How much would it take for you to really change your lifestyle and take dieting and exercise seriously? I don't just mean making the occasional foray to the gym or a trip to the salad bar once a week - but really committing to it 100 per cent? That might take a big shock; something that would seriously scare you into shedding the pounds or gaining muscle. For former plus-size woman Dominique Montgomery, it took a dramatic near-death experience to convince her to lose weight.

She was so overweight that she almost drowned, due to being too large to rescue effectively. Dominique, who hails from Los Angeles, California, had struggled with her size since she was an adolescent - often binge eating to cope with feelings of anxiety and shame. She survived on a diet of fast food, milkshakes and soda, often compensating with fad diets that did little to help her. However, in 2015, everything changed.

Dominique was swimming at the beach with friends one day, and managed to paddle quite far out before the tide suddenly rose. Her friends managed to rescue themselves, but Dominique was stuck, because she was too heavy to climb up the nearby rocks to safety, and had to wait until the tide went out.

Commenting on the frightening incident, Dominique stated: "I was swimming around at the beach with some friends, feeling great, when all of a sudden, the tide got high. Everyone managed to push themselves out of the water onto some rocks, but I was stuck, because I wasn’t physically able to lift myself out. Everyone tried to help, but I was too heavy. I thought I was going to die and had no idea what to do. I was terrified."

She added: "I struggled with an eating disorder that most people don’t talk about – binge eating. I couldn’t control how much I ate. I’d eat past feeling full - like my mind had to be satisfied before I’d stop. Eventually, I stopped caring about how much I ate. As I was already so big, I thought nobody would notice if I ate more."

"I would eat at least 5,000 calories a day. Sometimes, I would eat large shakes for dessert that were about 1,000 calories by themselves. People stared wherever I went. I felt like a zoo animal,” she said. “Someone once even threw a burrito at me at a football game. My confidence was low. I felt very hopeless and began to irrationally blame every problem in my life on being big."

To that end, Dominique decided to shed some weight. She started building up her stamina by going on long walks. She then graduated to hikes and jogging, and ditched her diet of junk food in favour of health, home-cooked meals. As a result, she managed to drop 10 stone, but has been left with a lot of hanging excess skin, which she will need surgery to get rid of. Dominique is currently raising money to try to achieve this surgery, so if you'd like to help her out then please visit her GoFundMe page and donate generously.

 

How much would it take for you to really change your lifestyle and take dieting and exercise seriously? I don't just mean making the occasional foray to the gym or a trip to the salad bar once a week - but really committing to it 100 per cent? That might take a big shock; something that would seriously scare you into shedding the pounds or gaining muscle. For former plus-size woman Dominique Montgomery, it took a dramatic near-death experience to convince her to lose weight.

She was so overweight that she almost drowned, due to being too large to rescue effectively. Dominique, who hails from Los Angeles, California, had struggled with her size since she was an adolescent - often binge eating to cope with feelings of anxiety and shame. She survived on a diet of fast food, milkshakes and soda, often compensating with fad diets that did little to help her. However, in 2015, everything changed.

Dominique was swimming at the beach with friends one day, and managed to paddle quite far out before the tide suddenly rose. Her friends managed to rescue themselves, but Dominique was stuck, because she was too heavy to climb up the nearby rocks to safety, and had to wait until the tide went out.

Commenting on the frightening incident, Dominique stated: "I was swimming around at the beach with some friends, feeling great, when all of a sudden, the tide got high. Everyone managed to push themselves out of the water onto some rocks, but I was stuck, because I wasn’t physically able to lift myself out. Everyone tried to help, but I was too heavy. I thought I was going to die and had no idea what to do. I was terrified."

She added: "I struggled with an eating disorder that most people don’t talk about – binge eating. I couldn’t control how much I ate. I’d eat past feeling full - like my mind had to be satisfied before I’d stop. Eventually, I stopped caring about how much I ate. As I was already so big, I thought nobody would notice if I ate more."

"I would eat at least 5,000 calories a day. Sometimes, I would eat large shakes for dessert that were about 1,000 calories by themselves. People stared wherever I went. I felt like a zoo animal,” she said. “Someone once even threw a burrito at me at a football game. My confidence was low. I felt very hopeless and began to irrationally blame every problem in my life on being big."

To that end, Dominique decided to shed some weight. She started building up her stamina by going on long walks. She then graduated to hikes and jogging, and ditched her diet of junk food in favour of health, home-cooked meals. As a result, she managed to drop 10 stone, but has been left with a lot of hanging excess skin, which she will need surgery to get rid of. Dominique is currently raising money to try to achieve this surgery, so if you'd like to help her out then please visit her GoFundMe page and donate generously.