Meet the First Little Person To Appear On 'Extreme Weight Loss'
The hit ABC reality docu-series Extreme Weight Loss is documenting the effort of a dedicated woman who wants to try and get healthy in an effort to better her life. However, this particular participant is unlike any in the show's past.
Sara, from Owensboro, Kentucky, has had a long struggle with both her weight and her height. Sara has hypochondroplasia, also known as short-limb dwarfism. Since she was little, she found herself the target of bullying due to her height. As she put on weight, the bullying worsened.
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"It was just really hard to be accepted," Sara reveals in the exclusive sneak peek at the emotional episode. "Even my own sister, she was all sweet when other people were around, but when it was just me and her, that's when she would dig at me, or make fun of me."
When Sara was 26 years old, all she wanted to do was run away from the world. She joined a convent in an effort to be a nun. But even then, she couldn't escape people's judgmental opinions.
"I was escaping the world to come to a place that I thought I would be accepted," Sara shared. "But the other sisters in the convent would nit-pick me about how I looked. Some of them were very critical. And I don't think I was given a lot of chances because of my height."
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Eventually, sick of not being accepted for who she was, Sara left the convent, but was still lost in her own world.
At 39 years old, Sara – who was 150 pounds overweight – reached out to celebrated trainer Chris Powell in an effort to shed her extra pounds and have the life she's always wanted. Chris and Sara are working together, and her road to transformation has been documented for this season of Extreme Weight Loss.
Check out Sara's moving attempt to change her health and her life when this episode of Extreme Weight Loss airs Tuesday, August 12, at 8 p.m. on ABC.
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