A woman who dropped four dress sizes looks so unrecognisable strangers accused her of getting facial reconstruction.<br /><br />Chloe Boullé, 23, started to struggle with her weight and binge eating when she got her first job at a bakery as a teen.<br /><br />Growing up the family only had healthy food in the house so Chloe was “excited” by the choices “available” to her when she hit her teens.<br /><br />She spiralled into an unhealthy cycle of binge eating followed by a restrictive diet for four years and weighed 13st 12lbs and was a size 16 at her heaviest.<br /><br />Chloe finally realised her relationship with food and her body was unhealthy and threw out all the scales in her house and started intuitively eating - eating based on hunger cues - in May 2023.<br /><br />Now a healthier 10st 3lbs and a slender size eight, Chloe says she looks so "unrecognisable" strangers accuse of her of getting facial reconstruction.<br /><br />Chloe, a content creator and part-time child care support worker, from Brisbane, Australia, said: "People from high school bump into me and no one knows who I am when I say hello.<br /><br />"I remember my grandmother saying 'you're just unrecognisable Chloe'.<br /><br />"People online accused me of having facial reconstruction.<br /><br />"It never bothered me.<br /><br />"I feel strong now. <br /><br />"I absolutely love myself."<br /><br />Chloe grew up in a single parent household - believing food was scarce.<br /><br />She said: "Growing up we ate healthy as that was the most affordable.<br /><br />"Food was something to be desired.<br /><br />"I started working in a bakery and that was when I first started to binge.<br /><br />"It was so exciting. There was so much food available to me."<br /><br />Chloe filled up on pastries and pies and slowly the weight crept on. She reached 13st 12lbs at the age of 15.<br /><br />She said: "I didn't understand what was happening.<br /><br />"I didn't have much desire to look good."<br /><br />Chloe decided she wanted to lose weight when her 18th birthday approached but to do so she completely restricted her diet.<br /><br />She said: "My goal was to be as nauseous as possible from the gym that I wouldn't want dinner."<br /><br />Chloe managed to drop the weight but began a period of a "toxic cycle" of binge eating and restricting.<br /><br />She said: "I thought I would never escape.<br /><br />"I tried all the diets - Keto and fasting.<br /><br />"I'd be consistent for three to four weeks and then I'd snap back."<br /><br />Chloe reached breaking point when she realised she'd developed an eating disorder and needed to do something about her relationship with food.<br /><br />She said: "I was crying on my bathroom floor.<br /><br />"I thought 'I can't live my life this way.'"<br /><br />Chloe started to research eating intuitively and listened to her bodies cravings.<br /><br />She said: "I learnt to eat intuitively. <br /><br /> "I learnt to read my hunger cues.<br /><br />"I had such emotional ties to food."<br /><br />Although Chloe decided to throw all of her scales out and not weight herself she believes she sits around 10st 3lbs.<br /><br />She said: "I removed the scales from my house. I used to step on the scales every day and if I hadn't lost weight I'd feel I'd failed."<br /><br />Chloe said her family have seen a massive change in her physically and mentally and says her partner, Jovahn, 25, a cook, has been "so supportive".<br /><br />She said: "I don't view that person as me anymore."<br /><br />Chloe's face has changed dramatically since losing weight over the years - which she puts down the her lifestyle changes and Gua Sha - and alternative therapy to improve circulation using a massage tool.<br /><br />She also practices meditation and goes to a 5am reformer pilates class five to six times a week.<br /><br />Chloe said: "Exercise is now a celebration of what my body can do rather than a punishment.<br /><br />"I feel alive."<br /><br />Before weight: 13st 12lbs<br />Before size: 14/16<br /><br />Diet before<br />Breakfast: Three bowels of cereal / four pieces of Nutella toast<br />Lunch: Pie or sausage roll<br />Dinner: Takeaways such as taco bell <br /><br />Now weight: 10st 3lbs<br />Now size: 8<br /><br />Diet after <br />Breakfast: Protein oats with blueberries<br />Lunch: Salads with plant based chicken<br />Dinner: Taco bowl / vegetarian lasagne
