As the world’s fattest woman, Catrina Raiford weighed nearly 70 stone.
Bedbound for five years, she embarked on fake relationships, using photos of slimmer women to entice men on the Internet.
But now, the 40-year-old is looking for love on Tinder after shedding more than half of her body weight and hitting the gym .
Today, Catrina, who weighed 68-and-a-half stone just a few years ago, is a gym regular who advises other people on losing weight.
She has also joined the popular dating app, Tinder – and is dating people in the flesh.
There is a drawback, however, because when men discover how large she once was, all they want to talk about is how she managed to shed her bulk.
“They ask me for tips for their sisters, aunts, mums,” laughed Catrina, who no longer holds the title of the world’s fattest woman.
“Still, it’s amazing to think that a few years ago I couldn’t move and now I am dating.”
At one point Catrina was completely immobile and bed-bound.
Too large to move, she dubbed herself “the half-tonne woman.”
When she developed breathing difficulties and needed to be taken to hospital, the side of her home in Florida, US, had to be bulldozed to get her out.
Now, more than a year after first sharing her story, Catrina, who has since moved to Texas, has slimmed down even further to 28 stone.
She has lost an incredible 40 stone 7lbs in total.
Delighted by her progress, she plans to lose even more weight – and is eager to have 10-stone of sagging skin cut off.
She also wants her breasts reshaping – something surgeons will only do after her excess flab is removed.
“For the first time ever, at the end of December, I worked out for an hour in the gym,” Catrina said. “I took a video of it to inspire other people.”
More than 6,000 people watched the video of Catrina sweating, as she explained her workout.
Now, for four hours a week, she works out on the floor.
She also enjoys water aerobics.
“I love it,” she said. “It really gives me confidence.”
Emboldened by her achievements, three months ago Catrina, who left her job in customer services to focus fully on her weight loss, joined several dating sites, including Black People Meet and Tinder.
She has been on a number of dates, going to bars and restaurants, but has not yet found ‘the one.’
“I’ve had a lot of fun though,” she said. “I never thought I’d be dating.”
Now 40, Catrina’s weight peaked around 13 years ago.
But, after her house had to be bulldozed, in order to take her to hospital, she finally embarked on a strict diet – switching sugary snacks for small portions of lean meat, fruit and vegetables.
Catrina said: “I was in bed for so long that now I’ve lost the weight, I just want to be free.”
Her problems started years before her weight reached 70 stone.
Aged just 12, Catrina’s mum had to start making her daughter’s clothes because she had outgrown high street sizes.
By 14, she weighed 32 stone and was admitted to a psychiatric home for eight months, in a bid to tackle her overeating.
But she continued to pile on weight and, once back home, she spent her days eating and avoiding people.
Unable to move around easily, Catrina resigned from her telesales job and had to move back in with her mum.
For the next five years, she was bedbound. Her mum would bring her food and a cousin would empty her bed pan.
She would spend her time on the Internet, lying to men about her appearance and having ‘catfish’ relationships.
“It was the worst time of my life,” she confessed. “I just wanted to die. Each day I’d just eat and go online from morning to night.”
In December 2002, she started having breathing difficulties.
Desperate for medical help, emergency services were called.
After the wall was demolished to free her, mortified Catrina was taken to hospital on the back of a flatbed truck.
With the help of specialists, a calorie-restricted diet and very light exercise, she went onto to lose 21 stone naturally in three years.