SWNS_MADDIE_SMITH_SLIM_18

Collect photos of Maddie Smith after her weight loss. A teenager who tipped the scales at 15st aged just 13 dropped ten dress sizes after doctors told her she could DIE. Maddie Smith, now 19, has turned her life around and shed an impressive five stone after hearing she had developed dangerous fatty deposits around her liver usually seen in morbidly obese people many years older than her. See swns story SWTEEN. The teenager, who reckons relatives and friends made excuses for her large frame when she was so young, has urged other youngsters to take weight problems into their own hands. The harsh reality check forced Maddie to reassess her eating habits aged just 13, and she has now gone on to become a fitness instructor. Maddie decided to stop eating sugary treats, like Coca Cola and energy drinks – opting only for natural alternatives – but claims most of her weight loss happened before she ever hit the gym. Maddie, from Crawley, West Sussex, said: “I had always been chubby as a child. “But when I got to ten or 11, I began putting on a lot more weight. “At my biggest I was just under 15 stone.” At a large size 20, Maddie was rushed to hospital with suspected appendicitis, but was told her agony came from the fact that she had a fatty liver – which could prove fatal later in life.