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Bree Boyce—aka Miss South Carolina, 2011—sounds wise beyond her 22 years when she talks about her weight-loss story. The now-trim Boyce says she began gaining weight at age seven and, by 17, weighted 234 pounds and was having knee problems.
It’s not every beauty queen who would admit to once being overweight. But Boyce doesn’t just acknowledge it—she’s made “healthy eating and fighting obesity” her pageant platform her 110-pound weight-loss a central part of that story.
The best part, though, is that Boyce isn’t just touting the kind of typical, low-cal “diet” plan one might expect. She tried capital-D Dieting throughout her life, and always gained back any weight. “I just didn’t take care of myself I wasn’t educated on what to eat and how to exercise,” Boyce told a local news station. A doctor told 17-year-old Boyce that her knees and joints couldn’t handle her excessive weight and she’d have even more problems in the future if she didn’t lose weight.
Boyce lost 65 pounds on an Atkins-type diet—and then gained it back. She decided to give up the diets and see a nutritionist, who teachers her to “reframe” what she ate and why. She learned to cook. She started exercising. Now she’s an avid runner who advocates eating more whole grains, fruits and vegetables; cooking for yourself, and cutting fast food.
Earlier this month, Boyce was crowned Miss South Carolina (where she took the fitness, i.e., swimsuit round). Want to like her even more? Her talent for the state pageant was singing “Tue Tu Piccola Iddio” from “Madame Butterfly.” She told a blog called SugarSlam “I think that, for me, being in pageants and my goal to become Miss America strikes people as strange because they have this whole thing with beauty pageant contestants. They have to be a certain size and a certain weight, you have to look a certain way, have plastic surgery, but I really want to show young girls and guys that you don’t have to be a double-zero.” And she does a Paula Dean impression.
Swimsuit photo via SugarSlam.com. Other photos via Facebook and tony gloster photography.
