Girl, 9, Loses 66 Pounds After Hitting 186 on Scale (VIDEO)
A 9-year-old girl's weight loss story has become an inspiration to some, although other's have questioned the girl's parents and their lack of responsibility.
Breanna Bond faced trouble with her weight at an early age. When she first entered kindergarten, she weighed 100 pounds, according to reports. At nine years old, she had reached 186 pounds.
"Everybody at school would call me names," Breanna said during an interview with ABC News. "They would call me fatty, they would call me fat head."
Breanna's parents first turned to doctors, who conducted tests to asses the problem. But when test results showed that there was nothing wrong, the parents were forced to create a new plan. They put Breanna on a new diet that constricted her fat intake to 20 grams a day and began to take her on 4-mile walks following a trail near their house, according to ABC.
"There was nothing that stopped us," Heidi Bond, the girl's mother, said Monday on Good Morning America. "We went at night, in the rain, in the hail, in the fog, nothing. We had a zero-tolerance policy. We're doing the walk, no matter what."
In just under a year, Breanna has managed to lose nearly 65 pounds. She has also joined the basketball and swim team and uses a treadmill for an hour and a half a day.
For many, the story is an inspiration, including how involved Breanna's parents became in order to help their daughter. However some questioned the parent's initial role in the problem.
"How did she get so large in the first place? Was she not exercising? Eating too much? Wrong foods?" Richard asked on a Yahoo blog. "Her parents were part of the original problem."
But for Breanna it is a happy ending. "I can just move more," the girl told ABC. And her parents believe that she can make things easier for other children facing her dilemma.
"She is an inspiration to the world and all children who are having weight issues across America, that you can do it with a pair of tennis shoes and motivation," Dan Bond, the girl's father, said.
"Don't be afraid to do the tough love," he added.
