On a family trip in 2022, Emma Roma Jayne stayed in the car as everyone else went to the beach. The thought of being in shorts in public, and having the body she was so insecure about on display, made her feel viscerally uncomfortable.
Roma Jayne, a TikTok creator and influencer partnership manager based in Australia, had always struggled with her weight. She tried to eat healthily, trying different diets and exercising “all the time,” but she wasn’t losing weight.
After the beach trip, her mom told her enough was enough.
Emma Roma Jayne
“She was like, ‘This isn’t right. You’re 22. You should be enjoying your life and be able to go to the beach whenever you want and feel comfortable.’ She suggested that I should get weight loss surgery like she had,” Roma Jayne told Business Insider.
So, in 2023, Roma Jayne had bariatric surgery, and her relationship with food and her body has been totally different since.
“At first, I was very much like, ‘That’s cheating. You need to put in the hard work to lose weight.’ But I looked at weight loss surgery as a way that I could stop the food noise and then change my lifestyle, because I didn’t want to spend the next 10 years still struggling with the same issues,” she said.
She lost around 110 pounds in the year after the surgery. Now 24, she’s lost a further 22 pounds in the year since — and kept the weight off — having made huge lifestyle changes; she now works out six times a week and eats a high-protein, low-carb, balanced diet.
Emma Roma Jayne
While bariatric surgery is becoming less common, per one recent study, weight loss is booming as more people are prescribed drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro to lose weight.
Weight loss surgery “is the best decision I have ever made in my entire life,” Roma Jayne said. “It has transformed my life completely.”
Aside from the obvious, Roma Jayne has noticed seven unexpected changes after her weight loss.
People are more friendly
“There’s no beating around the bush, I was definitely treated differently when I was bigger,” Roma Jayne said. “People were just not as friendly, but they are so nice to me now.”
She said that people hold doors for her, greet her in the street, and strike up conversations with her now, whereas before she lost weight she felt “invisible.”
Her feet have gotten smaller
“One of the more random changes that I didn’t even know that was a thing is that my feet shrunk,” Roma Jayne said.
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She has four pairs of shoes, all in different sizes, which she bought as her feet got smaller as she lost weight.
Her feet are slimmer now, and she went from a US size 9 shoe to a 7.5.
A 2014 study published in the Turkish Journal of Surgery found that 80% of the 212 participants, who all underwent bariatric surgery, bought shoes at least one size smaller a year after the surgery. The researchers suggested this could be because of fat loss on the foot, as well as the arches getting higher once there is less weight pushing them down.
Her voice has changed
Roma Jayne also said that her voice has gotten higher and sounds more clear since her surgery.
There’s not much research on the impacts of weight loss on voice. A few small, limited studies have suggested that there could be minor changes to people’s voices after bariatric surgery, but the differences aren’t noticeable enough to hear.
Emma Roma Jayne
Her skin is clearer
Roma Jayne has previously struggled with acne, but found that her skin cleared up when she lost weight.
She said that she eats a low-carb diet and has cut out sugar. According to the American Academy of Dermatology Association, eating high-glycemic foods that raise your blood sugar quickly — such as white bread, potato chips, pastries, and white rice — is associated with acne.
Roma Jayne also has PCOS, of which acne is a symptom. The UK’s National Health Service said that weight loss can improve symptoms of PCOS.
Her tastes have changed
Roma Jayne used to hate avocados, and now loves them. She also used to eat a lot of fruit, but now eats far less fruit and far more vegetables.
A systematic review of research, published in the Nutrition Journal in 2023, found that across 26 studies, it seemed that weight gain and obesity could change people’s perception of tastes, and increase their preferences for sweetness. However, the authors said that these results weren’t conclusive and that more research needs to be done.
Emma Roma Jayne
She lost some friendships
When Roma Jayne lost weight, she said that she dealt with “a lot of jealousy and resentment from friends.”
“I realized that they were my friends when I was bigger because I made them feel better about themselves,” she said. “But now that I’m on my own journey and bettering myself and making these healthy changes, suddenly they had a problem with that.”
She’s more confident
“When I was bigger, I definitely used my size as a shield to protect myself from other people knowing the real me. Now that I feel so much more confident in myself and I have so much appreciation and love for myself,” Roma Jayne said.
“I’m the most confident version of myself that I’ve ever been, and I continue to get more and more confident every day.”
She said that surrounding herself with the right people has also improved her confidence.
