South Korean YouTuber Yang Soobin rose to fame in 2017 after videos of her quirky eating shows went viral on the Internet.

Mukbang YouTuber loses 44kg in 500 days

Known as a Mukbang YouTuber, Yang would host regular eating shows on her YouTube channel where she consumes large amounts of food to entertain her audience.

Mukbang, also known as an "eating show", is a genre that originated in South Korea before growing popular across the world.

Here's a video where she consumes an entire king crab and a large glass of Pepsi, garnering over 10 million views:

 

However, Yang's lifestyle also led to several health issues.

She shared a health report card from May 2019 where she was 131kg, with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 41.8 and 53.5 per cent body fat.

A healthy BMI should range between 18.5 – 24.9, while the ideal fat percentage for a woman in her twenties falls between 21-25 per cent.

That was the beginning of her transformation journey.

500 days later, Yang shared another report card, which showed that she had shed around 44kg.

Before and after

Here are some before-after photos Yang shared on her social media:

The classic side-profile shot:

Sharing her weight-loss journey

In a video uploaded in March 2020, Yang said that she had been on a diet for 10 months.

In a more recent update on Sep. 10, 2020, Yang has lost a whopping 44kg in 500 days.

Yang also took to Facebook to document her 500-day journey, and how she had suffered from obesity from a young age.

The YouTuber said that she had tried all sorts of diet plans since she was in primary school, and even tried surgical methods such as the adjustable gastric band surgery.

However, due to her "lack of will and crazy appetite", that failed to work as well.

She began going to the gym in May 2019, and engaged a personal trainer who helped her to stay on track.

Within her first month, she managed to lose 9kg, and continued training from there.

Giving up unhealthy habits

In her post, she mentioned that she had a long-term obsession with late-night delivery food, and had a hard time giving that up.

However, she managed to quit that by cooking healthier versions for herself.

She still continues to regularly upload Mukbang videos, featuring high-calorie "cheat day" food such as fried chicken, pork ribs and instant noodles.

She mentioned in one of her YouTube videos that she was unable to give up food, but would eat smaller portions and work out to make up for it.

Mental health improved along with her physical health

In one of her early vlogs about her weight-loss journey, she spoke about why she started working out.

"I love eating and hate moving, I hated exercising and I felt like my body was too heavy. At first I thought it was because I aged, but it was because I gained so much weight," Yang said.

While it took a lot of tears and effort, she managed to bring her weight down to a double-digit in January 2020, an emotional moment for her.

Thanks to her transformed lifestyle, she also felt much healthier. Yang mentioned in her Facebook post that she used to suffer from constant migraines and menstrual cramps, but those stopped soon after she changed her diet and began exercising more.

"My mental health was also getting healthier with my body. I was able to love me more, and really understood what self esteem was, and I can say I became very healthy emotionally," Yang wrote.

She shared words of encouragement for those who have been struggling with their diet plans, reminding them to prioritise their health over quick weight loss:

"I know that losing weight is a big part of your diet. But prioritizing your health will equal to weight loss. It's not that you lack in willpower, but that your heart is in a hurry. So don’t carry out difficult meal/ workout plans, change your way of thinking by changing the little things step-by-step and to think that you are carrying out this healthy habit forever."

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Top image via Yang Soobin/Facebook