A tragic car accident completely changed the course of a woman's life.
Alice Cutler, 26, piled on the pounds after a crash left her immobile and took her mother's life. She was just 18 when she was involved in a head-on collision near Wimborne, Dorset, in 2015.
The accident, caused by a drug-driver, not only fractured her spine but also left her orphaned as her father had passed away from cancer a few years earlier.
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After these tragic events, Alice moved in with her aunt and uncle and began comfort eating, leading to significant weight gain. However, cruel comments about her size as she started her law career prompted her to make a change.
The solicitor, who tipped the scales at 16-stone due to emotional eating after her mum's death, has transformed herself into a beauty queen.
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Alice altered her diet, increased her exercise, and joined Slimming World, managing to lose an impressive five stone over a year. Now weighing 10st 12lbs, Alice is a successful commercial property solicitor and a Miss England semi-finalist.
The Southampton-based lass shared: "Following the death of my mother I began emotional eating and comfort eating and began putting on weight. I moved in with my auntie and uncle, and my auntie was a chef who would do all these home-cooked meals, which were lovely but very high in fat...
"I was having lots of pies and stews. I have a sweet tooth too and she would always make these desserts like treacle tart and banoffee pie. I was snacking on junk food quite a lot too. Things like chocolates, biscuits, sweets and cakes. I couldn't get enough of them."
"Following the death of my mother I began emotional eating and comfort eating and began putting on weight. Because I fractured my spine in the crash, I wasn't doing much exercise at all so it was culminative effect of not being very active as well."
Alice added. "I was probably having around 3,000-4,000 calories a day and it got to the point where I knew it had to change. I was applying to law firms for training schemes and I'd already been on one where people were quite mean to me for not being in the best of shape. I was excluded from a lot of social stuff and I knew I didn't want that to happen once I got into my new career."
Alice said she began to reduce her portion sizes, balanced out her meals and introduced more fruit and vegetables. She also joined Slimming World for a while too.
Now she has oats for breakfast, or fruit and poached eggs and then snacks on fruit and yoghurt. She then eat tuna pasta or jacket potatoes for lunch. Her dinners are now usually home cooked curries, chilies or spaghetti bolognese with as much veg as she can sneak into them.
"I got down to around 10 stone, and although I've gone back up slightly now to 12 stone, I've managed to maintain a weight I'm happy with," she said. "I now go to the gym twice a week and run three times a week. I'm working towards doing a half marathon for the Miss England competition. I'm in a much better place physically and emotionally.
"It's that time of year where people start thinking about losing weight and I'd just say do it, as you feel so much better for it."
Alice said she refused to let losing her parents stand in the way of her living her life and made a bucket list of things she wanted to do, including entering Miss England. And she was left stunned when she was picked by judges as wildcard entry for this year's semi-final competition, which will be held in April.
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She added: "To be honest I've had an overwhelming life. I was nine when my dad died of cancer, my gran died the year after, and then my mum was killed in a road traffic accident in 2015.
"I've had an awful lot of loss in my family. I was living with my mum and brother. When my mum was killed I had to move in with my aunt who was my dad's sister. My life sounds like something you'd hear on a soap drama - but one that you wouldn't believe.
"Dealing with the loss of a parent, especially a final parent, is hard. I think it's important to do what I can where I can to help. Life is short. I thought 'I'm alive, I would love to do some good'.
"I had a bucket list of things to do and Miss England was on there. So I applied and now they have fast-tracked me to the semi-final. My mum absolutely inspired me to do this. At Miss Hampshire, I was asked who my role model was, I said my mum. She was my absolute hero.
"I haven't done any modelling or any catwalking. I'm nervous but I'm quite excited. I'm going in to have fun and do your best. It should be a fun experience, I'm excited to see."
* This article was crafted with the help of an AI tool, which speeds up Daily Star's editorial research. An editor reviewed this content before it was published. You can report any errors to starletters@dailystar.co.uk
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