Losing the Weight Is Just Half the Battle on People-TLC’s ‘New Body, New Style’ Special (Video)

After struggling with their weight their whole lives, two women get the makeover of a lifetime from TLC and People magazine.

In a sneak peak of the upcoming special, “New Body, New Style,” Annabelle and Lori, women who’ve managed to shed half their weight, get a lesson in style from a beauty expert.

“At my peak, I was 240 pounds,” says 40-year-old Lori. “I got to the point where I wasn’t really leaving the house much.”

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Lori, who started gaining weight after the birth of her son, said she was using food as an emotional comfort. Finally, she started utilizing her work’s “get healthy” program and lost 120 pounds. Now, she doesn’t know how to dress her new body, relying on ill-fitting hand-me-downs.

“By the time I was 18 years-old, I was 328 pounds,” said Annabelle. “I honestly thought that my life had no value.”

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Thanks to a healthy diet and exercise, Annabelle managed to lose a whopping 140 pounds in a year. But now, she has a new problem.

“The dressing room is a terrifying thing,” said Annabelle. “You don’t really want to open that door and go in there.”

But, getting over years-long insecurities can be a tall order. When fashion and beauty expert, Mary Alice Stephenson, suggests Lori try a fitted dress, she encounters a bit of resistance.

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“You’ve worked so hard to have your body look this beautiful and you want to look plain,” Stephenson tells Lori.

When Annabelle starts crying, overwhelmed by the experience, Stephenson reassures her: “I’m not going to make you wear anything you don’t love.”

Both women are featured in People’s annual “Half Their Size” issue, which hits newsstands on Tuesday.

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You can watch the video here.

“New Body, New Style” airs Friday, Jan. 2 at 10 p.m. on TLC.

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