An Ohio man who lost an impressive 276 pounds experienced an unexpected side effect: being mistaken for a woman.
Joshua Hart, 23, was left with loose skin around his chest that creates the appearance he has breasts after slimming down from 427lbs to 151lbs in just over a year.
Losing weight too quickly means that the skin cannot shrink at the same rate as the fat cells, leaving loose, sagging skin that can only be removed by surgery or laser therapy.
At first, Mr Hart wasn’t bothered by people assuming he was a woman or transgender, but those confusions have affected his self-esteem and confidence as a new father.
Mr Hart said being compared to a woman or a trans woman has affected his self-esteem, reminding him of a childhood marked by bullying and severe anxiety.
Mr. Hart, now a father, underwent a drastic transformation over the course of about a year.
She underwent weight loss surgery to reduce the size of her stomach, which studies have shown is more effective than anti-obesity drugs such as Wegovy and Ozempic in maintaining weight long-term.
The surgery changed his life for the better and he finally found relief from his severe anxiety and the trauma of spending most of his life being bullied.
He was mistaken for a woman even before undergoing the life-changing procedure because of the excess tissue around his chest, which gave him the appearance of having breasts.
He has also been mistaken for a trans woman.
She said: “I always had long hair, I never had it short. I was always called a girl and it never affected me when I was fat, and I think it’s because I looked like a girl.
‘Except now that I look like what I am, a man, it’s almost offensive that people still say things to me like, ‘No, you’re not, you just took testosterone and transitioned.’
For Hart, being called a woman didn’t stop after his transformation. The mistake, he says, is offensive and reminds him of his childhood, marked by anxiety and bullying.
“People can clearly see that I’m not a child and it almost hurts more.”
Joshua Hart, who weighs 427 pounds, was constantly mistaken for a woman due to the excess fat around his chest, which gave him the appearance of breasts.
Even after losing 276 pounds with the help of bariatric surgery, Mr. Hart is still mistaken for a woman.
Growing up, constant bullying caused her so much anxiety that she dropped out of school, a decision she now deeply regrets.
At one point, when he was at his heaviest, 427 pounds, and at his lowest point psychologically, a full Wendy’s meal wasn’t enough to satisfy him.
Mr Hart said: “I was very unhappy about being overweight. I was very insecure and had a lot of social anxiety. I never went out. I was a child who had virtually no childhood.”
‘In high school I isolated myself and left myself out, and I didn’t really allow myself to make friends.’
Mr. Hart also used to have long hair and occasionally wear makeup, which made him look more feminine.
Since losing nearly 300 pounds, Mr. Hart has taken to social media to encourage viewers struggling to lose weight, while showcasing good news about young people losing weight to become healthier.
Still, Mr. Hart hopes to undergo a tummy tuck to remove excess skin around his abdomen and chest, a procedure that costs about $15,000.
Even after the operation, I would still have loose skin on my arms.
Excess skin can add unwanted pounds to the scale, which can be discouraging for people trying to lose weight in unhealthy ways.
People who have managed to lose 70 to 100 pounds or more have described operations in which doctors remove five to as many as 20 pounds of excess skin.