EXCLUSIVEHow I dropped 58 kilos in just 18 months: Mum-of-three is now unrecognisable after years of weight battles and severe childhood bullying

When Kimmie Fox tipped the scales at 125kg she looked at herself in the mirror and only had one question running through her mind.

‘Who is this person?’

The mum-of-three, from Albury, Victoria, had struggled maintaining a healthy work-life balance for years and her weight fluctuated from a young age due to severe bullying at school.

The busy 30-year-old, who founded Bombshell Beauty Academy in 2019, had an awful relationship with food and by the time she was in her mid 20s she was consuming 3500 calories daily. The recommended amount sits between 1,600 to 2,400.

Every week she would gorge on KFC Zinger Burgers with cheese and chips, blocks of chocolate, bowls of risotto, biscuits, and ate huge portions of food.

‘I was so motivated to succeed in business, look after my kids and be a good wife that I completely left myself out of the equation,’ Kimmie told FEMAIL.

‘Food was my comfort. I would eat my feelings away if I was going through something.

Kimmie admits that the bullying she experienced growing up led to her reliance on food and embedded trauma.

‘I was severely bullied in high school, it wasn’t great. I was the kid who had no friends. I understand everyone’s childhood is different and hard at some point, because you are a kid, right?’ She said.

‘Kids can be really mean – but even though those experiences may have traumatised me, I’ve learned from them.’

Motivated by her desire to regain her pre-marriage self, she tried losing weight at the start of 2023 by exercising more and taking prescribed medication but nothing worked.

So, she took a more serious approach that led to a drastic 58kg weight loss and a slight 67kg frame.

The physical and mental toll of being overweight had become unbearable as Kimmie experienced chronic back pain, brain fog, and even tinnitus.

‘When I was overweight, I felt like I wasn’t doing the best for my kids because I always feared I was going to die of a heart attack at 35,’ she said.

Having tried losing weight herself with no results, she went to the doctor and sobbed during the appointment.

‘I said, “I’m so sad about who I am right now and I need to be better”,’ she recalled.

‘I had been to doctors before who would always said I’d be fine and to take Duromine (a weight loss supplement).’

Her doctor was supportive and recommended a surgeon for gastric sleeve surgery – which she deemed to be a ‘last resort’.

But that’s not all – she also had a $30,000 makeover.

Before having the life-changing surgery Kimmie decided to change her appearance in August 2023 and was tossing up between having breast implants or veneers, then decided on the latter.

It’s something she’s ‘always wanted to do’ and set her back $10,000, but she doesn’t regret it.

‘I feel so much happier and confident – they say money can’t buy happiness but really it does,’ Kimmie said.

For the last two years she’s had filler inserted into her lips and more recently had filler for her jawline and chin. In the last 12 months she’s spent around $6,000 on filler.

Every week she gets her lashes done for $100, brows for $85 and nails once a fortnight.

At the time Kimmie and her husband also decided to get a divorce and go their separate ways.

Before her surgery she dyed her hair back to her brunette roots before going one shade darker. She got a fringe too.

It wasn’t until September that she finally had the life-changing surgery due to the lengthy waiting period. The procedure itself reduced the size of her stomach.

The recovery was worse than she could’ve ever imagined.

‘The pain was worse than childbirth. I remember waking up and thinking, ‘What have I done?’ Kimmie recalled.

‘I went from comfort food to no food. Now food is my worst enemy. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

‘In the first 24 hours I tried to sleep away the stomach pain. The nurse helped me get up and walk around and it was the most pain I’ve ever felt, but I know I needed to push through. This is what I wanted.’

She was discharged from hospital after two days but the pain continued for six weeks. Kimmie was on a liquid diet for months then slowly upped the texture.

After 20 weeks she started to regain energy and felt a bit like herself again, though hadn’t shed much weight

‘Three months post-operation I took the kids to KFC for a treat and had a bite of my son’s Zinger Burger and was in so much pain because the bread expands in my stomach.

Even now 12 months on she still can’t eat bread because the pain is too intense.

Only in the last three months has she been able to drink fizzy drinks again – but only out of a can, not a bottle – because the gas is too intense for her stomach to handle.

It also takes hours to finish a meal, meaning she often eats the food cold, and can’t eat and drink at the same time.

From September to December she was still recovering but tried to increase her step count as much as possible and focused on nutrition, which helped her shed the first few kilos.

At the end of January she signed up to a gym and started going three to four times  a week doing both cardio and strength training, then noticed the weight start to drop.

‘I lost 15kg in three days and couldn’t believe it. At the start I went with friends who showed me how to use the equipment then I slowly started to build my confidence and went alone after three months,’ she said.

The drastic lifestyle change also means she saves hundreds of dollars on food every week. Prior she used to spend $700 every week to feed herself and the kids but now only spends $350.

Once a size 22, Kimmie now comfortably fits into size 8-10 clothes.

‘I often have people stop me in the street and tell me I am glowing. They don’t know my journey so it shows I really have transformed myself on both the inside and the outside. I’ve never felt so amazing,’ she said.

With her new body and newfound confidence, Kimmie is ready to embrace life on her own terms. She’s planning to undergo a $15,000 breast surgery in Thailand in a few weeks to complete her transformation journey.

‘For so long, I was just trying to survive as a mum, wife, and business owner. Now, it’s my time,’ Kimmie said.