For some women, losing nine stone before their wedding would be a dream come true. But for Kristina Miles, this couldn't have been further from the truth.
The 23-year-old says that slimming has "destroyed" her sex life after she was left in tears by sagging skin that had to be tucked into her knickers on her big day.
Miles was 19-and-a-half stone before she started dieting. Now, despite being nine stone lighter, she says that she can't bear for her husband to see her naked.
Since her dramatic weight loss, the 23-year-old has been turned down for skin removal surgery on the NHS and fears her only option is to become fat again to save her marriage.
Kristina said: "I cannot stay like this. It's like being locked in a prison of skin.
"I just wanted to look good on my wedding day but dieting for my wedding has destroyed everything.
"I felt like I was hiding a big secret under my wedding dress. Everyone told me I looked lovely but they had no idea of the horror underneath.
"My husband was marrying a granny. The first year of our married life has been horrific. I want to feel normal again. Some days I wish I could cut it all off myself."
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Kristina, from Ipswich, Suffolk, shed the pounds in a bid to look good for her wedding to Ashley, who she met after splitting from the dad of her first child, Dylan.
She was spurred on to get slim after her first attempt to buy a wedding dress ended in disaster because nothing would fit. She said: "I took one into the changing rooms and I was puffing and panting trying to get it on.
"I was bright red, sweating and close to tears. In the end I just pulled it off and ran out of the shop."
After several successful weeks of dieting, her GP prescribed medication to boost her weight loss and soon she was shedding one stone per month. She went from a size 24 to a size 14.
But Kristina noticed that as more fat melted away, it left behind saggy skin.
On the big day, she was close to tears as she had to tuck the skin into her knickers.
She said: "I should have felt a million dollars because I had made it to a size 14. But I felt disgusting. I was hiding the body of a pensioner."
She smiled happily for photographs but says she was dreading the wedding night.
"It should have been such a special night but I felt too self-conscious to enjoy it. I felt sexier when I was fatter," said Miles.
"I felt like a freak but Ashley told me not to be daft."
After the wedding she saw her GP who agreed to refer her for an apronectomy to remove the loose skin on her stomach, but the referral was rejected.
Kristina said: "We don't have the money for private surgery. It would cost at least £10,000."
She admits that in her darkest moments she is tempted to start eating junk again to fill out the empty folds.
"It means I would have lost all the weight for nothing, but how can I live looking like this?" she said.
"I feel constantly sick with shame and anxiety."
