72 kilos down: What it really means to lose so much weight

"Ruins"

Underestimated: The emotional consequences of weight loss

Normally, photos of a successful diet look like this: You see an overweight person in shapeless clothes - and then a completely new person, who shines slim, attractive and happy in the camera.

Is it really happy to get slim?

No, says American artist Julia Kozerski, who halved her weight in a long fight. And adds, "I think the most overlooked aspect of weight loss is the emotional one."

Julia Kozerski knows what she's talking about. After her wedding, she lost 72 pounds because she wanted to enjoy a long life with her husband. In her photo project Half shows her in brutally honest self-portraits, what others do not normally see: excess skin, stretch marks, tears, emptiness and the feeling of disappearing.

In pictures and words she reveals the effects of weight loss on her body and soul.

The Odyssey of Julia K.

"We all have at least one quality that makes us feel uncomfortable, something that makes us feel that we are not 'normal', and for me and countless others, one's own weight is an eternal source of such insecurity."

"Ruins No. 2"

"I weighed 153 kilos at the age of 25. With a BMI of 49.9, my body was literally half fat and I was classified as 'morbidly obese'."

"Self"

"In my childhood and adolescence, my weight caused depressive episodes due to physical and emotional problems, so long ago I wanted nothing more than to be physically different, believing that would make me happier."

"Shoulder"

"In December 2009, I decided to take my life into my own hands and embark on my own self-determined journey to a healthy life, with calorie counting, a focus on diet and portion sizes, and more exercise, slimming over 72 pounds."

"Whitewash"

"While I was convinced that my hard work and dedication would make me the 'perfect' person of my dreams, reality turned out to be the opposite, my experience contradicts what most media show, it's easy, the dramatic physical Celebrating and appreciating changes in such an undertaking, but under clothing and behind closed doors, a completely different reality exists. "

"Absolution"

"These photos are self-portraits, reflecting on my experience, addressing and exploring my physically and emotionally painful struggle with food, obsession, self-control, and self-image."