No Longer Fat Josie: How a Queensland teenager lost half her body weight and transformed her life

Josephine Desgrand had wanted to lose weight for a long time – but when the 17-year-old, known on social media as No Longer Fat Josie, read an article about sugar, something finally clicked.

"Sugar is bad," she tells 9Honey simply. At least, it was for her.

Josie explains that she decided not to focus on highly restrictive diets or intense boot-camp workouts – eliminating sugar (immediately and totally) turned out to be the reset button she needed, taking her from 120kg down to 60kg.

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The teenager from Hervey Bay, Queensland, tells 9Honey that from there, it became far easier to stay mindful about the rest of her food intake.

"I read nutrition labels and information, and started cutting out foods [that weren't healthy]," she says. "I started eating chicken and salads and healthier foods."

The first two weeks were the hardest  – particularly when it came to cutting out fruit, which had always been a welcome reward in previous diets.

"Sugar is like and addiction, and I loved sweets and stuff," she says. "It was really difficult."

But then it got a lot better. Josie says she lost most of the weight in the first six months.

"I started seeing results straight away ... It was pretty fast," she says. "Sticking to a healthy diet is the main thing," 

She tells 9Honey that her best motivation technique was looking at transformation photos: not just her own, but other people's.

"I followed a lot of weight loss pages that showed other people's transformations. I'd look at them and go, 'That's going to be me. I've just got to keep it going.'"

The little transformations she started to see in her own shots helped her keep momentum up, and reassured her on tough days that all of her work was actually getting her somewhere.

Somehow during all of this, Josie was finding time to complete her final year of school, balancing exams and assignments with her growing social media platform, where she shares healthy recipes and inspirational photos.

"It was quite stressful, but at the same time I loved it," she says. "I just love sharing everything with everyone."

After taking some time to work and travel, Josie wants to combine her passions: study something relating to nutrition, and turn her social media side-hustle into a full-time project.

An interesting side-effect of the whole experience, she says, has been seeing people who once bullied her about her weight and appearance become fans.

"They look at me now and even the people that brought me down, that were quite mean to me, have been messaging and following me."

"They weren't like that to me before," she adds. "Anything's possible. Just don't let people bring you down about it."

"I had the most incredible night," she said.

"It was amazing having that – everyone so proud and amazed at what I'd achieved."

That night, a friend told her that her project had inspired her friend's own health kick, that Josie's healthy and achievable approach to losing weight had made it feel doable for her.

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"It made me feel so good," Josie says.

"If you really want something that bad, you can get it – if you do the work and put your mind to it."