A dancer who gained and lost a staggering 16 stone as she battled to stay slim has issued a stark warning to youngsters about the dangers of yo-yo dieting.

Jane Dillon, 31, from London, says her diet obsession destroyed her life and is sharing pictures that chart her ups and downs since she started slimming at just ten years old.

She claims that only now having given up diets for good after a 21-year struggle has she finally managed to stabilise her weight which fluctuated between nine and 18 stone.

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Jane Dillon, 31, from London, says her diet obsession destroyed her life and is sharing the pictures that chart her ups and downs since she started slimming at just ten years old. Jane aged 27 pictured at a size 8 weighing 9st 5lbs, left, and aged 24 and a size 22, right

Jane, pictured now at 11st, is sharing the pictures that chart her ups and downs - and she hopes it will be a powerful message for other young women

She’s been every size from an eight to an 22 and was horrified when thumbing through a family album realised she’d gained and lost 16 stone battling for the perfect body.

The light bulb moment came after another brutal exercise and diet regime saw her gain weight because her metabolism was so badly damaged by fad dieting.

She said: ‘One of my earliest memories is of going on a diet. I was only ten and I have spent the rest of my life from that day forward battling to stay slim.

‘It’s heartbreaking to think I have wasted so much of my life obsessed with dieting. I’ve spent more than 20 years on a diet and I am only 31. That’s most of my life. I want to urge young women not to make that mistake.’

Jane was overweight in primary school and first tried to slim aged 10. Throughout her teens she went up and down but peaked at a size 18 in her late teens.

She said: ‘It was the biggest I had ever been and I hated it. I knew what it was like to be a size eight and people treated me so differently.’

At the age of 18, weighing around 9st 5lb and a size eight (left), and (right) aged 22, weighing 10st and a size 10. After deciding becoming a podium dancer in nightclubs she slimmed from an 18 to an 8

Jane was overweight by the age of 10 (pictured), which was when she started dieting - and her obsession would continue for another 21 years

Jane, pictured (left) when she was five and a normal weight, and (right) aged ten, when her issues with food began. She swayed between overeating and starving herself over the years

Jane aged 17 and around a size 18, weighing 12 to 13st. Her career as a dancer meant she relied on sugary snacks for energy boosts and unsociable hours meant she never cooked from fresh

So after deciding on a career as a podium dancer in nightclubs she went back on another extreme diet and slimmed from an 18 to an 8.

She was delighted with her new body but made the mistake of returning to old eating habits and soon found the pounds piled back on despite dancing.

Her career meant she relied on sugary snacks for energy boosts and unsociable hours meant she never cooked from fresh.

She says that despite being at her slimmest when dancing, she was probably her most unhealthy because of the lifestyle which left her craving sugar fixes.

She said: ‘The trouble was that when I was big the work would dry up. So then I’d go back to starving myself. My body never got a break.'

Jane aged 17, weighing around 13st 5lbs. Jane would binge eat on all the things she craved while dieting, like Greggs pastry, takeaway meals and chocolate

Jane aged 23 (left) and a size 16, and (right) a year later at size 22. For years Jane’s weight went up and down with each new fad, from meal replacements to no carbs and slimming clubs

Jane at 23 and a size 16 (left), and at 25, around a size 8 and weighing 10st. She said: ‘I would skip breakfast, live on coffee and carrot sticks and tins of tuna and drink energy drinks before dancing'

But after another fad diet helped her shift the pounds she found it almost impossible to maintain and would go between periods of overeating to near starvation.

She said: ‘I would skip breakfast, live on coffee and carrot sticks and tins of tuna and drink energy drinks before dancing.'

For years Jane’s weight went up and down with each new fad, from meal replacements, to no carbs and slimming clubs.

She said: ‘I became terrified of carbs and would avoid them at all costs. It was almost like a phobia.’

Eventually her metabolism was so disrupted that it stopped responding to diets at all.

Jane aged 25 at a size 14 (left) and later that year (right), weighing around 12st 7lb and a size 12

Jane aged 26 and pictured at a size 10 weighing around 9st 5lbs. Jane says years of fad dieting ruined her metabolism and she is speaking out to warn other young women

Jane said it was 'heartbreaking' to think she's spent most of her life on a diet. The dancer, pictured (left) aged 15 when she weighed 9st and a size 8, and (right) aged 16 and a size 14

Jane would binge eat on all the things she craved while dieting, like Greggs pastry, takeaway meals and chocolate.

It was after another desperate bid to get slim earlier this year that she realised the damage she had caused her body.

Despite working out for four hours a day and consuming tiny portions she gained weight. It was then she vowed to stop harming her body and never diet again.

That epiphany changed her life and she says since then she has not even had to think about slimming as her weight has remained at a good level.

Jane is 5ft 4in tall and is now a size 10 to 12, weighing 10 stone 8lbs.

Jane aged 28 at a size 10, left. Two years later Jane aged 30 was a size 12 and weighed 13 stone, right

She said: ‘The trouble was that when I was big the work would dry up. So then I’d go back to starving myself. My body never got a break'

Jane aged 29 weighing around 12st 5lbs and pictured around a size 12 and, right, aged 31 and weighing 11 stone. Eventually her metabolism was so disrupted that it stopped responding to diets at all

Jane now aged 31 and weighing around 11 stone. She now eats everything in moderation. ‘Life is for living, not dieting. I hope my experience helps save another young women from falling into the diet trap,’ she said

She said: ‘It was like as soon as I stopped letting it define me and treated myself kindly by eating more, my weight stabilised and has remained healthy.

‘Everything is now in moderation, I don’t starve and I don’t binge, I just eat healthy meals regularly and treat myself when I feel like it.

‘It’s just a good old fashioned common sense diet but it’s working and I wish I’d taken this approach many years ago.