A woman who spent £6,000 (AUD$13,000) on surgery to shed over 9 stone in weight has opened up about losing her jealous friendship group after getting her ‘dream’ body. 

Emma Roma Jayne, 24, who lives in the Sunshine Coast, Australia, grew up ‘super fit and healthy’ and had an active childhood and would often play a lot of netball. 

However, things quickly changed when she tore her ACL ligament in her knee while at school, which meant she had to avoid any strenuous physical exercise for a year.

The injury coincided with Emma getting bullied at her New Zealand high school, causing her weight to spiral out of control.

By the time she hit her early twenties, she tipped the scales at 131kg (20st 6lbs) and would constantly try to hide her body. 

Her shattered confidence came to a head when she refused to leave the car on a family beach trip because she was so ashamed of her appearance. 

Her mother then suggested getting weight loss surgery, as she had been through it herself with impressive results in 2019.

After shelling out almost £10,000 ($13,000), Emma went on to lose a whopping 50kg (7st 8lbs) in the first year after going under the knife in 2022 for bariatric surgery, which works by making the stomach smaller so people feel fuller quicker.

By the time she hit her early twenties, Emma tipped the scales at 131kg (20st 6lbs) and would constantly try to hide her body

After shelling out almost £10,000 ($13,000), Emma went on to lose a whopping 50kg (7st 8lbs) in the first year after going under the knife in 2022 for bariatric surgery

Emma said her jealous friends refused to take pictures with her and made passive aggressive comments about her style 

However, Emma never expected that she would end up being alienated and pushed out by some of her closest childhood friends, who were jealous of her new svelte physique. 

She told FEMAIL: ‘The people I was surrounded myself with didn’t align with where I was going. That was reflected in their reaction to me losing weight. 

‘You hope your friends are friends with you because you’ve got a mutual respect for each other. 

‘But when I lost the majority of my weight and I was feeling a long more confident, I was wearing the outfits I had always dreamed of wearing and taking more photos of myself. 

‘A lot of the friends that I had, because I think they were going through problems with their own weight, were a little bit jealous. I didn’t make them feel good about themselves anymore.’

Emma is familiar with the feeling of envy, as she too had some resentment when her mother first started dropping dress sizes.

‘I was like “That’s not fair, that’s cheating!” In hindsight that was just my own insecurities projecting out.’ 

The PR relationship manager said that she would often go out to drink with her old pals but since adopting a healthier lifestyle, she tried encouraging them to partake in more sober activities, such as hiking or grabbing coffee and going for a stroll. 

But they weren’t interested – leaving Emma to do many of these activities alone.

Emma’s breaking point was when refused to get out of a car on a family trip because she felt so insecure (before weight loss) 

Despite Emma losing around 50kg (7st 8lbs) in the first year of getting the surgery, she found that her jealous friends would never acknowledge her new slender frame

She even tried going along on their nights out, instead ordering non-alcoholic beverages but she added they ‘didn’t like that at all’.

Despite Emma losing around 50kg (7st 8lbs) in the first year of getting the surgery, she found that her jealous friends would never acknowledge her new slender frame. 

‘I’d see them every week or weekend and they wouldn’t remark on how I looked. There were huge physical changes,’ she said. 

‘It was only when we would see someone I hadn’t seen in a couple of months who would say “You look amazing” that my friends would say “I don’t even notice it, she still looks the same.” 

‘It felt degrading for them to disregard my weight loss.’

Some of Emma’s friends also refused to take photos with her and made comments about the new outfits she had been excited to wear.

Previously, due to her weight, Emma had limited control over her style and what she could wear because of what was available in her size. 

When the pounds started falling off, she took the opportunity to try different clothes – but it was often met with passive aggressive comments from her old friendship group. 

These would include: ‘You look very dark and emo.’ Or: ‘That outfit is very random’.  

Emma added: ‘It made me feel quite alone. It was almost like it would have been more convenient for everyone else if I was bigger and made everyone else feel a lot better about themselves at 131kg because I’m not a threat.

‘It was a bit of a shock to me.’

Emma has also noticed a shift in how she is treated by other members of the public, adding that she felt ‘invisible’ for years in her curvier frame.

‘People are a lot nicer now. They will stop and chat to me on the street or in the supermarket. One thing I find bizarre is how often I get given things for free. 

‘In a cafe, someone might offer me a free coffee. People seem to be a lot more generous. That is something I had never experienced before.’

But these changes haven’t always been positive. Emma said that she has also been catcalled for the first time in her life since shedding the weight. 

Emma has enjoyed trying out different styles on her new figure since dropping dress sizes 

‘It’s part of being a woman that I hadn’t experienced until I lost weight,’ she said. 

‘As I had gotten used to being unseen by other people, I was taken aback because I was thinking “surely they’re not talking about me?” But they were.’

Emma now works out around five to six days per week and follows a high protein, low carb diet to keep the weight off.

She enjoys encompassing a mixture of Pilates and strength training into her routine and says she and her active boyfriend will often go on runs together on weekends.

Before her surgery, Emma would often visit a food court near work for lunch, eating rich dishes such as ramen and sushi five days a week. But now she cooks most of her meals and going to restaurants or out for drinks is rare. 

She’s now dating and her British boyfriend, who is a strength and conditioning coach, loves ‘everything’ about her and helps her feel more confident.

‘Things that I have been insecure about for my entire life are the things he loves the most about me,’ she gushed. 

Emma said her life has changed so much since shedding the weight and that the surgery was ‘1,000 per cent worth it’. 

She added: ‘I would pay that over and over again if I knew the experience I was going to have and what my life would look like now.’

Her advice to people who want to slim down is to start the process with the goal of getting a little better each day, rather than putting pressure on yourself to meet unrealistic goals too quickly. 

She said: ‘It’s not this big daunting thing, it’s very simple if you just stick to it and work on yourself internally and the rest will follow.’