Like A Movie Star

Published on October 18, 2025

There are countless reasons why someone might wish to reduce their body weight.

It can be for health reasons, to fit into a particular size of clothing, or just because being overweight is stigmatized in society.

For Australian youngster Josie Desgrand, it was Instagram. Josie hit the scales at 280 pounds at the age of 16, knowing that something had to give. She glanced through her Instagram feed, seeing slender, attractive models beaming back at her, and was constantly reminded of how other ladies looked, which made her unhappy with her body.

She had attempted diets in the past, but her inability to follow them led to a downward spiral of self-pity and overindulgence in junk food.

She finally came to the conclusion that it was time to assert herself.

Josie described her “Eureka!” moment to Bored Panda.

“I went into my room and stripped down to my underwear,” she said. Then she made a deal with herself. “No longer fat Josie.”

“I took pictures of myself at different angles, excited for my next weight loss journey. I used tape measure and wrote down my dimensions knowing I had a long way to go, but I wanted to track every change, no matter how small.”

Josie started by setting tiny goals for herself and monitoring her progress. The 16-year-old soon began to notice occasional alterations. She increased her water consumption and switched to a low-carb, no-sugar diet.

Through dieting alone, she was able to lose 198 pounds in addition to her father, who joined her weight-loss quest by losing weight himself.

At that point, she joined a gym to take things to the next level.

She said, “Working out at the gym gave me the extra push to reach my goal weight.”

Instagram turned became one of Josie’s biggest motivators rather than a source of jealousy and melancholy. She gained a following of people who wanted to witness her change as well as receive guidance and ideas.

“I shared my meals and progress on my Instagram account @nolongerfatjosie. My followers quickly grew, and each was more supportive than the last. ‘You look great!’ They wrote. ‘Mmm, do you have the recipe?’”

“With people from all around the world along for my journey, I never thought about quitting. Putting aside an hour each night, I responded to every person. Being in their position before, I now wanted to help as many people as I could. ‘Keep going,’ I would write back when someone thought they couldn’t do it anymore.”

The change

Josie now weighs about 138 pounds, which is less than half of what she weighed before. Josie has benefited from what started out as a diet but has since evolved into a lifestyle change.

Don’t trust us? Take a look at the images below: