INSIDE EDITION talks to the beauty queen who went from morbidly obese to a Miss America contestant. How did she do it?
With two-thirds of America over weight, the battle of the bulge is a national fight. INSIDE EDITION spoke with the newly-crowned Miss South Carolina, who's truly proven that she's won the war.
On the heels of her victory, Boyce underwent an incredible physical transformation and lost half her body weight!
The 22-year-old, who was once morbidly obese at 234 lbs, shed 112 lbs in a year. Now lean and leggy, it's hard to imagine that Boyce was once obese.
"I was always the chubby little girl with the pretty face," Boyce said of her childhood.
Growing up, Boyce says she was consumed by food.
Sitting with a box of pizza, she told INSIDE EDITION: "I would open this up and eat the entire thing by myself."
Boyce changed her lifestyle and made a promise to her dad. "She told me one day, 'I want to be Miss America, and I'm going to do it' " Mike Boyce said.
Boyce began eating healthily and exercising, alternating between running three miles a day and cycling. In just one year, she lost half of her body weight and dropped from a size 18 to a size 2.
At the Miss South Carolina pageant, her sculpted curves earned her first place in the swim suit competition.
"As soon as the crown touched my head, I knew that all of the hard work was definitely worth it, and that I would be a spokesperson for so many," Boyce said of her win.
So what's Boyce's secret?
"You don't have to go on this crazy diet, you don't have to have all this plastic surgery. You can do it on your own," Boyce said. "If I can do it anyone can do it."
