'I weighed 25 stone at my heaviest, had bariatric surgery and am now in a beauty pageant'
The national final brings together women who have had weight-loss surgery, with contestants taking part in interview, swimwear, fun fashion and eveningwear rounds
A Sheffield woman who has lost around 10 stone following bariatric surgery is preparing to represent South Yorkshire at the Miss Bariatric National Finals.
Annalisa Toccara-Jones, aged 39, is Ms Bariatric South Yorkshire 2026 and will represent the region at the national final on September 26.
Miss Bariatric is a UK pageant for women who have undergone bariatric surgery. The national final brings together women who have had weight-loss surgery, with contestants taking part in interview, swimwear, fun fashion and eveningwear rounds.
Annalisa travelled to Turkey for gastric sleeve surgery in October 2024, after reaching 25 stone. She has since lost around 10 stone.
She is an adult adoptee and is completing a PhD in Journalism Studies at the University of Sheffield.
Her research looks at how adoption is represented in the media and how adult adoptees use social media to tell their own stories.
She said: “I've become more aware of how being separated from your birth family can affect you, and what that loss can mean over the course of your life.
“Being adopted doesn't mean that the experience of separation is automatically resolved. You can grow up in a loving family and still experience loss around your birth family, your identity and things you didn't have a choice in when you were very young.
“I think grief can be complicated for adoptees because some of those losses happen before you are old enough to understand them. As you get older, you can understand your adoption differently and things can come up that you didn't have the words for when you were younger.
“For me, that has made me think about how those experiences have affected the way I cope, including my relationship with food. I don't think you can say adoption causes someone to gain weight. But I do think we need to talk more about the possible connections between early separation, loss, trauma and the ways people learn to cope.
“Food became one of the ways I coped, and that's something I've struggled with for a long time.”
Taking part in a pageant would have been difficult for Annalisa to imagine a few years ago. She is now preparing to stand on stage at the national final.
“I never thought I'd enter a pageant. If you'd told me that a couple of years ago, I wouldn't have believed you.”