A 36st woman who devoured a Chinese buffet three times a week has dropped the weight of two people – and boosted her sex life. Jasmine Varner, 31, says she’d always had a complicated relationship with food but it never bothered her that she was ‘fat’ growing up.
But when she was diagnosed with type two diabetes in June 2024, the 5ft 5in content creator knew she needed to turn her life around. By that point Jasmine, who tipped the scales at 35st 7lbs, feared she’d die in her sleep if she didn’t make a change.
In order to slim down, she was prescribed a weight loss injection and swapped her junk food diet to a low-carb, low-sugar and high-protein alternative. Before losing weight, size 9XL Jasmine admits she would scoff around 10,000 calories a day, skipping breakfast but bingeing on junk food late in the evening until the early hours.
In the year leading up to her diabetes scare she says she visited an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet three times a week and would eat five ‘heaped’ plates of food. One of her guilty pleasures was candy and she munched through 10 bags of sweets every week.
But after cutting out junk food and sugar from her diet, she was able to lose nearly 13st in 11 months, slimming down to 21 stone 12lbs by May 2025. After the initial weightloss, she went under the knife and had a single anastomosis duodeno-ileal bypass with sleeve gastrectomy [SADI-S].
SADI-S is weight loss surgery for severely obese people and combines a gastric sleeve procedure with an intestinal bypass, making a person’s stomach smaller so they eat less. Following her operation she lost a further 8.5st stone. She now weighs 13st 1lb and can fit into US XS or small tops.
Incredible before and after photos show her weight loss transformation. She says she loves her new body despite the 40lbs of loose skin she’s been left with.
The stay-at-home wife, of Lawton, Oklahoma in the US, claims losing weight has helped to ‘reverse’ her type two diabetes and also given her ‘more energy’ in the bedroom. She said: “It never bothered me that I was fat.
“I only started worrying about my weight in June 2024 when they [the doctor] told me I had type two diabetes. A family member of mine had died from diabetes aged 27 and I thought that if I carried on like this it might kill me. I didn’t want to die, I loved my life too much, I was about to turn 30. It didn’t keep me up at night but I did worry that if I went to bed, I would die in my sleep.
“I really was loading my plate with as much as I could. A triple serving of chips [crisps] would just be one sitting and then not even an hour later I would go and munch on a bag of candy and more chips.
“I would snack throughout the day. I would make easy things and I would binge on these all night until about 3am. It was a vicious cycle. I think back and no wonder I was the way I was. I always felt like I had to order the biggest thing on the menu.” At the Chinese buffet “food would literally be spilling off” her heaped plates. She added: “I can’t believe I could eat that much.”
In the future, Jasmine says she would consider getting her loose skin removed but hasn’t booked in for surgery yet. Since losing weight she and her husband Matthew, 31, have been able to experience lots of new ‘firsts’ in their relationships.
Earlier this year they went to a theme park where she went on a rollercoaster for the first time in 15 years as she can now fit in the seat. Her husband can now lift her up after losing weight, which he was never able to do before, and their love life now feels ‘different’ as she has more energy.
She said: “When Matthew and I first got together, I was around 300lbs and then I was 350lbs when we got married. He’s loved me ever since I was big, this has never been an issue for him, he is the best husband ever.
“I can do more things now since the weight loss, we get to experience some firsts together. I would say having sex is different now. We still did it [before my weight loss], but it’s different, I have more energy now.”
She admits she still struggles with her body image sometimes even though she has lost 21st as she still sees her previous figure in the mirror. Despite this she says she is ‘proud’ of her weight loss even if she has been left with 40lbs of loose skin.
Jasmine said: “Sometimes I feel like a different person and then sometimes I still see my 500lb self. Then I have to sit back and remind myself about how far I’ve come, body dysmorphia is very real.
“I do feel amazing where I’m at, I’m blessed that I was able to get to where I’m at now. When they say 30 is your second life, they really mean that. I changed my whole life around and feel like a different person.”
DIET BEFORE WEIGHT LOSS
Breakfast: Skipped.
Lunch: Triple serving of crisps as first sitting followed by many more sittings of junk food and sweets.
Dinner: Two chicken breasts, two cups [490 grams] of pasta, two cups of vegetables.
Snacks: Sweets, burritos, easy snacks to make, crips.
DIET AFTER WEIGHT LOSS
Breakfast: Protein coffee or two eggs, slice of toast, sausage, slice of cheese and one strawberry.
Lunch: Tuna, protein pretzels, nuts and cheese.
Dinner: Steak, asparagus and two tablespoons of pasta.
Snacks: Fruit, crisps or turkey stick.