DESPERATELY tugging at the dress, Kira Allen could feel the heat rise in her cheeks as she realised the reality of the situation.
She was trapped in the wedding dress and she wouldn’t be able to get out of it alone.
But Kira wasn’t struggling with the buttons or needing a hand with an awkward bodice, it was that the dress was too tight for her large frame.
“It was so tight and the lady who was helping me try them on was mortified,” she says.
“I was sweating buckets and could barely breathe.
“As she was pulling at it, I could hear it ripping – it was awful.
“It took 20 minutes to get me out of it.”
Her size left her in pain and constantly embarrassed –but never more embarrassed than when she found herself stuck inside the dress at the bridal boutique .
“It was the second dress I tried on that day, and once I was in it, I knew it was stuck,” Kira, a charity worker from Birmingham, says.
“I remember coming back out of the changing room looking bright red, covered in sweat and crying.
“It was definitely one of the worst moments ever, I’ve never been so upset and embarrassed.”
It was a life-altering moment for the bride-to-be, seeing her embark on a weight loss journey that saw her drop nine stone, all without fat jabs.
At her heaviest Kira had tipped the scales at 19st 2lbs and wore a size 24/26, when she ordered junk food five times a week.
After being offered a gastric sleeve on the NHS following a health scare, she knew she had to change her lifestyle – and was determined to do it without help.
Kira, 28, says she always had an “unhealthy” relationship with food, often going to it for comfort, leading to her weight to balloon.
She adds: “I never exercised, hated walking and wouldn’t even go up the stairs unless I really needed to.
“I could eat a whole pack of Oreos in one sitting and family bags of crisps were easy to demolish for me.
“I’d have four or five takeaways a week, sometimes two in one day.
“I was easily spending £100 plus per week on it.
“I hated myself for getting so unhealthy.
“My knees hurt and I was [only] 25 years old.
“I couldn’t stand for more than an hour because my back would be in bits.
“I hated looking in the mirror and clothes shopping was literal hell.”
Kira, who is now 9st 11lbs and can fit into a size 8, can recall a time she cried her way through a trip to Alton Towers with her partner when she discovered she was too big for most of the rides.
She says: “I was deeply unhappy with how I looked and used food to cope.
“I came across as happy and would always joke about being the fat one, but it was all fake.”
Kira’s turning point came in March 2021 after losing three grandparents in just two months and facing a scary health check.
When doctors offered her a gastric sleeve on the NHS, she realised just how serious her weight had become and decided it was time to take control.
Before losing weight, I couldn’t fit in a bath, couldn’t fit in towels or cross my legs
Kira Allen
She says: ‘I just thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m that big they’ve just offered me the sleeve.’
“Another thing was my son was almost two and I was struggling to keep up with him and it terrified me.
“I felt like I was letting him down.”
Determined to try and shift the weight herself first, in March 2021 Kira started calorie counting on an app and saw results straight away, losing 9lbs in her first week.
By the time she married her husband David Allen, 37, on July 24th 2022 she had lost four stone.
She adds: “The wedding dress I bought was a size 16 and it was way too small when I bought so being able to fit in it was amazing and I had to have it taken in.
“I was so much more comfortable and felt a lot more confident and didn’t have any back pain all day even being on my feet for the majority of it.
“I was over the moon at being able to lose a bit before I got married.”
Spurred on, over the next two years, she dropped another two stone without setting foot in a gym.
Later, she added walks to drop her son at school and in 2024 joined a gym, where she made her own workout plan to keep the weight coming off losing a further three stone.
She said: “I now feel amazing.
“I’d been fat my whole life – genuinely since nursery I’ve always been the bigger girl.
“I can’t even explain the joy.
KIRA'S DIET BEFORE AND AFTER
Kira’s diet before weight loss:
Breakfast: Nothing
Lunch: Takeaway fish and chips
Snack: Cakes, crisps, chocolate
Dinner: Chinese or Indian takeaway -a huge portion of curry or pasta with seconds followed by homemade cake
Kira’s diet now:
Breakfast: No breakfast
Lunch: Ham bagel/chicken and rice salad/yoghurt bowl
Snack: Fruit, one bag of crisps instead of five, a few squares of chocolate
Dinner: Homemade chicken or prawn curry with rice/steak with veg, salad and potatoes/tuna and jacket potatoes
“I am so unbelievably proud of myself.
“I’ve even been able to do a skydive and raised more than £1,000 for the deaf community charity I work for.
“Before losing weight, I couldn’t fit in a bath, couldn’t fit in towels, couldn’t cross my legs, couldn’t sit on high chairs in bars – the list is endless, and it’s silly things people don’t think about.”
Kira says she is proud to have lost the weight on her own without surgery or injections, though she has since had a tummy tuck and arm lift to remove loose skin.
She says: “I’m proud I’ve done it without the help of surgeries or jabs because I’ve proved to myself I could do it alone. I was scared of the side-effects.
“I didn’t need the extra help, and I’m glad I didn’t because I’ve fixed my relationship with food by doing it this way.
“Anyone who uses the jabs or surgeries as aids to weight loss – fair play to them.
“Weight loss is so, so hard, and I understand why so many people use them, but for me, I just didn’t want to.
I did this all alone and without surgery or injections – it is doable
Kira Allen
“I didn’t care how long it took, but I was going to do it myself. It was hard, but it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”
She still allows herself the odd treat, including a weekly takeaway, but says moderation is the key to maintaining her new figure.
Kira advises: “[You can] still have the things you love, but in moderation.
“I tracked my calories and I know that doesn’t work for everyone.
“You have to find what works for you.
“I did this all alone and without surgery or injections – it is doable.”
Her weight loss has even allowed her to become a better mum.
She says: “I can easily keep up with my six-year-old now. He’s non-stop and loves being outside.
“I can go on rides with him, go to the park with him, climb, run around and carry him on my back.
“Bike rides, walks, swimming – honestly, the list is endless.
“He’s always been an active lad and I’m so happy I’m not missing out on anything anymore due to my size and health.”
